balance of doubt in favour of the

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Jamie Dixon didnt even notice that he wasnt introduced before his coaching debut at his alma mater, TCU.He was a little caught up in the fun, weird, strange, different, as he called it in coming back to the school he helped lead as a player to its most recent NCAA Tournament win almost 30 years ago.And before an 82-64 win over the NAIAs St. Thomas on Friday night, Dixon was coming to grips with the fact that he really had left Pittsburgh , where he was head coach the past 13 seasons and on the staff for 17.Seventeen years is a long time, and you only have one way, Dixon said. It just feels so different. Its home, but the arenas so different. I think walking in before was probably the time it really hit me. I think that was it, walking in and walking by the football stadium and walking through here.All that emotion, and no introduction? No welcome home?Maybe thats a tradition here, Dixon said as he chuckled. You guys are laughing. Maybe thats a tradition here. They dont introduce the coach. I dont know. Talk to (athletic director Chris) Del Conte. Hes in charge of that. I think he wanted to introduce it himself.Alex Robinson, a Texas A&M transfer making his debut for the Horned Frogs, led them with 16 points. Karviar Shepherd, one of the holdovers from former coach Trent Johnsons staff, had 14 points and six rebounds.Freshman point guard Jaylen Fisher, the top recruit in Dixons first class, finished with 13 points, seven assists, four steals and a blocked shot to help the Horned Frogs pull away in the second half.This is an exciting year, Shepherd said. New coaches, (Dixon) coming back, alumni, weve got new guys coming in, freshmen. Every years exciting to me, and this years no different.The Celts (0-4) stayed close until the closing minutes of the first half, which ended with a spinning, buzzer-beating layup from Fisher for a 45-37 lead.Josh Bearden scored 14 points to lead St. Thomas.DOUBLE THE FUNTCU had six players in double figures. Freshman Desmond Bane and Brandon Parrish, another senior holdover, had 12 apiece. JD Miller had 10 points and seven rebounds, which matched St. Thomas Paris Marquez for the game high.SHOOTING EFFICIENCYShepherds 14 points came on just six shots, with four makes, and he was 5 of 6 on free throws. Robinson was 7 of 11 from the field and made all five attempts inside the 3-point line.LONG-RANGE PLANMore than half of St. Thomas field goal attempts were from 3-point range. The Celts were 9 of 29 from beyond the arc and 23 of 53 overall.BIG PICTURESt. Thomas: It was a decent showing for second-year coach Anthony Medinas team. The Celts were within four (41-37) as late as the 1:16 mark of the first half before fading.TCU: Fishers debut was a positive for Dixon. The 6-foot-2 floor leader from suburban Memphis had committed to UNLV before coach Dave Rice was fired last April. Former Rebels assistant Ryan Miller, who is on Dixons staff, had recruited him. The capper on his strong all-around debut was a block from behind when Bearden was going up for a wide-open layup or dunk.UP NEXT:St. Thomas: The Celts will return to Fort Worth to face Texas Wesleyan on Wednesday. There are some other upper-division challenges coming, including Southern on Thanksgiving Day.TCU: The Horned Frogs have three more home games they should win against Alabama State, Jacksonville State and Illinois State before playing at UNLV on Nov. 25. TCU will play either Western Kentucky or Washington the next day in Las Vegas.Custom Cincinnati Reds Nike Jerseys . The 29-year-old from Port Colborne, Ont., has nothing but good things to say about former U.S. marine Liz (Girlrilla) Carmouche ahead of their co-main event Wednesday on the UFCs "Fight for the Troops" televised card in Fort Campbell, Ky. Custom Chicago White Sox Nike Jerseys . -- Quarterback Will Finch threw for 252 yards and three touchdowns, and Yannick Harou rushed in two scores as the No. https://www.custombaseballnikejerseys.com/?tag=custom-chicago-cubs-nike-jerseys . LOUIS -- Mike Smith is used to facing plenty of shots, so this was nothing new. Custom Detroit Tigers Nike Jerseys .S District Court against Major League Baseball, the Office of the Commissioner and his own union, the MLBPA. Cheap Custom Baseball Jerseys . -- Ohio States Urban Meyer has never had any issue acclimating to the biggest stages in college football.Lady Luck has huge crushes on these two? AFP A new Test batting star emerged for England yesterday, to go with the new one-day batting star and new Twenty20 batting star, who also emerged over the last year. Eoin Morgans highly attractive three-for-the-price-of-one offer has added to the growing competition for places in a Test side that should soon start to impact even on the seemingly undroppable.The calmness, timing and variety of run-scoring capabilities that Morgan displayed in his excellent and stylish performance bode well for his and Englands future, but his innings also illustrated the BruceReidically slender margins that separate the vintage champagne of success from the budget processed grape juice of failure.A better wicketkeeper than Kamran Akmal (any volunteers? - no previous experience required; candidates should ideally possess their own gloves and, preferably, a willingness either to watch the ball all the way into the those gloves, or to move their feet, preferably both; apply to PCB by next Thursday) would probably have been standing in the right place to catch an edge when Morgan, on 5, played away from his body to another good ball by the brilliant Aamer. He later survived what appeared to be a fairly conclusive lbw appeal when missing a sweep off Shoaib Malik on 35.Hawk-Eye suggested the ball would have hit the inside of leg stump, but, to compound the umpiring error, Pakistan had blown their two referrals trying to get rid of Kevin Pietersen, who seemed to be busy trying to get rid of himself anyway, as Kamran expanded the range of known methods of wicketkeeping ineptitude by demanding a referral for a rejected caught-behind appeal after a ball that had barely passed within conversational distance of the bat.Had Morgan been caught on 5, questions would have been asked about his Test-match technique and his footwork against the swinging ball. Had he been given lbw, he would have failed to convert three consecutive 30-plus scores into half-centuries. Instead of proving his Test credentials, he would have raised further questions about them. Instead of delivering under pressure, he would have failed under pressure. Instead of a magical maiden ton. He capitalised brilliantly on his luck, and some low-grade spin bowling, to kickstart his Test career in spectacular style. Pietersen had plenty of good fortune in his innings, but looked like a man who doesnt play much cricket these days, and did not capitalise.Luck has always been and will always be a fundamental, and fascinating, part of sport, particularly in batting, where a batsmans bad luck is final (how many centuries would I have scored in my career if I hadnt been unlucky in 99% of all my innings?), and a batsmans good luck can make the different between an unremarkable failure and a career-defining success.Some examples: Lara, dropped by Durham wicketkeeper Scott on 18, powerdrills his name into the record books by blasting 501 not out. Gooch snicks Prabhakar at Lords in 1990, but Indian keeper More Kamrans the primary-school-level chance, and Gooch goes on to score another 297 runs. Pietersen at The Oval in 2005, on nought, edges Warne - but Gilchrists glove deflects the ball away from the waiting Hayden at slip; then after 15, nervous in one of the most pressurised periods of play in all Test cricket, he edges Lee to slip, where Warne fluffs a relatively simple chance. On each occasion, the batsman was, essentially, provisionally out. They had made their mistakes, and were merely awaiting confirmation of their dismissals. Before being reprieved, and capitalising to achieve cricketing immortality.Pietersens luck was particularly transformative - it probably won the Ashes for England, and he became a cricketing hero over the courrse of one staggering afternoon.dddddddddddd History shows that he played one of the great modern Test innings, one of the most brilliant and important in Englands Test history, an expression of individual cricketing bravery and daring that just about justified a brave and daring hairstyle, and elevated himself to the cricketing A-list. History could have shown that he failed, technically and temperamentally, thus concluding a debut series in which his early promise had faded into a run of costly failures, whilst sporting the most ridiculous haircut in Test history.Similarly, there must be many of one-, two- and three-cap Test players who ended their careers thinking, If only that usually incompetent fielder hadnt pulled off that uncharacteristic one-handed diving catch, or If only that umpire hadnt been certifiably blind. Scorecards do not record luck.Perhaps 1920s batsman Jack MacBryan would have turned out to be a surprise Test-match great. He had an unlucky Test career. In his only Test, in 1924, it rained for much of the first day, then for all of the rest of the match. MacBryan did not bat. And failed, in his 66.5 overs of fielding, to convince the selectors that he had what it takes to succeed at the highest level. Perhaps they spotted some flaw in his technique whilst he was playing pretend shots in the covers in between balls.For Morgan, then, the future looks bright. The cream generally rises to the top. But sometimes, it needs a helping upward shunt from the capricious hand of Lady Luck, a fickle woman whose hand can tenderly stroke or unforgivingly spank.Pakistan have had little luck with umpiring this summer, particularly with lbws, and could have had England in even deeper trouble yesterday. As it was, with Gul and Kaneria off form, only Aamer - fast becoming the worlds new favourite cricketer - and Asif applied pressure, and the fragile confidence of Salman Butts side visibly dissipated. At Headingley against Australia, they seemed to become nervous in the field when it became clear they would have to chase more than one run to win. As it was, Farhat and Azhar nervelessly took them close enough that even a top-quality collective choke could not deprive them of an excellent victory. Their inexperienced top order and dangerously long tail will do well to avoid defeat in this game.(A quick comment on the Umpire Decision Review System. It seems to me to be unfairly weighted in favour of the batting team. Generally, more appeals are given not out than are given out, so statistically the fielding side has more occasions on which it is likely to want to use their referrals, and are thus more likely to run out of referrals. If a not-out lbw decision turns out to have been fractionally out, it remains not out. If an out decision transpires to have been fractionally not out, it becomes not out.Whilst this maintains the traditional balance of doubt in favour of the batsman, there is a double punishment when, as happened to Pakistan yesterday, Pakistan referred a not-out appeal, the technology suggested that it could/should have been given out, but only marginally, so the Umpires Call stood.Thus, Pakistan, despite essentially having correctly referred an appeal that was shown to be out, lost a referral. I suggest that if a team refers and appeal that results in an Umpires Call refusal, it should not lose one of its referrals. I also think the fielding side should have two appeals, but the batting team should only have one.)(And finally, commiserations to all those who had to watch the Colombo Test match. I can only imagine what you have just been through. It sounds awful.) ' ' '