Alisson Becker has "made steps" towards recovering from a calf injury, but Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has said he will not rush the goalkeeper back into the fold.

The Brazil international, who sustained the problem during the first half of the 4-1 victory over Norwich City at Anfield on Aug. 9, was expected to be out for around six weeks, with half that timeframe having now elapsed.

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After Liverpool's trip to Burnley on Saturday, there is a 14-day gap owing to an international break before they host Newcastle United on Sept. 14. There is no desire from the club to escalate Alisson's rehabilitation during this period, despite the failure of the European champions to keep a clean sheet so far this season.

"He has made steps of course, but it was a proper injury, so it will still take time," Klopp said during a media briefing at Melwood on Thursday.

"How it always is with professional sportsmen, when you have a muscle thing and it takes long, then it takes a while as well until you can bring the muscle to at least the same level it was before.

"A calf muscle is pretty important for jumping -- and for a goalie, it is quite important that you can jump from time-to-time, so it will take time."

Klopp said that being without Alisson, named the 2018-19 Champions League Goalkeeper of the Season by UEFA on Wednesday night, has been a sizeable setback for Liverpool.

The German said, however, he is pleased with the contribution of Adrian between the sticks. The No. 2, signed as a free agent this summer, has had the chance to settle and get match sharp after being thrust into the starting lineup following Alisson's injury.

"Thank God -- and hopefully it stays like this -- we have a fit Adrian in the back and now in charge, which is good," Klopp said. "So far, I am really happy with everything I saw.

"He is a good guy, which is important as well, but most importantly of course he can catch balls and that's good as well.

"The solution we found for it is really good, but of course it would be better if Ali was around but that will take still some time."

Virgil van Dijk was Liverpool's other big winner at the Champions League draw in Monaco, scooping both the Defender of the Season accolade as well as the main prize -- Men's Player of the Year.

"I expected him to be a world class centre-half," Klopp said on the £75 million recruit signed from Southampton in January 2018, who beat Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to the top honour.

"That's why we paid what we paid. I wasn't the only one at the club to think that."

Philadelphia hosts cup winners Atlanta in a big Eastern Conference clash, while Minnesota United will try to get over its U.S. Open Cup final loss with a visit to LAFC, plus Portland seeks a rebound from its rivalry loss to Seattle.

Walk-the-walk time for Philly against Atlanta

One could say that these are uncharted waters for the Philadelphia Union. Being in the mix for a conference crown on Labor Day weekend is a rarity for the Union, yet here they are and now they get the chance to show the rest of the East that they can be top dog when they host Atlanta United on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+).

Philly has had a few stumbles throughout the summer, including bad 4-0 losses at Real Salt Lake and Montreal, but last week's 3-1 victory over D.C. United lays the groundwork for a crunch stretch against the reigning league and new U.S. Open Cup champions, followed by league leaders LAFC.

Philly is a tough town, so over the course of the next two weeks, Union fans will see if their team has the punch to rise up the heavyweight rankings.

Atlanta continue to amaze with its late-summer surge, collecting cups in midweek and then beating teams away from home over the weekend. Josef Martinez is scoring every game, "Pity" Martinez is looking like the River Plate "Pity" Martinez and the defense is locking down opponents. At this moment, it takes a top performance to beat Atlanta, and that's just what Jim Curtin will be expecting his team to deliver.

Redemption calling for Minnesota in visit to L.A.

Tuesday's U.S. Open Cup final had quite the stirring finish, with Minnesota United desperately lurching forward in hopes of an equalizer that never came in a 2-1 loss to Atlanta. It was all there on a silver platter for Michael Boxall, only for his effort to sail over the crossbar. The look of disbelief on the faces of the Minnesota players was hard to miss, and losing the chance at a first trophy will sting, but luckily for coach Adrian Heath, there is no time to sit around and feel sorry for themselves with a visit to Los Angeles FC on Sunday night (10:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+).

If anything, it's the perfect match to remedy any type of hangover Minnesota might be feeling from Tuesday's near miss. Going into the house of the league's best team and taking three points would make the loss in Atlanta fade into the background. It would also send a message to LAFC that playoff-bound Minnesota could be quite the formidable foe should the two meet in the postseason.

That's the big question in the Western Conference: Who can take down LAFC? It's hard seeing anyone do it at present, but with two cracks at Bob Bradley's men in the final two months of the regular season, the opportunity is there for Minnesota to send a message.

As for LAFC, another wild El Trafico ended without a victory, but long term the focus is making sure star striker Carlos Vela will be healthy after coming off with a minor injury against the Galaxy. With the team holding such a large cushion in the West, it would be no surprise to see Vela getting the week off.

Time ticking for Portland with RSL coming to town

With seven of their past eight matches at home, there is still time for the Portland Timbers to turn things around in the West, but sitting three points below the playoff line going into September is probably not what fans expected when remodeled Providence Park reopened back on June 1.

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Two consecutive home losses, including a particularly painful 2-1 defeat to rival Seattle that earned the Sounders the 2019 Cascadia Cup, have contributed to the angst. Not helping matters is that after enjoying a scorching start to his MLS career, striker Brian Fernandez has suddenly gone cold, failing to deliver a goal in the past two matches. It's no coincidence that both ended in defeat.

It does not get any easier Saturday as rejuvenated Real Salt Lake comes to town (10:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+). Under interim boss Freddy Juarez, Real Salt Lake has ripped off an impressive run of four wins in five matches during the month of August, with the lone loss being a 2-0 defeat at LAFC. No shame there.

This has the potential to kick-start a title charge for RSL, while leaving Portland in a heap of worry about the playoffs.

The Europa League group-stage draw is done, but what are the main storylines?

What are Man United's prospects in Group L?

It will be a trip into the unknown for United, who will become the first English side to face Kazakh champions FC Astana. As well as a nine-hour combination of flights for fans, the trip will require mastery of an artificial pitch and an opponent that, while they should be beaten comfortably at Old Trafford, have a formidable European record at home. Astana have won nine of their last 11 Europa League games at Astana Arena and disposed easily of Rennes, who ran Arsenal close in the knockout stages, last season.

- Full Europa League draw

That will make a trip to Partizan Belgrade seem small fry but the atmosphere inside Partizan Stadium will be predictably hostile. United should have few problems in either tie against the Serbian runners-up if their youngsters -- upon whom Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will probably rely significantly in this competition -- can handle the occasion. They will meet their old boy, Zoran Tosic.

At least AZ Alkmaar makes for a much quicker trip. The 1981 UEFA Cup runners-up -- who lost to Ipswich Town that year -- and Europa League quarterfinalists as recently as 2014 should not pose too many problems, but boast familiar names in ex-Southampton midfielder Jordy Clasie and the former Aston Villa centre-back Ron Vlaar.

Prediction: Manchester United to win the group, with Astana scraping through behind them.

What are Arsenal's prospects in Group F?

First and foremost, Unai Emery will be relieved at the lack of air miles required to face Eintracht Frankfurt, Standard Liege and Vitoria. None of Arsenal's opponents are more than two hours away and, while they could certainly have drawn an easier group, the Gunners should be confident of going through.

Eintracht will probably progress with them and will stage a fierce battle for top spot, even if last season's semifinalists lost their star forwards Luka Jovic and Sebastien Haller over the summer. They ran Chelsea within inches of a place in the final and their vocal support, both at home and away, should create atmospheres to savour.

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Both clubs will need to be wary of Standard Liege, who finished third in Belgium's top flight last season and are well managed by Michel Preud'homme. Arsenal defeated them twice in the 2009-10 Champions League and, back in 1993-94, overcame them 10-0 on aggregate in the Cup Winners' Cup.

The Belgian side can call upon Alen Halilovic, the one-time Barcelona wonderkid who is now on loan from AC Milan, and will be particularly dangerous at home. Portuguese side Vitoria, who scraped past a weak FCSB in the playoffs, look the least strong of the quartet and are unlikely to challenge for qualification.

Prediction: Arsenal to qualify as group winners, but after a couple of tight contests with Eintracht.

How about Wolves?

Nuno Espirito Santo's side might have hoped for a softer draw but, after beating Torino, will bounce into their first group stage appearance. Besiktas and Braga both have years of European experience and the latter, who beat Spartak Moscow in the playoffs, should not be discounted. Slovan Bratislava look likely to be Group K's whipping boys.

Prediction: Wolves to complete an English hat trick of group winners, with Braga pipping Besiktas to second.

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Who are the smallest team in the competition?

In country terms it would be F91 Dudelange, who come from tiny Luxembourg and play in a stadium that would barely meet English non-league standards. But they reached last season's group stage and performed creditably, so in terms of sheer obscurity and novelty it has to be the Ukrainian club Oleksandriya. They have bobbed around in the country's lower leagues for most of their existence but last season finished third in the top flight and make their debut in the competition proper. Their home city, which has around 80,000 inhabitants, is difficult to reach although their CSC Nika stadium holds just 7,000 fans so they may play in nearby Zaporozhiya or Dnipropetrovsk. Wolfsburg, Gent and Saint-Etienne will face a trip into the relative unknown.

What are the worst away trips?

Astana will have neither distance nor, as winter approaches, climate in its favour for travelling supporters. It is also a strange, hyper-modern city of extraordinary architecture that rises out of the steppe and is short on tourist infrastructure. However, it will be a memorable journey for those who choose to make it.

Anyone who visits Krasnodar will find a sleek, modern stadium that should really have been a World Cup venue last year. But the journey itself will be tough one if you support Getafe, whose fans will spend at least eight hours in the air.

The trip to face Qarabag, from Azerbaijan, is a notoriously arduous one -- with the host country of last season's final making global headlines in May when Arsenal kept Armenia international Henrikh Mkhitaryan at home as a result of the countries' geopolitical differences. There should be no such dilemmas for Sevilla, Apoel and Dudelange but Baku is hardly a destination high on most lists.

Any dark horses who might make a deep run?

Two excellent candidates can be found in Group C. They may not win the tournament but look out for Trabzonspor, from Turkey. They are brimful of ambition and newly spearheaded by Daniel Sturridge, as well as the Crystal Palace loanee Alexander Sorloth. Could both they and Krasnodar pip Getafe and Basel to go through? Krasnodar have been excellently managed over the last few years and a Champions League place is surely not far off. Coming through a tough group here would suggest they can go much further than last season's round of 16 finish.

How about the weirdest groups?

United's group is almost certainly the most diverse although there is something for everyone in Group A, which features a match between Luxembourgish and Azeri teams that would have been inconceivable at this level not so long ago.

And the must-see games?

Malmo and Copenhagen are separated by just 30km and a bridge. Now they will play out a pair of rare Sweden-Denmark derbies in what might be the hottest atmosphere of the entire group stage.

Celtic must have been hoping to consign CFR Cluj, who dumped them out of the Champions League qualifiers little over a fortnight ago, to distant memory but Neil Lennon's side have an early chance of revenge in group E.

Where potential heavyweight clashes are concerned, Roma against Borussia Monchengladbach -- both teams boasting exciting new managers in Paulo Fonseca and Marco Rose -- looks a tasty group-stage encounter, while Sporting CP against PSV pits two of Bobby Robson's former clubs against one another.

James Anderson has been ruled out of the rest of the Ashes after suffering a recurrence of his calf injury while playing for Lancashire's 2nd XI in a bid to prove his fitness. England had been hoping to add him to their squad for the Old Trafford Test, but have instead called up Somerset allrounder Craig Overton as bowling cover.

Anderson played in the first Test against Australia but only managed to bowl four overs before suffering pain in his calf, having picked up the problem playing for Lancashire. England were heavily beaten at Edgbaston but came back to level the series at 1-1 with two to play after Ben Stokes' heroics at Headingley.

Having featured for Lancashire's seconds in a three-day friendly against Leicestershire, Anderson stepped up his recovery programme this week, bowling 20 overs on the first day against Durham 2nd XI at Chester Boughton Hall. However, while delivering his ninth over on Thursday, he felt pain in his right calf and was subsequently assessed by England's medical team.

The most-prolific fast bowler in Test history, Anderson has in all likelihood made his final Ashes appearance. He has never hinted at setting a retirement date, but will be 39 by the time England next tour Australia in 2021-22.

It is possible he has played his final Test altogether, although the lure of becoming the first fast bowler to 600 wickets might encourage him to push for a return on the winter tours to New Zealand and South Africa. Anderson is currently fourth on the all-time list of Test wicket-takers, with 575.

His partnership with Stuart Broad is the most-successful in Tests between two quicks - they have taken more than 850 wickets in games together. In Anderson's absence, Broad has led the way during the Ashes with 14 wickets at 25.35, although the emergence of Jofra Archer has given England an additional cutting edge.

The selectors have otherwise stuck with the same players that helped secure a one-wicket win in Leeds, despite some speculation about the top-order batting after England were bowled out for 67 in the first innings. Overton, who featured twice in the 2017-18 Ashes, is likely to join Sam Curran in vying with Chris Woakes for the No. 8 spot.

The Old Trafford Test begins on Wednesday, with England needing to win at least one of the two remaining Tests - and avoid defeat in the other - in order to regain the Ashes.

England squad: Joe Root (capt), Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Jack Leach, Craig Overton, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes

The cancellation of the Euro T20 Slam has opened up a window for Ireland to host Scotland and Netherlands in a T20I tri-series from September 15.

The short series consisting six matches - where each team plays the other twice - will give all three sides an opportunity to tune-up ahead of the T20 World Cup Qualifiers in UAE in October. All the matches will be played at The Village in Malahide.

"We are looking forward with excitement to some high quality T20 international matches against our old rivals Ireland and Netherlands," Malcolm Cannon, chief executive of Cricket Scotland, said. "We know we will always have a fiercely competitive challenge against these two nations."

Ireland will return to action for the first time since their Lord's Test against England in July. Scotland head into the series on the back of three successive wins, over PNG (twice) and Oman, in the World Cricket League Division Two in Aberdeen.

Following their impressive T20I and ODI series wins against Zimbabwe in June, Netherlands faced UAE in a four-match T20I series at home where they were beaten 4-0 by the visitors.

Fixtures
15 September 2019: Ireland v Netherlands
16 September 2019: Scotland v Netherlands
17 September 2019: Ireland v Scotland
18 September 2019: Ireland v Netherlands
19 September 2019: Scotland v Netherlands
20 September 2019: Ireland v Scotland

Toss West Indies opt to bowl v India

West Indies handed Test debuts to Rahkeem Cornwall and Jahmar Hamilton as their captain Jason Holder chose to bowl in the second Test in Kingston. Needing a win to share the series with India, West Indies brought in Cornwall for fast bowler Miguel Cummins while a late injury to wicketkeeper Shai Hope made way for Hamilton.

India captain Virat Kohli named an unchanged XI, which left R Ashwin without a Test on the tour.

The toss took place under blue skies. The pitch looked distinctively different from the one in Antigua, with a fair amount of grass spread evenly. Traditionally, that means pacers could find some extra rewards, and spinners may find less purchase for the first half of the Test.

Holder said that the pitch played a role in his decision to bowl while outlining the team's outlook for the Test.

"[We] wanted to make use of the grass, moisture and try to get into India's middle order," Holder said. "We have decided to not focus on the end result, but instead focus on the processes and once you focus on that the end result takes care of itself. Batting is about patience, we get through the tough periods. [We] need to find ways to form partnerships. We expect good things from Cornwall, [he] can spin the ball on all surfaces."

Kohli assessed the opportunity to bat first as "challenging".

"The first session will be tough like Antigua," Kohli said. "But the advantage is that you can put runs on the board and put pressure on the opposition. That follows the template we play with, so happy to bat first. In and out of the breaks, we need to be more focused and precise, and avoid the soft dismissals. The 70-80 partnerships need to be bigger to capitalise in the game. Our bowling has been fantastic, so nothing much to add there. But there's something for the batsmen to learn from every innings."

West Indies: 1 Kraigg Brathwaite, 2 John Campbell, 3 Shamarh Brooks, 4 Darren Bravo, 5 Roston Chase, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Jason Holder (capt), 8 Jahmar Hamilton (wk), 9 Rahkeem Cornwall, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Shannon Gabriel

India: 1 KL Rahul, 2 Mayank Agarwal, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Hanuma Vihari, 7 Rishabh Pant (wk), 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Ishant Sharma, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

When "The Turk" comes to get you, it means only one thing.

The script is largely the same: "Coach wants to see you ... bring your playbook."

For an NFL player, that means you won't have a place on the roster.

Turk is the unofficial title for the staffer whose job it is to collect players and take them to the general managers and coaches to be cut.

Jets GM Joe Douglas even gained some notoriety early in his career as the Baltimore Ravens' Turk in the inaugural season of HBO's "Hard Knocks."

According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Los Angeles Rams players in the 1950s called this guy "squeaky shoes" because they could hear him coming down a dorm hallway to do his work.

No matter the job title, he'll be busy this weekend. By 4 p.m. ET Saturday, more than 1,000 players will lose jobs.

"It's the worst day of the year," Tampa Bay Buccaneers director of player engagement Duke Preston said. "It's just bad. Like even Thursday after the [final preseason] game, it's like you're on the plane and you know that there's 37 guys whose dreams end ... in a matter of hours."

Here's what it's really like inside NFL cut-down day:

Delivering the bad news

Most rosters are at 90 this week and must be down to 53 by Saturday. If you're going to be one of the Green Bay Packers' 37 roster moves, whether that's injured reserve, practice squad, outright release or another option, general manager Brian Gutekunst wants to make it as humane as possible.

Gutekunst, the second-year GM and longtime Packers scout, said the team uses the process established by his predecessor, Ted Thompson.

"He demanded that this be done a certain way, and there's no wiggle room there," Gutekunst said.

"Ted, being a former player who was probably always on the bubble his entire career, he was very sensitive to that."

That means no cryptic messages leaving players anxiously wondering what it might mean.

"We tell them, 'We're putting you on waivers and we'd like you to come up and discuss it,'" Gutekunst said. "And we lay out for them what that means because for a lot of these guys, it's the first time going through this process. So we want them to understand and make sure that we talk to their agent -- and any honest feedback about what they can improve on, we make sure we give that to them."

Minnesota Vikings general manager Rick Spielman calls the 72 hours following the final preseason game the most hectic time of the year next to the NFL draft and free agency.

In the days leading up to cut-down weekend, Spielman, Vikings coaches, scouts and others in the personnel department have already had upward of seven meetings going over various roster scenarios.

After the team returns from Buffalo on Friday, Minnesota will finalize decisions on the bottom eight to 10 players on the 90-man roster before releasing the first cuts that afternoon while practice squad candidates are being decided.

There are a lot of moving parts and Spielman is listening to a lot of voices.

"You're trying to come up with a collective decision," Spielman said. "There's lobbying going on just like there is during the draft. We try to do things collectively, and the decision is going to come down collectively to what we think is best for the Minnesota Vikings. Ultimately, that's my responsibility, but I always try to get it where we're all on the same page."

From there, telling players becomes a combination of grace, tact and efficiency.

Shelton Quarles, Tampa Bay's director of football operations, is the person charged with informing players they've been cut. He is particularly sensitive to the situation. As an undrafted free agent in 1994, he was cut during training camp by the Miami Dolphins.

Understanding that feeling helps him tailor his conversations with players.

"I try to shape [the message] based on who the player is and what their attributes are, if I think they have a shot at making a roster, then I'll shape it a little bit differently," Quarles said. "If I don't think that they'll have a chance, then I'll soften it up a bit. ... More times than not, I'm gonna be soft in my delivery of the message to the players."

The newly departed: 'Like breaking up with your girlfriend'

Whether the message is delivered with a tap on the shoulder, text or dorm-room phone call, for the players on the bubble, cut-down day is a waiting game.

"You start micromanaging everything like, 'Damn, I had this little mistake or this little mistake,' " Washington Redskins running back Byron Marshall said. "[Cuts] typically happen in the morning. So what I do is try to stay up as late as I can and sleep the whole morning and as long as my phone don't wake me up when I'm asleep, I can wake up happy because that way you don't have the anxiety kicking in."

"And every time you got a call, it was just like breaking up with a girlfriend. It was, 'It's not you, it's me' kind of nonsense. 'We're going another direction,' or, 'You did great, but' .... And it was always funny."" Former Saint, and cut-down day expert, Jed Collins

"Just sitting there, chilling, on the phone, hoping yours don't ring," Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Tre Herndon said. "It's a real emotional time. I wouldn't want anybody to go through that, but it's the business."

Former New Orleans Saints fullback Jed Collins calls himself an expert on getting cut. Over an eight-year career with 10 different teams, he was released from an active roster or practice squad 10 times. After being cut by eight teams in his first three years, he finally played his first NFL game in his fourth season.

"And every time you got a call, it was just like breaking up with a girlfriend," Collins said. "It was, 'It's not you, it's me' kind of nonsense. 'We're going another direction,' or, 'You did great, but.'

"... And it was always funny. I did begin to judge teams and organizations based on how they got rid of you (from whether the head coach met with you personally to whether they packed up your locker or gave you a garbage bag)."

There's a cruel math to the day and a whole lot of gallows humor. Players on the bubble know that as their teammates get cut, it increases the chances they'll make the team.

"It's one day where all these people lose their jobs and if you lose it, you're hoping, 'Well, are they going to keep me here? Is someone else going to get me?'" said Marshall, the Washington running back.

"The main thing you are thinking about is the roster spots, and the cut of the roster and [how it will get] to 53 people," said Houston Texans safety A.J. Moore, who was released by the New England Patriots on cut-down day last year.

Coaches suffer and families prepare

Jaguars coach Doug Marrone walked into his news conference Sunday grumpy and pretty much stayed that way the entire week, because he loathes what he has to do: cut 37 players.

"I'll relate to the anxiety with a lot of the players that've been giving us everything they have, and trying to make it in the NFL, and in a couple days, everybody's life changes," Marrone said. "Obviously, [it's] one thing [that] hits me a little bit harder, probably, than most, because I've been through it."

A lot, actually.

Marrone was drafted in the sixth round by the Los Angeles Raiders in 1986. Over the next five years, the former offensive lineman had stints with Miami, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Dallas and Minnesota. He appeared in only five NFL games and was cut six times before his playing career ended after two seasons (1991-92) with the London Monarchs of the World League of American Football.

"I don't think you ever get immune to that. People who are immune to that are bulls---ting." Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Marrone, on making cuts

That's why he hates this week.

Marrone has received the phone call and the reminder to bring his playbook. He has been on the other side of the desk in a head coach's office and heard the clichés. He knows what it feels like when someone tells you that you're not good enough and what it's like to walk back into the locker room, throw your stuff in a bag, and walk past former teammates trying not to make eye contact.

Marrone has had to do the cutting four times as a head coach -- two years with Buffalo and the past two with Jacksonville -- and it hasn't become any easier.

"I don't think you ever get immune to that," Marrone said. "People who are immune to that are bulls---ting. I think people that are immune to that have no appreciation for what these people do. They have no appreciation for what goes on in their family."

Just like free agency or the trade deadline, families get caught in the middle of these transactions. At times, that significant other is a player's emotional support and the person who sees an NFL player's most vulnerable moments.

"I saw it firsthand as a player," Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel said. "I was one of those guys that didn't know early in my career. You have long conversations at night with your girlfriend or your fiancée, your wife about, 'I don't know if I'm going to make it.'"

After those conversations, if bad news is indeed delivered, wives, girlfriends and significant others are affected and try to find any way to help.

Jessica Marshall, Byron Marshall's wife, is a trauma intensive care unit nurse in San Jose, California. She approaches the day as she would with one of her patients.

"For me, it's easy because of my career path being empathetic and sympathetic to the situation they're in," she said. "[It's] 'OK, what's the next plan? What are the other options we have?' Not letting anyone sit around and mope and keep their morale up."

One of Collins' wife's jobs was the household moving company.

"She would be behind me, packing up things," Collins said. "Finally by the fourth or fifth time, we were like, 'Sell all the crap. We don't know where or when this is gonna end.'"

When it's over

Agents such as Kelli Masters have an emotional investment in their clients' success, not just a financial one. But their livelihood is at stake just the same. In 2009, after representing NFL players since 2006, she was finally going to see a player survive cut-down day.

Julius Crosslin, a Dallas Cowboys fullback, had spent his rookie season on their practice squad after going undrafted in 2008 and was in position to make the team the next year. He had started the first three preseason games, then averaged 4.7 yards on nine carries in the finale. Masters was optimistic.

"Some guys are devastated. Other guys are numb to it and lost." Duke Preston, Tampa Bay Buccaneers director of player engagement

Then came the call from Jerry Jones' right-hand man, Todd Williams, who delivered the double whammy of bad news. Not only were the Cowboys waiving Crosslin, they weren't interested in keeping him for their practice squad.

"I just collapsed to the floor," Masters recalled. "I sat down on the floor just in disbelief, like, 'When is it actually going to happen?'

"I can't compare my experience to players who work their entire lives and are in that moment. It's a totally different situation. But ... as an agent, after investing so much time and so many resources into recruiting and working so hard to try to get players in the right position to have an opportunity, and years into it, to still feel like I was a complete failure was just devastating."

Some players who get the call on cut-down day are on their way to a new city in 24 hours. Some of the bigger agencies have client-services departments that assist with all the logistical challenges that come with being uprooted overnight. Masters -- who represents more than a dozen NFL players as the founder, CEO and chief player agent of KMM Sports, including Seahawks receiver David Moore and free-agent running back Alex Collins -- said she prefers to handle that herself.

"You have to have great relationships with relocation companies and lots of resources to tap into," she said. "I've done it so many times now, I know who to call if we've got to transport a dog, I know who we need to call if it's shipping vehicles or packing up a house, cleaning -- all of those things that have to be done."

For those in the team facilities, there is a wide range of emotions, no matter the news.

"Some guys are devastated. Other guys are numb to it and lost," said Preston, the Bucs' front-office staffer. "And other guys, truly it's a relief. I think it spans the gamut of experiences."

Said Spielman: "Some guys are very quiet, some guys break down, some guys this is the only thing they have so you're affecting their lives, their families' lives and that's very difficult to deal with."

Some players will be put on the practice squad or be picked up by other teams.

Wide receiver Rod Smith, who would go on to win two Super Bowls with the Denver Broncos, was an undrafted free agent in 1994 and wasn't sure what his status would be as his rookie training camp was ending. He was riding a stationary bike when he got yanked out of his workout.

Bob Ferguson, the Broncos' GM at the time, told Smith he was being released but that Denver intended to sign him to the practice squad.

"So I'm like, 'You mean I don't have to go home?' " Smith said. "[Ferguson] said, 'No, you don't have to go home,' so I didn't really hear anything he said after that, after he said that I didn't have to go home, I didn't hear a word he said.

"Then I said, 'Can I go finish my workout?'"

Then, sometimes, this terrible day isn't all that bad.

Arizona Cardinals special-teamer Dennis Gardeck got the tap last preseason. Gardeck, who was an undrafted rookie free agent, was in the locker room when a staff member came up to him, tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Scooby, come with me."

Wait, what?

The staff member had Gardeck confused with Scooby Wright, another 6-foot, long-haired linebacker.

"I was like, 'I'm not Scooby,' " Gardeck said. "I thought I was done."

ESPN NFL reporters Todd Archer, Ben Baby, Sarah Barshop, Courtney Cronin, Rob Demovsky, Turron Davenport, Jeff Dickerson, Mike DiRocco, Brady Henderson, Jamison Hensley, John Keim, Jenna Laine, Jeff Legwold, Marcel Louis-Jacques, Tim McManus, David Newton, Michael Rothstein, Mike Triplett, Lindsey Thiry, Josh Weinfuss and Eric Williams contributed to this report.

After the Dream Team's Olympic gold medal in 1992, USA Basketball continued to coast along in international play, remaining undefeated whenever NBA players represented the country, winning gold at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics. Then, at the 2002 FIBA World Championships in Indianapolis, an American team led by Paul Pierce and Michael Finley and coached by George Karl suffered losses to Spain, Argentina and Yugoslavia en route to a sixth-place finish.

Two years later, the NBA and USA Basketball hoped to keep America's post-1992 Olympic record perfect at the 2004 Athens Games, but several prominent players declined invitations, in part due to security concerns over attending the first Olympic Games after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The roster that head coach Larry Brown and lead assistant Gregg Popovich took to Greece proved to be flawed and hastily assembled, led by Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury and captain Tim Duncan, along with late additions LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade, all coming off their rookie NBA seasons.

Although Team USA was able to salvage bronze with a victory over Lithuania in the third-place game, the 2004 Olympics was widely deemed a disaster.

The debacle became a turning point for USA Basketball.

Note: This previously unpublished oral history comes from reporting by Jackie MacMullan, Rafe Bartholomew and Dan Klores for their acclaimed book "BASKETBALL: A Love Story," available now in hardcover and in paperback Oct. 15 via Penguin Random House and wherever books are sold.

Luis Scola, Argentina forward: The first time I played against [Team USA] was in '99 in Puerto Rico. We were trying to qualify to the Olympics in 2000. We were very young -- I was 19, Manu [Ginobili] was 21, [Andres] Nocioni was 19 -- nobody was above 25. I was guarding Vin Baker, and I remember thinking this is just impossible. There's nobody in the world who could compete with these guys. They're taller than me, he weighs like 20 more pounds than I do but he runs faster and he shoots from farther and he can play in the post and he can guard. How can I compete? There's no one area I can take advantage of him. I felt miles away, like it was another sport for us. We didn't qualify to Sydney, but we start playing really well and things start to change after that tournament. The second time we play them, we still lost by 30 but we play a lot better. And the year after we start growing, and by 2002 things are completely different for us.

Jerry Colangelo, USAB Director since 2005: From '92 on, there was a committee put together of NBA people -- coaches, general managers. And in '04, we had players selected by a committee. But some players didn't want to go for whatever reasons. Contracts, some wanted to take the time off, some had no interest. What didn't exist was this desire to represent your country. But the committee format left something to be desired.

Bill Simmons, sportswriter and author: We sent this team to the '04 Olympics that was basically an All-Star team, and there was no thought into how the guys would mesh with one another. I looked at our team and I was like, "Stephon Marbury is gonna be playing, who's the other guy? The backcourt is Marbury and [Allen] Iverson? We're screwed! Those guys are gonna be in fistfights for the ball."

Larry Brown, Team USA head coach (2004): You know that's a sore point in my mind. That whole thing makes the hair on the back of my head stand up because we had Ray Allen, we had Jason Kidd, we had Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter -- that was an amazing team that was put together that qualified. We had Argentina down 37 points at halftime in 2003. That team had to qualify and they were playing unbelievable basketball, and then hardly any of those guys come. That team never went to the Olympics because of 9/11.

Colangelo: I'm not saying they were second-tier players, but it wasn't the team that Larry Brown was hopeful of fielding in the '04 Games.

Marv Albert, TV sportscaster: [Brown] probably felt he could win with them, particularly since he knew Iverson. I don't think you can win in the Olympics unless you have a team where you know guys are gonna play together. I just don't think you can win.

Brown: We didn't get any practice time. They kind of picked the team at random and it's totally unfair. A lot of people were critical of the coaches -- I can accept that -- but they're critical of the players. Well, the players had the balls to go during that time to Greece. These kids, a lot of them weren't really sure what was going to happen. We were in Turkey and the hotel got bombed, and then we go to Greece and they hate -- they're not really excited about the Americans. These kids did some unbelievable things under difficult circumstances, with no time to prepare, no time to practice.

Scola: Obviously they are extremely talented, but they don't adjust well to the rules. They are frustrated about it. They didn't decide to just play through it, they were complaining a lot. This was a team that could be beat.

In Team USA's first game of the Athens Olympics, Puerto Rico ran the Americans off the court. The 92-73 blowout remains the worst loss the United States has suffered in international play, and it set the tone for a doomed Olympic campaign.

Rod Thorn, former Olympic Committee chairman: When we lost the first game to Puerto Rico in the bracket, it was like, "Wait a minute, we can beat these guys." And, you know, was the team constructed exactly like you'd like it to be? In retrospect, obviously it wasn't.

Doug Collins, former coach and TV analyst: In 2004, I broadcast the games in Athens, and it was a disaster. The level of frustration -- there were rumblings that they wanted to send guys home before they even got to the Olympics. And basically, I think the commissioner said, "No, this is our team," but there were things along the way that you knew were gonna come to a head once we got to the Olympics and I was there to watch it. Mike Breen and I did the games and when we'd take our headsets off after the game, we were like, "What did we just watch? What was that?"

Scola: By the time we get to play the U.S., we felt prepared. This was our chance. They had talent, but in a one-game scenario we knew it was possible. ... We knew that we needed to let them shoot. We needed to pack the paint, not let them go inside, because with their athleticism and their strength it was going to be almost impossible to beat them. We needed to make them shoot, and they shot pretty bad that game.

Collins: [Team USA] won the bronze medal and I said, "Something's gotta be done." We had gotten so arrogant that we had thought it didn't matter -- we can send anybody and win. And after '04 we found out we couldn't do that.

Allen Iverson, 2004 Team USA guard: Yeah, [losing] hurt. I mean, 'cause I was a part of it. It always haunts me because my dream was to win a gold medal, but the way I look at life is, the things that I've accomplished, people where I'm from don't even get to the doorstep of doing anything like that. So I thank God that I had the opportunity to do it, but yeah, it still bothered me.

LeBron James, 2004 Team USA forward: We didn't have the discipline, we didn't have the structure to be able to play on a world stage. We had great basketball players but we didn't have the structure, and I think that's part of why we finished third.

Iverson: LeBron James might've played five minutes a game, Carmelo might've played five minutes a game. It's just a whole bunch of things. I mean, it just wasn't meant to be. It's simple as that. The talent was there -- it just didn't happen.

Collins: They chose LeBron James on that team, who was a young player. Carmelo Anthony, some young guys. Those guys have always played, and now you're asking them to come and sit there?

Simmons: People close to LeBron always say that was good, the way Larry Brown treated the young guys on that team. He treated them like young guys. They had never been treated like they weren't the s---, and that was the first time they had some coach like, "Yeah, you're not gonna play; I've got these other guys."

Brown: I thought, man, under the circumstances, they did pretty darn good. Spain was great that year, and we had to beat them [to reach the semifinals], Tim Duncan fouled out of every game, hardly got to play.

Collins: [Duncan] got so frustrated he said, "I'll never play in the Olympics again."

David Stern, NBA commissioner (1984-2014): 2004 affected our thinking about this whole Olympic experience because it became clear that even though we were trying to be good partners and leave it to USA Basketball, that [the NBA] was going to ultimately get blamed for anything that happened. So we made the determination that we had to take a more active role in the entire Olympic experience.

Scola: That's what they needed. That tournament was what they needed to say, "Enough is enough, we are going to put effort in this."

Colangelo's first move as the head of USA Basketball was to call a gathering of basketball minds to discuss what reforms were necessary and to name a coach who would lead the team in future Olympic and world championship competitions.

Colangelo: When David Stern called me back in '05, I was home recovering from prostate cancer after having sold the Suns. It was a traumatic year for me, '04. So David called, saying, "Would you take over USA Basketball?" And I said, "Sure, two conditions: full autonomy -- I pick the coaches and the players. No more committees or politics." And he said, "Absolutely, you got it, what's No. 2?" and I said, "I don't want to hear about a budget." And he went off ranting and raving and I let him go and I said, "Are you finished?" and he acquiesced.

Stern: He took it very seriously, and you know, he announces to the world in every interview: He said he had complete freedom and his budget was complete, and that he could spare no expenditure. If you put me up against the wall under oath I would nitpick that somewhat, but he was perfect because he was respected and devoted and he went about putting together the team the way it should be.

"It always haunts me because my dream was to win a gold medal, but the way I look at life is, the things that I've accomplished, people where I'm from don't even get to the doorstep of doing anything like that. So I thank God that I had the opportunity to do it, but yeah, it still bothered me." Allen Iverson, on winning bronze in the 2004 Olympics

Colangelo: If you were a basketball fly on the wall, you couldn't have picked a better place to be. I called a meeting in Chicago of former Olympic coaches and athletes, and I held it at the Italian American Sports Hall of Fame on Taylor Street and, with the exception of Pete Newell, from the '60 team, who was recovering from cancer surgery, and Bobby Knight, who was on some fishing trip or something, which disappointed me, every other [Olympic] coach was there going back to 1960. Larry Brown wasn't, 'cause he was coaching in the playoffs I think, but you name 'em, they were all there -- Lenny [Wilkens], Chuck Daly, Rudy [Tomjanovich], and on. Then I had athletes like Jerry West and Michael Jordan. We had 30-some people there. I wanted to pick their brains out of respect for them, bringing the basketball people together to have this discussion. I had each one of them talk. What was your experience as an Olympian? How do you see things? What do you think needs to happen? Everyone had a chance to speak. It was great stuff, and once all that was over with I said, "Well, now let's talk about coaches."

Stern: Only someone with Jerry's gravitas could have selected a coach not from the NBA ranks, but from the college ranks.

Colangelo: I put some college coaches up on the board and I put some pro coaches up on the board, and I let people speak. And I remember, this was a great moment: Dean Smith said, "There's only one college coach up there that could get the job done, and that's Coach K." His biggest rival was [Mike Krzyzewski]. But, out of respect, Dean Smith made his point. Now, going into that meeting, I had two names in my mind. It was Popovich on the pro side and it was Coach K on the college side. [Krzyzewski] was an Army, West Point guy, and Popovich had a lot of the same stuff. So when you talk about a couple of candidates, you couldn't go wrong.

Thorn: [Colangelo] went against the grain of a lot of people in the NBA thinking, "Why should you get a college coach to do it?" But obviously it's worked out very well.

Mike Krzyzewski, Team USA head coach since 2008: You know, I think a really good head coach understands that it's not just his voice that the team needs to hear. In fact, a team might get tired of just hearing one voice, and so you want people around you who are smart, loyal, prepared, and then you have to give them an opportunity to express themselves. And a number of times they'll say it better than you, or say it with more passion, or it might be received better than what you said because you've said too much. You know, there's an on-off switch that players have -- like how much are you willing to listen to today from me? And then maybe another message might be able to come across because it's done by Jim Boeheim, Tom Thibodeau or Monty Williams. Or you ask a player and they might say it, and they might say it in a language that's better than yours.

One of the most significant challenges Colangelo and Krzyzewski faced was convincing American players that international competition meant as much as winning an NBA championship. In the decade after the Dream Team won gold in Barcelona, fans and players began taking it for granted that any team full of American NBA players could dominate European and South American rivals. When that was proved wrong in 2002 and 2004, Colangelo looked to reestablish the patriotism and sense of mission around USA Basketball -- to make representing one's country feel like an honor and a duty, and to make it cool again.

Charles Barkley, 1992 and 1996 Olympic gold medalist: There's nothing like the patriotism that goes on during the Olympics, because the first thing you realize -- we're the least patriotic country in the world. What I mean by that is, when you go there, everybody has a flag on their back. It was a great honor to put the "USA" on your chest, but the really cool thing about the Olympics was to see how the other countries love their players.

Kevin Durant, 2012 and 2016 Olympic gold medalist: [In] 2010, that was my first taste of [international] competition and what opened my eyes were the other countries. We played against Lithuania and the whole arena had flags out, singing their national anthem, and they had so much pride. You could tell that's what brought the whole country together. And here in the States it's kind of a shame that that doesn't unite us as well. I know our country is one of the most powerful in the world, but it feels like our states are divided. Stuff like that should bring us closer. It brought France closer, it brought Spain closer, it brought Lithuania closer. Turkey, they were celebrating 'cause they won the silver medal. If we'd have won silver as Americans? We would have got -- we would have been labeled as the worst team ever.

Simmons: The '04 Olympic team was kinda the culmination of people making decisions about what's good for their brand and not 'cause they love basketball. It was like they weren't playing for their country, they weren't part of a bigger plan, they were there because the shoe company was happy that they were there or because they wanted to be there from an ego. Nobody was there to win the gold medal.

Thorn: When you really look at it, players give up a lot [to compete internationally]. The season is forever and they give up their summer to play on the USA team. Conversely, they can make huge names for themselves, but you're asking players to do a lot, and if you go back historically I can remember when Bill Walton didn't play in the Olympics, Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] wouldn't play in the Olympics.

James: I think foreign players feel differently about the NBA as far as winning a championship compared to winning a gold medal and playing for their country. I think as kids in America and as an African-American kid, your whole mindset growing up is "I wanna be in the NBA." You don't really understand the importance playing for your country. It's not preached about, it's not talked about, it's not shown.

Tom Thibodeau, Team USA assistant (2016): Jerry Colangelo, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim -- they brought the patriotism back to it. I think all our players feel very strongly about representing our country. The pride is there now. I had the opportunity in my first year as head coach in Chicago of watching Derrick [Rose] participate, and I saw when he came back, the pride he had in winning the gold.

Chris Paul, 2008 and 2012 Olympic gold medalist: When I play for the Los Angeles Clippers, do Boston fans cheer for the Clippers? No. When you play on the USA team, everybody comes together. There's no other team like that. When you go to opening ceremonies, you get goose bumps, like this is the biggest team that you're on in life.

The first test of Team USA under Colangelo and Krzyzewski came in the 2006 FIBA World Championships, held in Japan, where an American team featuring James, Anthony, Paul, Wade and Dwight Howard remained undefeated until the semifinal round, where it suffered an upset loss to Greece, which played a near-perfect game, shooting 62.5% from the field. The loss showed that even with buy-in from many of the best American NBA players, international teams could still compete on even terms, and sometimes beat them.

Paul: I was on the team in '06. We lost to Greece, and I lie to you not, we didn't wanna come home. I'm telling you, we did not wanna come home. That's one of the toughest losses that I've ever felt.

Anthony Davis, 2012 Olympic gold medalist: Coach K, he's so passionate about Team USA and being able to represent his country. He didn't want us to forget why we're there, so that side comes out to remind us, "All right, guys, even though we feel like we can beat anybody, we still gotta come out and play, because anybody can get hot." He always brings up '06 in Greece when they lost, that guys was playin' and they came out and then fell behind. So he tries to make sure we on that right page and that right mindset going into games.

Krzyzewski: A lot of times you have to beat human nature. Your opponent is not the other team, it's human nature: Has your team played three games in a week? Are guys coming with injuries? Have you won, so now are you just expecting to win? Is your best player going through a high or a low? Those are the opponents you have to beat -- the human-nature opponents -- before you ever get on a court and beat another opponent.

By the time the 2008 Beijing Olympics rolled around, Team USA had two more years of preparation under its belt, and was ready to reassert America's supremacy over world basketball. The "Redeem Team" cruised to the gold-medal game, where clutch play from Kobe Bryant helped the United States defeat Spain and win its first major international championship since the 2000 Sydney Olympics. USA Basketball hasn't lost since, racking up golds in the 2010 and 2014 FIBA World Championships as well as the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games.

Simmons: The '08 Olympics -- one of my favorite games that nobody ever talks about. When USA beat Spain [for the gold medal], it got super tense in the last 10 minutes. Guys got tight. I call it the frozen face. And Kobe, to his credit, he's like: "I got this. I'm gonna take it." He went out and made a couple big shots and they won, but you need that guy.

Jim Boeheim, Team USA assistant since 2008: Spain, they think they can beat us. They really do. They've got the Gasols, they've got great guards that play overseas and in the league. They're a quality team and they've been playing together since they were young kids. We'll play them time and time again, and they're certainly right now the team that is the toughest to beat in the world.

Colangelo: When we won the gold medal, there was a moment when the medals were being distributed, "The Star-Spangled Banner" was being played, the flag being raised. It was a moment of total fulfillment, because few people in life have the opportunity to have a plan, watch it executed perfectly, get the desired result, and it was that moment. It doesn't get any better than that.

Durant: I was disappointed not making the [2008] Olympic team. I felt I played my way onto the team. Nobody really expected me to play that well in the practices, but I was 19 and I felt like I got snubbed. I felt disrespected, and I was like, "Nah, this can't go down like that. It's not happening again." I was just so upset that I wasn't part of the Redeem Team. You could tell those guys had so much fun playing with each other and I wanted that even if I was on the bench. I just wanted to learn, soak that energy up from those guys.

Krzyzewski: When we won in 2012 in London, it was a great win because it came after a strike-shortened season where a number of the guys that were on that team from Oklahoma City and Miami actually played in the [NBA] championship. And a week after they played that series, they were getting ready for the Olympics. So we were dealing with a team that was mentally and physically fried. We had to keep them energized, focused, and they did a great job, but we had to make a lot of adjustments to make sure that would happen.

Paul: Coolest thing we did, I think it was the 2012 Olympics. One of the very first practices, Coach K rolled out a TV in front of us and he played the Marvin Gaye national anthem [from the 1983 NBA All-Star Game], which to me is the best national anthem ever sang. He played it for us before our first practice, and just to see our team and how everybody just was like, "Let's go, let's go!" It's something I'll never forget, and once we started playing games, before the next game there would be a little highlight tape from the previous game, and in the locker room they would play it over the national anthem before every one of our games.

Davis: 2012 for Team USA was unbelievable. I got drafted and went to New Orleans first, and I still thought I wasn't ready to even go into the league. I was the No. 1 pick so there was a lot of pressure on me, so I go to the coach [Monty Williams]'s office, I'm like: "Coach, I'm not feeling this. I'd rather be here and work with the guys [in New Orleans]." Coach Mont said, "Nope, you're going to Team USA. It's a great experience and you will be a better player being around all them guys and coaches." So I gotta do it.

James: It started with Jerry Colangelo, down to Coach K and our coaching staff, and then me as one of the team leaders, and it just trickled down to everybody else.

Davis: I was looking up to LeBron when I was in college, and six months later he's my teammate. At that time, I was definitely starstruck. And all those guys, now you get a chance to play with them, see how they are on the floor, see what they see. They tell you, "AD, go set the screen, I'll throw the lob," and they're doing it! LeBron, he's throwing lobs -- it's actually happening! That was like the best feeling ever.

Durant: In London, it was such a team environment it was scary. You got the biggest stars in the game in one room -- global brands -- and you got so much sacrifice. James Harden, he had just come off of Sixth Man of the Year and you seen that he was ready to take the next step, and he sat the bench. He didn't complain, he didn't mope around, he was like, "All right, we're gonna get this gold medal, 'cause at the end nobody gonna care who was the leading scorer on this team." Anthony Davis was there. He was a rookie, he soaked up everything, and look at him now. We had Kobe Bryant, who went games without shooting the ball. [Andre] Iguodala came off the bench, Tyson Chandler -- we had so many great players and we played against some good teams. We had some close games, but nobody cared who took the shots, nobody cared who was the leader. Everybody had a voice. It was like, "If we get this gold medal, then who cares?"

KEELING, Va. -- Tampa Bay Rays minor leaguer Blake Bivens said his "heart was turned to ash" when his wife, 1-year-old son and mother-in-law were killed this week.

"My life as I knew it is destroyed," the 24-year-old pitcher wrote Thursday night in an Instagram post, his first public statement since the slayings. "The pain my family and I feel is unbearable and cannot be put into words. I shake and tremble at the thought of our future without them."

Two days ago my heart was turned to ash. My life as I knew it is destroyed. The pain my family and I feel is unbearable and cannot be put into words. I shake and tremble at the thought of our future without them.... https://t.co/StvSMk8OQr

— Blake Bivens (@blakebbins) August 30, 2019

Bivens flew from a road trip back to southern Virginia when he learned of Tuesday's tragedy. He was accompanied by Montgomery Biscuits manager Morgan Ensberg.

"It was awful," Ensberg said. "Blake is an incredibly strong man. He's an incredibly strong man, and he went through just a rotation of tearing up, and then he would shake and then he would just stare.

"I didn't let him out of my sight."

The 18-year-old brother of Bivens' wife has been charged with first-degree murder in the slayings, which have shocked Bivens' coaches, teammates and the community where his family lived.

"You don't wish this on any community, any family," Pittsylvania County Sheriff Mike Taylor said. "We're a small community. It affects us all."

Bivens posted a series of photos of his wife, Emily; 14-month-old son, Cullen; and mother-in-law, Joan Bernard.

"Emily, my sweetheart, you are the best wife and mother this world has ever seen," he wrote. "You made me into the man I am today and you loved me with all of my flaws. You brought our precious baby boy into this world and made our family complete. Your love and kindness changed countless lives, including mine."

Of Cullen, Bivens wrote: "I can't breathe without you here" and, "I finally understood what love was when you were born and I would have done anything for you."

Court documents released Thursday revealed new details in the slayings but did not explain what could have driven 18-year-old Matthew Bernard to allegedly kill his sister, nephew and mother.

In Montgomery, Alabama, the Biscuits -- a Double-A affiliate of the Rays -- painted "BIV" on the ground behind home plate before a game against Pensacola. They were to hold a moment of silence before the game, with another planned before the Rays' home game Friday against the Cleveland Indians.

For Blake. pic.twitter.com/nLYL7TnTdZ

— Montgomery Biscuits (@BiscuitBaseball) August 29, 2019

"Nobody's thinking about baseball," Ensberg said.

Montgomery pitching coach R.C. Lichtenstein remembers pregame moments when Bivens would walk over to see his wife and hold Cullen.

Biscuits pitcher Ryan Thompson said Bivens' family was on his mind "all the time."

"His family was everything to him," said an emotional Thompson, who described Bivens as a close friend with a "hilarious" sense of humor.

"He never lets the game get in the way of who he is as a human being. He's such a great guy, and something like this couldn't happen to a better human being," Thompson said.

According to the complaint filed against Bernard, the teenager's rampage began Tuesday morning at a neighbor's house. Bernard punched the neighbor in the arm and then ran away, police said.

The neighbor then heard gunshots at the house next door, police said. The neighbor drove to the house and found a woman's body in the driveway. Inside, she found the other two bodies.

Officers found two victims with gunshot wounds to the head and rifle shell casings near all three bodies.

A rifle was found in a wooded area behind the house and a sledgehammer with blood was found in the garage, the court documents said.

The criminal complaint did not offer any motive for the killings, and authorities have declined to comment.

After the bodies were discovered, a manhunt brought as many as 100 officers to Keeling, a tiny community near the North Carolina border.

Bernard emerged naked from the woods about four hours later, running past TV cameras to a church parking lot, where he was recorded trying to choke a church caretaker.

An officer used pepper spray and struck Bernard with a baton before he was captured, officials said.

Bernard banged his head against the cage in a police vehicle after being taken into custody and was taken to a hospital for treatment, police said. He was released and was in jail Thursday, where he was being held without bail and kept on suicide watch, police said.

A celebration-of-life service for the slain family members is planned for Saturday.

A vigil was held at The River Church in Danville, Virginia, on Wednesday night. Senior pastor Jackie Poe led those in attendance in prayer for the Bivens and Bernard families.

Avery Stevens, pastor of Keeling Baptist Church, said he was in his office where he also works as an insurance agent when he saw the television coverage of Bernard's capture near his church.

"This is a small, rural community, pretty quiet most of the time like most small, rural communities. But the fact of the matter is, it can happen anywhere, and right there at the doorstep," he said.

"Pray for the family," he said. "Praying for the community. Praying for healing."

Massive response to global project designed to attract new players
By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor

With World Squash Day six weeks away, England Squash are leading the way with their support for a massive global project designed to grow participation numbers.

At the time of writing, 120 clubs have signed up to take part in events design to attract new players to a sport renowned for its enormous health and fitness benefits.

World Squash Day takes place on Saturday October 12th and England Squash have teamed up with leading brand Karakal to offer clubs a massive equipment bag containing 18 rackets plus a £250 grant to be used for ongoing development projects.

In a statement, England Squash said: “We are thrilled to see so many clubs in England have signed up to host a World Squash Day event. We have set an ambitious target to engage 5,000 people on court on the day and those clubs involved will play a key role in achieving this.

“In the lead-up to the big day, we are supporting clubs with our enhanced World Squash Day toolkit which features a host of downloads and resources to support and promote their activities – from top tips on staging a successful event to downloadable social media images and proposed posts.

“We are also offering clubs the chance to apply for a £250 grant to kick-start new activities post their World Squash Day events.

“For any clubs who have not registered a World Squash Day event with us there’s still time, along with the opportunity to receive £400 worth of kit from our World Squash Day partner Karakal.”

To register a World Squash Day event in England, and to access the toolkit, clubs can visit englandsquash.com/worldsquashday

The ambitious Brackley club, in Northamptonshire, are planning a special campaign around World Squash Day.

They have launched a crowd-funding scheme to add at least two new courts and aim to raise £70,000 before World Squash Day via this link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/1q7sxwxt9c

For the latest news on World Squash Day, please visit: 
www.worldsquashday.net

Graphic courtesy of England Squash