MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Despite lingering injuries suffered in a plane crash, Dale Earnhardt Jr. confirmed Wednesday in a post on Twitter that he still plans to race at Darlington Raceway on Aug. 31.

Earnhardt previously announced he would be competing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington as part of the popular throwback weekend at the South Carolina track.

The retired NASCAR Cup Series star and NASCAR on NBC broadcaster was involved in a plane crash at Tennessee’s Elizabethton Municipal Airport on Aug. 15. Earnhardt, his wife Amy, daughter Isla, family dog and two pilots all escaped serious injury in the crash.

However, Earnhardt confirmed in a Twitter post Wednesday evening that he was still suffering from minor injuries as a result of the crash. Despite that, he said he still plans to race at Darlington.

Yes. I plan on driving still. My lower back is bruised up real bad. Lots of swelling and I just need that to go down and the pain to chill out. I been treating the area every day solely to get well to race. I have a plan B but hope not to use it. https://t.co/O1J7jZU4kR

— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) August 22, 2019

NAPLES, Maine – With a few days left before on track activity begins at Oxford Plains Speedway for the 46th annual Oxford 250 and hundreds of campers already dotting the property, Pro All Stars Series super late model teams are making final preparations for one of the biggest events on the racing calendar.

While many eyes will be on Georgia’s Bubba Pollard as he attempts to defend his Oxford 250 crown, the short track star might not enter Sunday’s race as the favorite.

Curtis Gerry, the 2017 winner, has concentrated all his efforts on competing at Oxford Plains this season, with several wins in weekly competition and a PASS North win there as well.

Championship contender Garrett Hall sits 15 points behind the three-time PASS North titlist D.J. Shaw, largely in part due to his two wins at Oxford Plains earlier this year.  After advancing from the last chance race a year ago before going on to win the 250, Pollard is still the driver many feel will be the one to beat in 2019.

“Before the race I was a nervous wreck just not knowing what to expect or how these guys race,” said Pollard, who will be driving the Harrison’s Workwear Ford No. 26.  “After we started and got about 50 laps in, I was like, these guys are good and race with respect. I had a blast.”

Pollard has won virtually every major super late model event from Florida to Washington state and even Canada. With nearly 100 checkered flags over the last decade and more accolades than one could count, Pollard says his experience at the 2018 Oxford 250 was an eye opener.

“I’ve traveled up and down the road and raced at a lot of places, but the Oxford 250 is probably the coolest race I’ve ever been a part of,” said Pollard. “I’m excited to get there this weekend and race in front of that awesome crowd.

Competitors will once again have the opportunity to race for one of the richest winner’s purses in asphalt short track racing, with $25,000 to win, plus an additional $25,000 in lap leader money. Pollard took home more than $28,000 last year for his efforts in becoming the first southern driver to win the race since Tommy Ellis in 1983.

While no one in the last two decades has led more than Joey Polewarcyzk Jr.’s 205 laps in 2012, if a driver could somehow manage to lead all 250 laps, they would take home $50,000 for the win.

In 2010, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was all about calming fears.

At his state of the league address in Chicago, he stated that the NHL was growing, albeit "not as strong perhaps in terms of the speed of growth that we were seeing and would like to continue to see as it was before the economic downturn." He said the Coyotes were staying in Arizona, the Hurricanes weren't leaving Raleigh, North Carolina, and the Islanders were safe in New York. (Ironically, no one asked about the Atlanta Thrashers.) He defended the idea of multiple outdoor games in a season, which the NHL was attempting for the first time. He called the 2010 Vancouver Olympics a "mixed bag" for the NHL, because apparently some things never change.

About a decade later, the NHL is in a much different place. Revenues for the 2017-18 season were $4.86 billion, up from $2.9 billion in 2009-10. The action on the ice in the NHL has arguably never been better, thanks to rules changes that emphasized speed and an influx of elite offensive talent to exploit them. Relocation talk has quieted, while two new expansion teams were added. Things are, by and large, pretty good.

It's not a utopia. The NHL remains plagued with player safety issues, part of an ongoing identity crisis for a league built on bloody rivalries that have become much more pallid. There's debate about everything from video reviews to the playoff format. There's still much work to be done to grow the game.

But the NHL did a lot of growing in the past 10 years.

Below are 10 sweeping changes and trends in the NHL as this decade nears its close. Keep in mind that this is an NHL-centric list, so it doesn't cover landmark moments like the U.S. women's national team fighting for equality and winning Olympic gold, or the historic formation of two professional women's leagues. There's plenty to the story of hockey in the past decade beyond the league.

Here's a look back at how the NHL changed in the past decade, and a look ahead at what will happen next for the league. It's going to be a fascinating next 10 years.

Click here to skip ahead:

• Offense surges; fighting disappears

• The Department of Player Safety

• The 2013 CBA

• The league addresses the concussion epidemic

• The digital and social media boom

• Embrace of the analytics revolution

• Realignment and the wild cards

• 3-on-3 overtime/expanded video review

• Thrashers end; Jets, Golden Knights and Seattle begin

• Legalized sports wagering

Offense surges; fighting disappears

What happened: The change wasn't immediate. In 2008-09, the average goals per team in the NHL was 2.91. It would actually take the league until 2017-18 to surpass that mark (2.97), as part of a four-season uptick in offense. Then, in 2018-19, the NHL broke through with a 3.01 goals-per-team average; excluding the post-lockout anomaly of 2005-06, it was the best offensive season the NHL had seen since Mario Lemieux led the league with 161 points and teams averaged 3.14 goals in 1995-96.

What led to the goal-scoring outburst? There were plenty of theories, including subtle rules enforcement changes for slashing and net-front defense and improvements in special-teams scoring. But it may have been as simple as the perfect confluence of offensive-friendly systems arriving as an influx of spectacularly creative young talents -- Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel, Patrik Laine among them -- arrived on the scene.

As pucks flew into the net with renewed regularity, fists flying between players continued a steep decline. In 2008-09, there were 734 fights in the NHL. That number dropped every season of the following decade all the way down to 224 fights in 2018-19, a nadir for the league. In 2008-09, 41.4 percent of regular-season games had a fight. Last season, just 15.3 percent of games had one.

One of the reasons John Scott's unlikely election to the 2016 All-Star Game resonated with fans was because he was one of the last traditional enforcers left in the NHL. It was a moment to celebrate a role that had been slowly eliminated from teams, and the cult status of the players whose particular set of skills was no longer needed.

What happens next: Offensive numbers will continue to climb in the short term, until teams begin to course-correct with more defensive systems. It's an inevitable circle of life in the NHL: Scoring goes up, then it goes down, and then the league changes or reinforces its rules to balloon goal scoring again.

Fighting won't see the same boomerang effect, continuing to decline precipitously. "No, I don't ever see it reversing," former NHL pugilist Matthew Barnaby told ESPN last month. "It's the way teams are being built. And having coached junior, it's not a part of that culture anymore, with all the rules in place."

The Department of Player Safety

What happened: In 2011, future Hockey Hall of Famer Brendan Shanahan was deputized by Bettman to head up the new Department of Player Safety, which would oversee supplemental discipline for on-ice incidents. But Shanahan didn't simply want to hand out suspensions. His initial aim was twofold: Educate players on the proper way to play the modern game, using video explanations of suspensions to break down what was and wasn't allowed; and target those repeat offenders whom the NHL was suspending with frequency.

Under Shanahan, Stephane Quintal and current director George Parros, the Department of Player Safety has policed the NHL effectively but not without controversy, as cries of favoritism and inconsistency have dogged it for years. The players' ability to appeal suspensions of six or more games to a neutral arbitrator further complicated things. But the number of catastrophic hits to the head, and annual offenders, has dropped during the department's era.

What happens next: Parros is eventually succeeded by another player who competed on the edge of legality, but the department adds new voices in players who were better known for taking injurious hits than delivering them.

The NHL makes the neutral arbitration process, in which it has taken a few losses, an issue in the next collective bargaining talks.

The 2013 CBA

What happened: If there's a collective bargaining agreement expiring and Gary Bettman is the commissioner, you know what happened: a lockout, in this case spanning 113 days and forcing the cancellation of 510 games. But after the dust settled and the pain subsided, the NHL had ratified a new agreement that established a few key elements which shaped the league for the rest of the decade:

• The end of back-diving contracts, as a maximum 50% variance in salaries over the course of the contract ended the practice of embarrassingly low final contract years used to circumvent the salary cap.

• The "Roberto Luongo Rule," in which teams that had issued and were paying out those circumventing contracts would be punished through "recapture" penalties.

• Contract term limits, as teams could re-sign their own players to a maximum of eight years and sign free agents to a max of seven years.

• The ability to retain salary in trades, which significantly changed the transactions market (and the frequency of our visits to independent sites Cap Geek and Cap Friendly).

• A 50/50 split in revenue between players and owners that would impact escrow withholdings.

Unlike after the canceled 2004-05 season, the fans returned quickly when the lockout ended. By the end of the decade, revenues continued to climb and the salary cap had gone from $64.3 million in 2013 to $81.5 million by 2019.

What happens next: The NHL and the NHLPA both have a chance to reopen the CBA this September before its 2022 expiration, but there are other options being considered, including an extension on the current deal. Among the sticking points: escrow payments and the future of international play, including an in-season World Cup and Olympic participation.

The league addresses the concussion epidemic

What happened: The word "epidemic" was used with some frequency to describe concussions in the NHL, at a time when the sports world as a whole was wising up to the deleterious effects of contact sports on the human brain. From Bob Probert's posthumous diagnosis of CTE in 2010 through the tragic losses of players like Derek Boogaard, Todd Ewen and Steve Montador, it was a decade defined by a growing awareness of concussions and mounting pressure on the NHL -- from legislators and lawyers -- to do something about it.

In March 2011, the league's first big step was a revision to the Protocol for Concussion Evaluation and Management, in which players who were suspected of having suffered a concussion were sent to "the quiet room" for evaluation by a physician. In 2016, that protocol was expanded to include "spotters" in the arena and watching games on television, who could demand a player showing concussion symptoms be pulled from the game for evaluation.

Even with the best intentions, the system was flawed, as players willfully hid symptoms, teams appeared to speed up the evaluation process and players who entered the protocol were later seen as damaged goods. Meanwhile, vocal critics of the NHL, many of whom joined an ill-fated class action suit, demanded help for former players battling health issues as well as increased concussion awareness for today's talents.

What happens next: The NHL and NHLPA will further their partnership on concussion education, as seen in this 2019 video, while linkage between CTE and contact sports -- a link thus far denied by Bettman at every turn, despite its being acknowledged in other sports -- will be further established as more subjects become available for study.

The digital and social media boom

What happened: NHL teams and players discovered the virtues, absurdities and pitfalls of social media.

Take the Los Angeles Kings and Columbus Blue Jackets, who in the early part of the decade were early adopters of the sassy, humorous tone that other teams would eventually emulate. (Or, in the case of the Golden Knights, amplify to the point of apology.) NHL players would use Twitter to add layers to their personalities (or in some cases, "brand") -- some, like Roberto Luongo and Paul Bissonnette, became as well known for their tweets as their on-ice accomplishments.

But social media wasn't without its drawbacks: Offensive tweets would haunt -- or come back to haunt -- players, with stars like Tyler Seguin claiming they were "hacked" to excuse offensive content.

There are other aspects to the digital and social media boom, including the fact that cameras are everywhere. Whether it's Connor McDavid awkwardly posing for airport photos or Patrick Kane on a college campus bender or Ottawa players trash-talking their coaches in an Uber, images and footage could and would go viral in an instant.

The NHL itself would also leverage social media, first by allowing fans to upload highlights and create GIFs from games, and then by adopting the practice itself. It would also embrace digital media, with a partnership with MLB Advanced Media that transformed the league's video and streaming efforts.

What happens next: New generations of NHL players adopt new forms of social media -- where are you, first rookie TikTok star? -- while teams and the league continue to utilize Twitter, Facebook and YouTube as means through which to offer original (and filtered) content to their customers.

As the next TV rights deal nears for the NHL, expect the league's streaming rights to be a hot property for companies looking to make a sports rights deal splash.

Embrace of the analytics revolution

What happened: To understand the expeditious rise of analytics in hockey over the past decade, consider this: A 2012 analytics panel at the MIT Sloan Conference featured noted mathematician Mike Milbury, as well as Brian Burke's infamous line: "Statistics are like a lamppost to a drunk: useful for support, but not for illumination."

Fast forward to 2019, and the NHL's Seattle expansion team was receiving widespread praise for hiring Alexandra Mandrycky as a director of hockey administration, after her three-year stint as an analyst with the Minnesota Wild ended and following her run as co-founder of the War On Ice analytics site. In the same summer, the New Jersey Devils made waves by hiring Tyler Dellow as VP of hockey analytics, a few years after he was a consultant for the Edmonton Oilers. In 2012, he was blogging about them.

Almost every NHL team has a public analytics analyst as of 2019. Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas famously assembled a full department to study them when he was hired. Fancy stats were the calling card of John Chayka when he became the youngest GM in NHL history with the Coyotes. Bloggers who touted possession stats, like Eric Tulsky and Tim Barnes, were snatched up by teams -- the Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals, in Tulsky's and Barnes' cases -- to improve theirs.

Meanwhile, fans and media have become more fluent in analytics, opening up new ways to analyze players or explain the plight of teams. Halfway through the decade, the NHL added possession metrics and other advanced stats to its database.

We've come a long way from the math vs. "eye test" wars.

What happens next: Teams will continue to hire the best and brightest to fill out their front offices with data analysts, and we'll see the first analytics hires climb the ladder to assistant general manager jobs. Meanwhile, the arrival of puck and player tracking will transform the way analytics data is collected and revolutionize the way we evaluate players, especially when it comes to goalies, aka those waiting for their moment in the analytics revolution.

Realignment and the wild cards

What happened: The 2009-10 NHL standings look nothing like the ones a decade later. The Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets were in the Western Conference. There were six divisions, and three of them were named the Southeast, Northeast and Northwest. The top eight teams in each conference made the playoffs.

Then, in 2013-14, a major change: The Wings and Jackets moved East, the league was split into four (sorta) geographically defined divisions and the playoff format shifted to six divisional qualifiers and two wild cards in each conference. How teams qualify for the playoffs would also change, as regulation and overtime wins became a primary tiebreaker, while shootouts' influence on the standings was diminished.

What happens next: Criticism of the current format will continue -- including the "stupidest thing ever" bracketing in the playoffs that frequently forces two of the top teams to face off in the first round -- until it's loud enough to force a change. However, a playoff expansion could also be on the horizon, as the bottom two seeds could end up in "play-in" games/series against the next two seeds.

The dawn of 3-on-3 overtime/expanded video review

What happened: In 2015, the NHL's board of governors approved two rules changes that altered the course of the rest of the decade. First, the league dispensed with 4-on-4 overtime in favor of a 3-on-3 format. The thought here was the open ice and back-and-forth nature of the 3-on-3 would produce more overtime goals and reduce the number of shootouts. The results were more kinetic than tedious, and soon the NHL All-Star Game was transformed into a 3-on-3 mini-tournament.

The board also approved a much more controversial innovation: the coach's challenge, which allowed teams to use video review to challenge goals scored on plays that might have been offside or involved goalie interference. The catalyst for the offside reviews was an embarrassing missed call on Colorado Avalanche center Matt Duchene in 2013; by 2019, the reviews were criticized for focusing on players who were "pixels" offside, rather than egregious violations. The reviews of goalie interference were seen as a boon to goaltenders; by 2019, the NHL was still struggling to define what exactly it looked like.

What happens next: The NHL announced in June that rather than reduce the scope of the coach's challenge, it was expanding it to include "missed stoppages in play." That includes hand passes and pucks played after hitting the protective netting, just two of several humiliating missed calls from officials during the 2019 postseason. Referees will also have a chance to check their work on "major and match penalties" and "friendly-fire" high sticks.

Will it end there? Probably not, as the genie has clearly left the bottle and Bettman has said he doesn't see rollback on reviews. As for 3-on-3 overtime, there have been no recent calls to banish it.

Thrashers end; Jets, Golden Knights and Seattle begin

What happened: The last decade without expansion or relocation in the NHL was the 1950s, and the 2010s kept the streak alive. The Atlanta Thrashers entered the league in 1999 and exited their city in 2011, when True North Sports & Entertainment purchased the struggling franchise to rechristen it as the second coming of the Winnipeg Jets. The Thrashers' legacy would be one of player exoduses and a 12-year existence without a playoff victory, having been swept by the Rangers in their only postseason series.

The Vegas Golden Knights, meanwhile, had the opposite expansion journey: making the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season (2017-18) after getting approved as the NHL's 31st franchise. A successful season-ticket drive that left casinos and major corporations out of the pool impressed the NHL board of governors, which awarded Vegas with a team while the Quebec City expansion bid fell short.

In 2019, the NHL accepted its 32nd franchise to the fold, as Seattle was approved by the board of governors to begin play in a renovated KeyArena in the 2021-22 season. Seattle was nearly an NHL city in 2013 had the Coyotes not agreed to a new lease with the city of Glendale. By the end of the decade, Arizona had gone from constant relocation bait to being a cap-ceiling team under new owner Alex Meruelo.

What happens next: All appears quiet on the expansion front after Seattle's entrance to the NHL, but if any current franchises are suddenly on unstable financial and ownership ground, Houston and Quebec are ready and waiting for a relocation.

Legalized sports wagering

What happened: It began when the Golden Knights entered the NHL. Betting on hockey at neighboring casinos by local and visiting hockey fans became part of the game-night experience. Vegas sportsbooks reported a previously unheard-of spike in hockey wagering, for a sport that had previously failed to inspire much action.

Then things got really interesting: In May 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was unconstitutional, opening up legalized sports wagering to all 50 states. Now, instead of the wink-wink betting of daily fantasy sports that the NHL had invested in, wagering on NHL games could become commonplace. Bettman, previously an opponent of legalized sports wagering on hockey, embraced it as a new avenue through which hockey could attract fans.

What happens next: Suffice it to say, the rollout of sports wagering has been methodical. Just 13 states including Nevada, as well as the District of Columbia, have legalized it, although dozens more are expected to do so in the near future.

The NHL, meanwhile, has been cutting licensing deals with sportsbooks; when all that player tracking data starts flowing in, get ready to wager on everything from location of shots to the speed of skaters.

LOS ANGELES - Carlos Vela's second goal in LAFC's 4-0 victory over San Jose Earthquakes on Wednesday may have been reminiscent of Lionel Messi, but coach Bob Bradley isn't getting carried away, or taking credit for the Mexico international's form.

Bradley garnered headlines after an ESPN+ documentary showed the head coach encouraging Vela to get as close to Messi's level as possible and the 30-year-old has certainly responded this season, netting twice against the Earthquakes and recording a goal or an assist every 55 minutes this season.

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"To be clear on this, it's 100 percent sure that Carlos isn't playing this well because I told him to be like Messi," Bradley said postmatch. "If it was that easy, I'd tell them all [to be like Messi], or I'd tell some to be like Xavi to spread it out a little bit."

Bradley said the comparison had been "blown out of proportion" but the point he was trying to stress appears to have reached the intended target.

"My point to Carlos was just that when you come to MLS you have to set the bar that high," Bradley added. "I've heard him say it, when he was in La Liga and there was Cristiano [Ronaldo] and Messi and some other guys, it's hard for him to think 'I want to be the best guy in the league.' But when he got here I wanted him to think: now is your chance [to be the best in the league]."

Vela stated in a news conference that it is difficult to affirm that this is the best form of his career because of the difficulty of playing in La Liga, but stressed the key to his 26 goals and 15 assists this season has been his happiness off the field.

Former U.S. national team head coach Bradley said Vela has taken on the responsibility of leading an LAFC side now preparing for Sunday's "El Trafico" against local rival LA Galaxy, who LAFC has never defeated.

"It means more, it's the emotion in the game, the intensity of the game, so far with all the things we've done we haven't beaten them so it's certainly something we're all thinking about," he said of Sunday's game. "So we've got to be ready and have a great go at it, enjoy it, try to take our football and put it out there knowing it's got to be with intensity, with concentration, with a lot of things, that's what derbies are all about. It should be a good night."

Earthquakes coach Matias Almeyda was sent off during the first half of the game and was left frustrated with the decision, but apologized for his reaction after receiving his marching orders.

"I lost my head and I publicly apologize," he told reporters.

The result leaves the Earthquakes in sixth position in the Western Conference, but without a victory now in four matches.

Inter Milan forward Romelu Lukaku has said he, Paul Pogba and Alexis Sanchez were the regular scapegoats during his time at Manchester United.

The Belgium international spent two seasons at Old Trafford, before leaving to sign for Antonio Conte at Inter this summer, while Pogba's long-term future is unclear having recently said it was time for a "new challenge," and sources have told ESPN FC the Nerazzurri are also keen to sign Sanchez.

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And Lukaku said the trio were the targets for blame during a difficult 2018-19 campaign for United.

"They have to find somebody [to blame]," Lukaku said on the LightHearted podcast. "Either it's Pogba, me or Alexis.

"It's always the three of us. So, for me, I just see it in many ways: a lot of people don't think I should be part of that system, that's my feeling. The conversations that I have, I just know. What makes me laugh is: how is s--- going bad with my team but, with my national team it's good?"

Lukaku, 26, also said one of the main reasons behind his exit from United was he felt a lack of protection.

"A lot of stuff was said: 'Rom's going to go there, the coach doesn't need him anymore, they want to sell him,'" he added. "That was about for a good three or four weeks.

"I'm waiting for somebody to come out and shut it down. It didn't happen, and then I had my conversation and I told him what I said. I told him it's better to go our separate ways, because if you guys don't want to protect somebody but you guys say you want to keep him, if all the rumours come out -- I just wanted a bit of protection.

"It never happened. All I heard was: 'He's got to go, he doesn't deserve to be there blah blah blah.' If it's like that so be it, I want to go now."

At Inter, Lukaku will play under Conte, who he recently described as "the best manager in the world," and said the Italian has tried to sign him on several occasions over the past six years.

"Antonio Conte wanted me bad -- he even wanted me when was at Juventus in 2013," he said. "We have a really good relationship, we have the same agent.

"His playing style, for his team, he needed me."

Anderlecht player-manager Vincent Kompany is giving up some match-day duties after a winless start in the Belgian Pro League.

Assistant coach Simon Davies has said he will now take responsibility for tactical changes and substitutions, while Kompany will step up on the field as captain.

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Kompany has overseen two draws and two defeats, including a second-half slump at Kortrijk last weekend in a 4-2 loss. Anderlecht sit 13th in the 16-team league.

Davies said the new system starts at defending champion Genk on Friday.

The coach, who followed Kompany from Manchester City in the summer, said "we need some stability" and added that his boss is "really going to concentrate on being the player on match day."

This decision comes following criticism in Belgium after Kompany was accused of taking on too big of a role.

Kompany will not be able to oversee his coaching duties while he is with the Belgium national side, following his recent call up, while the four-time Premier League winner also has his Manchester City testimonial on Sept. 11.

Anderlecht signed Samir Nasri and Kemar Roofe this summer, while former City teammate Craig Bellamy joined his coaching staff.

SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND -- Bramall Lane, home of Sheffield United and the oldest field for professional football in the world, is far from a palace. It's not a temple, either. It's not a cathedral or a theater or another gleaming monument to the modern corporate game. Since ground was first broken here for sport in 1855 -- and local hearts for many of the bleak years after -- it has remained what it always has been: a factory.

Freshly promoted to the Premier League, United had to pour £5 million into their ancient ground to meet the requirements of their posher new peers, accustomed to glass houses: new floodlights, new press room, new TV studios. "We've tidied it up a bit," Chris Wilder, United's plain-spoken manager, said with a smile before the first top-flight match at Bramall Lane, or anywhere else in Sheffield, since 2007.

But the home of the Blades is still sheathed with brick and corrugated steel, protected from the rain by willpower and coats of red paint. It still sits among terraced houses and working-class merchants, Star Electrical Supplies and R. Mortimer & Son, French Polishers. It is still named for a family of metal tool manufacturers.

Bramall Lane is still glassless. It reflects nothing but defiance.

Crystal Palace, the first of United's better class of visitors, arrived last Sunday afternoon in their polished black coach. By the stoic standards of South Yorkshire, the welcome was festive. Hawkers sold commemorative scarves and T-shirts that read Pride of Sheffield and Back in the Big Leagues. Banners flapped from the lampposts: We Are Premier League.

Even the sun was shining. Manchester City and the other United; Liverpool and Arsenal; Chelsea and Spurs -- they are all on their way. The Blades are among the giants. That means Sheffield, the city, can stand with them, too. That was Sunday's easy, feel-good narrative: Together, club and city have risen and returned, end of story.

Of course, Chris Wilder knows better. He was born in Sheffield in 1967 and grew up to play for his boyhood side during challenging times. "I don't really want to talk about all that stuff," he said. "Every football club has dark days." Wilder thrilled in his restoration of better feelings since he became manager in 2016, in his lifting the Blades from League One to the Premier League in only three seasons. The euphoria ended even more quickly. By close to unanimous consent, Wilder's club isn't predicted just to be relegated this season. They're doomed to finish dead last.

"Modern-day football isn't emotional, is it?" Wilder said. "I do believe when standards rise, your standards rise. We're realists as well. We understand what's coming and what might happen. How do we overcome that? Of course, it's a bear pit. It's brutal."

He paused, as though for the first time he wondered how he could ever account for the coming costs of his success, the balance he will have to find between a reverence for the past and the ruthlessness demanded by the future. He shrugged.

"But it's the place to be," he said.

In some ways, Bramall Lane is the last remnant of an otherwise vanished civilization. Like so many northern towns, Sheffield has been forced by time and the world to change what it is and how it sees itself.

The onetime global supplier of guns and bells and knives endured twin miseries in the 1970s and '80s: Both of its defining industries, steel and coal, went into steep, unstoppable decline. In the midst of violent strikes and closures, tens of thousands of Sheffield's proud residents were forced to flee. If rust had a kingdom, the Steel City had become its capital.

Sheffield's pair of former football powers, Wednesday and United, decayed with it. They no longer offered escape; they became grim reminders of how things fall apart. Wednesday, older and more storied than United, haven't played in the top flight for 19 seasons. The Blades -- named for the cutlery that Sheffield no longer produces -- have been mostly absent since 1976. Their last stay 12 years ago was measured in months. Bramall Lane has remained a factory, but it has made misery more than anything else.

This city nonetheless maintains a strange pride in the agents that betrayed it. United's motto, "Forged in Steel," could seem almost ironic during its losing years. To a visitor, Sheffield's continued celebration of industry is like watching a friend never get over the lover who left, but there is also a palpable, opposing desire for reinvention. A hub for higher education, today's Sheffield has a reputation for molding young minds instead of metal. Its former steelworks and warehouses have become offices and lofts; the last of its monstrous Bessemer converters has been turned into a magnificent museum piece. It has new pedestrian malls and public art. Now it also has top-flight football, and with it comes Chris Wilder's conundrum. It's a version of his city's own dilemmas, the questions asked of everyone who needs or wants to be better.

Who were you? Who are you? And who will you choose to be?

Last year, United's usual captain was local hero Billy Sharp. At 33, he had waited a very long time for his first significant taste of the Premier League -- often lost in the lower leagues despite his touch for goal -- and he was a principal reason the Blades would now have it. Headed to their opening match, away against Bournemouth on Aug. 18, there was speculation whether he would start. United had signed 10 new players over the summer, including Callum Robinson and Oli McBurnie, spending a combined £45 million and breaking the club record for a single transfer fee four times. There was only so much room on the pitch.

Wilder said what a man in his position is expected to say. He insisted that there was no place for sentiment in his decisions. Nostalgia never conquers new ground. United needed the points. He would go with his best 11 men.

Still, nobody really believed that he wouldn't start Billy Sharp.

He did not start Billy Sharp. His former captain came on as a substitute. Angered and perhaps inspired by the snub, he scored in the 88th minute to earn a 1-1 draw against the Cherries. The ecstatic celebration in the away end -- "absolute carnage," Wilder called it -- soon gave way to dressing-room glares and an awkward, stony silence.

Is this who you're choosing to be?

It's the best football in the world, but it's still a game with heart at its center. For every Billy Sharp left on the bench, there is an Ollie Norwood brought into the brightest, warmest light, a hard-luck case finally come through.

Norwood, a small, shyly spoken midfielder, was a long-term product of Manchester United's academy. In 2012, when Sir Alex Ferguson told him that there would never be a spot for him at Old Trafford, his farewell ended with an encouraging word: Norwood would no doubt play with the best for another club. He was 21.

He came close twice before this season. First he helped Brighton to promotion, but he was loaned out to make room for new signings. The same happened the next year with Fulham: Norwood was up, and then he was out.

Despite becoming a stalwart at Sheffield United last season, he spent his summer worried whether again he would be found not quite good enough. Wilder had told Norwood during the promotion celebrations that he need not worry. "I didn't know if he meant it," Norwood said, "because we were drunk at the time."

Wilder did mean it. In the first week at Bournemouth, Norwood, now 28, put on the captain's armband before he ran onto the pitch as though on air.

"It's taken a bit longer than I would have liked," he said after. "But it was a dream come true."

Dreaming might be the most mysterious thing we do to ourselves, a gift and a curse. Dreams come from within us, so they are ours and ours alone, but they happen to us. We don't always invite their presence, and yet there they are, delivered by one part of our minds to another. Some of them are magical. In them, we can perform feats of strength that we never could in reality. In dreams, we can fly. We can be young again. The dead can come back to life. Dreams can also become nightmares. Sometimes dreams wound us. Some dreams scar.

Sharp didn't start at home against Crystal Palace. He didn't play a single minute of the game of his life. Robinson did. So did McBurnie and Norwood. In front of more than 30,000 of the loudest supporters on earth, United played a nearly perfect old-school game. They held close the simple beliefs that have been instilled in them since they were children. Hard passes. Harder tackles. Pressure. Don't wait for the ball. First to it. Effort beats talent. Desire overcomes privilege.

Normally these are the lies we tell ourselves before we're supposed to lose. This time heart really did win. John Lundstram scored a sitter in the 47th minute, and then ran to a corner of the pitch, where he soon found himself at the bottom of a pile of his ecstatic teammates, Norwood on top, shaking both of his fists at the mad, frothing crowd. The Blades hung on for what felt like forever, seven minutes of added time especially, for the 1-0 victory.

At game's end, it was announced to the departing faithful that Sheffield United sat eighth in all of England, albeit after two games. Not long ago, that would have seemed an impossible height. "Can you imagine what would happen if we finished in the top 10?" one United staffer dared to wonder aloud.

"Don't be silly," another shot back.

Some dreams are private. Some dreams are infectious. Some dreams disappear as soon as they are realized. Some dreams feel so real they become memories.

There is a striking collection of poems, cast in metal, mounted on the sides of tall buildings across Sheffield. One, by Andrew Motion, greets visitors after they step out of the train station. It welcomes them to "a priming-place which lifts you off" and "the city where dreams are re-paid." Another, by Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker, graces the side of a student dormitory named, predictably, The Forge. It implores its residents not to use the city and leave but to become part of it and stay:

Within these walls the future may be being forged
Or maybe Jez is getting trashed on cider
But when you melt you become the shape of your surroundings:
Your horizons become wider.

It's pretty to think and too simplistic to trust that Sheffield's problems -- and United's -- have been solved. Undeniable progress has been made. But the city center still gets sinister at night; sides like Blackpool and Huddersfield Town never stay up for long. The challenges of modern economies, football's included, are limitless. There are only so many ways to overcome them, and those counters aren't available to everyone.

Nobody knows what will become of this old city or its football clubs. Nobody knows for what they will one day be known. It would have taken some considerable talents for future reading to have forecast this mixed present. The mighty blast furnaces have gone cold. In exchange, there are clearer skies.

After their win against Palace, the Blades of Bramall Lane clocked out to end their shift. They exited from the back of the stands and entered the arms of their happy supporters and the last of a golden light. The We Are Premier League banners flapped over their heads for another day. Those days are possibly numbered. This one definitely felt blessed.

The bigger clubs live their lives like pearls, hidden inside shells; Arsenal stay in a hotel the night before even matches at home. Not Sheffield United. They walked outside, many with wives and small children in tow, and felt the clapping hands of strangers on their backs. Billy Sharp and his family folded their stroller into their SUV and slowly slipped away. Ollie Norwood and Callum Robinson made instead for the hotel on the corner, where the crowd in the lobby bar greeted them with cheers and raised glasses.

Their only fear was the future. Their best armor looked to be love.

Luke Wood, the left-arm seamer, has agreed a three-year contract with Lancashire. He will leave Nottinghamshire at the end of the current season after rejecting a new contract offer.

Wood, 24, came through the Nottinghamshire academy, but had struggled to command a regular place in the side, going out on loan spells with Worcestershire and Northamptonshire. He was a squad member for Notts white-ball double in 2017, and gained another Vitality Blast winners medal with Worcestershire last year.

"It's disappointing to lose Luke, who we were very keen to keep at this club," Nottinghamshire director of cricket, Mick Newell, said. "We offered a contract that was reflective of our desire for him to stay, but there was also interest from Lancashire and he's decided to go and play there.

"When you lose a player, especially one that's come through your system, you hope it's for sound cricketing reasons, and I've no doubt that's the case with Luke.

"Although he's earned his position in our first team - and has been a starter for us more often than not with the red and white ball in recent weeks - sometimes a player feels they'll benefit from the challenge of moving to a new club.

"We all wish Luke the best of luck for the future. He remains very much part of the squad until the end of the season."

Wood went on loan to Northamptonshire earlier this season but came back to feature in the Blast and Championship. He claimed 5 for 67 earlier this week in Nottinghamshire's defeat at Scarborough, taking his tally of first-class wickets to 96 at 33.41. Handy with the bat, he made a 95-ball century batting at No. 9 in 2015.

"I am delighted to have signed for Lancashire, Wood said. "I've thoroughly enjoyed my time at Trent Bridge and would like to thank everyone at the club for their fantastic support, but the chance to join Lancashire is one that I couldn't turn down.

"The conversations I've had with both Paul Allott and Glen Chapple about the vision and plans moving forward are so exciting. The ambition of the club is something that really attracted me to Lancashire and it's something I want to be part of.

"Emirates Old Trafford is a great place to play cricket and I look forward to calling it home for at least the next three years. I can't wait to join up with the squad at the end of the season and get stuck in next year."

A former England Under-19 who bowls skiddy seam and swing, Wood played 35 first-class matches for Nottinghamshire over a five-year period, but was limited to just four List A games and 13 T20s.

Lancashire's director of cricket, Paul Allott, said: "Luke is an extremely talented cricketer so we are delighted he has chosen to sign for Lancashire as there were a number of other counties interested in him. We've admired him for a while, particularly as a swing bowler so he will add further quality to our pace bowling attack.

"He comes with great potential, is a proven winner and will add plenty to our side in all formats of the game with both bat and ball. We saw exactly what he can for Notts Outlaws against us in the Vitality Blast just a couple of weeks ago and I think he's going to be an outstanding signing for the Club.

"I would like to welcome Luke to Emirates Old Trafford and we are looking forward to working with him from next season onwards."

Hampshire have signed Tabraiz Shamsi, the South African left-arm wristspinner, for the final four games of the Vitality Blast group stage.

After a successful run thanks to the dual spin of Liam Dawson and Mason Crane, Hampshire's Blast campaign has been derailed by injuries to Crane and back-up spinner Brad Taylor, leaving them sixth in the South Group, and the signing of Shamsi means they will have the opportunity to resume their plan to prepare turning pitches.

"After losing both Mason and Brad to injuries, Shamsi bolsters the squad and offers an excellent spin option with international experience for the final four fixtures of our Vitality Blast campaign," said Giles White, Hampshire's director of cricket. "We're looking forward to having him with us."

Shamsi, who has developed a reputation as a bubbly character thanks to his wide array of wicket celebrations, will go straight into the squad to play Middlesex at Lord's on Thursday night.

This will be his second stint in county cricket, after five games for Northants in 2017. He also has experience in the IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore, in the Caribbean for St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, and has taken 10 wickets in his 14 T20Is.

He joins Chris Morris, Hampshire's other official overseas player, as well as other compatriots Kyle Abbott and Rilee Rossouw in the squad.

Somerset are hoping to complete the signing of Murali Vijay for the final few weeks of the county season.

Somerset are chasing the first Championship title in their history. They are currently second in the Division One table, just two points behind Essex, with the teams scheduled to meet in the final game of the season.

The deal is expected to have been agreed between the club and the player, with Vijay awaiting approval from his state association, Tamil Nadu, before it can be confirmed. If it is, it is anticipated he will be available for the final three Championship matches of the season.

Vijay played three Championship matches for Essex at the end of the 2018 season. He made three 50s and one hundred in his five innings and averaged 64.59.

He started the same summer as India's first-choice opener, but averaged just 6.50 in the two Tests he played and was soon left out. He won his place back for the tour of Australia last winter, but was dropped after the Perth Test and has not been picked since, missing out on selection for the ongoing tour of the West Indies.

Somerset's previous overseas players, Azhar Ali and Babar Azam, have been recalled to Pakistan in September.

Northamptonshire are also hoping to strengthen their promotion hopes with a late-season signing. Currently third in Division Two - the top three are promoted - they are aiming to bring in West Indies fast bowler Kemar Roach for the final few games of the campaign.

That could mean he plays against his West Indies new-ball colleague, Shannon Gabriel, in the last week of the season.

Gloucestershire, who are currently second in Division Two, host Northants in the final match of their campaign.