Meister der Farbe » day so it has been very strange having to sit around a

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Seth Jones?has no snacks at his?new place to offer a visitor. How about some water?The Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman throws open the refrigerator and searches in vain before acknowledging that water, the bottled kind, is among the many things he has failed to stock up on at the grocery store.Everything about Jones otherwise well-appointed condo in downtown Columbus -- including its expansive view of the local Triple-A baseball stadium, an urban park, and the arts and entertainment area near Nationwide Arena -- suggests hes a young man in transition.The condo, which came furnished, is owned by teammate Cam Atkinson.?The previous tenant?A big grin spreads across Jones face before he answers.Ryan Johansen, Jones said as he settled in for a chat at the kitchen island.?Kind of funny, right?The irony of renting the apartment that used to belong to the player for whom he was traded last season in one of the leagues blockbuster deals is not lost on Jones. Its simply another reminder of how much more complicated and interconnected life has become for the young star.Earlier in the afternoon, Jones and teammate Boone Jenner?delivered meals to less fortunate Columbus residents.They are the two leaders of a Blue Jackets team that is enjoying an unexpected revival this season. But they appear perfectly at ease with the elderly people to whom they are delivering hot meals, posing happily for pictures with folks who might not otherwise have any other human contact that day.At one stop, a woman who has just lost her brother sits on the couch with the two players, one hand holding firmly onto Jenners arm and the other just as firmly clenched on Jones shoulder as though she has known them forever and doesnt want them to leave.When they finally do depart, and head back to report for hockey duty, Jenner is asked about the Blue Jackets recent surge to the top of the Metropolitan Division standings. He suggested with a smile that its because Jones has been around for an entire season.Jenner is partly trying to crack wise about Jones, who is standing within earshot -- but hes also saying it because its true.As young stars assert themselves throughout the league this season, Jones finds himself -- at the tender age of 22 -- straddling the line between looking up to his Blue Jackets teammates and leading them.Hes a special kid, Columbus goalie?Sergei Bobrovsky said of Jones. Hes everywhere. Hes a great skater. Hes got good vision of the rink. Hes a good passer. When hes playing, everything is quiet. In your end youre calm, youre confident.Three years ago, I visited with Jones and his mother, Amy, at the home they were renting outside Nashville, Tennessee. Seth, whom the?Nashville Predators?had selected with the fourth overall pick in 2013 a few months earlier, had just turned 19 and was a couple of months into his first NHL season.The pair joked easily about how Seth needed to take out the trash, how Amy had rushed down to ice level to videotape her middle son during his first NHL warm-up, much to his eternal dismay, and the pinky promise Seth made that they would live together for the first three years of his NHL career.Jones negotiated an out clause from the promise last season and moved into a downtown Nashville condo while his mother stayed in the area but moved into a house closer to the city.?A few weeks later, as Jones sat at the bar of a Nashville steak house awaiting his appetizers, he got a call from Predators GM David Poile.Your GM doesnt call you for fun at night, Jones said.Dinner went by the boards, as Poile told Jones that he had been traded for Johansen, the fourth overall pick in 2010 and his old junior hockey teammate, in a blockbuster swap of franchise youngsters.Two hours later, Jones was in Columbus getting ready to play back-to-back games for his new team.I wasnt pissed off, he insists. But there were a lot of emotions flying, because thats your first team. You develop relationships. It kind of feels like your home.While the Predators and Johansen advanced to the second round of the playoffs that spring, the Blue Jackets limped through another difficult season and finished 20 points out of a playoff spot.It was tough, for sure, Jones said. Halfway through the season, everyone kind of knew it was over. You just had that feeling. So it was different.He initially moved into a place set up by the team and then into a temporary apartment as he tried to get his bearings in his new environment.I think he spent probably the most of last season trying to figure out where he fits in, said longtime NHL player Jody Shelley, who provides analysis for the Blue Jackets. And you could kind of see in his game that he had the skill. But it was almost like he was following a little bit, he was just falling in line. And thats understandable.Jones returned to Columbus in September after the World Cup of Hockey, where he played well for Team North America. In his own space, his own city, for the first time in his life, he?emerged as something else, someone else altogether. A leader, perhaps.Im 22 years old and am by no means a veteran, Jones said. But we have a lot of young guys on the team this year.His regular defensive partner is 19-year-old Zach Werenski, a leading candidate for rookie of the year.I do feel like Im the veteran on the D pair, Jones said. I try to lead by example for Zach. Obviously I dont need to say much to him right now. He makes my life easier too already.Its not just Werenski or Josh Anderson or any of the other young Blue Jackets -- who, along with the equally callow?Toronto Maple Leafs,?iced the youngest roster in the NHL at the start of the season -- who see in Jones journey the kind of path that is possible for a young player. His younger brother, Caleb, is also watching.The 19-year-old was drafted 117th overall in 2015 by the?Edmonton Oilers.?Hes playing junior hockey for the WHLs Portland Silverhawks, with whom Seth starred, lives with the same family Seth did and even stays in the same bedroom his brother did.While the brothers are intensely competitive, and spend summers working out together, there is an obvious understanding on Calebs part that he has a unique window into the path to success.I realize how hard hes worked to get to where he is, Caleb said.Once Caleb wrote a paper for a class talking about his respect for Seths dedication. It brought their mother to tears. That respect has only deepened since.Its definitely the same, the younger Jones said. Its a constant thing.Being that kind of person, the one to whom others look up, who they want to emulate, can be a kind of burden. Some shrink from it. Jones has embraced it.It changes you, Shelley said. He wants to be the guy. Thats the sense I think I get from watching him.He has made his apartment his own as well. The place has a comfy, lived-in feel. There are hoodies and jackets strewn on chairs. A computer sits on the couch where Jones spends a fair amount of his down time.I think its been good for both of us, Jones said of his move to Columbus and Amys subsequent return to Dallas.?He noted that his mother might disapprove of the clutter in his new place. The two are still close and keep in regular contact. Really regular contact, Jones joked, pointing out that hell finish a game and have 10 texts from Amy, his phone almost buzzing out of his pocket.Im like, Mom, 10 texts right after the game? Jones said with a smile. Its like she expects me to answer them during intermission. Shes funny. She gets fired up.He still speaks regularly with his father, former NBA player Popeye Jones, who is now an assistant coach with the Indianapolis Pacers. Although their conflicting schedules make getting together in person a challenge, Jones is expecting a visit from his dad later in December.Do the two talk about their shared lives as pro athletes? Not as much as they perhaps did when Jones first entered the NHL. I think he understands that Ive kind of gotten the hang of it a little bit, Jones said, that I understand whats expected out of me for the most part.He has become comfortable in his own skin here in Columbus, enjoying the moments of quiet.?I like being alone, to be honest, Jones said. That sounds terrible, but I dont mind being alone in my own space. Ive had roommates, and you end up just not wanting to be around them because youre around them so much at the rink.He doesnt do much entertaining here. Doesnt regularly whip up dinner for the boys.I like to cook, he insisted. I just havent done it. I cooked one time in training camp after I got back from the World Cup, and that was it.Most nights, he and his teammates go out to eat at one of Columbus restaurants.Boones cooked a couple of times, he offered. Thats it. We dont mind cooking. Its hard to cook for one, but to get everyone over and then clean it all up, thats a real hassle, to be honest.Is it the cooking or the cleaning?Its the cleaning, he said with a laugh.Hey, when youre busy doing other things, like becoming a leader, chores go by the boards. Nike NFL Jerseys China Cheap . In taking its goal tally to 99 in all competitions already this season, City delivered another demonstration of its lethal firepower at Etihad Stadium to set up a fourth-round match at home to another second-tier team -- Watford. Soccer Jerseys Cheap . Bryant, who signed a five-year, $34 million contract as a free agent with Cleveland in March, reported symptoms on Monday morning, a team spokesman said. http://www.cheapjerseyswholesalediscount.com/ .com) - Richie Incognito has reportedly been admitted to a psychiatric care unit in Arizona. Cheap NFL Shop . 24 Baylor in a Big 12 clash between teams trending in opposite directions. Andrew Wiggins made 10-of-12 from the foul line and scored 17 for Kansas (14-4, 5-0 Big 12), which capped a stretch of four straight games against ranked opponents unscathed. NFL Shop China .C. -- Calgarys Kevin Koe did it the hard way again. They knew it was the longest of shots. The supporters in the Stragglers Café knew it; the members in the Colin Atkinson knew it; and the players gathered in the 1875 Club knew it most of all.But since when did knowing ever stop you hoping?All the same its the hoping that leads to the hurt. After the pain of 2010 Somerset supporters knew that, too. Yet, here they were at Taunton, just wondering if this could be the one.Nothing, like something, happens anywhere, wrote Philip Larkin, and for half a day the nothing that was happening at Lords had meant everything to the players in their track suits and the supporters in their polo shirts or sweaters as they gathered together and took comfort from the fact that they were facing this thing together.And when it was all done with and Middlesex were being acclaimed as county champions, there was no bitterness from the runners-up, only congratulations to the victors and recognition of what a wonderful Championship season it had been for Chris Rogers and his side.Declarations were part and parcel of the game years ago, said Somersets director of cricket, Matt Maynard, as he reflected on the way Middlesex had won the title at Lords. Neither side were going to give us the title. They had to come to an agreement and from the outset it looked like a very fine declaration.It needed Tim Bresnan to carry on for another three or four overs to take it into that last over with 12 needed but unfortunately it didnt get to that stage. But fair credit to Middlesex, theyve gone through the season unbeaten and a number of their players have had outstanding seasons.Theyve been very consistent and I think they are deserved champions.Maynards was speaking at the end of a day which Somerset loyalists will remember for one heart-breaking reason and several heart-warming ones. It had been a day which began with a good group of supporters in the ground floor of the new pavilion, although their number swelled very rapidly over lunchtime and into the early afternoon.For a while it had seemed that nothing much was happening at Lords, nothing at any rate to indicate that discussions had taken place between the captains. But everyone could see there was not the time necessary for a normal game to take place.Then with the game in stalemate Alex Lees was brought on to bowl deliberate bad balls to set up a declaration and a few comments began, although not too many. Many of those watching were old enough to remember the days of regular three-day nonsense, and those who werent received a crash course, mdear.The loudest protests followed the declaration and the idea that six-an-over represented much of a challenge to Yorkshires batsmen. Then people remembered that this was a Yorkshire side without Jonny Bairstow and suddenly the declaration seemed less generous on a lifeless pitch.Not that they prevented them hoping, of course.By four oclock there was hardly standing room in the Stragglers and the members in the Colin Atkinson were trying to look vaguely dignified. They failed, God bless em. Some of the players couldnt watch and took a stroll on the outfield. Busy doin nothin.Very quickly, though, it became clear how difficult Yorkshire were finding their run-chase People started talking about the tie and how glorious that might be. Wickets fell, although people were unsure whether this was a good or bad thing. Stalemate was needed and that was clearly the one outcome not on the cards.Chris Rogers and some of his playerrs watched the game on the first floor of the Somerset Pavilion.dddddddddddd Every dot ball brought a roar of acclamation. In the press box seasoned journos acknowledged that they had seen nowt like this.Then there was that clatter of wickets, a Toby Roland-Jones hat-trick and Middlesex players rolling on the ground in glee. Supporters dribbled out of the Colin Atkinson and others joined them on the outfield. Everyone the roped-off area in front of the Andrew Caddick pavilion - the Caddyshack they call it down here - was ringed by Somerset supporters. There were a few tears and a lot of pride.Somersets chairman, Andy Nash, congratulated the new champions and confirmed that Matt Maynard would have done the same as Gale and Franklin. Maynard, himself, and Rogers spoke with dignity and pride about all that had been achieved. And, yes, all that was to come.There was great belief in the group, said Maynard, We played some good cricket without getting results and we then built momentum though winning games and gaining confidence from that.The contribution of Chris Rogers has been huge. He has been tough on the players in the middle at times and that has taken them back a little bit. You have to challenge them at times. His expectations were terrific and hes made an incredible impact.The biggest thing we can do for Chris is continue his legacy. I was in the Glamorgan team included Viv Richards in the latter part of his career, he was very passionate and we continued his legacy. It is now hugely important that we do the same.We have five youngsters who are coming through and weve also signed Steve Davies. I have a clear idea as to who Id like as captain to take over from Chris Rogers but Im not at liberty to say who that is yet.Somerset supporters may take heart from Maynards comments but they are getting tired of finishing second in the West Country. Even that most equable of men, Marcus Trescothick, who was one of those ambling on the outfield, is getting particularly tired of it.Its a pain in the arse to come second again and it feels just the same as it did last time, he said. Its been such a difficult day and different to the last time we did it because we were playing all day so it has been very strange having to sit around and watch it all on television.It feels no different than last time to end up in second place, the only difference is that Middlesex have been top of the table for a long time and they have come out and won the competition outright, so they deserve to win.I think we were all disappointed to see the game set up in that fashion. It was going along and doing exactly what we wanted it to do and had it been any normal game it would have petered out with a 4.30 or five oclock finish but those are the regulations and its not in our control to worry about that.It was just sad to see because from our point of view we wanted to see the best team win and I guess that Middlesex have at the end of the day, but the fashion in which it was done was disappointing.And with that, it was done. The players drifted away, perhaps to celebrate a season in which a late charge for victory was not quite enough. The supporters, too, with whom the players have a great bond in this county, left the ground they call a home and some may not return until next April.We also suffer who only sit and watch and wait. ' ' '