Campaigning for Carl I hadnt heard the expression "crafting a campaign" until Michael Davies of the excellent "Men In Blazers" podcast used it to describe his beloved Chelsea, and the manner in which Jose Mourinho engineered his Blues through the nitty gritty of a long Premiership season. In the rigours of MLS, successful teams have managed their schedule carefully, and even though its early, Whitecaps coach Carl Robinson has already shown signs of recognizing the details of that process. Some might have been surprised Thursday when Robinson told TEAM 1040 radio in Vancouver that skipper Jay DeMerit had been left home to rest so early in the season. But for Robinson, the marathon is as grueling in March as it will be in September. Hes comfortable enough in his squad that well likely see more players left home for longer trips. Flying straight back to Vancouver right after the 0-0 draw with New England allowed players to get home on Saturday night and enjoy two full days off after what has been a taxing, air mile-accumulating couple of months. From a point gathering perspective, the new Whitecaps boss has also exhibited some proactive substitutions and game management during critical moments in his first three matches. Pedro Morales was brought on in the 65th minute of season opener, which effectively killed the game off. At Chivas, Robinson brought on Kekuta Manneh with enough time to rescue a point. And in New England, with a point in his back pocket, he gave Gershon Koffie a long-awaited introduction which infused a tiring team with some bite and balance to lock down that first clean sheet of the season. Crafting a campaign Those little decisions dont always work. But they did for Caleb Porter, the reigning MLS coach of the year with Portland. The well-travelled Timbers were a team that foraged for every point - especially away from home, where they didnt win a lot of games, but gathered enough draws (or avoided defeat enough) to help reach the Western Conference summit. Many lamented two points lost for Vancouver at an undermanned and unfairly disregarded Chivas team. Some even expected the Whitecaps to beat a New England squad that hadnt won, nor scored after two weeks. But in Carl Robinsons mind, his team earned a point despite a poor performance in LA, and a clean sheet after a nine-hour travel day against a desperate New England team stuck on no goals after two games. Maybe we should start calling the Whitecaps coach a "campaign" manager. Discount Nike Shoes . -- Canada played to expectation up until halftime. Black Friday Nike Shoes . -- Antoine Bibeau bought the Val-dOr Foreurs valuable time at the Memorial Cup with his 51-save shutout Friday. https://www.fakenikeshoeswholesale.com/. Inter moved five points behind fourth-place Fiorentina and eight points behind third-place Napoli, which visits relegation-threatened Sassuolo on Sunday. Wholesale Nike Shoes . The mood in Seattle was electrified as the parade featuring the NFL champions began near the Space Needle and made its way to CenturyLink Field, the home of the team. At a ceremony inside the stadium, the team thanked its loyal followers -- the 12th Man -- capping a day of boisterous celebration that drew an estimated 700,000 revelers to Seattle. Nike Shoes China . With the union re-formed, negotiations with owners will resume Friday on the remaining issues that would be in the collective bargaining agreement, according to a person familiar with the plans.PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Cam Heyward can rattle the list off in seconds.The names of the 10 defensive linemen taken ahead of the Pittsburgh Steelers end in the first round of 2011 NFL draft come to mind so quickly its as if Heyward is pointing out faces in a family picture.Marcell Dareus. J.J. Watt. Robert Quinn. Ryan Kerrigan. On and on it goes. Some are well known. Some are not. All of them, however, are remembered by the player who is constantly searching for that little extra motivation. In the end, he knows those little slights might make all the difference.Talent isnt always going to win, Heyward said. Youve got to have heart. Youve got to be smart. Youve got to be ready.Something the fourth-year veteran is embracing, in both victory and defeat.As the mentors who took Heyward under their wing a€” Aaron Smith, Chris Hoke, Casey Hampton chief among them a€” have vanished to retirement, Heyward has made it a point to become the spokesman for a team still searching for an identity a month into the season. Its what leaders do.When the Steelers (2-2) allowed lowly Tampa Bay to rip off 10 fourth-quarter points in a 27-24 victory last Sunday, Heyward dutifully stood at his locker and took responsibility for the mistakes. Some of them a€” like the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty he received for arguing with an official a€” were his fault. Others, like the other 12 flags the Steelers drew, were not.While his teammates dressed quietly in stunned silence, Heyward spoke evenly, trying to set a tone for the road ahead starting Sunday at Jacksonville (0-4).Dont count us out yet, he said. It happens. They made the plays at the end. Youve got to give them credit. Weve got to grow from this. Hopefully this will never happen again.Heyward understands hes at the point in his career where his production needs to start meeting his potential. The son of longtime NFL running back Craig Heyward shares his fathers relentlessness and love for the game. And at 6-foot-5 and 290-pounds, hes a presence at the line of scrimmage. Hes not as fast as Watt or as massive ad Dareus, but Heyward makes up for any physical shortcomings by using the massive head a€” another thing he inherited from his dad a€” stuffed inside his helmet.The proof of Heywards evolution is obvious beyond the fact he already has two sacks, a pace that would put him well ahead of the five he registered last year. Defensive line coach John Mitchell gives his players a written quiz each week. The test breaks down everything from formations to tendencies. Each player ggets a grade.ddddddddddddMost weeks Heyward is among those with the top marks.Its not a coincidence.A lot of guys have very good book sense but no football sense and vice versa, Mitchell said. Cam is a guy thats smart. He knows whats going on on the field.A snapshot from Pittsburghs season-opening win over Cleveland provided proof.Tied at 27 late in the fourth quarter, the Browns had the ball with a chance to win it. It never happened, not after the drive began with Heyward enveloping Cleveland quarterback Brian Hoyer for a sack. The Browns punted three plays later, giving Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger just enough time to win it.The sack was the byproduct of several things: great coverage by linebacker Ryan Shazier on Hoyers primary target; even better coverage by the rest of the secondary as Hoyer looked for options; and Heywards ability to recognize the play call. He ducked to the inside at the snap then bowled over an offensive lineman before wrapping his massive arms around Hoyers No. 6 jersey.He can look at tape and dissect the things that are going to go on around him, Mitchell said. On that play at the end of the Cleveland game, its a formation he had seen and talked about. Dick (LeBeau) had them in a great defence and he was able to make the play.Yet Heyward refuses to single himself out. The Steelers have won when he hasnt played well. They have lost when he has. Whatever his stat line looks like at the end of the fourth quarter, hes still more concerned about the number on the scoreboard.Its a lesson he learned from his father, who spent most of his 11-year career paving the way for smaller, faster backs. Its sometimes anonymous work, but work that must be done. Craig Heyward provided his son with a model that Cam has tried to follow during a career that is starting to take flight.The Steelers have already picked up his option for next season with the intent of making him a cornerstone through the end of the decade and beyond. Thats just fine with him.I would love to be here, he said. I know they like to keep their players ... to do that Ive got to take care of business on the field and take care of my business off the field.NOTES: OG Ramon Foster (ankle) practiced Wednesday and said he definitely would play this week. Foster missed the past two games after being injured at Baltimore in Week 2. . WR Martavis Bryant (illness), OLB James Harrison (illness) and ILB Ryan Shazier (knee) did not practice.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL ' ' '