My Bella Story | Every child should know their story

As the clock ticks loudly toward the deadline for a long-term deal between the Steelers and running back Le’Veon Bell, it’s time for both sides to apply any and all pressure aimed at getting something done on the terms most favorable to them. From the player’s perspective, the ultimate leverage isn’t staying away until Labor Day; it’s staying away until the Tuesday after Week 10.

That’s the deadline for his arrival and acceptance of the franchise tender. Specifically, if Bell shows up before then, he gets $14.5 million (or $852,000 for each of the 17 weeks he’s with the team). If he shows up after then, he can’t; he’d be done for the year.

Then there’s the potential fan reaction to Bell skipping games. Already sensitive about the perception in Pittsburgh that he’s a bad guy for simply trying to get the best possible deal, Bell would surely hate the way fans respond to a decision to skip games that count.

Believe it or not . . . the agency was promoting that vocabulary, in that genre, Schnatter said during a Friday interview with Terry Meiners of NewsRadio 840 WHAS. And I made it real clear, ‘Listen, we’re not gonna go there, we’re not gonna talk about this.’ And they pushed me, and it upset me, and I just said, ‘Listen, other people have used that word. I don’t, and will not use that word and people at Papa John’s don’t use that.’ And that was the comment. But they actually wanted to get into that vocabulary, and I said absolutely not.

And, of course, part of the comments where I said somebody else said it got printed and the part where I said I never say that and I wouldn’t say that and that’s not the way I was raised, that didn’t get in it. But shame on me for even bringing it up. But the point is, you can’t use that vocabulary, you can’t use that word, and we will not, and I’m not going to, and I have not.

As a result, I think you’ll see an offense that’s adaptable at the snap, and multiple. The hope is that it will take receivers Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen, both heady gym rats, to another level. And in the run game, I’d expect a healthy introduction to the RPOs that were a defining characteristic of Philly’s 2017 offense. It should be noted, too, that there is some West Coast carryover, going from Pat Shurmur to DeFilippo.

Over the last four years, the Raiders, Buccaneers, Jets and Bills have all been sued by former cheerleaders. No team has gone to trial in a cheerleader lawsuit, but will that change in the Texans’ case?

Over the last month, seven former Houston Texans cheerleaders have sued the team and raised very disturbing claims. The cheerleaders assert that they were subjected to assault, harassment, misappropriation of identity and unpaid wages.

The cheerleaders depict a hostile, abusive and exploitive workplace

Hannah Turnbow, Ainsley Parish, Morgan Wiederhold, Ashley Rodriguez, Kelly Neuner, Angelina Rosa and a woman identified by the initials P.G.G. were all cheerleaders for the Texans in recent years. Turnbow and the other named women are co-plaintiffs in one complaint (Turnbow v. Texans) whereas P.G.G. has brought her own complaint (P.G.G. v. Texans). The two complaints raise similar claims and detail related fact patterns.

A second early-season prime time game for Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley, this time against Lovie Smith and an NFL-inspired defense. While the Illini aren’t world-beaters, this is a good time to gather some first and second impressions on McSorley in the post-Saquon Barkley era. Confidence in the six-foot QB’s stock will be linked to Baker Mayfield’s early performance in the pros. McSorley shotputs the ball a bit but is mobile and made some brilliant tight-window throws last year—many of them went unnoticed thanks to a certain backfield mate.

While we won’t know what the big network prime time game will be (probably Penn State-Ohio State), this is a good table-setter week to think about something that could become a major story down the road. Matt Campbell’s Iowa State Cyclones stunned both No. 3 Oklahoma and then-No. 4 TCU in 2017, elevating 38-year-old Campbell from wunderkind to straight up pipeline coaching prospect. The next college-to-NFL ascension might not be from the usual suspects (Brian Kelly, Kirby Smart or Nick Saban). NFL owners, thanks to Sean McVay, are warming up to the younger crowd, making Campbell is a name to watch.

Late 49ers legend Dwight Clark’s ashes buried next to goal post from ‘The Catch’

Dwight Clark’s legacy will live on where it all began.

The ashes of the former 49ers wide receiver have been buried in Montana next to the goal post from the Candlestick Park end zone where he made The Catch famous.

Clark’s 6-yard touchdown pass from Joe Montana with 58 second left in the game helped the Niners defeat the Cowboys in the NFC Championship on Jan. 10, 1982. The 49ers advanced to Super Bowl XVI and defeated the Bengals to win their first championship.

At another point, Cutler glowers at Cavallari’s female posse as they troop through his kitchen to plan the opening of her new fashion store in Nashville.

Cutler’s deadpan expression when one of Cavallari’s colleagues, an ex-hairdresser, tells him she got her workouts in by waving blow dryers is perfect. It’s as good as the Smoking Jay memes that were popular with Bears fans.

And don’t ever, ever park on the grass near Jay’s driveway as one of Cavallari’s poor minions finds out the hard way. The truth, as the NFL and now Cavallari have found out, is that Cutler is uncoachable. Deal with it.

First, on the Giants’ chances of winning the division at the expense of the defending champion Eagles.

I think Philly, how much success has Philly had? McAdoo said. I think they’re gonna have a hard time handling success.

Second, he likes the Cowboys talent in the trenches but questions how much that will lead to wins.

I like their offensive line, but how long have we been saying that? he said. Their defense, they got a bunch of young guys playing DB, Sean Lee is banged up a lot, and their D-line, they got a bunch of guys getting in trouble all the time.

He was more straight forward with the Redskins.

Washington is Washington, right?

As a result, Philadelphia could fit in James’ max salary with few changes. To clear the necessary space, Philadelphia would need only to deal little-used guard Jerryd Bayless (making $8.6 million in the final season of his contract) and, depending on where the salary cap is set, one additional young player (likely Justin Anderson, Furkan Korkmaz or Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, though the 76ers also could choose to waive or trade Richaun Holmes or T.J. McConnell).

MLB’s first stars/stripes caps debuted in 2008. All the caps were navy blue, which worked OK with some teams’ color schemes and not so well with others.

2010: After dabbling with blue caps and red caps, MLB tries — of course — white caps. Some teams are assigned blue brims while others get red. With all three of America’s national colors now having been used, the uni-verse wonders what design solution MLB will come up with for the following year.

At one point in late April, Stanton’s batting average was as low as .198. In early May, he spent a day at .220. Coming into the final two days of June, he has raised his average to .265. Similarly, his OPS has risen this month, climbing from .772 on June 1 to .847 by the start of the series with Boston.

Much of Stanton’s steady forward march has come from his recent stretch of multihit games. He entered this weekend with two or more hits in three of his past four games, and half of his past 10.

The long ball has accompanied some of that corner-turning offense. Eight of Stanton’s 19 home runs have come this month, including one laser to left-center that walked off a Yankees win over the Nationals last week. That particular homer was heralded as his long-awaited Yankee Moment.

Once Stanton gets going, he’s usually hard to slow down. Coupled with a loaded Yankees lineup that has included an All-Star-caliber year from Aaron Judge, the timing of Stanton’s potential breakout will make New York even more dangerous.

This is the same entity that for years couldn’t define the act of catching a football. From Bountygate to its short-lived intolerance for domestic abuse, the league somehow manages to make every crisis worse. It’s a hallmark of the league under Roger Goodell’s leadership.

This is a very winning, strong issue for me, Trump told Jerry Jones last year. Tell everybody, you can’t win this one. This one lifts me.

Trump took aim at the league, and the owners capitulated with their new anthem policy, billed as a way to get the focus back on football. Surprise, it didn’t work.

Trump still has an easy culture war issue to hammer on Fox & Friends when he needs to distract the country from things like his former campaign manager being accused of jury tampering, unpopular tariffs that will hit his base voters in the pocketbook, breaking up families because they’re immigrants, etc.

Now, players are left to defend themselves while the league runs scared.

That crushed Green Bay’s eight-year playoff streak, allowing the Patriots to rally their way past the Steelers and Jaguars and into the AFC’s slot in the Super Bowl. Tom Brady won his third career MVP in a season where the rest of his competition fell off dramatically, but even his 505-yard showing in the title game could prevent, uh, Nick Foles from fulfilling his Super Bowl MVP destiny.

And that’s it. Six seasons where the Patriots and Packers appeared primed for a collision in the biggest game of the year, but instead flamed out and deprived the world of a Brady-Rodgers duel.

Fortunately there’s still time to correct this mistake. Brady and the Pats are early favorites to hoist the Lombardi Trophy next February despite the quarterback’s advanced age. The Packers, with a revamped defense and overhauled offense, have the sixth-best odds. Once again, it’s no stretch to make a Green Bay-New England preseason prediction when it comes to the Super Bowl.

The Seattle Seahawks have had over 900 players suit up for them since entering the NFL as an expansion franchise in 1976. One team employee had been around for every one of those players who wore varying shades of blue, green and silver throughout the 42 years the team has played in the NFL.

Sandy Gregory was hired by the Seahawks six months before they played their first game in 1976. She was the lone remaining original team employee still working for the franchise before announcement her retirement last week. She had served as an administrative assistant, community service director, and senior director of legends, team history and special projects in her 42 years with the franchise.

But at that point, George would have only nine years of service — one short of qualifying for the largest possible maximum salary. If George wants to dip back into free agency as soon as he is eligible for that contract, a two-plus-one would make the most sense. The Thunder will and should offer the full five-year max, since that fifth year is the carrot only they can dangle; rival offers top out at four seasons. It’s easy to say George would make up that money on his next contract, but this dude shattered his leg four years ago.)

If he leaves, the Thunder have Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, Steven Adams, a bunch of role players and limited cap flexibility in 2019 and beyond. We saw that movie in 2016-17, and it will get old fast. It leads nowhere interesting. George leaving would at least raise the question of transitioning into a full-on rebuild, a teardown the likes of which Thunder fans have never really witnessed, and sniffing out what Westbrook might fetch on the trade market.

Even though the Sixers put Fultz up for sale, they know if they play their cards right with him he could re-emerge as a top player.

Fultz, the 2017 No. 1 overall pick, is expected to join with Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid as part of the 76ers young core of players. The team is also working hard with Fultz to reteach him how to shoot.

Fried (1-2) stymied the Cardinals on 101 pitches before being pulled with two outs in the seventh. Recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett to start the game, he struck out 11, allowed four singles and walked three.

My curveball was definitely on tonight, said Fried, who also recorded his first major league hit with a single in the fifth. I was able to throw it for strikes, put it in the dirt when I wanted to. The big thing for me was getting the fastball over. I felt like I was able to get strike one pretty good. That was my main goal.

To be honest with you, I was just looking to hit something into the outfield and get a run in, and I ended up one of the better at-bats in the season, Markakis said. I looked back at the video and (the pitch) wasn’t exactly where he wanted it, but he threw it somewhere close to the zone and I put a good swing on it.

He added a sacrifice fly in the sixth to bring in Albies, finishing with five RBI on the day.

Albies went 3 for 5 and has a 10-game hit streak, batting .467 (21 for 47) during that span.

It was a surreal feeling, for sure, Lorenzen said. I love this game and everything about it.

It was the reliever’s second homer in the series. He also had a solo shot Friday during Milwaukee’s 8-2 win.

The guy’s swinging the bat really well, that’s for sure, Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. We treat him as a position player. We covered him in scouting meetings. We’re going to have to make some adjustments.

One week earlier, Reds starter Anthony DeSclafani hit a grand slam off Chicago Cubs left-hander Brian Duensing at Great American Ball Park.

Lorenzen avoided the temptation to swing at a slider on Saturday, then hit a fastball deep to left field.