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NEW YORK -- Rather than ban home plate collisions outright, Major League Baseball and its players adopted a rule limiting them this season. In what both sides said was a one-year experiment, the rule allows collisions if the catcher has the ball and is blocking the runners direct path to home plate, and if the catcher goes into the basepath to field a throw to the plate. "Its not a radical departure from what it had been," Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon said. The new rule, 7.13, states "a runner attempting to score may not deviate from his direct pathway to the plate in order to initiate contact with the catcher (or other player covering home plate)." A runner violating the rule shall be declared out, even if the fielder drops the ball. "Its good, I think it takes away the malicious intent behind the play at the plate," Texas Rangers catcher J.P. Arencibia said. "Obviously the runner doesnt always have to slide, and the catcher still has the ability to block the plate once he has the ball in hand." Along with the rule, the sides agreed to a pair of comments umpires use for interpretation. The first comment says "the failure by the runner to make an effort to touch the plate, the runners lowering of the shoulder, or the runners pushing through with his hands, elbows or arms, would support a determination that the runner deviated from the pathway in order to initiate contact with the catcher in violation." The comment says players who slide appropriately are not in violation of the rule. The second comment says that "unless the catcher is in possession of the ball, the catcher cannot block the pathway of the runner as he is attempting to score." The runner shall be declared safe if the catcher violates that provision. In addition, it is not a violation "if the catcher blocks the pathway of the runner in order to field a throw, and the umpire determines that the catcher could not have fielded the ball without blocking the pathway of the runner and that contact with the runner was unavoidable." "There are some things that often times can make the water a little muddy," union head Tony Clark said after meeting with the New York Yankees. "Over the course of the off-season, the concern was protecting players, but trying to draw up something that not only made sense on paper, but also was going to make sense to the players that were playing on the field." The umpire crew chief can use the new video-review system to determine whether the rule was violated. "It stops guys just going out of their way just to try to dislodge the baseball when they (catchers) have the plate," Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington said. Debate over plate collisions has intensified since May 2011, when San Franciscos Buster Posey was injured as the Marlins Scott Cousins crashed into him at the plate. Posey, an All-Star catcher, sustained a broken bone in his lower left leg and three torn ligaments in his ankle, an injury that ended his season. In Game 5 of last years AL championship series, Detroit backstop Alex Avila was pulled a couple of innings after being run over at the plate by Bostons David Ross, a fellow catcher. "I think its fair. A runners path is to home plate," Oakland catcher Derek Norris said. "Any deviation and hes not trying to score, hes trying to harm. A runner going out of the basepath trying to break up a double play is declared out. This is the same concept as a double-play slide." Cheap Nike Sb China . Dr. James Andrews is to operate next week on the 24-year-old pitcher, who made the AL All-Star team last year. Moore will be the first Rays pitcher to undergo Tommy John surgery since Jason Isringhausen in June 2009. Nike Sb Clearance Sale . I wondered how NHL coaches would feel about a playoff schedule that allowed them to open a best-of-seven series on the road, which many claim to favour, yet still gave them the precious home-ice edge for a seventh game. http://www.cheapnikesb.us/ . -- Blake Griffin scored 32 points and grabbed eight rebounds, DeAndre Jordan had 14 points and 22 rebounds and the Los Angeles Clippers outlasted the Golden State Warriors 98-96 on Thursday night to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round series. Cheap Nike Sb Online .com) - The Calgary Flames are spoilers once again. Cheap Nike Sb Sale .ca presents a week long look at some of the teams and stories that will shape the up coming campaign. I had a couple of things happen this week that show how great the fans of the CFL are and how special it is for all of us to be part of this league. First and foremost it was great to see how quickly the ALS challenge has and will continue to help bring awareness and donations to help fight the disease. The players and people of the league are always eager to help whenever possible. I have a few interesting stories about interactions with fans and although it is a little weird for me to be recognized at times it is usually a nice thing meeting the many fans of this league. I was at a restaurant by the airport in Toronto after the Argo game Sunday night having a late dinner before I checked into the Airport hotel. I was at the bar and a young guy came over and said he was from Winnipeg and he wanted to say hi. He was a season ticket holder for the Bombers and was very complimentary and said that he was disappointed in what had happened to me when I was released. I told him I appreciated the kind words and I have been doing fine since that day. As he and his friend were leaving they said goodbye and asked about the new regime for the Bombers. I said he should be excited in the guys who are running the team now, I would call them all friends of mine and I have great respect for them. He was excited about continuing to see the season unfold. A while later I went to pay my bill and the bartender told me the two guys who left had picked up my entire bill! When they asked to buy me a beer, I said I was fine and I appreciated the offer but they didnt listen and paid for the whole thing! It didnt need to be done, but the gesture was and is appreciated. I still live in the City of Winnipeg and the people are very positive and great to interact with then and now. I remember after my first year in 2010 we had a CFL-record nine losses by four points or less. I was outside the house the day after the season and an elderly gentleman walked by and said, "you the Bomber Coach?" I said "yes" and he said "tough season" to me and I replied "yes, I was expecting a lot more." He didnt miss a beat as he kept walking by and said "SO WAS I". The same day I picked my daughter up from day care and a father with his kids said "nice season coach" positively and I said "you and I got different ideas of what good is". He stopped me and said "it will takke time and you will get it turned around I believe".dddddddddddd Both are examples of great CFL fans. I received a note and a Bomber jersey with my name on it and green numbers with 82 on it this year. This baffled me until I read the note. It was from a woman from Quebec who told me in the note that she was a big football fan and had her ninth (yes, ninth) child at the start of the 2011 season. She would PVR the games and watch them during the long nights with the baby. The Bombers became her favourite team and I (along with Marc Trestman) became one of her favourite coaches. She had a great time during those sleepless nights with the baby watching the Bombers season, winning first place and advancing to the Grey Cup. In 2012, she actually went out of her way and contacted Plymouth State College - my alma mater - and asked them to find my number in their archives. She actually got herself a Bomber jersey before the season and added green numbers (which were my college colours) to the Bomber jersey with my name on it. She said she was sorry to see that I had been released and had some kind words of encouragement as well as the jersey she had made up. These type of letters and E-mails and correspondence with people are amazing and mean a lot to all the players and coaches in the league. This letter and gesture meant a lot to me and shows how connected the fans are to the game we all love. My last story happened this past Tuesday night. I was helping with the ALS challenge at a friends house and I met an individual who is a big Bomber and CFL fan. But instead of talking about the season or about TSN, he wanted to tell me about when Matt Dunigan came to a fundraising breakfast when he played in Winnipeg years ago. He went on and on about the function and how great it was that Matt came and how well Matt did at the breakfast. Its safe to say that Matt only met this person once and it was years ago but he remembers it still and Matt made such a great impression on him for helping with the cause. A Hall of Fame QB who had the time for a charity breakfast to help out - that is what makes the CFL a great league, how approachable all the players are. Well to the guys who paid for dinner the other night, "thank you, you didnt have to" and to Anne Catherine, "thanks for the kind words, my head is up, I love the jersey and God bless you for raising nine kids!" ' ' '