PITTSBURGH -- The lessons Chuck Noll passed down to his players -- maxims that often applied as much to life as to football -- are tacked on the wall in Mike Mularkeys office. [url=http://www.cheapavalanchejerseys.com/]Cheap Colorado Avalanche Jerseys[/url] . They say things like "stress is when

PITTSBURGH -- The lessons Chuck Noll passed down to his players -- maxims that often applied as much to life as to football -- are tacked on the wall in Mike Mularkeys office. Cheap Colorado Avalanche Jerseys . They say things like "stress is when you dont know what youre doing" and "I wasnt hired to motivate players, I was hired to coach motivated players." They ring as true now as they did when Mularkey heard them the first time playing tight end for the Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame coach 25 years ago. Its why Mularkey made sure he had a chance to say goodbye, joining Steelers past and present, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and several hundred friends and family on Tuesday for a funeral mass honouring Noll, who passed away last week at age 82. "Ive gotten more from Chuck off the field as much as I got on the field about how to do things the right way," said Mularkey, now a tight ends coach with Tennessee. "Family was important. Balance in life was important." And that, as much as the record four Super Bowls Noll won while transforming the Steelers from an NFL afterthought into a dynasty during the 1970s is what will resonate for the city he championed and the team he built from scratch. The men he moulded embraced at Saint Paul Cathedral. They clutched programs featuring a picture of a vibrant Noll wearing a polo shirt, shorts and the closest he ever came to a smile while at work. Each vowed to carry on the lessons Noll imparted from his first day of coaching to his waning days. Steelers President Art Rooney II and Hall of Fame defensive tackle Joe Greene were among the pallbearers, a responsibility Greene wished he could have avoided but one he ultimately welcomed as a final gift from the coach who changed his life. "It meant Chuck was thinking of me," Greene said, "and thats special." Noll and Greene will be forever entwined in Steelers history. Noll was a rookie head coach in 1969 when he selected the massive but somewhat unknown Greene in the first round of the NFL draft. It was a pick met with skepticism but one that changed the course of the organization and Greenes life. "If he hadnt chosen me, maybe I wouldnt have been a Pittsburgh Steeler," Greene said. "Maybe I wouldnt have had the opportunity to be coached by Chuck Noll. And that probably would not have fared very well for me." Instead, Noll and Greene served as the core of a team that dominated the 1970s, winning four titles in a six-year span thanks to a seemingly never-ending stream of Hall of Famers guided by a man who made it his mission to ensure they learned more than just Xs and Os. Greene, nicknamed "Mean Joe" for his menacing demeanour on the field, remembers destroying a door one day "when things werent going my way." Rather than let Greene off the hook or rip into the cornerstone of the "Steel Curtain" defence, Noll took a different approach. "Chuck came to the room and knocked on the door and said Thatll be $500 and that was the end of the story," Greene said. Despite rising to the top of his profession, Noll preferred not to bask in the limelight. Its telling that while Hall of Famers like Greene, Blount, running back Franco Harris and wide receiver John Stallworth sat in the pews at the cathedral -- just a few miles across town from where Noll worked at bygone Three Rivers Stadium -- they were surrounded by longtime employees of the organization and friends from all walks of life. Bishop David Zubik, who performed Tuesdays ceremony, was a young priest in the late 1970s when he somehow managed to get Noll to agree to give a speech on leadership to a group of high school athletes. They set it up in the spring of 1979. The speech wasnt until January 1980. Months passed. The season came and went, ending with the Steelers beating the Los Angeles Rams at the Rose Bowl to claim the teams fourth Vince Lombardi Trophy. Two days later back in Pittsburgh, Noll drove himself to the retreat where he found a stunned Zubik waiting for him. Noll delivered as promised, giving a rousing talk to a group of young players that included future Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino, then a local prep star. It didnt matter that Noll might have been exhausted. It didnt matter that he had every right to cancel. That simply wasnt Nolls way. He made a promise. He had to keep it. "Thats the thing about coach Noll," Zubik said. "Everybody was important." Its a legacy that will carry on in the city Noll called home and within the walls of the franchise he defined. "Four championships, youve got to feel that," current Steelers centre Maurkice Pouncey said. "We walk by those Super Bowl trophies every day here, and it all started with Coach Noll." Nail Yakupov Jersey . Less than 24 hours after the Wolves lost at home to the Mavericks, 100-98, NBA president of basketball operations Rod Thorn announced Tuesday that Kevin Love was fouled on his right arm by Shawn Marion in the closing seconds and should have been awarded two free throws. A.J. Greer Jersey . Gordon reportedly failed another drug test and is facing a one-year ban. Gordon led the NFL in yards receiving last season despite being suspended two games for violating the leagues substance-abuse policy. http://www.cheapavalanchejerseys.com/?tag=adidas-nikita-zadorov-jersey . "I never commented to anyone that I wanted out," he explained. "My heart is with this group and making the playoffs." Kesler added that the rumours are "completely false" that he asked to be traded - recently or ever.Paris, France (SportsNetwork.com) - Rising Romanian Simona Halep whipped former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and resurgent German Andrea Petkovic upset 2012 runner-up Sara Errani in a pair of lopsided quarterfinal matches Wednesday at the French Open. Both Halep and Petkovic will now play in their first-ever Grand Slam semifinals. The fourth-seeded Halep handled the 27th-seeded Russian Kuznetsova 6-2, 6-2 on Court Lenglen and the 28th-seeded former top-10 star Petkovic played her best match of the fortnight in whipping the 10th-seeded Italian Errani 6-2, 6-2 on Chatrier in a pair of matches that started under overcast skies following a three-hour rain delay. The veteran Kuznetsova was slowed by a left leg injury on Day 11. Errani was the Roland Garros runner-up to Maria Sharapova two years ago and lost to eventual champion Serena Williams in the semifinals last year, while the two-time major champion Kuznetsova titled here in 2009 and was the runner- up in 2006. The graceful Halep is now 3-2 lifetime versus Kuznetsova, while Petkovic improved to 2-1 against Errani. Alexander Kerfoot Jersey. The 22-year-old Halep hadnt reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal until this years Australian Open. Shes captured a whopping seven WTA titles over the last 13 months, second only to Williams. Halep, however, is the only woman to have won titles on clay, grass and hard courts during that stretch. The 26-year-old one-time world No. 9 Petkovic reached the quarterfinals at three of the four major events in 2011 before injuries derailed her in 2012 and for the first half of last year, dropping her as low as 177th in the world. Halep and Petkovic will meet on Thursday, with the Romanian leading their all-time series, 2-1. Thursdays other semi will pit a seventh-seeded Sharapova against 18th-seeded Canadian Eugenie Bouchard. Sharapova completed the career Grand Slam with a title here in 2012 and lost to Williams in last years finale. The 20-year-old Bouchard has reached the final four at both Grand Slam events in 2014. The 27-year-old Sharapova is 2-0 lifetime against Bouchard, including a second-round win here in Paris last year. Cheap Diamondbacks Jerseys Cheap Braves Jerseys Cheap Orioles Jerseys Cheap Red Sox Jerseys Cheap Cubs Jerseys Cheap White Sox Jerseys Cheap Reds Jerseys Cheap Indians Jerseys Cheap Rockies Jerseys Cheap Tigers Jerseys Cheap Astros Jerseys Cheap Royals Jerseys Cheap Angels Jerseys Cheap Dodgers Jerseys Cheap Marlins Jerseys ' ' '