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GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Mariano Rivera III never played Little League. He never made the varsity baseball team in high school. But someday, he might make the major leagues.Riveras path to the bigs is the unlikeliest and likeliest story you could imagine. In an American youth sports culture designed around programs that train toddlers like pro athletes, Rivera barely played baseball as a kid, and when he did, he wasnt particularly good. But through his veins runs the bloodline of the greatest relief pitcher the game has ever known.Rivera, though, doesnt want to be his dad.When he was a kid, he avoided playing baseball, opting instead for soccer and swimming. At 14, he finally went out for Babe Ruth but wasnt anything special. In high school, at Iona Prep in New Rochelle, New York, he played junior varsity and mostly pinch ran. He threw a total of six innings. Because Rivera didnt think he would play much, he declined to go out for baseball his senior year.On a whim, Rivera walked on at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut before he transferred to Iona. He had the name, and by then enough of a game, to compete as a pitcher. But he was nothing special for the Gaels, either. After redshirting, he posted a 5.40 ERA in 13 games as a sophomore in 2014.The Yankees drafted Rivera in the 29th round of the 2014 draft. But Mo III didnt sign, in part because he wants to be his own man.As a junior, he dominated, whittling his ERA to 2.65. In 85 innings, he struck out 113 and walked 27. The Washington Nationals were not doing anyone any favors when they picked him in the fourth round in 2015. They thought he could be a major leaguer on his own merit.Now 22, Rivera is -- what else? -- the closer for the Class-A Hagerstown Suns. According to his pitching coach, Sam Narron, his 95 mph fastball is already good enough for the bigs. He has a slider and a changeup. He does not throw a cutter.In his second year in the minors, he has a 4.20 ERA, which is mostly due to a couple of bad outings. He has struck out 43 and walked 22 in 60 innings. In June, he was a South Atlantic League All-Star.He deals with more attention than your average minor leaguer. Whenever he takes the mound, Rivera has two shadows following him, his and his fathers. For his first professional game at State College last year, the St. Louis Cardinals affiliate played his dads signature song, Metallicas Enter Sandman. A Red Sox minor league affiliate in Lowell did the same thing this season.The son has heard fans yell, Youll never be your father! This is almost comical because he doesnt want to be, which is how his father, his mother, Clara, and his grandma, Anna Diaz, raised him.They taught me that from day one, Rivera said. They wanted me to make my own path, to be a man. From a very young age, they wanted me to know what I wanted and fight for it every day. Thats why Im here.For the first nine years of his life, Rivera mostly lived away from his father and mother. He was born in Panama in October 1993, after his dad, 23 at the time, had finished Rookie League ball. His parents decided it would be wiser for Rivera to grow up in Panama under the guidance of his adoring grandma, rather than living the nomadic existence of the minor and major leagues. Each offseason, his parents returned to Panama.The elder Rivera and his wife lived in a small apartment in New Rochelle, New York, until 2002. Then they bought their first house in Rye. Rivera had made more than $25 million by then. Soon after, his 9-year-old son came to live full-time with his parents.When he arrived in the States, the younger Rivera did not speak English. He had a tutor attend classes with him and was the youngest kid in his grade. Along with the language barrier, Rivera didnt really understand his fathers prominence, which turned compliments into fear at summer day camp whenever the others kids mentioned the Yankees No. 42.They started talking about my dad, Rivera recalled. To me, my dad was a regular dad. They would say, Your dad is famous. I thought they were talking bad about my dad. I came home crying from the bus. I said to my grandmother, You know what they are saying? They said my dad is famous! I had no idea what that was. It was all new.Soon after, Rivera started popping up in the Yankees clubhouse, like many ballplayers children do. But there were no signs that he wanted a career in the big leagues. He continued to prefer soccer and swimming.In high school, Rivera said his fastball was only in the low 80s, which might explain why he pitched only six innings of junior varsity ball.He went to college, improved his mechanics and, though he is still slight -- at 5-foot-11, 155 pounds, he is 3 inches shorter and 40 pounds lighter than his dad -- his fastball started to gain steam, and scouts noticed. The Yankees first drafted him in the 29th round, as an homage to his lineage more than anything else. When the Nationals took him in the fourth round, the seriousness of Riveras passion took hold.With each step, his dad is a presence, but he tries not to crowd his son. The older Rivera has more baseball acumen than most, but he advises in a quiet fashion. Mariano knows a lot but says very little, said Fern Cuza, Riveras long-time agent.At the beginning of July, the greatest closer of all time showed up in Hagerstown. Rivera usually catches the Suns when they play closer to his Westchester home in Lakewood, New Jersey.His dad was in town in good ol Hagerstown, Suns manager Patrick Anderson said. Normally, he goes up to Lakewood when we play in New Jersey. But in Hagerstown, he came down, and he came into the office, and I said I wanted to get more information about his son, so he started telling me about how he grew up. It was a good conversation. He told me how they didnt give him everything. He earned everything.At the end of the conversation, he said to me, Do you mind if I go out there and work out with the boys? I was like, Yeah, and I turn around, and he is wearing [his sons] shorts and Nationals shorts and T-shirts. He came out and did a throwing program with his son and spoke to the boys.He talked to them about being good teammates and how amazing it was to have [Derek] Jeter, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte [alongside him]. Those guys were all about the team. The message to the boys was it is about the team. It is not about yourself. You want to get yourself better, but it is about the team concept, and how he presented it was amazing.The younger Riveras minor league teammates seem to like him because he plays down his name. His roommate, Rhett Wiseman, grew up near Boston. Wiseman joked that his roommates dad caused me a lot of tears. He has noticed that Rivera doesnt flaunt his fathers legend.I think it is great that he is with the Nationals, Wiseman said. It gives him the opportunity to create his own path. He is a very independent guy. He doesnt say, Im Mariano. Give me this. He is not entitled. He works for everything he gets.So far, this has meant not throwing the cutter, his fathers signature pitch. He has worked on it and tried out some grips but so far is sticking with his 91 mph slider.He wanted to create his own legacy, Wiseman said. I think it took him a couple of years [to decide] that it is a pitch I want to add, Im ready to add.Rivera said he has not added a cutter, but you can imagine that might be the next step in his maturation as a closer.He is also not your average prospect -- and not just because of his name. Because he didnt go through the manufactured, for-profit grinder of youth baseball, his arm might be in better shape.Hes got a fresh arm, thats for sure, said Narron, who pitched a single game in the majors in 2004 with the Texas Rangers. You have a lot of guys here, you have some mileage on their arm. Everything is new to him. You get some guys who are jaded because they are like, Ive played forever. Ive played since I was 5. Everything is new to him, so he wants to get as much information as he can. He is a sponge out there.Narron notices how Rivera reacts to crowds. There are more fans who want his autograph and picture because of his father.You see how he handles that. It is unbelievable, Narron said. He does a tremendous job with that little bit of weight on his shoulders. From what I have seen, he has handled it as well any human being could be expected to handle it.The funny thing is that the old tale about his father is how he found 3 miles per hour on his fastball in the minors. Rivera credited it to God. It is part of his legend. There is something funny about the young Riveras story too. When you talk to him, he has the same grace as his father. He is very polite. As hard as he tries not to be, he is very much like his old man.?His story -- if he makes the majors -- could be just as remarkable as his dads, a man who was just honored with a plaque in Yankee Stadiums Monument Park.If I had a career like my dad, I would be beyond happy, Rivera said. But at the same time, I dont want to be my dad. Cheap Shoes Free Shipping . Soukalova missed only one target and completed the 15-kilometre course in 40 minutes, 32.6 seconds for both victories in this seasons individual discipline. Darya Domracheva of Belarus was second, 34. Cheap Shoes Nike . -- Charline Labonte couldnt have asked for a better homecoming. http://www.discountshoescheap.com/ . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. Wholesale Shoes Near Me .Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres have recalled forward Kevin Porter and defenceman Chad Ruhwedel from the minors as part of a five-player roster shuffle made by the NHLs worst team. Discount Shoes Online .R. Smith realized how easily basketball can be taken from him, and he wasnt going to take his place in the NBA for granted anymore. Through four weeks, the Tennessee Titans were tied for the fewest points in the NFL. Since then, coach Mike Mularkeys vision of exotic smashmouth has played out before everyones eyes.Last weeks 47-25 clobbering of the Green Bay Packers marked the most points for Tennessee in a single game since 2009 and also capped a six-week stretch in which it has averaged 34 points per contest. Whats more, the Titans have scored at least 35 points in each of the last three games.Were making less mistakes, Mularkey said. Weve been very good in the red zone and I think the biggest thing weve done is our third down. Weve been very good on third down which has allowed us to put some of these drives together.We feel like were very hard to defend based on all the things we do and when it comes time to put points up, were putting points up.Tennessee (5-5) will try to keep lighting up the scoreboard at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Sunday, when it will play the Colts in a key AFC South matchup. The winner will at least temporarily gain ground on first place Houston (6-3), which plays the Monday night game against Oakland in Mexico City.Indianapolis (4-5) had last week off after dumping Green Bay 31-26 two weeks ago at Lambeau Field, leading wire-to-wire in probably its best performance of the year. The Colts second-best outing this year might have been the first time they played the Titans.With three offensive starters sidelined, Indianapolis established a 17-6 second-quarter advantage, saw Tennessee rally to take a fourth-quarter lead and then scored two touchdowns in an eight-second span inside the last two minutes for a 34-26 win.It was the 10th consecutive victory for the Colts over the Titans, dating back to the 2011 season. And with everyone healthy after the bye week, Indianapolis is in theory fortified to keep its string of dominance going against its division rival.It still comes down to making plays against a good defense, Colts quarterback Andrew Luck said.Despite absorbing 33 sacks and being under siege at times behind a leaky offensive line, Luck is enjoying one of his best seasons, averaging 285 yards per game passing witth a 17-to-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio.dddddddddddduck dominated the Tennessee back seven last month, piling up 353 yards on 27-of-39 passing. Tight end Jack Doyle and wide receiver T.Y. Hilton took turns whipping defensive backs and linebackers in coverage, combining for 16 grabs and 211 yards. Doyle had the go-ahead touchdown catch on the first play after the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter.It was one of the few games this year in which Luck hasnt been continually hassled by the opponents pass rush. The Titans sacked him only twice and on most plays, Luck could have counted to four Mississippi, five Mississippi before throwing.That was in stark contrast to last week, when Tennessee didnt have to worry about the threat of a run after roaring out to leads of 21-0 and 35-10 in the first half against Green Bay. It sacked Aaron Rodgers five times and hit him six others.Coach Mularkey has that team playing at a high, high level, Indianapolis coach Chuck Pagano said. Just like we do, Tennessee knows the best way to get into the tournament is to win your division. It comes down to being efficient and executing in all three phases.There was concern prior to last weeks game that a turf toe was slowing down Titans running back DeMarco Murray, but he showed on the first carry that wasnt the case. His 75-yard touchdown run set the stage for another big game, as he rushed for 123 yards on 17 carries while adding the first touchdown pass of his career on a 10-yard halfback option toss to Delanie Walker.Making Tennessees offensive showing even better was that it occurred despite the ejection of left tackle Taylor Lewan less than five minutes into the game. Lewan was tossed for contacting an official during a scuffle after Green Bays Letroy Guion drilled quarterback Marcus Mariota.Mariota went on to throw for 295 yards and four touchdowns, earning AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors.A similar performance Sunday could enhance the Titans chances at their first division title in eight years. ' ' '