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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Coach Mike Mularkey warned the Tennessee Titans 10 draft picks.They better study hard because he planned to call on them during a team meeting the next day to test their knowledge of the playbook and didnt want any rookie embarrassed.Sure enough, Mularkey brought the rookies in front of their teammates where he pulled a surprise by asking them to spell instead of questions about pass protections and quarterback blitzes.A spelling bee in an NFL team meeting?Titans defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau had never heard of such a thing in his 57 years in the league, but Mularkey got what he wanted.The spelling bee left the Titans laughing for days, especially the memory of one rookie misspelling physical, while also ensuring Tennessees newest players pored over their playbooks.I think outside the box all the time of what can I do differently that will keep them constantly on edge and keep thinking, Mularkey said.Being hired as an NFL head coach even once isnt easy.And third chances are pretty rare, and Mularkey and his career 18-39 record has gotten just that in Tennessee after two seasons with Buffalo and one in Jacksonville.Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk saw enough of Mularkey as he finished the final nine games last season as interim coach to give him the job after interviewing a handful of coaches in January.Her decision made Mularkey the 16th man hired as a permanent coach of three or more NFL teams since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970. He joined Seattles Pete Carroll and John Fox of Chicago as the leagues current coaches with their third different team. And both Carroll and Fox have coached in multiple Super Bowls.I must be doing something right that people believe in me and trust in me to take over their team and lead it, Mularkey said. And Im very confident in my ability. I think Im very good at what I do regardless of records or personal comments from people that dont know me very well.A ninth-round draft pick in 1983 out of Florida who played nine NFL seasons at tight end for Bud Grant in Minnesota and Chuck Noll in Pittsburgh, Mularkey believes his diligent note-taking kept him around much longer than skill or his surgically repaired knees should have allowed. When Strunk fired Ken Whisenhunt on Nov. 3 last season, one of the first things Mularkey did was start checking the notes taken in meetings.After a full offseason, Mularkey is seeing better answers to his questions.In team meetings, I call it rapid fire. ... Ill pop them a question that they need to know immediately in front of their teammates without looking at their notes, and its been pretty impressive, especially the rookies, Mularkey said.Ive picked on them a lot this offseason, and I think theyve already been forewarned: `You better be prepared when you come in that team meeting room.Competition starts every morning during the team meeting usually pitting receivers versus defensive backs, offense against defense and special teams.Whatever he has in store for us, we never know, wide receiver Kendall Wright said. Were just ready for it. It makes you think. It makes you go home and study stuff because you never know what hes going to do.Linebacker Wesley Woodyard, who said NFL players love to compete even at rock, paper, scissors, understands what Mularkey is trying to achieve.If you have the mindset `I have to compete against this guy across from me and I have to beat him and I have to win, it definitely translates onto Sundays, Woodyard said.Me, I can only speak for me just being a linebacker thats made his career off of competition. It brings the best out of everybody, and we welcome it.Yet as a head coach, Mularkey has only one winning season to his credit -- his first when he went 9-7 in Buffalo in 2004.He resigned after going 5-11 in 2005 and was fired in Jacksonville after going 2-14 in 2012 with a new owner who wanted to rebuild. Now hes trying to turn around a franchise that has had one winning season since last reaching the playoffs in 2008.Mularkey believes the Titans are the right team at the perfect time for him.Im happy with whats going on here, Mularkey said. Theres a lot of good things that are different than any of the previous two places Ive been a head coach, and Im excited.Im a little bit different in the sense that if theres anything Im trying to have a little more fun with the players, that they enjoy coming into work every day. We work hard, we work really hard, but we also are going to have fun doing it.---Online:AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/AP-NFL---Follow Teresa M. Walker at www.twitter.com/teresamwalker Fake Vans Website . According to a report from the Vancouver Province, the Lions are expected to replace former DC Rich Stubler with defensive backs coach Mark Washington. Fake Vans 2020 . Louis. To which I would say two things: 1. Where there is smoke, there is or perhaps has been a little fire. Or, in other words, the two teams would appear to have at least spoken. And spoken is defined as one calling the other to inquire, no more, no less. https://www.vansfake.com/ . "I dont know that were close," said general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "I just think, right now, the acquisition cost just doesnt work for us right now. I dont know if I can quantify how far off or things like that that they might be but I would say we continue to have dialogue. Fake Vans From China . "Were just throwing s--- at the wall hoping something sticks," said Tortorella about the possible line combinations for Fridays game against Columbus. The Canucks have lost five straight games and six of their last seven, leaving them in a logjam in the Pacific Division, currently sitting fifth - good for ninth in the Western Conference. Fake Vans Cheap . -- When the Florida Panthers fell behind by two goals in the first period to the top team in the NHL, it appeared they were on their way to yet another loss. EUGENE, Ore. -- When Aries Merritt won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics, he raised his arms in triumph, grabbed a U.S. flag from the stands and circled the track with the Stars and Stripes around his shoulders and an enormous smile on his face. If he qualifies and wins again in Rio, his reaction will be considerably different.It would be a lot more challenging considering Im coming off surgery just nine months ago, Merritt said. But just going out there and winning a medal, given everything Ive gone through, will just be huge.And if I was to win, it would just look ugly [afterward] because I would be on the track crying somewhere. Because of all the pain and all the suffering and all the depression I went through to get to this point.More than 10,000 athletes will compete at the Olympics and most will have amazing stories about their road to Rio. But few could top what Merritts journey has been like. Due to a genetic disorder, he underwent a kidney transplant in September, followed by a second surgery on the new kidney a month later.Not many athletes have ever come back after requiring a kidney transplant. Alonzo Mourning was one, though Merritt points out that at least the NBA star had teammates to help him on the court.In basketball, if youre not playing to the best of your ability, you have four other guys who can pick up your slack. There is no picking up slack in this sport, he said. If youre not 100 percent, or close to it, youre not doing anything. Because there is always somebody younger, there is always somebody faster and there is always somebody in better shape.So Merritt faces a challenge in qualifying for the U.S. team in the 110 hurdles this weekend, but life away from the track has prepared him for anything on it.Merritt first learned he had his kidney disorder in late 2013. He needed treatment and was hospitalized for several months into 2014. He says doctors told him at one point he would never be able to run again, though that turned out not to be the case. He recovered some and was able to run again, but the function of one of his kidneys decreased to the point where he says it was at about 10 percent of normal last August.While his body was able to deal with the kidneys steady decline -- I felt normal -- doctors told Merritt if he didnt have a transplant by March of this year, the kidney would stop functioning. I would literally have been living on a machine because I would need dialysis.Despite all that, Merritt flew to Beijing in August for the wworld track and field championships even though he had to return home for the kidney transplant at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona just days later.dddddddddddd He still earned bronze with a time of 13.04.I was with him last year in Beijing, and for him to say, Yeah, I just want to get to the finals and then have surgery in a few days? U.S. triple jumper Christian Taylor said. How can you ever carry that pressure of not even knowing what would happen? Maybe I would pass out in one of the rounds. For me that would have been so scary.I have a lot of respect for him. This guy is the greatest hurdler of all time. For him to take this challenge on is just phenomenal.Fortunately, Merritt was able to receive a transplant from his older sister, LaToya Hubbard, and it went well. She gave me the gift of life, he said. Not many family members or friends would even consider giving up an organ.Following the transplant, doctors told Merritt that he probably should not run this year to give his body enough time to heal with the new kidney. He didnt care. He was determined to begin training again as soon as possible.I didnt really have an option to skip the Olympic Games, he said. Im 30, so the next Olympics Ill be 34, so I cant skip these.The doctors also told him he could not run for at least eight weeks following the transplant. He waited seven weeks. But a second surgery due to a hematoma in the new kidney set him back another six weeks before he could begin training again in January.Because of all that, Merritt has been able to run in less than half his usual number of races this year and his times have been short of what he ran in 2012, or at last years world championships. He ran 13.24 at an IAAF World Challenge meet in Beijing in May, then finished fourth with a time of 13.51 at the Prefontaine Classic later that month. He also injured his groin during the Pre Classic. That sidelined him for two weeks, but he says he is fine now.Well see whether he can clear this latest hurdle and return to the Olympics.The Olympic Games are like the Super Bowl for track and field, Merritt said. Everyone sees the Olympics, whereas the world championships are something only a few people see. And I think its really important to keep that Olympic dream and achieve that Olympic goal of trying to win a gold medal and show everyone around the world your story and your struggles. ' ' '