DURHAM, N.C. -- As she waited for her son to emerge from the Duke locker room, Sherry Allen should have been giddy. The Blue Devils had just beaten Florida State, their sixth win in seven games, and her son, Grayson, again had led his team in scoring with 18 points.Instead, Sherry stood silently, trying to identify the feeling gnawing at her insides. Finally, it hit her. She felt helpless. And the recognition that she couldnt stop what was about to happen to her son and, worse, couldnt prepare him for it practically paralyzed her.I realized that this was going to change him forever, Sherry said recently, recalling that February evening. I also knew he didnt know that. He wasnt going to know until it was too late, until he had the reality of it.What does it feel like to be caught in the social media storm known as going viral? To the Allens, it was like being swept up in a tidal wave. In a matter of 17 days, Grayson Allen went from a mild-mannered, Bible verse-tweeting potential All-American to the biggest villain in college basketball.He did this to himself, purposefully tripping two opponents. First it was Louisvilles Ray Spalding on Feb. 8, then Florida States Xavier Rathan-Mayes on Feb. 25. The first incident was surprising; the second incomprehensible, a pattern of dirty behavior that no longer could be written off as a Did he or didnt he do it intentionally? debate. No, he did it, with his right foot out, left heel up. It turned Grayson Allen into a trending topic on Twitter, an ignominious YouTube sensation and the topic of conversation around the country.I cant blame people for saying what they did, Grayson said. I probably would have said the exact same thing.Now, with a new college basketball season around the corner, the Allens are waiting with trepidation to learn the statute of limitations on 2016 basketball crimes. When does last years viral video disappear?It is time, Sherry said, to put it to rest.Of course, she knows better. Sherry knows neither she nor anyone in her family gets to call a moratorium on the Grayson Allen tripping conversation. Her son now knows that, too. He understands he cannot undo what has already been done. He also knows some opinions of him will never change.I know theres never completely a blank slate, Grayson said. Thats going to be replayed and not forgotten about. But for me, every opportunity I get to step on the court is an opportunity to play the game again and play the game the right way.And, if after all of that, people choose to like him or loathe him, Grayson Allen isnt terribly concerned. He just hopes they will come to know who he really is.Instead of who they think he is.SO IMAGINE you live your entire life doing the right thing. You make good grades and star on the basketball court to earn a scholarship to Duke. You parlay that into?spots on the All-American team and the Academic All-American team.Youve been on the planet for 20 years, or the equivalent of 630,000,000-plus seconds, and despite all that good, all of those achievements, the two worst nanoseconds of your life have come to define you.This is what haunts Grayson Allen and his family.He is ashamed of himself. Not in that fake, must-give mea cupla kind of way, in which he simply says, Im sorry. I made a mistake. I take responsibility. Of course hes sorry and knows what he did was wrong. Thats the easy part. Dealing with the embarrassment? Thats what causes him to twist his fingers into pretzels and choose each word carefully and deliberately as he sits with ESPN for on- and off-camera interviews earlier this month. Its the enormity of it all thats still causing him so much distress.His teammates tried to brush it off. Freshman Frank Jackson cracked a joke about Allens little tripping problem. Senior Amile Jefferson said it was all merely because people are going to talk, adding that, when youre one of the best players in the country, any story they can have on you, especially when its negative, theyre going to put it out there.But they werent him. They werent the one caught in the crosshairs. He was. Allen spent a lifetime building a reputation as a person of high character, only to see it all disintegrate with two kicks of his feet. It wasnt his teammates, either, who put Mike Krzyzewskis own scruples under the microscope, with people questioning how a man of such high moral standards refused to even suspend his star player. No, Allen had to deal with that.And his teammates didnt have to face their parents after that Florida State game. He did. He had to come face to face with the reality that he hadnt just embarrassed himself; he disappointed them.It was a lot, Grayson said, letting the simple words hang before continuing. That was an emotional moment, an emotional night for me after that game.Allen holed up in his room for days. His parents called repeatedly telling him theyd get through it, to let it go and move forward.But thats so hard to do when its on every sports channel, even in our local newspaper here (in Jacksonville, Florida), Sherry said.Following the first kicking incident, an ESPN.com story?examined?if Allen would be the next hated white player from Duke. The story linked Allen to Christian Laettner and J.J. Redick, two villains who, unlike Allen, came before him and embraced the hate.I didnt exactly help my own cause, Allen said.The fervor trailed him through the rest of the season, chasing him like a recurring nightmare. Away games were awful, neutral-court NCAA crowds only marginally better. Social media was especially cruel.Most of the time when things like this happen, youre watching someone else on TV or seeing something on Twitter about someone else, he said. Theres always something going on with Twitter, and youre watching it like, Oh its this person. And then all of a sudden its you, and it feels completely different.He avoided all of his accounts as best he could, but hes a college student, drawn to the social flame like a helpless moth. He couldnt avoid the media scrutiny, foregoing the no comment route and instead answering the same questions over and over. He offered no excuses because he really didnt have one.Even now, months later, Allen doesnt have an explanation for his behavior. He likens it to a moment in middle school when an opposing mom hissed miss it during his free throws. After he made his free throws, he couldnt help himself -- he stuck his tongue out at her as he ran back down court.Except then he was 12.On a much larger scale, this was exactly the same thing, Allen said. Its definitely the same feeling, the Did I really just do that? Like, youve got to be kidding me. You are so much smarter than that.HIS HOPE NOW is that maybe, in some twisted way, this will help him.Hes a master at challenging himself. Always has been. His mother recalls a kindergarten-aged boy who would frantically write, erase and rewrite his numbers and letters until they perfectly matched up with the dots on the paper provided. Today, thanks to doubling down on courses, Allen will be within enough credits of earning his degree that he will be permitted to walk at graduation, a full year early.As a kid, a shoeless -- and occasionally sockless -- Allen would spend hours alone on his Florida driveway shooting baskets, perfecting his shot until the net barely moved when the ball slashed through it. Now he enters his third season just 68 points shy of 1,000 at Duke.While hes driven, Allen is not one to naturally court attention. Hes more a natural-born introvert who describes his off-court personality as timid. When the ebullient Duke freshman Harry Giles walked in for his interviews last month, everyone knew hed arrived in the room. Allen almost snuck in. Thats how he likes it. His teammates say he is one of the best at video games. Yet when given the chance to boast about his skills, the best Allen can come up with?is: Id like to take the top claim on that.Its only on the basketball court that he truly comes out of his shell. The same person who sneaks into a room happily unnoticed is impossible to ignore once he crosses the lines. He plays with a recklessness that borders on foolishness, a self-assuredness that could be misconstrued as cockiness.But that fire only burns internally, fueling him to play harder and work harder but not necessarily inspiring others to do the same. Krzyzewski, in fact, challenged Allen at the start of last season to stop being so selfish with his passion and use it instead to challenge his teammates. Allen became better, but leadership remained an uncomfortable, unnatural fit. Given his druthers, Allen would somehow be the best and let someone else be in charge.The harsh glare of the spotlight forced him out of his comfort zone.?Our boy is definitely growing up, William Allen said of his son.And now, given all that he has been through in his relatively short time at Duke, Grayson can lend some guidance to a freshman class loaded with talent and the burden of expectation.It wasnt a smooth ride to get here to my junior year, he said. I couldnt really tell those guys, teach them about adversity or anything like that if its something I didnt go through. I think now I can talk to them a lot more.THEY WANT to move on. Not just the Allens. Ray Spalding and Xavier Rathan-Meyes would like to as well. When asked to talk about their individual encounters, Allens victims both declined. Each said through athletics department officials that they harbored no ill will toward Allen. As far as they were concerned, the whole thing was in the past.What will it take for everyone else to feel the same? A season without incident??If Grayson Allen cant get that blank slate, what then can he do to at least get a second chance?His mother knows the answer, only this time its not making her feel helpless.Weve moved forward because we know what kind of player he is and what kind of person he is, she said. Now he just needs the chance to show everyone else.A little dose of the real Grayson Allen. Not just the viral one. Avonte Maddox Stitched Jersey .C. - The Carolina Hurricanes have placed backup goalie Anton Khudobin on injured reserve with an unspecified lower-body injury. Jordan Mailata Stitched Jersey . -- Ty Montgomery had 290 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns, and fifth-ranked Stanford held on to beat No. http://www.officialeaglesnflauthenticshop.com/ . The return match will take place next Wednesday. Udinese leads Fiorentina 2-1 in the other semifinal. Napoli staged a second-half comeback from two goals down after Gervinhos opener and a stunning strike from Kevin Strootman. Elite Eagles Jerseys . Nathan MacKinnon, Jamie McGinn and Jan Hejda also scored for the Avalanche, who won despite being outshot 38-23. MacKinnons goal, also on the power play, came with just over a minute remaining. Green Eagles Jerseys . P.A. Parenteau scored early in the third period to help the Avs edge Toronto 2-1 on Tuesday night. Cory Sarich also scored for Colorado (3-0-0), which is off to its best ever start. CHICAGO -- There are plenty of nice pieces, beginning with NHL MVP Patrick Kane, star center Jonathan Toews and Calder Trophy winner Artemi Panarin.How they fit together is the big question for Chicago coach Joel Quenneville.The Blackhawks traded Andrew Shaw and Teuvo Teravainen and lost Andrew Ladd in free agency over the summer, leaving three big holes. Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann also left in free agency, and Marian Hossa, long one of Chicagos most consistent forwards, is coming off a down year.The result is an unsettled situation for the Blackhawks four lines that Quenneville might need some time to sort out.That unpredictability sometimes can be healthy in a lot of ways, knowing that guys are pushing and decisions -- when we have tough decisions -- we feel were a better team and a better organization when it comes down to that type of situation, Quenneville said Tuesday.Kane, Panarin and center Artem Anisimov combined for one of the NHLs most productive lines last season. Kane was the leagues top scorer with 106 points, and Panarin had 30 goals and 47 assists in an impressive rookie season. Anisimov finished with 20 goals and 22 assists in his first year in Chicago.But Kane and Panarin are the Blackhawks best playmakers, and Quenneville could break up their second line to create more balance. Hossa, who turns 38 in January, could play on any one of Chicagos top three lines depending on how it shakes out.Regardless of who Im playing with, its up to me to make sure that Im trying to enable those other two guys to be the best they can be as well, Toews said.The play of Chicagos top forward prospects also will affect the look of the Blackhawks lines. Tyler Motte, a former University of Michigan star, and speedy Vincent Hinostroza, a Chicago-area native who played college hockey at Notre Dame, each looked great in camp. Nick Schmaltz, a first-round pick in the 2014 draft, also is in the mix.The Blackhawks look pretty settled on defense. Brian Campbell, who led NHL defensemen with a plus-31 plus-minus rating last season with Florida, signed a one-year deal in July, returning to Chicago after helping the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in 2010.The addition of Campbell gives the Blackhawks one of the best defensive lineups in the league, topped by two-time Norris Trophy winner Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Niklas Hjalmarsson. Michaal Kempny, who signed with Chicago on May 24 and played for Czech Republic in the World Cup, also is an intriguing prospect for the third pairing.ddddddddddddThis is probably the deepest d-corps group weve had since Ive been in this organization, said Hjalmarsson, who made his NHL debut with the Blackhawks in 2008.Here are a couple more things to watch as Chicago tries for its fourth Stanley Cup title since 2010:SWEET, SWEET RESTThe Blackhawks lost to St. Louis in seven games in the first round of the playoffs in April. It was their shortest stay in the postseason since they lost to the Coyotes in the first round in 2012.The amount of top-level games, including the Olympics, had stacked up for some of Chicagos biggest stars, and the longer-than-usual offseason might help this year.Sometimes when you go far and deep in the playoffs youre still mentally tired and not as excited to tie the skates on every morning, Hjalmarsson said. But thats not an issue at all now. So I think everybody is just excited to get the regular season going.CO-REY! CO-REY!Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford is coming off one of his best seasons in the NHL. He set career highs with 35 wins, 58 starts and NHL-best seven shutouts.Crawford tuned up for this year by helping Canada win the World Cup. With an improved defense in front of him, the 31-year-old Crawford could contend for the Vezina Trophy awarded to the NHLs top goaltender after finishing fifth in the voting last season.CONSIDERING KRUGERCenter Marcus Kruger agreed to a $9.25 million, three-year contract extension in March, locking up the versatile penalty killer through the 2018-19 season. But Kruger had no goals and four assists in 41 games last season, and the Blackhawks need more production from the Swede with their losses at forward, especially if he plays on the third line.REPLACING SHAWShaw was a valuable net-front presence for Chicago, finishing with 14 goals and 20 assists. He also is one of the leagues top agitators, excelling at getting under an opponents skin. Brandon Mashinter, who had a career-best four goals in 41 games last season, Jordin Tootoo and Ryan Hartman could get a chance to fill Shaws shoes.---Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap Wholesale Jerseys 2019 Cheap Jerseys 2020 Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping Cheap Jerseys China Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys ' ' '