work with people with post-traumatic addiction problems and a

SAN DIEGO -- Miami Dolphins linebacker Kiko Alonso couldnt have played his first career pick-6 any better.It was the highlight play of his career so far, and left the San Diego Chargers stunned, again.Alonso deked Philip Rivers into thinking he was going to cover a slot receiver, then broke off, jumped in front of Tyrell Williams for the interception and outraced everyone 60 yards to the end zone with 1:01 left to give the Dolphins a wild 31-24 victory Sunday.Maybe he was expecting me to go up the seam, Alonso said.He didnt. Once he had the ball, all Alonso needed to do was outrun Williams for the score.I mean, thats my first touchdown on defense ever, like high school, college, he said. I felt good.The Dolphins (5-4) intercepted Rivers four times in a 13-minute span in the fourth quarter and won their fourth straight game.With the score tied and the Chargers (4-6) on the Miami 42, Dolphins coach Adam Gase said he was thinking through some timeout scenarios and looked up and saw his hands on the ball. Hes a very instinctive player and I know a couple of times he gambles and loses but a lot of times he gambles and hes right.Miami quarterback Ryan Tannehill said he saw Alonso buzz out right before the snap and as soon as Phil started looking that way, I was happy he didnt see him.Rivers tied his career high with the four picks.Obviously it cant happen down in there, said Rivers, who helped the Chargers to a 10-0 lead midway through the second quarter. There were two of them when we were fixing to score, and then obviously the last one there with a chance to win the game with a field goal. The guy made a great play.Two plays into the ensuing drive, Rivers was intercepted again, by Tony Lippett, his second of the game.Too many missed opportunities with the chance to take the lead a few times. I didnt get it done, Rivers said.Rivers threw three touchdown passes to move past John Elway for eighth place on the career list with 301.Rivers 51-yard touchdown pass to Williams with 4:04 left gave the Chargers a 24-21 lead.Miami came right back to get a 27-yard field goal from Andrew Franks to tie it. That was set up by Tannehills 56-yard pass to DeVante Parker and a roughing-the-passer call that put the ball on the San Diego 10.Damien Williams scored on a 2-yard run and on an 18-yard pass from Tannehill for the Dolphins.Jay Ajayi ran for 79 yards, ending his streak of three straight 100-yard games, but he had big runs to set up two touchdowns by Williams.MOMENTUM SWINGThe Chargers blew a great opportunity to jump back into the lead after Jakeem Grant muffed a punt and Darrell Stuckey recovered it at the Miami 5. The Chargers had five chances from the 5 or closer -- thanks a holding call against Byron Maxwell -- and ended up with Rivers being intercepted by Lippett in the end zone after forcing a pass into double coverage.After Miami went three-and-out, Rivers gave it right back when he was intercepted by Byron Maxwell with 6:49 to go. The Dolphins failed to capitalize.Losing this way was like a shot under the chin, Stuckey said. Its a tough one. Weve got to find a way to take advantage of opportunities we get. Its the same old, same old story every time, for us, not taking advantage of opportunities.RECORD BOOKRivers threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Gates for a 10-0 lead. It was the 82nd time those two connected, extending their NFL record for a quarterback-tight end duo.Gates needs two TD catches to tie Tony Gonzalezs NFL record for touchdown grabs by a tight end (111).WEST COAST WEEKKenny Stills, who went to La Costa Canyon High in northern San Diego County, caught a 39-yard touchdown pass from Tannehill in the second quarter. Since the Dolphins are playing at the Los Angeles Rams next Sunday, theyre staying in Carlsbad this week. That gave Stills a chance to show some teammates his high school and to make a special visit. I got to see my dog for the first time in like a year and a half, said Stills, who stayed in Miami last offseason to work out.TOUGH WEEKIt was the second big loss for the Chargers in less than a week . On Tuesday, voters soundly rejected the teams request to raise hotel occupancy taxes to raise $1.15 billion for a $1.8 billion stadium and convention center annex downtown. Its unclear whether the Chargers will try another plan in San Diego or move to Los Angeles.INJURIESChargers CB Brandon Flowers left late in the third quarter and was being evaluated for a concussion. ... Dolphins DE Mario Williams left with an ankle injury.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Bill Bradley Jersey . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona. Tyson Chandler Jersey .com) - Christian Ponder will get another chance to prove himself for the Minnesota Vikings, with head coach Leslie Frazier announcing Wednesday that the struggling quarterback will start this weekends game against the Green Bay Packers. https://www.cheapknicks.com/1381x-damyean-dotson-jersey-knicks.html . Vokoun departed practice on Saturday morning after discovering swelling in his thigh. He was taken to a local hospital where the clot was revealed. The club announced the surgery following a 5-3 exhibition loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Carl Braun Jersey . PAUL, Minn. Rod Strickland Jersey . -- Adam Snyder returned to the San Francisco 49ers this season because the offensive lineman thought it was his best opportunity to win a championship. He went way beyond the limits. That wasnt a punch. He was trying to grab the players eye with his thumb!Colin Campbell, then the NHLs head of discipline, uttered those words in an interview with The Canadian Press back in 2005. The incident he was referring to was a preseason fight between rugged New York Rangers blueliner Dale Purinton and Colton Orr of the Boston Bruins. During the fight, Purinton dug his left thumb into Orrs right eye. Days later, Purinton was suspended 10 games for eye gouging and subsequently was sent down to the minors. He never played for the Rangers again.Dale Diesel Purinton was no stranger to the penalty box at any point in his career. While playing midget hockey for the Moose Jaw Warriors in Saskatchewan, he racked up 107 penalty minutes in 34 games. He was 16 years old.Purinton was an enforcer, commonly referred to as a goon in hockey parlance. His job was to intimidate the opposing team and protect his teams star players -- usually by using bodily force. That job came with a hefty price, however. He battled constant headaches, nausea, forgetfulness, depression, irrationality and suicidal thoughts during his career, and he developed a drug addiction. Purinton believes he suffered at least 10 on-ice concussions. Yet he kept silent because of the very real fear of being replaced if he spoke up about his injuries.I just wouldnt tell anyone, Purinton, now 40, said by phone from his home on Vancouver Island. Our mentality growing up is that you train your whole life to do these jobs and [admitting to being injured] is a sign of weakness. I remember throwing up after a game, but I wouldnt tell anyone because I knew that they would bring someone else up [in my place].Purinton said living with multiple concussions dramatically changed his life.I couldnt finish one task, he said. The only thing I could really do is get on my riding lawn mower because its the only thing I could focus on for a longer period of time.Purintons worst concussion happened March 30, 2004, in a game against the New Jersey Devils,?when he collided with Devils forward Jamie Langenbrunner.I got kicked in the chin with a skate, and I landed right on the ice, Purinton said.Purinton felt woozy and had to be helped off the ice by his Rangers teammates. That was his final regular-season NHL game. And he was fine with that.By the end, I didnt even want to be a hockey player anymore, Purinton said. I was the most depressed and isolated and loneliest Ive ever been, and thats when I used the most drugs and alcohol because I just didnt know how to cope with life.Purinton became notorious for his violent antics on the ice later in his career, but he said there was a reason behind it.[I was] looking for a way to get out of hockey because something was wrong with me, he said.He was repeatedly warned that if he kept playing like a common goon, he would be fired. Acting up was his cry for help. He spent the final years of his career with the farm teams for the Rangers and the?Colorado Avalanche before calling it quits in 2007 after being suspended for sucker-punching an opponent.In the summer of 2015, he hit rock bottom when he was arrested for burglary and assault after he broke into an acquaintances home in upstate New York and roughed up the owner. He served four months at a maximum security prison earlier this year. Purinton, who found life among federal inmates to be a far cry from the penalty box, maintains that his fall from grace was all the result of concussions.Purinton has three young sons, all of whom play hockkey.dddddddddddd Fearing that they could also face concussions, he joined more than 100 fellow former players in a class-action lawsuit against the NHL aimed at holding the league accountable for their life-altering injuries.We need to look at their future as well, Purinton said. For me not to do anything would not have been the right thing to do.The players allege that the NHL did not do enough to care for its players, including not warning them about the long-term effects of brain injuries. The NHL argues that the players willingly entered the game and should have known the risks involved with the sport.Its hard for me to believe that [NHL commissioner] Gary Bettman can still try and tuck this under the rug and just blow it off like these guys arent human, Purinton said. They are struggling, and they have families and kids, and they are having a very hard time trying to live.Purinton owes much of his recovery to his wife, Temple Greenleaf. She first noticed a change in his mental state around 2003.I was starting to see signs that his job was not a normal job and that it was taking its toll on him mentally, she said. I thought there was a substance-abuse problem. He would kind of go up and down with depression and anxiety. It was this vicious cycle.Fearing for Purintons health, Greenleaf reached out to the NHLPA for help, but she said her concerns fell on deaf ears.The union called [former Rangers general manager] Glen Sather, and then they kind of brushed it under the rug and said, Clean up your act, Greenleaf said. The Rangers had no comment for this story.Purintons condition got worse after he retired.?In 2013, I forced Dales hand and made him call [the NHLPA]. He spoke to somebody in the union, she said, fighting tears. He said that he was having suicidal thoughts, and he needed some help, and he was really struggling. They said they would get back to him, but they just didnt deem him bad enough.Purinton did finally undergo treatment for his substance abuse. In the months between his arrest and his prison term, he spent 11 weeks at the Cedars Cobble Hill Treatment Center on Vancouver Island. It was paid for by the NHLPA.Now a year sober, Purinton is trying to help others who have been in his skates. In September, he and other former players spoke with lawmakers on Capitol Hill in an effort to draw attention to head injuries in hockey. Within the next year, he hopes to start a foundation aimed at helping other athletes struggling with addiction.I need to do my part, so Im starting a society here in Canada to pay for peoples treatment, he said. Im going to eventually meet with the NHL to work with people with post-traumatic addiction problems and a wide range of obsessive-compulsive behaviors.He wants to call the group Homies Help Homies, after a catchphrase he heard in a cartoon show.Greenleaf sees a silver lining in her husbands suffering.He is now doing so much better, and I think the greatest gift through this whole thing is that he wants to help other guys, she said.Thirteen years after Greenleaf first feared Purintons atypical occupation was causing him irreparable harm, he now has a normal job. He is a logger on Vancouver Island.?He still loves hockey. But he wants the NHL to provide treatment for the players who need it -- and make the sport safer for everyone, including his kids.I want to help people, he said. I want to give back. Its what I was meant to do. ' ' '