FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Brandon Marshall tk a swing at teammate Darrelle Revis during a chippy practice Friday in which the two New York Jets?stars jawed at each other throughout an intense, head-to-head battle on the field.It culminated in a confrontation between plays. An incensed Marshall left the offensive sideline and walked about 20 yards to confront Revis, who was stationed at his cornerback position. They exchanged words, and Marshall unleashed an open-handed slap at Revis, which didnt land.The skirmish ended quickly. Team staffer Dave Szott, a former NFL offensive lineman, separated the two players. Wide receiver Quincy Enunwa bear-hugged Marshall from behind and literally carried him away from the scene. There was no brawl, and practice proceeded.The trash talk got personal. At one point, Marshall yelled Houston Texans?wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins name to Revis, perhaps bringing up the worst game of Revis career. Revis was burned badly by Hopkins in a game last season.Afterward, Marshall told reporters that he swung at Revis because he was provoked. He said Revis tk umbrage when he caught a pass on him in a one-on-one drill and taunted him with a first-down signal.He tk that personal, Marshall said. He said, You wont disrespect me again.A short time later, Revis struck him in the face, according to Marshall.I beat him twice times in a row, and on the third, he swung and hit me in the face, Marshall said. Ever since then, it got really competitive. That came back up in that moment. I told him, Dont ever put your hands in my face again like that. He kind of baited me to do it, and I did it. It kind of went t far, but theres a thin line between ftball and being a man.Marshall admitted they crossed that ftball line, but I cant let nobody slap me in the face. He also accused Revis of making personal comments that went off the field.Revis dominated Marshall at the start of team drills and held him without a catch on four targets. Marshall was furious after one pass break-up and cursed at a game official. He felt Revis should have been flagged for pass interference. Marshall redeemed himself by beating Revis twice, including on a long touchdown reception. Marshall taunted Revis after the play by yelling at him from across the field.I just felt like the way he handled things in one-on-one is what you do to a rkie, Marshall said. Im going on year 11, and Ive been super successful in this league, so I tk it personal. But I appreciated it because it tk my practice to a whole other level. I learned from it.Marshall insisted it was an isolated incident and that he and Revis are close friends but fiercely competitive. Revis declined to speak with reporters. This was his first full practice since offseason wrist surgery. Coach Todd Bowles said he addressed it with the team, essentially telling the players that trash talk is accepted -- but not punching.Youre going to get pissed off in camp as a player. Its not charm schl, Bowles told reporters. They play ftball. Both of them got to where they were for making plays and not backing down. Neither player is going to back down. You like that about the competitiveness. You just have to keep it clean. For the most part, they did.Bowles said he had no problem with Marshalls taunting Revis with the reminder about his performance against Hopkins.No, you have to use any means necessary when youre on the field, he said. Theyre going to get under your skin on Sunday. The things [the public doesnt] hear on Sunday are a billion times worse than that. Theyve both been out there long enough, and they both have tls to get under each others skin, especially when it gets chippy.Marshall has a history of erratic behavior, most of it early in his career, when he played for the Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins. A few days ago, he punted a ftball over the bleachers after a pr performance by the offense. Afterward, he laughed it off, attributing it to his competitiveness.Bowles said he isnt worried about Marshall regressing to his old ways.I dont think it was an outburst, Bowles said of Marshalls actions. It was just two gd players going at it, talking mess. Revis won some, and Brandon won some. It got chippy, but its camp. Its supposed to be. ... Its ftball. Were not here because of a beauty pageant. ... We want them on the edge.Curiously, Marshall lamented his curse at the official more than his behavior toward Revis. He praised Revis for being the best cornerback in the league and insisted there will be no ramifications.Yes, Im pissed off right now, and yes, hes pissed off right now, but at the end of the day, weve got to move forward, Marshall said. It may take a couple of hours. It cant go into the locker rm. Theres not going to be no brawl or anything like that.The incident occurred a few days shy of the one-year anniversary of the infamous Geno Smith-IK Enemkpali locker-rm altercation, in which Smiths jaw was broken by his teammates punch. Wholesale Nike Shoes . The Hall of Fame defenceman told Landsberg that he believes fighting still has a place in todays game, but thinks staged fighting needs be outlawed. Cheap Nike Shoes From China . Those lessons were more than enough to overwhelm the Utah Jazz. Lou Williams scored 25 points and the Hawks continued their offensive upswing as they rolled to an easy 118-85 victory over the Jazz on Friday night, winning their third straight and for the fourth time in five games. http://www.cheapshoesfromchina.us/ . A knee to the thigh might have stung him the most, but his sixth straight double-double made up for the brief burst of pain. Cheap Shoes Free Shipping . "Jeff is a hard worker who was an important special-teams contributor for us last season," said Stamps GM John Hufnagel. Wholesale Shoes China . -- Five former Kansas City Chiefs players who were on the team between 1987 and 1993 filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming the team hid and even lied about the risks of head injuries during that time period when there was no collective bargaining agreement in place in the NFL. Five years ago there was hope for Zimbabwean cricket. They made a comeback to Test cricket after a six-year self-imposed exile with a win. In purely cricket terms, it was a fairy tale.Zimbabwes XI was a mix of fresh faces and players who had seemed out of their depth in the format a few years before but had become experienced. Among them was Hamilton Masakadza, who had scored a century on debut and repeated the feat in this landmark 2011 fixture; Brendan Taylor, reformed from his days as a rebel and relishing leadership; and Tatenda Taibu, whose talent overflowed. They had an exciting new-ball pair, Brian Vitori and Kyle Jarvis, who brought swing and pace to complement the veteran Chris Mpofu. The individuals provided all the ingredients, the backrm staff turned them into a team.On reputation alone, Grant Flower and Heath Streak inspired. When they rolled their sleeves up to work with the team, they translated that into action. Flower threw endless balls, Streak massaged bowling skills into shape, and then there was Alan Butcher, who tk man-management seriously, created a safe environment and taught the players to believe in themselves.Of course the set was not perfect; few ever are. There were run-ins between the coaches and the board, there was Taibus bombshell on the eve of the match, that players did not have certainty over their contracts or their pay; and there was the reality that one Test was just one Test. But there was hope.Even though we had not played any international cricket, we had played a lot against South Africa A and we played Australia A. The guys had played a lot of cricket, as well as domestic cricket, Streak, who was Zimbabwes bowling coach at the time, said. We played a lot of international A teams at a high level, which I think helped the guys prepare.In the three months that followed, Zimbabwe had the same number of home tours. They lost more than they won but they showed the kind of fight that could lead to improvement. But now, five years later, theyre still waiting for the curve to turn properly. We were competitive. It was exciting times. Grant Flower and I were pretty hopeful that if we continued to work hard on the guys, you could see progression happening, Streak says.So far, though, all there has been is fluctuation, with periods of promise lost in deserts of uncertainty. At Test level, Zimbabwe are all but marned, with a dearth of fixtures, form and finances causing them to flounder.In the five-year period since their comeback in 2011, Zimbabwe have played just 16 matches, the fewest of any team. Bangladesh are the only other Test team to have played fewer than 40 matches in the same period, with Australia and England playing the most - 60 and 62 respectively.Of the matches Zimbabwe have played, more than a third have been against the same opposition - Bangladesh - who they have played six times. They have played New Zealand four times, Pakistan three, West Indies twice and South Africa once, leaving no matches against England, Australia, India and Sri Lanka.In the small world of elite-level cricket, Zimbabwe have only been exposed to an even smaller circle of competition. While England have political reasons for not competing against Zimbabwe, the other three have just not organised any fixtures against them, although there is a Sri Lanka series scheduled for the end of the year. But that is not where Zimbabwes limitations stop.In 16 Tests, Zimbabwe have played at eight different venues. Two of them are at home: Harare and Bulawayo, where they have played six and four of those Tests. They have had just six away matches, one in New Zealand, two in the West Indies and three in Bangladesh, who also dont get to travel that much. Over the same period, Bangladesh have played at nine venues, but the other eight teams have played at a minimum of 18, with England and Australia getting to 33 and 32 respectively.Its not just change of scenery that Zimbabwe are after but different conditions, which will allow them to adapt better. As things stand, the surfaces Zimbabwe are most used to playing on are their own, which are slow and low year round. Both Harare Sports Club and Queens Club in Bulawayo do not offer much assistance for either seam or spin, and force batsmen to settle into slower than usual scoring rates. Test cricket in Zimbabwe is a throwback to the 1990s or earlier. Test cricket everywhere else operates in the 2000s. Surfaces are primed to suit home advantage: green mambas in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand for the quicks, raging turners in the subcontinent for the spinners. Zimbabwe would not know how to approach either because they simply never see those types of wickets.Even if a small selection of Zimbabwean players does get to experience varying conditions through club stints in other countries, the chances of those players being able to bring that experience to bear when they play for the national team are slim. Player rotation in Zimbabwean cricket is high and those that go tend to stay gone, or at least stay away long enough to deny the systemm any continuity.ddddddddddddThats why, in just 16 Tests, Zimbabwe have capped 25 new players, the joint-highest number with Australia. In those matches, there were only three occasions when Zimbabwe tk the field without debutants. In total, Zimbabwe have used 36 players in this time.Streak identified the retirements of Taibu, Jarvis and Taylor as the biggest losses. Even though it was only three players, it had a massive impact on Zimbabwe. We dont have a lot of players, like Australia or India, who have players lined up, and especially those of that calibre - they are difficult to replace overnight. They were match-winners, he said.The trio aside, scanning some of the names asks many questions about how well Zimbabwes personnel are managed. Of those 25 new caps, nine have been retained from before the current series against New Zealand, while four others made their debuts in this series. What about the other half? Heres the low-down.Tendai Chatara was ruled out with an injury. Vitori, who has also struggled with injuries, has more recently been sidelined for six months, correcting an illegal action. Greg Lamb, who is 35 and was playing until last season, has presumably moved on. Keegan Meth has relocated to Canada. Malcolm Waller hoped to be in the squad for this series but was overlked. Shingi Masakadza finished as the leading wicket-taker in the Logan Cup and played in the A matches against South Africa but was not picked. Timycen Maruma and Natsai Mshangwe played for the A side, and Richmond Mutumbami and Tafadwa Kamungozi have been used in limited-overs teams, Forster Mutizwa is playing domestically, and Jarvis has retired to play county cricket.All but Lamb and Meth are still playing cricket but Zimbabwes dilemma is that they dont seem to know how to make best use of them. The talent is there but youve got to support and nurture that talent, Streak said. Guys have to be allowed to play enough cricket to continue to evolve.Finances are one reason some have left but mostly its the unpredictability of the system that frustrates them. There are stories of players being notified of call-ups at midnight the day before a game, and of players being given to believe they will be picked and then told they are not in contention at the last minute.Because the domestic structure, which has moved away from a franchise competition to a provincial one, has so few fixtures, it cannot be used as a guideline for picking the national squad. The franchise system was initially very strong because it was supported by two or three very strong overseas professionals, and that has also fallen away, Streak says. The level of domestic cricket has just come down a bit because those sorts of guys would raise the bar. Its on a whim sometimes that players are called up - Mpofu to the current Test squad training, for example - and dropped. Vusi Sibanda played in the A matches leading up to this Test series, only to be given no explanation for why he was not part of the final squad.Some of these are down to the fac that Zimbabwes administration is in a constant state of flux, which cannot aid stability. In the five years since their Test comeback, Zimbabwe have had five coaches, moving from Butcher, to Andy Waller to Stephen Mangongo, Dav Whatmore, and now Makhaya Ntini. They have also had several different consultants, changes in the selection panel, convener, a change of chairman and managing director. Every new person who comes in brings his own plan, and often those plans do not match each other. Sometimes it is simply the cost of implementing plans that Zimbabwe cannot meet.The financial malaise of Zimbabwe Cricket has been written about at length, with investigations into the organisations debt and the alleged mismanagement of an ICC loan, but the larger context is that Zimbabwe the country is in economic meltdown. Even dollarisation has not been able to spark growth, and the result is that industry is at a standstill and small businesses are struggling to survive. In that climate, sponsors are hard to come by and funding sport is almost impossible even with the ICC grant.The biggest sufferer of the monetary squeeze is the five-day game. Its expensive for us to host Test cricket here, Streak says. We are very reliant on Indian fixtures because of the amount of revenue that brings in. If the ICC can lk at ways on how we could play more cricket without impacting on us financially, that would be gd.A two-tier Test structure has been mted as one way to do that, and even though it would see Zimbabwe relegated to a second division, it may help Test cricket remain alive in the country, albeit only just. That it still is, is in itself remarkable. The players still talk about the pride in the format, and the crowds are bigger than at some higher-profile venues around the world. Theres a hunger to do more and to do better, and so, five years after their Test comeback, its the hope that hurts. ' ' '