returned Tuesday for the first of three consecutive days a

Always wearing a business suit and hat, Connie Mack managed the Philadelphia Athletics for the baseball teams first 50 seasons -- and occasionally fell asleep in the dugout during his latter years -- before retiring at age 87 in 1950. Of course, he also was the teams partial or sole owner those 50 years, so Mack didnt have to worry about a boss calling him into the office and ordering him to pack his bags.That isnt the case for pretty much everyone else in the coaching profession, who can face dismissal after even one bad year. Why, only five of the 30 active NBA coaches have been with their current club for more than three years. As former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson wrote in his autobiography about his 27 years with that club: The control I was able to exert over Manchester United was a privilege few managers will be lucky enough to know.Thats what makes Arsene Wengers tenure as Arsenals manager impressive. Oct. 1 will mark the 20th anniversary of when he officially took over for what has been by far the longest managerial tenure in club history. He is the only active Premier League manager who has been with his current club more than four seasons. That is noteworthy, even outside soccer.To have that kind of longevity, former baseball manager Tony La Russa said, he must not only have a tremendous knowledge of the game and how to manage, but he also does something well to relate with the players.Yet even as successful as Wenger has been -- three Premier League championships and six FA Cup titles -- this past spring there were fans jeering and holding banners with such wording as: Thanks for the memories but its time to say goodbye.It isnt easy keeping a coaching job. For most people. Jim Boeheim started as the Syracuse University mens basketball coach in 1976 and still holds that position 40 years later, longer than any other active coach or manager in a major American sport. What advice would he give to someone just starting out?Try to do a great job and win. Then you can last another year, Boeheim said with a laugh. Just keep winning and youll be all right. Nothing else will matter. If you win, youll be OK. If you dont win, youll be looking for another job.Maintaining a managerial position is difficult anywhere, but coaches tend to last longer at the college level. In addition to there being more teams, coaches can acquire much more control at schools than in the pros, and the universities are not bought and sold by multibillionaire owners who want to make instant changes.I think [control] is something coaches ask for when they take a job, former Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden said. You can imagine the control Nick Saban has at Alabama. He probably has the biggest staff in the country, and whatever he wants, he gets. If you have the biggest weight room, he will get one bigger. If you have the biggest dormitory, he will get one bigger.Bowden coached Florida State for 34 years before leaving at age 80 after the 2009 season. Thats a long time, but consider that Eddie Robinson was Grambling States football coach for 55 years.The professional level is different, with the great majority of coaches and managers in major sports having been with teams less than four years. Gregg Popovich, who has been coaching the NBAs San Antonio Spurs since 1996, is the longest-tenured active coach with one team in U.S. major professional sports. Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia and New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who both took over their teams in 2000, are the longest serving in Major League Baseball and the NFL, respectively. Claude Julien, about to enter his 10th season with the Boston Bruins, is the longest tenured in the NHL.The professional ranks are more difficult to last a long time in, Boeheim said. Its just a different dynamic to the whole thing. If you dont get some good players, youre not going to last very long. In college, you have the chance to recruit more players and maybe get better. Its harder and the longevity is more difficult in the NBA than it is in college.Another factor, Scioscia says, is that a successful college coach is not only the coach, hes his own general manager. Hes going to go out and recruit the players he wants. Hes going to run the program the way he wants to. As a baseball manager, you are definitely part of a team of not only coaches but a team connected with executives and front office guys that are the people who put the team together.As a baseball manager, Ive been very fortunate to have this opportunity, but that becomes more fragile the length of time youre in one place because general managers change very often and there are a lot of things youre not just in control of.Just staying with one team doesnt inherently make the job all that much easier.Weve probably had four or five, six turnovers -- or different looks -- with this team. Its not like you manage the same players for 16 years, Scioscia said. There are always new challenges about team building and figuring out how the parts work. A lot of managers have to do that when they go to different organizations. Ive just been doing it at one organization, but I think the challenges are the same.Generational changes are part of that dynamic.When I started coaching in the 1950s after World War II, Bowden said, youd tell a kid to do something and he would not bat an eye. He just did it. And if not, you threatened to get rid of them. Nowadays you have to sell them on it. Tell them that if you do it that way, it will help you in this way.As the athletes approach changes over generations, so must the coaches. Which is part of the reason why La Russa, now chief baseball officer for the Arizona Diamondbacks, always made certain to read up on and research leadership methods.Probably the key to longevity is you have to maintain a really fresh and Whats next? attitude, said La Russa, who had two managerial stops that lasted at least a decade, 10 years with the Oakland Athletics and 16 with the St. Louis Cardinals. You can have a couple good years and human nature is to get complacent. Its really vital to free your mind so that youre always looking at whats next. Its good. It makes you hungry to do more.Just to stay fresh is really important, especially with the people youre leading. If you stand up and just start yakking, they may tune you out because theyve heard you say it before.While coaches and managers get older, being around young athletes helps them retain some youth. Scioscia says that coaching players from different cultures also is very beneficial.I think its fun if you embrace the cultural differences of kids from Latin America or kids from California or North Carolina or South Korea, he said. Its been a learning experience for me. I think when you sift through all the cultural difference and changes not only in our club today but how things that have evolved in 16 years, the one thing that these players are connected with is their passion for the game. And thats what you need to tap into to motivate them.Bear Bryant coached the University of Alabama football team for 25 years and won six national championships. After his final game, a reporter asked Bryant what he planned to do in retirement. He replied, Probably croak in a week. He died of a heart attack a month later.Bowden has been enjoying retired life after his full 57 years in coaching.All of a sudden, there is a big weight lifted from your shoulders, he said. I didnt have to worry about players grades, worry about conduct, worry about a 2 oclock call from the police. All of a sudden a weight was lifted off my shoulders. And boy, was it different. Boy, what a relief. Now, I just have to worry about food that I still have to buy.Boeheim, who turns 72 in November, says he will retire in two years. Well see whether that is the case. And how many more years Wenger, who turns 67 in October, keeps going. After all, when Ferguson turned 60 in 2001, he planned to retire at the end of the season, his 16th at Man U. His family, however, told him to continue managing. One, your health is good, his wife told him. Two, Im not having you in the house. And three, youre too young anyway. So he continued for another 11 years.Although now retired, Fergusons presence still remains at Old Trafford, not just in legend but in the form of a bronze statue with arms folded in a commanding manner.Meanwhile, there are new coaches and managers just beginning their careers and hoping to be able to match those of Ferguson, Wenger, Boeheim, La Russa, Bowden and others.I tip my hat to anyone who has sat in that head-coaching position for that long, whether its baseball, football or whatever sport, Seattle Mariners first-year manager Scott Servais said of Wengers 20-year reign. Its not just the game action; its all of the other stuff. The fans dont see it, but experience really does help. I marvel at those people.I hope I get in that position.Well then, he better keep winning. wholesale basketball jerseys . While hell be dialed in to that tournament on a course he loves, you can forgive him if his eyes glance down the calendar just a bit, towards April. wholesale nfl jerseys online . Wilson hit Schenn from behind during Tuesday nights game in Philadelphia, earning a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct. He has a phone hearing with the department of player safety, which limits any potential suspension to five or fewer games. http://www.cheapchinanfljerseys.org/ . PAUL, Minn. wholesale cheap nfl jerseys . -- Aaron Murray threw for 408 yards and three touchdowns, ran for another score, and led No. wholesale china jerseys . Zvonareva, who won the tournament in 2009 and 10, couldnt handle her opponents big groundstrokes in only her third event back after 17 months out with a shoulder injury. Zvonareva made her comeback in January in Shenzhen and played in the Australian Open but lost her first matches at both tournaments. ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Jeremy Hellickson and the Tampa Bay offence had another productive night. Hellickson won his fourth consecutive start, Jose Molina had a two-run homer during a five-run second inning, and the Rays beat the Chicago White Sox 8-3 on Friday night. "I felt the same when things were going bad," Hellickson said. "Its just a matter of keeping the ball down, getting ahead and making a big pitch when I need to." Hellickson (8-3) gave up one run, six hits and struck out nine in seven innings, helping the Rays win for the sixth time in seven games. "Thats pretty good stuff right there," Rays manager Joe Maddon said of Hellickson. Hellickson was coming off a strong June when he went 5-1. Molina hit his two-run drive and the following batter, Kelly Johnson, connected for a solo shot three pitches later off Dylan Axelrod (3-5) to start the second-inning surge that saw the Rays go up 5-0. Later in the inning, Evan Longoria had an RBI single before Wil Myers ended Axelrods night with a run-scoring double. "As a team were doing a really good job of getting better at-bats and thats huge to make sure that the team keeps hitting the way were doing right now," Molina said. It was Molinas second homer this season and first since April 18. Tampa Bay has scored 36 runs over the past five games. Axelrod, who has given up 10 homers in 22 1-3 innings over his past five starts, allowed five runs and nine hits in 1 2-3 innings. "They just jumped on Ax," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "Everything was elevated, it seemed like. When hes good, hes got people swinging and missing and balls kind of falling in the dirt. Everything just seemed to be up today." The 1 2-3 innings was Axelrods shortest career start. "I threw some balls up and theyre hot right now, so Ill juust try to turn the page and think about my net start," Axelrod said.dddddddddddd Myers sacrifice fly and a run-scoring single by Luke Scott made it 7-0 in the fourth. Josh Phegley got his first major league hit, an RBI single in the fifth for the White Sox, who have lost seven of nine. Phegley, who started at catcher, and centre fielder Blake Tekotte, recalled from Triple-A Charlotte before the game, were both in the starting lineup. Gordon Beckham had an RBI single and Phegley added a sacrifice fly in the ninth. Longoria started at third base for the first time since leaving a game on June 28 after irritating plantar fasciitis in his right foot. He returned Tuesday for the first of three consecutive days as the designated hitter. "He was fine," Maddon said. "Not hurting at all." Tampa Bays James Loney singled in the first to extend his hitting streak to a career-best 16 games. He drove in a run by drawing a bases-loaded walk in the fifth. Axelrod reached for Desmond Jennings low first-inning liner, which knocked his glove to the ground. The pitcher picked up the ball and threw out the speedy Rays leadoff man at first. NOTES: White Sox RHP Jake Peavy, on the DL since June 6 due to a broken rib, threw off a bullpen mound. "Hopefully in the next week or so hell be able to get a side (session) and be ready to go," Ventura said. Peavy will likely go out on a rehab assignment before rejoining the team. ... Rays RHP Alex Cobb had a bullpen session for the first time since being hit in the right ear by a line drive on June 15. There is no timetable for his return. ... The White Sox designated C Hector Gimenez for assignment. ... SS Alexi Ramirez, who played every inning for the White Sox this season entering the game, was one of several Chicago players pulled after the top of the seventh. ' ' '