cmeback bid and, running round the garden, we19 victory.

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- It would be a little too clichéd to open a column about changing times by quoting Bob Dylan, but hey, those words helped win him a Nobel Peace in literature, which I believe is like a FedEx Cup trophy to the rest of the non-golf world.And sure, if were really going to discuss how the times are a-changin, we might want to start with the presidential election. Or at the very least, the Chicago Cubs.By comparison, the golf industry is moving at a leisurely pace. But the better point to be made here is that it is indeed moving forward, which hasnt always been the case.For years, industry leaders have cited declines in both the number of people playing the game and the number of people watching the game at its highest level, so much so that the grassroots movement to grow the game has become synonymous with the rhetoric of these leaders.Too often this has just been lip service. Sure, efforts to increase the amount of people playing golf shouldnt go unrecognized, but the worlds biggest tours have largely remained stagnant. The popular takeaway has been that these tours are all in favor of growing the game, just as long as they dont have to veer too far from the status quo.Three announcements in the past week alone, though, have already triggered the changing times in golf.The PGA Tour revealed that next years edition of the Zurich Classic will be a team event, featuring 80 two-man pairings competing alongside each other in the only officially sanctioned non-individual tournament on the schedule.The Web.com Tour, the largest developmental tour of the PGA circuit, announced that its season will begin with two events in the Bahamas that are played in consecutive rounds starting on Sunday and finishing on Wednesday in an effort to maximize interest on otherwise golf-less days.The European Tour, fresh off a few non-competitive nighttime challenges before tournaments, is looking into the potential of contesting an entire competitive event under a dark sky and bright lights.These are brilliant ideas, all of them, for the simple reason that theyre not the status quo. That doesnt mean theyll all be endlessly successful or grow the game, but they will break the mold. Theyll move outside a box that has too frequently confined professional events to the usual conformist standards.It can be argued that golf doesnt need such tweaks at its highest levels, at least not in the most literal sense, but it can more easily be argued that new ideas can be beneficial to helping the overall cause.Is it needed? I dont have any idea. I would probably say no, Zach Johnson explained. But can it be a positive in the long run? Absolutely. To add something to a product thats already tremendous and make it better -- whether its lights, dates, formats -- Im all for it. If it can help the game, if it helps fans of the game and makes us players hungrier to play more, sure. I see no issues with it.Its a trial and error process, added Jim Furyk. If its good and the fans like it and the sponsor likes it and the players like it, heck yeah, lets go. Lets keep doing it. If it doesnt work, well come up with some new ideas. Theres nothing wrong with trying.Therein lies an inherent issue with outside the box thinking: It cant only serve one master. These new ideas have to fit the desires of fans, sponsors and players, which is a more difficult concept than it might seem.Each of these ideas proposed in the past week meets all of the criteria. Each should help grow the game -- or at least enhance the entertainment factor -- without failing to fulfill the needs of one of these parties.Obviously, the tried and true traditional fan is always going to watch golf, Brandt Snedeker said. But how do we get the casual fan involved? How do we get people who dont think golf is cool to watch an event? We saw that at the Ryder Cup; people who traditionally dont watch golf watched it. How can we use that to our advantage? Its good to try it, see how it goes, see the fan response and go from there.For too long, golf has remained reluctant to stray from the status quo at professional tournaments. Finally the industry is starting to listen to its own grow the game implorations. Some of the ideas might be instant hits, others might prove to be flops.But thats beside the point. The games leaders are becoming more open to ideas. At least theyre now starting to try some ideas and see what works. Gareth Bale Jersey . Los Angeles star goalie survived those perilous gymnastics with no problem, and he eventually backstopped the Kings to a skid-snapping win. Quick stopped 27 shots in his return from a 24-game injury absence, Jeff Carter scored the tiebreaking goal with 7:55 to play, and the Kings snapped their five-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. Aaron Ramsey Jersey . Laudrup revealed Thursday he was notified of his dismissal in "the briefest of letters which gave no reasons why such hasty and final action was deemed necessary. http://www.soccerwalesstore.com/ . Olli Jokinen, Mark Scheifele, and Bryan Little each had a goal and an assist as Winnipeg won 5-2, handing Calgary its record-setting seventh consecutive loss on home ice. Gareth Bale Jersey . -- Teemu Selanne scored the first goal of his 22nd NHL season, and the Anaheim Ducks extended the best start in franchise history with their fifth straight victory, 3-2 over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. Joe Allen Wales Jersey . Third-seeded Murray had the easiest path to victory on New Years Eve, barely breaking a sweat during his 6-0, 6-0 win over 2,129th-ranked Qatari wildcard recipient Mousa Shanan Zayed. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Youre not working hard enough, Alistair Brownlee yelled at another rider in the 10-man leading pack that had split the field on the triathlon cycle.He wanted more from them despite the punishing pace at Forte de Copacabana, and it was typical of the aggressive racing style he shares with brother Jonny which made them Olympic champion and silver medallist on Thursday.The Brownlees were trying to wring every lost drop of strength and stamina from the group as they wheeled towards the crucial third, and final, 10km running leg of the race, all 10 taking it in turn to alternate between slipstreaming and pushing the pace.The British brothers back themselves to go harder and for longer than anyone else, to obliterate a fatigued field. They are relentless and singled-minded in their pursuit of creating those circumstances in races too; Alistair, the first man to defend an Olympic triathlon title, said he would have preferred the cycle course to have been a lot harder.I know what to look for when people are hurting, he said, and the brothers competitive nature is such that in a different environment it might sound mean.Theres no sibling sympathy, either. They work together in races and had built a gap between them and the third-placed Frenchman Vincent Luis here on the first lap of the running course. Then, Alistair made his move to attack his brother.I started pushing it on, the 28-year-old said. Jonny said relax and I just thought: if hes telling me to relax hes probably finding this quite hard. So I pushed it on a little bit more.Ask anyone who has worked with or competed against the Brownlees and they will tell you how hard-working and focused they are. The more healthy suffering they can experience, the better, it seems.I have been through hell this year, Alistair said. Every day has been so hard. I have woken up in pain every day.I had ankle surgery not even 12 months ago, at the back end of August last year. I didnt really run pain free until the new year. I am not one to question whether I can do it, but I did.I put on quite a lot of weight. But once you start training, training is what I love. Those sessions have been harder than races: a few times a week absolutely killing myself, going to bed not being able to sleep because my legs hurt so much, getting up in the morning and not being able to walk because my ankles were so stiff.Its been like that for the last six months with a few bumps and injuries along the way. Thats all of it, but the training is what I love doing. Killing myself to finish a session.It sounds kind of masochistic but thats pretty much par for the course for an endurance athlete. Jonny was on crutches around the same time Alistair had ankle surgery, recovering from a foot stress fracture, and the pair have pushed each other through the pain barrier and back to peak fitness.The mental strength which they have in spades is at least as important as physical ability and, in that respect, they are lucky to have each other.It has to relieve the pressure to have your brother out there with you in training and races -- even if, in Jonnys case, he is usually coming off second best when it counts.There havent been that many siblings as talented as the Brownlees and they are the first brothers to finish first and second at an Olympics since Italians Piero and Raimondo DInzeo in equestrian in 1960; the first British brothers to do so.You can always get a first if you look hard enouggh, said 26-year-old Jonny, towards the end of a Games which has been overflowing with British landmark moments.dddddddddddd But that is a good first and I am very proud of that.Its very special to race next to your brother and Im very fortunate to do that.The result of their strength and synergy was obvious on Thursday, and their podium positions never really seemed in doubt. Even though neither was the fastest on any of the three legs, they were near the front throughout and the combined effort -- and the tactics which sapped their rivals energy -- meant they were a long way ahead at the end.Alistair won in 1 hour, 45 minutes, 1 second, and Jonnys time was only 6 seconds behind, although his older brother had slowed to a walk near the finish line, waiting a little for him and celebrating with a Union Flag and a Yorkshire flag, their English county.Alistair was determined to drink in the moment, not least because of the contrast to London four years ago when his win felt more like relief because of the pressure to perform in a home Games. If you cant enjoy having that gap in the Olympic Games, coming down that finishing straight, I dont know what you can enjoy, he said after finishing 42 seconds ahead of third-placed Henri Schoeman, even with the dallying at the line.The Brownlees collapsed and hugged each other on the other side of the finish here and, as Jonny -- a bronze medallist four years ago -- admitted, hes not an emotional racer.The one-two was what they had hoped for in London but, with 2012 silver medallist Javier Gomez absent through injury this time, it was what they had looked forward to here.How their racing and training partnership, and post-race jubilation, can be reconciled with their individual competitive instincts, however, is hard to fathom.Jonny insisted he feels no jealousy, although he admitted that the green-eyed monster might haunt him if he gets to the twilight of his career and a golden victory over his brother has still eluded him.But even the Brownlees dont know really why their sibling rivalry works, no matter how many times they are asked. Weve never had a great answer to it, he said. Its been going on since we were three years old. Competing at football, table tennis, running round the garden, weve always done it.Im used to getting beat by Alistair but Ive gone better than last time in London when I got the bronze. Ive actually been training a bit better than him and if it had come down to a sprint, I could win. Maybe in four years, hell be older, slower and greyer.The question more is whether the older Brownlee will be fit. In 2012, before his ankle issue, he struggled with an Achilles injury and he has had to work daily on the conditioning for that ever since.Triathlon is what I love, Alistair said. I want to have a go at Ironman at some point and I will be doing some sort of sport. But it has always been about the Olympics for me. I remember watching it in Atlanta when I was eight and the triathlon debut at Sydney when I was 12.The Olympics is the big thing and I think it would be hard for me not to be in Tokyo.Those close to Alistair Brownlee say that once he sets his mind on something, nothing can make him deviate. So, Tokyo it is, then -- and more history as the three-time champion, perhaps. It would take someone seriously special to beat him. ' ' '