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JERSEY CITY, N.J. - The captain was a few minutes late, though no one seemed to mind. Russell Wilson is usually worth the wait, and no more than on this day, his final one speaking about the game before he actually plays The Game. Peyton Manning is supposed to be the star of this Super Bowl, but a minor league second baseman who refused to listen to those who said he was too small to play quarterback in the NFL may have something to say about that. Proving people wrong is almost as fun for Wilson as winning football games, and hes done both with great regularity since being drafted with the 75th overall pick two years ago by the Seattle Seahawks. "For all the kids that have been told, no, that they cant do it, or all the kids that will be told no," Wilson said. "Thats one of the reasons that I left playing baseball, to be honest with you. I had this urge to play the game of football, because so many people — I shouldnt say so many, a handful of people — said I couldnt do it. Richard Sherman will be the player most remembered from the win that got Seattle here. But if not for a gutsy play on an equally gutsy call, the Seahawks would not be in position to win their first Super Bowl title. Wilson found Jermaine Kearse in the end zone for the touchdown on a fourth down against San Francisco in the NFC championship game, giving the Seahawks the lead for the first time. It was the kind of play a veteran star like Manning might make when it counts most. The kind of play Wilson prepared for meticulously every day for the past two years. The kind of play that can win a Super Bowl. "I dont think Ive seen too many people have the knack to want be great. He wants to be a great quarterback," receiver Percy Harvin said. "He just doesnt want to be average or All-Pro. He wants to be talked about as a great quarterback and I dont think hes going to stop until he does." By now, Wilsons story is fairly well known. The son of the late Harrison Wilson III — a star athlete at Dartmouth who became a lawyer after briefly thinking of trying out for the NFL in 1977 — he lost a job as starting quarterback at North Carolina State while playing second base in the Colorado Rockies organization. Wilson would give up baseball to star as a graduate student at Wisconsin, leading the Badgers to the Big 10 title and a spot in the Rose Bowl. But he was undersized at 5-foot-11 and languished in the NFL draft before Pete Carroll and the Seahawks took a chance on him for what was expected to be a backup quarterback position. Instead, Carroll called him to the basketball court at the teams complex prior to his rookie season, where Wilson watched him shoot jumpers. "I go outside and he said, You want to shoot? " Wilson said. "Then he said, We want you to know youre going to be the starting quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks, hopefully for a long time. "That put a huge smile on my face. I immediately thought of my mom and dad and all the things theyve done for me and all the discipline they gave me." That discipline is evident in the way Wilson approaches his job as both the quarterback and leader of his team. Like all quarterbacks he watches film, but Wilson is constantly studying situations and is relentless about fixing mistakes. "He makes everyone around him almost a perfectionist because we pick up off that and the habits that he has," said receiver Ricardo Lockette. "He is always the first one there in the morning and the last one to leave." Those habits helped propel the Seahawks to an 11-5 record last season behind their rookie QB. They beat the Washington Redskins in the first round of the playoffs, then lost a shootout to Atlanta that had Wilson down in the dumps — if only for a moment. By the time he was in the tunnel going back to the locker room he had already begun thinking what he had to do in the off-season to get the Seahawks over the hump this year. "I want to change the game and theres a difference between being good and being great and changing the game," Wilson said. "Guys like Peyton Manning change the game in terms of the way he thinks and in terms of the way he processes things. Tom Brady is the same way, hes so clutch that people fear him. One day I want to evolve to that." Wilson can take a big step in that direction should he join an elite group of quarterbacks (Brady, Kurt Warner and Ben Roethlisberger) who have won a Super Bowl in just their second year. Hes certainly not overwhelmed by the moment, and seems to embrace the challenge, even when it comes to answering the same questions over and over during the pregame buildup. A great believer in visualization, he already sees himself on the field at the Meadowlands, is already trying to figure out how to feel when the national anthem is sung and the stadium erupts in flashes for the kickoff. "Then it will be, OK, Im ready to go," Wilson said. If he is, there may be more than one quarterback star in this Super Bowl. Nike Air Vapormax Clearance . Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports that the Raptors have traded forward Steve Novak along with a second-round pick to the Utah Jazz in exchange for guard Diante Garrett - who will then be waived. Nike Vapormax Shoes Cheap .com) - Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, Detroit Red Wings forward Tomas Tatar and New York Islanders right wing Kyle Okposo were named the NHLs players of the week on Monday. http://www.wholesalevapormaxcanada.com/ . -- Mississippi State was crushed twice by Florida last season, once by 35 points and the other by 25. Vapormax Cheap Sale . LOUIS -- The St. Cheap Air Vapormax Canada .C. - Steve Clifford isnt exactly singing his teams praises after the Bobcats won for the sixth time in seven games.PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Washington Capitals enjoyed one of their best defensive efforts against one of the leagues top offensive teams.The Capitals, known for their offensive firepower, did it with defence on Saturday as Braden Holtby stopped 31 shots and Eric Fehr scored two goals, leading to a 3-0 victory against the struggling Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.You could tell they were pressing a little bit, and I think thats when we play our best, when we get a lead, Fehr said. We try to get the other team playing out of their comfort zone. I think we frustrated them a little bit with the style of play we had.Fehr, who scored twice during the Capitals win in the 2011 Winter Classic at Pittsburgh, did it again on Saturday with his eighth and ninth goals of the year. Marcus Johansson got his 10th for the Capitals, who won for the fifth time in seven games.Washington also defeated Pittsburgh for the first time since Jan. 22, 2012 — a span of nine games.Holtby, making a career-high 12th straight start, has eight wins during that stretch. It was his 16th win and third shutout of the season on Saturday.I thought we did a great job of everything in the defensive zone, Holtby said. A team like that, theyre obviously going to get some chances, but the way we controlled them in our end was very good.The Penguins, who saw a five-game home win streak end, lost their third straight overall, dropping back-to-back regulation games for the first time this season. Marc-Andre Fleury made 30 saves.Johansson gave Washington a two-goal lead at 5:36 of the third period, snapping a wrist shot past Fleury from the top of the circle during a two-on-one.Fehr was falling to the ice later in the third when he tapped Joel Wards redirection behind Fleury from the top of the crease for his second goal.Its frustrating because we were close, especially in the second, Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. The next goal is so important and they grabbed the momentum with that second goal. We were hanging around for awhile, but didnt have enough to get that first one.Washington has eight wwins in 12 games this month, but this one was special for Capitals defencemen Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen.dddddddddddd Both played with Pittsburgh last season before signing in Washington as free agents in July. Capitals assistant coach Todd Reirden also was an assistant with the Penguins last season.I think everybody in the room wanted to get the game for (Orpik) and (Niskanen), but also Todd, Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. Theyve been great adds for us.Niskanen led all NHL defencemen with a plus-33 rating last year, establishing a career-best 46 points. Orpik, who won a Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2009, appeared in 703 games, a team record for a defenceman, recording 132 points and 734 penalty minutes. The Penguins picked him in the first round of the 2000 NHL draft and he spent 11 seasons in Pittsburgh.Id be lying if I said it didnt feel a little better than most games, Orpik said. We knew they were missing some guys, so its a good opportunity to kind of jump on them.The Penguins continue to deal with injury and a league-wide mumps outbreak.Forward Steve Downie and backup goaltender Thomas Greiss were the latest confirmed cases, joining captain Sidney Crosby, who missed three games earlier this month, forward Beau Bennett and defenceman Olli Maatta.It feels like every game were losing somebody, Crosby said. Its not easy, but nobodys going to feel sorry for us. We just have to find a way to hold on while guys are out.NOTES: Maatta will be out four weeks while continuing a rehab program on an upper-body injury. The Capitals have earned a point in 10 of their last 12 road games. The Penguins visit New Jersey on Monday. . Pittsburgh scratched D Brian Dumoulin in addition to Downie and Greiss, while Washington sat LW Jason Chimera and D Nate Schmidt. Pittsburgh recorded its 300th straight sellout...The Capitals visit the New York Islanders on Monday, playing on the road for the sixth time in seven games, before opening 2015 at Nationals Park in Washington, where they will meet the Chicago Blackhawks in the annual Winter Classic. ' ' '