When they were students golfing and living together at the University of Washington, Joel Dahmen and Nick Taylor would sit in their house and play Nintendos Mario Kart. Pretty often.Too often would be the best remark, Taylor said. When we first got it, we started playing NFL Blitz, then we went to Mario Kart. Essentially, we got addicted and there were three or four of us in the house playing all the time. We played too much but got pretty good. We kept playing and playing. It was in the winter, so there was more Mario Kart than golf.Now, they will be playing together again, but it wont be Mario Kart (or at least not on the course). It will be on the PGA Tour. Taylor has been on the tour since 2014, while Dahmen just earned his card at the end of August. He did so after years of considerable struggle.Dahmen, 28, got started in golf about the time he could walk, joining his father, Ed, who coached him throughout his junior career and helped him become very good. Unfortunately, Joels mother, Jolyn, died from pancreatic cancer when he was in high school. After receiving his scholarship to play at Washington, Dahmen wound up dropping out due to poor academics. While he partied a bit, he said he simply didnt go to classes enough during a difficult period.It was a tough time in my life, Dahmen said. My mom passed away. I was just a young kid without a lot of direction or drive to do anything at the time. Being a young kid from a small town [Clarkston, Washington] and all of a sudden at a large university with the world at my hands, I didnt handle it that well.Things got worse as there was more to handle. His brother was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2009 and successfully treated. Then in 2011, Dahmen got the same diagnosis. He had surgery to remove a testicle and then underwent chemotherapy treatment that would go on roughly eight hours a day, every day, for several weeks in which Dahmen would be weak and prone to throwing up.At the beginning, its really tough, Dahmen said. Youre not really sure where to go or what to do or how healthy youre going to be or what your long-term goal can be. Its sitting down for a few weeks and pouting and saying, Why me? and Why is this happening to us? Then you have to make short-term goals and decide if youre going to fight it or not and how hard you will fight to get back on your feet.Dahmen fought hard enough to not only get back on his feet but resume playing golf within a month of his treatment. And he also played well enough to get on the Canadian tour in 2013.It renewed my respect and outlook on the game and changed my goals, he said of his return. My practice habits and some of the other things werent on track with the PGA professionals. I just kind of dedicated myself back to the game and practicing more. And got instruction. I realized thats what I wanted to do, and I really started working toward that goal.Reaching that goal wasnt easy, especially with financial obstacles that are far more numerous and challenging than sand traps on a golf course.While top golfers on the PGA Tour earn a lot of money -- more than 100 won at least $1 million in the recently completed season -- players on the lower levels do not. They must cover their own travel and lodging expenses, which easily can surpass earnings on the Canadian or Web.com tours.Its hard to explain to people sometimes, Taylor said. The majority of athletes in every other sport, they might be paid less than what golfers make but all their expenses are taken care of, so they dont have to worry about that. If a golfer makes 50 grand in a year, hes at least spending that amount for traveling and caddies.Dahmen said his father was always supportive, Making sacrifices to give me all the opportunities he could to make my dream a reality. He also had another loyal supporter backing him in Bob Yosaitis. The former owner of Bradley Pacific Aviation, Yosaitis played a crucial role with financial and other support.The two met and became friends while Yosaitis was caddying for his son at the 2010 Washington state amateur tournament. In the years since, Yosaitis has provided considerable financial help, including paying for Dahmens cancer treatment. He has even caddied for him.I was looking at Joel like another one of my kids, Yosaitis said. He called me one day on the phone and was crying. I thought he had some golf problems. I asked, Whats wrong? and he said, I have cancer. I told him, Dont worry. Ill pay for the treatment. Youre getting the surgery.Dahmen said Yosaitis has been like a second father to him.Hes just a super generous guy who can help and was willing to help, Dahmen said. And weve had a great incredible relationship ever since.Still, it took several years on the Canadian and the Web.com tours before Dahmen finally earned his PGA card in late August. Even that barely happened. Just prior to qualifying, he missed the cut at three consecutive tournaments and nearly missed out. He cried when he missed the cut in the last tournament, and then cried again when he earned the card after finishing among the top 25 on the Web.com tour.Dahmen said if he hadnt qualified he would have felt like he let down all the people who helped him, including his father and Yosaitis.Im just way more appreciative of the experiences and things I get to do, he said. I enjoy everything Im doing a lot more. Im trying to really enjoy the moment that Im in and the people Im with and not take anything for granted. I used to take everything for granted because I pretty much had everything I needed. It just humbled me quite a bit and brought me back to earth.The challenges and difficulties never end, of course. Eight days after earning his card, Dahmen slipped on a cart route and injured his hand with a break at the base of his thumb. Hes targeting the Sanderson Farms Championship at the end October for his debut as a PGA Tour member. Perhaps he and his old housemate Taylor will then reunite, playing Mario Kart in between tournaments and setting an example for aspiring young golfers for how to succeed in the sport.Theres more than one lesson to learn, Taylor, 28, said. Not giving up is the most evident one. I think a lot of people in that scenario could have hung up the clubs and done something else, because being pro wasnt the likely reality, but people who know Joel know how good he can be. Nike Air Max China Wholesale Paypal . Defencemen Drew Doughty, Shea Weber and forward Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Canadians, who started their gold-medal defence 2-0. Goalie Roberto Luongo, getting the call in place of Game 1 starter Carey Price, was solid when needed in making 23 saves for the shutout. Adidas Ultra Boost China Wholesale . How great will be revealed in the next couple of days at the board of governors meeting in Pebble Beach, Calif. http://www.brandshoescheaponline.com/wholesale-balenciaga-shoes-china.html . Following a lopsided 5-2 loss against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night, Paul MacLean told reporters that "theres a lack of focus, theres a lack of leadership and theres a lack of preparation" with his struggling team. That came on the heels of Bryan Murray taking the unusual step of going into the locker room at the Prudential Center and addressing the players himself. Wholesale Nike Air Max China . The Celtics closed out their first preseason under Stevens on Wednesday night with a 101-97 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, who rested a lot of their lineup including former Celtics Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Cheap Nike Air Max 97 China .875,000, avoiding arbitration. Clippards deal Monday means all eight Nationals players who filed for arbitration wound up settling before a hearing. CLEVELAND -- The bionic reliever, Andrew Miller, threw 46 pitches Tuesday night for those Cleveland Indians in Game 1 of the World Series. Afterward, he said he couldnt wait to get right back out there in Game 2, because, well, of course he did.But we know what youre thinking: Who the heck does that? Hey, excellent question.Allow us to fill you in on exactly how rare that is. But before we give you all the numbers, we could sum up our findings in two words: Insanely rare! Now here are the amazing details:??Over the past three regular seasons, according to baseball-reference.com, there were 848 times that a manager asked a relief pitcher to throw at least 46 pitches. So that happens. But only three of those 848 came back to pitch again the next day, the Elias Sports Bureau reports. That comes down to less than four-tenths of 1 percent, which is math-ese for almost never. Got that? Great. Now lets break it down further.? In 2016, as the multi-inning reliever became more of a thing around the sport, a reliever threw 46-plus pitches in a game a whopping 325 times. Only one of them came back to pitch the next day. That was Oakland swing man Andrew Triggs, who threw 53 pitches out of the pen on June 30, then fired up 15 more the next day. For the record, he threw a scoreless inning that day, with a walk and a strikeout.? In 2015, 266 relievers threw 46 pitches or more at some point. Again, just one of them showed up in the box score the next day. That was Pirates middle reliever Radhames Liz, who had a 48-pitch outing on May 14 and followed with 19 messy pitches the next day. He crammed two hits and two walks into one-third of an inning on the back end.? Finally, in 2014, there were 257 instances of a pitcher piling up that many pitches in relief. The only one in the group who cranked it back up the next day was Braves reliever Pedro Beato, who got called up from the minors, threw 47 pitches one day (June 17), fireed 13 more the next day and then headed back to the minor leagues.dddddddddddd Even a shutout inning in that second outing didnt save him from that fate.So you get the idea. If Miller were to come back and pitch again after burning that many pitches the night before, he would be doing something that, a) pitchers of his stature basically never do anymore, and b) pitchers of even lesser stature do only in an emergency, because the rules say somebody has to pitch every inning of every game. But maybe youre thinking that the postseason is a different animal. Well, you would be correct if youre thinking that. But you would be incorrect if youre thinking that this has been a more regular occurrence in the postseason in recent years.According to Elias, no reliever has made a 46-pitch outing in any postseason game and then pitched again the next day since Keith Foulke did it for the 2004 Red Sox in Games 4 and 5 of the unforgettable ALCS against the Yankees. He threw 50 in Game 4, another 22 in Game 5 and then, incredibly, had 28 more in him the next day in Game 6. Coincidence alert: His manager was ... Terry Francona.But between Foulkes outings and Millers outing in Game 1, there were 55 instances in which a pitcher threw 46 pitches or more in relief in a postseason game. Not one of them was back in action the next day. We repeat: Not. One.It happened more frequently once upon a time, though. In fact, Foulke also had a 51/20 back-to-backer for Oakland in the 2003 ALDS. And in 2002, Francisco Rodriguez went 46/16 in Games 6 and 7 of the World Series for the Angels.Thats getting to be a long, long time ago now. But then again, we keep theorizing that Andrew Miller is redefining how the modern reliever is used -- in all sorts of ways. And who knows. He just might be ready to do that again. ' ' '