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LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Brian Hoyer is preparing to start at quarterback for the Chicago Bears against the Dallas Cowboys.Jay Cutler missed practice Wednesday with the sprained right thumb he suffered Monday night.Although the team isnt saying Cutler is out for Sunday nights game, Hoyer is taking all the snaps in practice with the first team.Then again, Hoyer said hed prepare as if hes a starter regardless of Cutlers situation.I prepare every week like Im going to play, Hoyer said. If you take one day off, you take one rep off mentally and then thats the play that gets called in the game, I mean, thats when youre going to slip off.Cutler joined a long list of players injured in Monday nights loss who are missing practice.Inside linebacker Danny Trevathan underwent thumb surgery and likely will miss the game, while coach John Fox confirmed linebacker Lamarr Houston suffered an ACL tear. Houston is done for the season.Also missing practice Wednesday were nose tackle Eddie Goldman (ankle), running back KaDeem Carey (hamstring), safety Adrian Amos (concussion), cornerback Bryce Callahan (concussion) and safety Chris Prosinski (calf).Hoyer completed 224 of 369 attempts for 2,606 yards with 19 touchdowns and seven interceptions last season.Against the Eagles, Hoyer completed 9 of 12 for 78 yards in relief of Cutler after the injury. It was his first action as a Bear since the preseason finale, and he said he can benefit from that time.I think just getting a chance to play again -- it had been a while since I had played in a live game, he said. So at least you can get some of that to take in if I do have to play, and just getting out there and seeing a real defense come at you.Its different than when youre doing the scout team during the week.For Hoyer, there will be adjustments.One is getting used to taking snaps from center Cody Whitehair. Hoyer practiced with Whitehair on the second team in training camp prior to a season-ending injury suffered by starting center Hroniss Grasu in the preseason.One adjustment will be getting to play with wide receiver Alshon Jeffery.Yeah, not there yet, because really these are the first reps that Ive taken with Alshon, whether its one-on-ones, anything, really, Hoyer said. Hes been solely with Jay.So the thing that Ive noticed from watching those two work is you just put it in the guys vicinity. His range of motion is so big, hes a big body guy who uses his strength. So Ive been able to watch that and now I get a chance to go out and do it.Its possible the Bears will run more now with Hoyer playing instead of Cutler, although Fox said hed like to rely on the run regardless.I think any quarterback, I dont care what status they are, will tell you the running game is one of their best friends, Fox said. No matter who your quarterback is, if youre dropping back and throwing it 45 or 50 times, its usually not a great result.Regardless of the quarterback, we do emphasize the run game.Fox said the Bears have run the ball effectively with Cutler, but have had to turn away from it when falling behind.In fact, per carry, really our stats arent bad, Fox said. We just havent been in situations in the first two ballgames that have allowed us to run it in the second half as much as wed like.The Bears will be trying to avoid a second straight 0-3 start under Fox.Hoyer had experience with a slow start last season, when he helped lead Houston into the playoffs. The Bears are his fifth NFL team in eight seasons.I was on a team that 0-2 last year, too, Hoyer said. At one point, we were 2-5 and we made the playoffs. I think a lot is made early on, trying to get things together.But its a long season. Thats the biggest thing to stress.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL Patrick Eaves Jersey . -- The St. Johns IceCaps weathered a wild first period with the help of goaltender Jussi Olkinuora, before finding offensive inroads in the second. Hampus Lindholm Jersey . 1, meaning problems for the doping controls at both major international sports events next year. The World Anti-Doping Agency provisionally suspended the Moscow Antidoping Center on Sunday, saying its operations must improve or a six-month ban on the facilitys accreditation will be imposed. https://www.cheapducks.com/677c-max-comtois-jersey-ducks.html . Bjorn, who had a 36-hole total of 8-under 134, made a testing six-foot putt to save par on the 16th and a birdie on the 17th before bogeying the final hole after a misjudged approach shot. American Kevin Streelman was in second place after shooting a 69. 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They were trying to win a close wild-card race and believed they needed an upgrade over third baseman Russ Davis. On Aug. 29, 1996, they agreed to send a minor leaguer to the Twins after the season in exchange for veteran Dave Hollins.I got a call with about a month or so to go in the season, maybe a little bit longer, and the phone call was, Who are the untradeables on your club? Goff recalled. Ill never forget that phone call as long as I live. I said, Well, Ive got two.Goff advised the Mariners to hold on to Greg Wooten, a 6-foot-7 right-hander from Eugene, Oregon, who had been drafted in the third round in 1995 and was in the middle of going 15-5 with a 3.19 ERA in 27 starts over two Single-A levels.But Goff also hailed David Arias, a 20-year-old first baseman who wouldnt stop using his mothers maiden name until a year later, when he began going by David Ortiz.Ill never forget them asking me, You wouldnt trade Arias for anybody? Goff said. I go, No, I wouldnt trade him for anybody. That conversation ends, and we make the trade for Dave Hollins. We didnt know who the player to be named later was.Ortiz finished the 1996 season batting .322 with 18 home runs and a .901 OPS. He led Wisconsin to the Midwest League playoffs, losing in the championship series to West Michigan.If I would have played one more year in the minor league system for them, I wouldve been the No. 1 prospect in the organization, Ortiz said. I killed [in 96]. But I dont know. They traded me.Goff found out that Ortiz was headed to the Twins after the final game of the season. Ortiz, who hadnt been traded before or since, admitted he had no clue what was happening when Goff informed him.We come off the field, and my phone is riinging.dddddddddddd I look at my pitching coach, and I think we both had the same bad gut feeling at that time, Goff said. I pick the phone up, and Im not going to mention who was on the other end, but the phone call was, Dont let Arias leave the club. Im like, Dont tell me he was the played to be named later, and they said, Yes, he was. And I lost it. Im going to be honest with you, I lost it.I had to call Davey in and tell him hes been traded. It was like telling my son that he got traded. He didnt want to go because he had built such a special bond with the kids on that team and had the biggest year of his life and the fear of the unknown. Next day, of course, everybody went their separate ways. He flew back to the Dominican, and the next thing I know, hes in a Twins uniform, which was hard to accept. But thats the reality of the business.Indeed, Ortiz flew through the Twins farm system in 1997, playing at three levels before getting called up to the big leagues late in the season. He spent parts of six seasons in Minnesota before eventually winding up with the Boston Red Sox, morphing into one of the all-time greatest sluggers and a member of the 500-homer club.The Mariners, who will honor Ortiz with a pregame ceremony Wednesday night at Safeco Field to mark his final regular-season trip to Seattle, missed the playoffs in 1996, though it was hardly Hollins fault. He batted .351 with 3 home runs and 25 RBIs in 30 games before leaving Seattle as a free agent and signing with the Anaheim Angels.Looking back, Goff suspects the Twins got a good recommendation on Ortiz from Dan Rohn, who managed their Midwest League team in Fort Wayne in 1996. Regardless, he can only imagine how the Mariners history might be different if they had kept Ortiz.At that time, we had a loaded major league club. Im sure thats what they were looking at, Goff said. They thought this kid was four, five years away, which in reality, I thought he was two years away. And you saw that with the way he came through the Twins system. But that was the story of how Davey ended up in a Twins uniform.A story that has gone largely forgotten over the years. ' ' '