SARASOTA, Florida – On a pristine, cloudless Saturday morning before his Blue Jays took to the field to play the Orioles, manager John Gibbons assumed his familiar perch behind home plate to watch his charges take batting practice. That time around, the cage is as much a part of baseballs daily routine as a beer and a hotdog is to a fan in the stands. Coaches, scouts, broadcasters and other media hover, tossing verbal barbs, telling stories and sharing laughs. Occasionally, especially in spring when the atmosphere is relatively laid back, the list of invited guests expands and on this day, Gibbons welcomed two men strongly influential in his life. To his left stood his high school baseball coach, Syl Perez and on his right, Frank Arnold, Gibbons high school football coach. The two are spending these early days of camp with the man they mentored. Its a chance for the men to catch up, reminisce about old times, and for Gibbons to share his pro experience with two people whove helped him along the way. "Your high school years are very big years in forming who youre going to be," Gibbons told TSN.ca. "When youre in athletics, if you get the right guys, it can steer you the right direction, teach you discipline, the work ethic and all the right stuff that benefit you in life." Arnold, 72, is a legend in Texas high school football, a state where "football is king," as Gibbons likes to remind the uninitiated. Gibbons played but didnt start at MacArthur High School in San Antonio. He was a running back, although in hindsight, Arnold thinks Gibbons was better suited to play linebacker because he was athletically inclined and had good instincts. Arnold also took notice, almost immediately, of Gibbons upbringing, especially his supportive parents, William and Sally. "Great kid, great family, never had, you know you have some parents who are a little overbearing, his parents were right there to support him," said Arnold. He had a knack for baseball, although Gibbons admits he was a late bloomer, especially offensively. A senior catcher graduated after Gibbons sophomore season, a year in which Gibbons played the outfield, and Perez had someone else pegged as the teams next catcher. Gibbons was still an unknown commodity. The coaching staff tried him at third base. It wasnt the right fit. "I dont care where I put John Gibbons, he was a catcher," said Perez. "I mean, it was in his DNA. He carries himself like a catcher." Perez had Gibbons and the would-be catching successor get behind the plate and simulate throwing out base stealers. "I timed him," said Perez. "From the time the sound hit the mitt to the time it hit the shortstop or second baseman at the bag. The other young man was very accurate but John was kind of like a Nolan Ryan. He was not very accurate, or not as accurate, but he would only average two seconds and sometimes slightly less than that. The other kid was 2.3, 2.4." Funny thing, Gibbons ended up catching that year. The other kid played third base. Both were all district at the end of the season, Gibbons in spite of a batting average below .200. He was that good defensively. His game rounded into form in his senior year, thanks to a scout named Buzzy Keller, who in advance of the baseball season, instructed Perez on a new hitting philosophy featuring a more compact swing. Perez coached up Gibbons and the results were immediate. "John batted .500 in 19 games and he hit 10 home runs," said Perez. "Its not that he hit 10 home runs, its how far he hit those 10 home runs that really got him to be a lot more noticed. A lot of our practices were very, very well attended and of course, he went 24th overall in the first round (1980) to the Mets." A series of injuries derailed Gibbons big league playing career, the nail in the coffin being the Mets acquisition of Gary Carter before the 1985 season. He stayed around the game, coached at various levels over a number of years, and by 2004, was into his first run as manager of the Blue Jays. "Hes old school and the old school way of thinking is, good catchers become good managers," said Perez. "Theyre the only ones looking the other way at the entire defence. Lets face it, he may have been not a starter in his major league life but when hes in the bullpen catching and working with folks like the Dwight Goodens and such, Im sure hes going to learn some things." Gibbons credits Arnold and Perez with teaching him some of the tactics he employs to this day. "You get to this level, its a little different," said Gibbons. "Guys are very successful when they get to this level so theyve got a good idea of what they do. Theres not as much coaching, teaching and things like that and you give these guys a little more leeway because theyre adults. But theres a lot of the same principles that work. I dont care if youre in high school or big league baseball, you have to have discipline. You still have to play the right way." Gibbons fair, jovial but stern-when-he-needs-to-be personality endears him to those who know him best and have known him the longest. "Personally, I think he has the demeanour, the ability to work with people," said Arnold. "I hope he gets lucky this year because last year they had some bad luck, in my opinion, with injuries and other things. I follow him, I watch him all the time and Im very proud to say that I was around him." Arnold continued, "John is going to be the same on the docks with some dock workers as he is at some high class place with the boss. I just think hes a quality person. Hes not flashy, he is what he is but hes always good to people." Coming off a disappointing 74-88 season, a startling and uncomfortable thud after the offseason hype of a year ago, Gibbons knows there is pressure to rebound. His mentors know it, too. "Nobody wants you unless you win," said Arnold. "I dont care what level, what league so I wish him well and hope he has some great luck this year. I hope some of the guys have some great years because I think he deserves it." Gibbons is aware the fan base is angst-ridden, unsure of whether the Blue Jays can compete in the ultra-tough American League East. He knows about the Twitter faction thats popularized the "FireGibby" hashtag, understands and accepts its a fans right to be upset, but wants to be clear about something he says wont change, win or lose. "I want people to know that I care about Toronto, I care about Canada, and nobody wants to win for the fan base more than I do because I know they deserve it." Ray Ban Outlet .Y. -- Boston Bruins forward Loui Eriksson is staying behind in Buffalo for precautionary reasons after being blindsided by a check to the head by Sabres enforcer John Scott. Ray Ban Sunglasses Outlet . But they agree the world junior championship prepared them well for training camps if they were suddenly summoned to by their respective NHL clubs. http://www.cheapraybanaviator... . The four-time major winner, who withdrew from last weeks Texas Open after pulling a muscle in his right side, waited as long as possible to end the guessing about whether he would play this week ahead of the Masters. [url=http://www.cheapraybanaviatorssunglasses.com/]cheap ray ban outlet . Max Pacioretty broke a third-period tie, Tomas Plekanec scored twice and Montreal beat the Detroit Red Wings 5-4 Thursday night. MILWAUKEE -- Kobe Bryant used a crutch to leave the arena after the Los Angeles Lakers latest loss. Following Los Angeles 113-103 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night, the Lakers said Bryant had a bone spur in his left foot. He left the arena using one crutch, but appeared to be walking without any pain. Bryant led the Lakers with 30 points, leaving him four points behind Wilt Chamberlain (31,419) for fourth place on the NBAs career list. He played 36 1/2 minutes and didnt show any signs of difficulty during the game. "Inflamed on me. Ill be all right," Bryant told Yahoo Sports. The Lakers are eighth in the Western Conference, a half-game ahead of Utah for the final playoff spot. Larry Sanders scored 13 of his career-high 21 points in the third quarter for the Bucks. He was 8 of 11 from the floor and had 13 rebounds. Ersan Ilyasova and Brandon Jennings each had 20 points, Monta Ellis added 18, and Marquis Daniels had 16 to help the Bucks snap a four-game losing streak. "Our attention to detail was a little bit better," coach Jim Boylan said. "Larry was great, really active. There was a lot of communicating going on. Weve been struggling lately and when you struggle you can get into your own little world, and thats a bad place to be." The Bucks hold the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and have a seven-game lead over ninth-place Philadelphia with 11 games to go. However, they werent playing as a unit, the effort and energy level were sagging, until the game against the Lakers. "You need to be playing a collective game, whether it be offensively or defensively," Boylan said. "Tonight, for us was maybe breaking out of that shell a little bit." Sanders noticed the change, too. "Its easy to kind of get in slumps and get that dark cloud over your head and stay there," he said. "But, we fought our way through tonight. Its good and showed a lot of character. You only lose when you stay down. Youve got to get back up." Dwight Howard had 15 points and 15 rebounds for the Lakers, and Steve Nash scored 16 points. Howard said the Lakers needed to play better defence against the Bucks. "We need to work together against these guys," he saaid.dddddddddddd "We just didnt do that tonight. Defence needs to be a team effort each and every night." Ellis scored eight points for Milwaukee during a late 12-3 run, making it 102-92 on a running in the lane. The Lakers turned it over on the next possession, and Daniels raced down the court and dunked to make it 104-92 with 4:12 left. The Lakers never got closer than eight the rest of the way. Jennings was on the bench, again, during the fourth quarter. At 8:08 left, Boylan took Ellis out and put Ellis in. He scored the Bucks next six points and turned the momentum. JJ Redick, Ilyasova, Daniels and Sanders finished the game with Ellis. Jennings also was benched in the fourth quarter of Wednesday nights loss to Philadelphia. He was unhappy about the move and felt picked on. "Brandon played great tonight. I took him out, had all intentions of putting him back in the game," Boylan said. "I had every intention of putting him back in the game, but then the game started to roll in our favour. I didnt want to mess with the chemistry we had out on the court. Not that I didnt trust Brandon to come back and play well." The Lakers last gasp came early in the fourth. Antwan Jamison scored twice and Howard dunked in a miss to help the Lakers regain the lead at 83-82. The teams exchanged the lead four times before Jennings 3-pointer at 8:23 put Milwaukee ahead for good. The Bucks started turning it around in the third, using a 19-8 run to close the quarter with 82-77 lead. Daniels stole an inbound pass from Bryant under the Lakers basket and passed to Sanders, who dunked to give Milwaukee a 70-69 lead with 4:23 left in the third. Sanders dunked his way to nine points during the surge. The rest of his points came on a hook shot and a free throw. NOTES: Lakers forward Metta World Peace had surgery Thursday on a torn meniscus in his left knee. He was injured in Los Angeles loss to Golden State on Monday night and is expected to miss at least six weeks. ... The crowd cheered when the public address announcer said that Marquette beat Miami to advance in the NCAA basketball tournament. ... Lakers coach Mike DAntoni said Nashs back and hamstring "fired up on him. He toughed it out at first. I could tell he was hurting." ' ' '