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For the first time in 14 years, neither Roger Federer nor Rafael Nadal will be among the worlds top eight men playing at the ATP Finals. The poignant reality is injuries have dogged them so much this year that both were forced to call it a season within six weeks of each other.The last time they were anywhere near a tennis court together was in street clothes. Federer flew in for the opening of Nadals new tennis academy in Mallorca, Spain, in mid-October, another sign that the end of their tour-dominating days is upon us.Nobody likes Federers and Nadals absences, or these force-fed glimpses of how the tour will looks a little less lustrous when their departure is permanent, especially if some of the #nextgen hopefuls the ATP has been promoting dont get on with dominating already. (Yes, Nick Kyrgios, were especially looking at you and your latest questionable move. )Federer and Nadal may yet rise up here or there and grab another Grand Slam title. Or two. But all the wishful thinking in the world wont bring their heydays back. And Federer and Nadal both know it.The two are good friends, and they smiled a little wistfully at each other at the ribbon-cutting for Nadals academy last month. They publicly commiserated about their season-ending injuries and beat back retirement questions. They seemed like two aging lions hoping to stay in the title hunt as long as they can. Even the gift that Nadal presented Federer as thanks for coming -- a poster with photographs from all 34 matches theyve played, many of them epics -- underscored how much time is under the bridge. Nadal was ranked a pedestrian eighth in this weeks world rankings, and Federer has slid to No. 16 because of his inactivity.And yet, while the 30-year-old Nadal is five years younger than Federer, its Federer who seems to have more jump in his step and big hopes in mind. The Swiss star had never had an injury that required surgery until he hurt his meniscus in January at the Australian Open and had his knee repaired. This is new territory for him, and he told Nadal hes taken heart during his rehab work from Nadals many injury comebacks before his left wrist gave out this year.Youve done it a million times, Federer said, so I can be inspired by the way you made it look so easy when you came back. You came back to the worlds top 10, top five, even world No 1. Thats something that Im going to be thinking about when I come back to the tour in January.Nadal hasnt been as specific as Federer about how much longer he wants to play: I am enjoying what I am doing, especially when I am healthy; when Im not healthy, for sure I dont enjoy it, Nadal allowed. But when asked if he knew in his own mind when he might retire, Nadal dismissed the suggestion he knows his end is very near.I cant give an answer to questions that I cannot answer to myself, Nadal said. If you start to think about when youre going to retire, then your work is not 100 percent focused on what you want to do. So I cant say and I cant think about it now. Im not worried about it at all. When it happens, it happens. When that day arrives I am sure I will know it.Its not a day for which I have to prepare.He has a point. Theres an old saying in boxing that the truth will find you inside the ring. The same is true in tennis. Theres nowhere to hide on the court and no teammates to carry you. Though Federer still reliably pops up in tournament semifinals, even at the Slams, he hasnt won a major since Wimbledon in 2012 and hasnt won a title of any sort since October of 2014.That kind of drought can -- and has -- driven off a lot of less relentlessly optimistic and well-balanced champions into quitting. Many wouldve said forget it a long time ago. Not Federer. In a video interview posted on the ATP website after he pulled out of the US Open, he actually called these tougher times something he finds super interesting, and almost, in some ways, something fun. His reasoning? He said hes never had a five-month gap like this to repair his body and work on his game since turning pro.Nadals future is cloudier. Hes looked like a man with too many hard miles on the odometer for a while now. He did win two titles early this year, but he didnt get past the third round of any major in 2016 and hasnt won a Grand Slam title since the 2014 French Open. Yet true to his full-tilt personality, it took Nadal a while to give into the reality he, too, needed to call it a year. Its probably telling for all his greatness that hes never won the year-end finals. The best he could do was a second-place finish, twice.Nadal now concedes he was still in pain when he played singles and doubles in the Rio Olympics, and again all through his lackluster fall campaign in which he lost a five-set shocker to Lucas Pouille in the fourth round of the US Open and then dismissed by Grigor Dimitrov in Beijing. A week later, Nadal suffered a first-round loss against Viktor Troicki in Shanghai, another opponent he used to trounce.So Federer and Nadal were wise to quit punishing themselves and put off their returns until the new year, even if the ATP Finals will miss them. Federer, who won the title six times and finished the runner-up four other years, has been posting photos on Facebook and Instagram about how hes been spending his time in Switzerland hiking the Alps, while getting in a light hit on a modest-looking clay court and doing agility drills in a low-ceiling gym.On Monday, Nadal tweeted a photo of himself at a mountain lookout point at Sainte-Agnes on the Cote dZur of France, along with the message: Just resting these days.Both spots look beautiful. But its different than seeing Nadal and Federer walk on-court at an ATP Finals, unzip their racket covers and then hunker down across the net from each other knowing a three- or four-hour epic might be just ahead.Those days were great.Those days increasingly feel gone. Yeezy Replica Kaufen .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. Ultra Boost Schuhe Sale . R.J. Umberger scored twice to lead the Blue Jackets to a franchise-record for consecutive wins with a 5-3 victory Tuesday night over the Los Angeles Kings. http://www.yeezyschuhe.de/ultra-boost-schuhe.html . Galatasaray said in a statement on its website Monday that Mancini signed a three-year contract and will be paid 3.5 million euros for the upcoming season, with his salary upped to 4. Yeezy Schuhe Großhandel . -- Adam Snyder returned to the San Francisco 49ers this season because the offensive lineman thought it was his best opportunity to win a championship. Adidas Schuhe Grosshandel Deutschland . -- Jimmie Johnson held off a teammate, passed a pair of Hall of Famers, and dominated once more at Dover. On the field, the Big 12 has tumbled into a precarious spot this season. For the first time since its inception, the conference doesnt have a single team ranked in the top 15 of the Associated Press poll. As a result, the Big 12s chances of putting a team in the playoff already seem to be dire after just three weeks.Beyond that, expansion has dominated the conversation since late spring. But after months of contemplating it and weeks of officially exploring it, where does Big 12 expansion stand with a key Oct. 17 board meeting looming?Heres the latest:The Big 12 stages in-person meetingsTwo weeks ago in the Dallas area, the Big 12 held meetings with the 11 candidates that made the conferences first round of cuts, multiple sources confirmed to ESPN.com. Those meetings began with SMU on Tuesday and ended with South Florida on Friday evening; Air Force, BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati, Colorado State, Connecticut, Houston, Rice and Tulane had their turns in between.Each session, with commissioner Bob Bowlsby and a small group of Big 12 officials, lasted roughly two hours, and the expansion candidates were limited to bringing up to five representatives, who also had to be employed by the schools in some capacity. The majority brought their president, athletic director, board chair and general counsel, though USF, for example, was able to include Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, who is a faculty member of the USF Muma College of Business.The schools spent most of those two hours pitching their individual strengths to the conference: SMU, its proximity to the rest of the league; Houston, its red-hot football program and its ability to help the Big 12 with the Houston TV market; USF and UCF, the upside of their top-20 TV markets and massive enrollments. As the Associated Press first reported, USFs showed a video that included testimonials from former NFL coach Tony Dungy and pro baseball player Tino Martinez. Said Vinik in the video, I guarantee, when the Big 12 comes to this area, and when they make USF part of their community, we will all be 100 percent behind them, and they will never regret that decision.At the conclusion of each meeting, however, the expansion candidates were given little indication of the Big 12s next step or even if there will be an actual expansion vote on Oct. 17. So far, its essentially been radio silence.One person with knowledge of the expansion process termed it as a weird limbo.Houston surgingThe Cougars have picked an opportune time to put together one of their greatest runs in school history. Houstons 33-23 Week 1 win over Oklahoma provided only more evidence that the Cougars would strengthen the competitive profile of the conference. On Nov. 17, Houston will have a prime opportunity to play its way into the playoff when third-ranked Louisville comes to town.Houstons upside as a Big 12 member, however, has strangely become perhaps the biggest knock on its candidacy.Kansas State offensive coordinator Dana Dimel and Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy spoke out against inviting Houston to the Big 12, arguing that the Cougars would steal away too many recruits from them.Anyone thats not in Texas will have a more difficult time recruiting Texas if another Texas school gets in this league, Gundy said in August.One Big 12 insider from a non-Texas school pointed out that having another game in the state of Texas would be one way in which adding Houston could actually help recruiting.Still, it seems the support for Houston remains lukewarm among the non-Texas schools, even as the Cougars have produced stellar ratings this season in the Houston TV market.Whether Houston ultimately gets in could hinge heavily on whether the four Big 12 Texas schools coalesce around the Cougars candidacy.There figures to be significant political pressure on the four Big 12 Texas schools to do just that. Texas governor Greg Abbott has already tweeted that expansion is a non-starter without Houston, and was spotted wearing a Cougars polo to the Oklahoma game.Just this week, Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick told KRIV-TV in Houston that This is about Texas schools. I dont really give a hoot and a holler about UConn or some school in Florida or anywhere else. Texas schools oughta vote for other Texas schools.Much of this is political posturing from elected officials angling to boost their appeal with Houston voters while improving their relationships with Houston lawmakers. That doesnt mean the pressure wont be real.The pressure will also be on Texas chancellor Bill McRaven and, by proxy, Texas president Greg Fenves, to resolve the sticky 300-acre land deal in Houston. Texas wants to build a satellite facility there, but has faced stiff opposition from Houston officials and lawmakers. At this point, the best way Texas could placate Houston would be to help get it in the Big 12. Fenves tweeted in July that he supports the Big 12 considering the Cougars. But it remains unclear whether Texas will actually go to bat for them when it counts.In the meantime, the best way Houston can help itself is to keep winning on the field. It would be difficult to envision a scenario in which the Big 12 announces expansion and leaves out the school on the brink of making the playoff.Will anything happen on Oct. 17?Since the league announced it would begin exploring expansion in July, Big 12 insiders have been pointing to the Oct. 17 board meeting of presidents and chancellors as the likeliest point at which a vote on expansion could take place.Oklahoma president and Big 12 board chair David Boren, however, seemed to turn that timetable on its head when he spoke to the media, including ESPN.ddddddddddddcom, after the schools regents meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last week.Im not certain there will be a decision at the October board meeting on expansion at this time, Boren said. Were going to look at every way in which we can make the conference stronger and better. But Im not sure the automatic answer to that is expansion.The situation is still pretty fluid.Bowlsby has been pushing the presidents to move forward with a decision on expansion as quickly as possible. Theres no sense in dragging it out once we know all the pieces to the puzzle, he said this summer.But if Borens comments were any indication, Bowlsby might not be able to persuade the Big 12 presidents to commit to a vote Oct. 17. If no vote is taken then, the expansion process could drag on through December, as Iowa State president Steven Leath suggested last month, and possibly beyond -- a frustrating proposition for many in the league.We knew who all these schools were before this process, said one Big 12 insider.Yet even after Borens most recent public comments, multiple Big 12 officials still believe that Oct. 17 will most likely be Decision Day for the conference -- one way or the other.How will the Big 12 reach consensus?One of the most under-discussed challenges to this undertaking is still ahead: How will the Big 12 actually conduct its expansion vote?In previous realignments, conferences were asked to vote yes or no on only a couple of schools. Considering the conference still has a pool of 11 candidates, the Big 12s situation is far more convoluted.Will the league first vote on whether to expand, then the number to expand by, before finally deliberating on the individual schools? Or will the league go straight to voting on schools, one-by-one? Boren acknowledged last week that the Big 12 still had not settled on a method. Bowlsby has no voting power, but he could make recommendations that could help streamline the process.Any expansion candidate, however, will still need a super majority, or eight votes, in order to get an invitation. Considering so many options remain, it could prove difficult for any one school to get the necessary votes.Nobody agrees on the teams right now, one Big 12 official noted.What remains to be seen is how the self-inflicted pressure of making this process so public could affect the decision-making. After all of the pomp and circumstance, could the Big 12, in the end, really vote not to expand? That is certainly a possibility, underscored by Borens recent comments.I would just caution you and say, I would not take expansion as a given, he said. Im not saying there wont be expansion. But Im not saying it can be automatically assumed that there will be expansion.Some inside the conference who oppose expansion, however, fear the presidents will feel compelled to vote in favor of expansion, even if theyre unsure that its the right move.As one industry insider put it, I dont know how they could go through all this and not expand.BYU losing steamMonths ago, BYU was viewed as the frontrunner in any Big 12 expansion scenario. With a passionate national fan base, strong football tradition, top-35 TV market in Salt Lake City and solid academic credentials, BYU checked every box of the criteria the Big 12 said it would be analyzing.But the LGBT communitys opposition to BYU because of its honor code has turned BYUs candidacy toxic, as one Big 12 insider characterized it.Their appeal doesnt outweigh the baggage, even though the appeal is great, another said.Earlier this month, Iowa States student government passed a resolution opposing a BYU Big 12 invite, noting that BYUs discriminatory policies and practices are inconsistent with the values of the Big 12.Last week, the ACC announced that it would be moving all neutral-site conference championship games out of North Carolina as a result of the states controversial House Bill 2 law that limits the legal protection of the LGBT community. That included the ACC removing the football championship game from Charlotte.BYU makes all the sense in the world from a football perspective, said one Big 12 source.Given the current climate, however, that might not be enough for the Cougars to get an invitation, at least without some give on its honor code.The moment of truth?Interestingly, Boren noted last week that expansion could hinge on whether it adds to the long-term stability of the conference.But if the Big 12 doesnt sign an extension of its grant of rights the way the ACC did this year, the leagues long-term stability will remain dubious, at best. The contracts currently binding the conference together expire in the 2024-25 academic year.So far, neither Texas nor Oklahoma has indicated it would agree to a grant of rights extension under any scenario. Without the extension, the clock will continue to tick on the Big 12, regardless of whether it expands or not, as the Longhorns and Sooners will be free to leave for greener pastures when the rights expire.If the two parents dont commit [to signing the extension], said one industry source, what does that tell you?Said another: The Big 12 could be close to the end.Bowlsby has said that the Big 12 will continue to fall further behind the SEC and Big Ten if it does nothing. But expansion alone wont catapult the Big 12 back onto the same plane, either.That could be one reason why the Big 12 is struggling to agree on the next step. And why anything could be possible in the coming weeks. ' ' '