RIO DE JANEIRO -- The comeback began with a challenge. Look at the equipment all you want, Mihai Brestyan told Aly Raisman, but do not touch.So Raisman didnt. For weeks. Brestyan needed to be sure Raisman was serious, so he put the three-time Olympic medalist through countless hours of cardio and plyometrics in 2014 designed to test her desire as much as her physical limits.If you dont control the body, the frustration is coming very fast, Brestyan said. You cant do this. You cant do that. Pain here. Pain there. I didnt want to deal with the mind before I dealt with the body.So Raisman pushed herself to the point of exhaustion -- and sometimes beyond -- while fighting a two-front internal battle: her fear of taking risks and her fear of failure in a seemingly chronic push-pull for supremacy. Heres the thing, though, the thing Brestyan knew the second Raisman walked back into the gym and told him she was ready: Raismans fear of failure always wins. Always.You cant tell her she cant do something, Brestyan said.And Brestyan also understood there was one more chip in play. Raismans performance in London four years ago -- gold in team and floor exercise, bronze on beam -- opened doors for her she never saw coming, including a spot on Dancing With The Stars and a series of endorsement deals. Theres no telling what another breakthrough moment in front of the world could lead to.The fame is going fast, Brestyan said. In the gymnastics world youre famous for one year then you become like everybody else. She feels she did not accomplish the maximum she can do, so the pleasure of doing gymnastics and the pleasure of being famous, this is what brings her back. She likes to be famous.Its a byproduct of Raismans relentless drive, one that has the 22-year-old back on the Olympic stage for the loaded U.S. womens team. The young woman that 16-year-old teammate Laurie Hernandez occasionally calls grandma may also be the best gymnast on the planet not named Simone Biles.Raisman, Biles and defending Olympic champion Gabby Douglas will all compete in the all-around when womens preliminary competition begins on Sunday, a prospect that hardly seemed possible as recently as this spring when Raisman appeared lost, her confidence shaken following a forgettable meet in Italy where she finished sixth overall and fifth among the Americans.Yet there she was during podium training on Thursday, drilling Amanar vaults with precision while cementing her spot as the third all-around entry along with three-time world champion Biles and Douglas. The top eight teams qualify for Tuesday nights team final, with the top 24 individual finishers earning a spot in the all-around final next Thursday.That list, however, comes with one very important caveat: only two gymnasts per country can make the cut. So while all three Americans should wind up in the top 10, the rules dictate one of them will be watching from the stands during the finals. The margin of error is extremely thin and Raisman has seen both sides up close.Four years ago she and Douglas edged good friend and reigning world champion Jordyn Wieber during preliminaries, leaving Wieber in tears afterward. Last fall at the world championships, Raisman struggled during qualifying and wound up being the odd one out while Biles and Douglas went on to go one-two in the finals. This time it was Raisman who couldnt mask her disappointment, apologizing repeatedly to national team coordinator Martha Karolyi even as the Americans rolled to a team title.Raisman buried herself even deeper in her work, though the initial returns were hardly promising. When she slogged to sixth at the Jesolo Cup in March, it seemed her odds of making an Olympic return were diminishing by the day. During the Secret Classic in June, Karolyi required Raisman to do the all-around while Biles and Douglas took on a lighter workload to help save them for the grind to come.The message from Karolyi couldnt have been more obvious: it was time for Raisman to get it together. And just like that, she did.Raisman was second at U.S. championships and a close third behind Hernandez at trials. There was no secret formula. There never is when it comes to Raisman. Her answer to adversity is always the same: work until youre gassed then drag yourself to your feet and work some more.I did like eight million routines, she said.Each one whittling away at the small mistakes that can save a tenth here or two-tenths there, particularly on uneven bars, easily her weakest event. Its no small feat for an admitted perfectionist who struggles at times to let missteps go.In that way shes leaned on Biles, who will occasionally stop talking in mid-sentence to dart down the runway for one of her ceiling-scraping, judge-confounding vaults.Ive found that the less I think and the more I just trust myself the better, Raisman said. Thats what Marthas really been working on with me and its been helping a lot.This is Raismans last round. Probably. She laughed when someone suggested she stick around until Tokyo, joking Brestyan couldnt handle another four years by her side. So shell drink in the moment, unleash a couple more of her physics-defying tumbling runs and embrace her role as the worlds youngest grandma.They can call me whatever they want, she said. I just wanted to be on this team more than anything.Lyle Alzado Raiders Jersey . Its an influence in football and a big part of the game. Jim Otto Raiders Jersey . 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"Paul sent me a text this morning, just told me he loved me and wanted to go out and fight as hard as I would any other day," Simpson said Sunday after doing just that.OAKLAND, Calif. -- At the conclusion of a 45-point thumping at the hands of the Golden State Warriors on Saturday evening, a livid Portland Trail Blazers All-Star addressed his teammates in the locker room.Damian Lillard didnt mince words in criticizing his team, telling ESPN the Blazers performance was ridiculous and that the teams recent slide is on us, not the coaches.Man, its OK to turn the ball over, its OK to make mistakes, but we have to play with some damn heart and compete out there, he said of his teammates.The Warriors secured a 135-90 win at Oracle Arena and shot 59 percent in the process. It was the largest margin of victory in the NBA this season, and it was the Warriors largest ever over the Trail Blazers.Portland has lost six of its past seven and is dead last in defensive efficiency (109.6).The visiting locker room was virtually silent.Players were speechless. Lillard got dressed at his locker stall and routinely shook his head in disappointment. At 13-16, the Trail Blazers are only a game up on the Denver Nuggets for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference standings.Golden State executed an offensive clinic. Backdoor cuts went uncovered by Portland, several lob dunks went uncontested and a multitude of mental blunders led to wide-open 3-pointers for the Warriors.Several Trail Blazers players expressed afterward that they felt like they had disrespected the game.This is unacceptable, no matter who youre playing against, champions or not, C.J. McCollum told ESPN. You have to be ready to play and perform and compete, and I dont think we did any of those things today.Reserve?Allen Crabbe?offered his take.Honestly, there are really no words for it, Crabbe said to ESPN. Our play is really self-explanatory right now. Weve got to get it together. It was a 40-point loss. Thats embarrassing right there.Despite a flawed roster, Portland head coach Terry Stotts is doing his best to try to manufacture a nucleus capable of providing extended stretches of high-level defense. As for personnel, the Trail Blazers didnt improve from last seasons squad that overachieved and went 44-38. The offseason addition of Evan Turner and his four-year, $70 million deal hasnt paid off.Furthermore, the rim protection they so desperately need from Festus Ezeli is likely sidelined for the season, due to his knee injury. Swing forward Al-Faarouq Aminu has been in and out the lineup with a back contusion, but hes not the answer for Stotts.ddddddddddddThis isnt about what the coaches are doing, this is on us, Lillard said to ESPN in retelling what he stated to his teammates. We have to take responsibility for whats going on. This s--- is ridiculous. Weve got the talent; weve just got to put it together consistently.In the locker room after Saturday nights loss, Lillards facial expressions spoke volumes, and he was in a rage with his teams effort. But he made it clear that his confidence hasnt wavered one bit.Im a soldier, he said. I feel like if I die, I can come back to life and win.Lillard has been critical of his team before. Last month, he told reporters, simply, that the Trail Blazers kind of suck right now, following a blowout loss to the Houston Rockets, though he added, Well get it right, and things will be fine.The Trail Blazers have had a couple of heart-to-heart discussions after some disappointing losses this season, but not to the extent of categorizing them as players-only meetings.If this sort of play continues, that might change.I think were getting close to that point, McCollum told ESPN. Dame talked to the guys today, but its more about us as players. And the coaches, theyre not playing. Theyre not responsible for losing by 40 or winning by 40. Its the players job. Its not [San Antonio Spurs coach] Gregg Popovich, its not [Cleveland Cavaliers coach] Tyronn Lue, its the players making the decisions, like Kawhi Leonard and?LeBron [James]. Theyre the guys that change the culture of the team, and they change the impact of the game.Crabbe agreed with McCollum.I feel like guys are speaking out more about how our play is unacceptable and how we have to step up more, so I mean a [players-only meeting] may come, may happen soon, Crabbe said. Its going to come to a point where everybody is going to be fed up with it. Were pretty fed up with it now. I mean, its frustrating going to games and just getting beat like this and not even giving ourselves a chance. Weve got to figure it out.On whether the Trail Blazers have reached their lowest point of the young season, McCollum told ESPN, S---, we lost by 40 today. It doesnt get no lower than that. ' ' '