GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Arizona Cardinals tight end Jake Ballard announced his retirement from the NFL on Wednesday. In a statement on Wednesday, Ballard traced his decision to the severe knee injury he sustained playing for the New York Giants in the 2012 Super Bowl. "My body never felt the same," he said. "Having a quality of life after football is very important to me and I have witnessed it taken away from others. I will miss the game tremendously, but I am ready for this next chapter in my life." Ballard was signed by the Giants as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Ohio State in 2010. In the Giants 2011 Super Bowl season, he started 13 regular season games, catching 38 passes for 604 yards and four touchdowns. Ballard played in all four of New Yorks post-season games that season, three as a starter. He was signed by New England in 2012, but missed the entire season because of the knee injury. Ballard signed with the Cardinals in November of last year. He appeared in eight games for Arizona, three as a starter. He caught seven passes for 78 yards and two touchdowns for the Cardinals. Ballard was in a crowded competition at tight end for Arizona. His retirement leaves the team with free agent signee John Carlson, returnee Rob Housler, rookie second-round draft pick Troy Niklas and Darren Fells, a former college basketball player who spent his rookie season a year ago on the Cardinals practice squad. Scott Stevens Jersey . The Thunder earned the Game 1 win with a 100-86 victory Saturday night. Oklahoma City dominated the first half and led by 22 at the break, but saw its lead shrink to just two points in the fourth quarter. Damon Severson Jersey .Chanathip Songkrasin opened the scoring in the sixth minute before Kroekrit found the target twice in the 57th and four minutes from fulltime.Vietnam and Malaysia play their second leg on Thursday. Vietnam won the first leg 2-1. http://www.nhldevilshockeystore.com/and ... -jersey/.C. -- Benn Ferrieros familiar with scoring important goals, just not in back-to-back games. Keith Kinkaid Jersey . Particularly when speaking in the stadium of Tuesdays opponent: Manchester City. "Maybe they dont fear us as before," Pique said on Monday, "because in the last two years we didnt win the Champions League. Custom New Jersey Devils Jerseys .Stanton suffered fractures in his face and other injuries when he was hit by a pitch Sept. 11. The Marlins are confident hell fully recover and be ready for spring training, and they hope to reach a long-term agreement with him.CHICAGO -- No matter how this one plays out in the end, Joel Quenneville will at least appreciate the show the Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles have put on the Western Conference finals. For pure theatre, its hard to match this. A wild series between the two most recent champions will come to a close with one final act Sunday, a seventh game in Chicago to decide who will advance to the Stanley Cup finals. "The quality of the hockey has been fun to watch and (its) been fun to be a part of it at the same time," Quenneville, the Blackhawks coach, said Saturday. The Blackhawks won a double-overtime thriller at home and took Game 6 on Friday night in Los Angeles 4-3 to wipe out a 3-1 series deficit, sending it back to Chicago. Now, its win-or-go home for both teams. Whoever prevails will host the New York Rangers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals Wednesday night. The Kings, who dropped the first three games against San Jose in the opening round and went the distance with Anaheim, hope to become the first team to win three Game 7s on the way to the Stanley Cup finals. "Were using all our lifelines so far, and we plan on getting the job done yet again," Los Angeles Justin Williams said. If the Blackhawks win Sunday, it will be the second straight year they advanced after falling behind 3-1 in a series. Last year, they dropped three of the first four against Detroit in the conference semifinals before taking Game 7 in overtime on a goal by Brent Seabrook after Niklas Hjalmarsson had one disallowed late in regulation. Chicago went on to take out the Kings in the conference finals before beating Boston for its second Stanley Cup in four years. The Blackhawks looked like they were just about out of it after dropping Game 4. Instead, they jumped back into it with two thrilling victories, pushing a thrilling series to the limit. "You can feel its high-level hockey thats played for sure," Hjalmarsson said. "Theyre a machine-like team. They bring the same effort to every single game so we just have to try to match that. I really think this series deserves a Game 7, and I think the crowd deserves it, too. And I think its going to be a great finish to a great finiish to a great series.dddddddddddd" Its coming down to one after Chicago pulled out two nail-biters. There was that double-overtime victory in Game 5 at home with Michal Handzus scoring the winner, and Game 6 Friday was about as tense. The Blackhawks survived thanks to a late surge after the teams traded leads in the third period, with Patrick Kane setting up Duncan Keith for the tying goal and then firing in the winner from a patch of ice near the painted Stanley Cup logo with 3:45 left. "We know that we can still beat this Chicago Blackhawks team," Drew Doughty said. "But we also know its not going to be easy either. Theyre going to have their best game in this Game 7, especially in their home rink." It would help if they contained Kane. He has come up big in the past two games with seven points after being held to just one in the first four games. He had two goals and an assist Friday and four assists in Game 5, compared to just one assist through the first four games. Hes been able to find at least some open ice, something he wasnt able to do earlier in the series, and the Blackhawks are feeding off that. "We have to do the same things we did in the first four games, not the last two -- check hard and deny him the puck, and when he has the puck, give him the least amount of time possible," defenceman Willie Mitchell said. Now, this series between two powerhouses comes down to one final game, and both teams have come out on top in tough spots. The Kings are 6-0 in elimination games this year. The Blackhawks have won nine of their past 11 elimination games. "Competitive guys, they find a way," Quenneville said. "(Friday) night is a good example. Third period, it doesnt look good and they dont change their approach. We know we have some guys that can make plays and have some ability to score. ... Were playing a real good team that has a lot of similar attributes as we do, but we have to give our guys (credit for) what theyve done, what theyve accomplished and how they handle these situations." NOTE: Kings D Robyn Regehr remains sidelined by a knee injury and is not expected to be available on Sunday. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '