Wanda Mercury-Simmonds raised her four sons to be strong but respectful and to channel their boundless energy into sports, as she had done as a tomboy alongside four brothers.

A mother at 16, she grew up with her kids. She went to school and worked but never missed a chance to take the boys skating or swimming or climb trees with them near their home in Scarborough, Canada, outside Toronto.

She and her husband, Cyril, who works in construction, found the money or the help to buy them second-hand skates and gloves even though “we were living from paycheck to paycheck,” she recalled.

Her third son, Wayne, inherited her strong will.

That’s why when he earnestly told her long ago he would become an NHL player, she never doubted it.

Now that he’s close to making it, having survived the first cuts of the Kings’ training camp and earning raves for his smart and assertive play, she’s sure he will defeat the odds and successfully navigate the final step on his unlikely journey.

“For all the years he’s been out there trying for this, for his dream to come true, he deserves everything he gets,” she said by telephone from Toronto.

“He takes everything on his shoulders and works so hard. I used to hate to get in the car with Wayne after he lost a game. I used to dread it because he would be so sad, and when he hurts, I hurt too.”

Neither of them was hurting much Tuesday, after he contributed an assist and three hits and tangled in two crowd-pleasing fights during the Kings’ shootout exhibition loss to the Ducks at Staples Center.

Simmonds, the Kings’ second-round pick and 61st overall in the entry draft, has made a strong impression so far and could soon join the small number of black players in the NHL. Playing Tuesday on right wing with center Jarret Stoll and left wing Matt Moulson, he assisted on the Kings’ goal, scored by Moulson off a first-period scramble.

He also earned a pair of major fighting penalties for tussling with Troy Bodie and Travis Moen in the second period. Both scraps involved more shoving and wrestling than actual punching, but Simmonds won’t back down from anyone.

He’s the kind of player the Kings have needed but are just starting to find and develop.

They have a few superb forwards -- and will have another good one if restricted free agent Patrick O’Sullivan ever signs -- and their defense oozes with promise.

It’s the character players they’ve lacked, and in dumpster-diving to fill that hole they’ve made more than a few mistakes that soured the team’s chemistry.

Simmonds, a month past his 20th birthday and still likely to add muscle to his 6-foot-2, pound frame, has character and skill.

Coach Terry Murray sees him as a third-line player or better because his strong defensive play can allow him to be a checking forward on a scoring line.

“He made a huge commitment over the summer to do his off-ice workouts here and he’s just continued to impress me almost on a daily basis,” Murray said.

“He’s intelligent, he reads the plays, he’s very responsible away from the puck and he does all the right things when our team has the puck on the attack. And he’s a teammate. He jumps in for his teammates. He’s in there, battling, and he’s very competitive in every situation.”

Simmonds is accustomed to standing up for himself. Black players have not always had an easy time in this sport, and Simmonds said he heard racial taunts directed at him while he worked his way up through the youth hockey ranks and into major junior hockey in Canada.

“You rarely hear it anymore,” he said. “But when you’re younger you have the ignorant kid that says something because he’s not educated or his parents don’t teach him, I guess. But now you don’t hear anything, and that’s good.

“You’ve kind of got to let those things go by the wayside sometimes, and if you have an opportunity to settle the score, you settle the score.”

Winning is the best revenge, and he’s winning points in his quest to make his childhood dream come true.

“I just try to keep things simple and not go out of my way to try to be fancy or anything,” he said. “I think that’s benefited me a lot.

“I’ve got my chance and I’ve got to prove myself. I don’t know if my mom really believed me at the start when I said I’d play in the NHL, because a lot of kids say that. But now she certainly believes.”

So will a lot of other people, if they don’t already.

--

Helene Elliott can be reached at www.oldyorkcellars.comt@www.oldyorkcellars.com To read previous columns by Elliott, go to www.oldyorkcellars.com

Wide receiver Henry Ellard of the Rams is probably in the final year of his football career, and he doesn’t know it.

Ellard, one of 33 players in NFL history to have caught more than passes, will earn $, this season.

When the season ends, Ellard will become a free agent and, based on the recent off-season’s payoffs to free agents with his credentials, he expects to become a millionaire.

“No way,” said an official from one NFL team. “Salary cap. Next year he’s just another guy named Henry looking for work, now that his football career is over.”

Salary cap. By this time next year, those two words will probably have been the death knell for scores of athletes who shared one major flaw: They made too much money.

Pay cuts and pink slips are expected to deplete most NFL rosters. Household names will be released, and fans will not understand why good players remain available and unwanted.

“There are a lot of people who are in for a rude awakening,” said Jackie Slater, Ram offensive tackle. “You will no longer have the middle-of-the-road guy, the solid, stable backup who has been paid good money to do what he does. That job is going to be eliminated.

“Guys that have the ambition of playing a long time and who have set economic goals are going to become disenchanted when they realize their dream is unattainable because of what the union has done with the collective-bargaining agreement.

“There are going to be cuts in pay, and there are going to be lots of young guys making little or no money. Everybody is looking at last year and thinking they are getting ready to break the bank. They are totally ignoring that little bitty thing--the salary cap.”

The salary cap will go into effect if the league spends 67% of its gross revenue on player costs.

John Shaw, executive vice president of the Rams and one of the prime designers of the salary cap, said his team is $3 million to $5 million over next year’s projected cap.

Take a look at the Rams’ roster, and imagine having to cut up to $5 million from the payroll and then go compete for a playoff berth.

“And we’re considered in the middle of the pack,” Shaw said. “If we don’t have an increase in television revenue, then most organizations are going to have to make cuts.”

Players such as Ellard, however, will be looking for a raise next season.

“With free agency like it was this year, there is definitely a big difference,” Ellard said. “I’m just not sure how all this affects me.”

Players who have done great things, such as Ellard, might continue to pile up impressive statistics, but that probably still won’t matter.

“This is (Washington wide receiver) Art Monk’s last season, whether he likes it or not,” agent Bruce Allen said. “Players are going to be playing for $, a year or they’re going to be out of a job, especially on successful teams.”

Tackle Irv Eatman left the New York Jets in March and agreed to play for the Rams this season for more than $1 million. Good timing, as Eatman discovered, made him a rich man.

“Next year won’t be like this year, that’s for sure,” Eatman said. “A lot of teams did their thing this year and said, ‘We’ll worry about next year when it comes.’

“You’re going to see a lot of surprises next year. There are going to be guys who don’t make it, and you won’t understand why until you look and see what they’re making.”

This year, teams such as Green Bay and the Jets put out large sums of money for widely known free agents. Next year, they will be forced by the rules to substantially reduce their payrolls.

“I’ve drawn up some scenarios on an overhead projector just to show our coaches what is really going to look like,” said Bobby Beathard, San Diego general manager. “The 49ers have 23 players and have set aside $23 million for them. Most people are guessing the cap to be around $33 million with $ million of that being set aside for players’ benefits.

“That leaves $ million for salaries.”

That would also leave $ million, under the 49ers’ plan, to pay their remaining 25 to 30 players.

“I took an example for our team,” Beathard said. “Setting aside 37 players and what we pay them, we’re about $ million over the projected cap right there.

“Coaches are going to have to sort out the players they absolutely can’t do without. Coaches aren’t used to those kind of decisions. I mean, I’ve never been with a team where you had to get rid of somebody because of money, but the system now is telling you to do that.”

The system changed when owners and players agreed to a new six-year collective-bargaining agreement, which includes the potential for a salary cap beginning in

“The purpose of the cap is to put all teams on the same playing field competitively,” Shaw said. “During the labor negotiations, movement--free agency--was a big issue with the players.

“At the heart of the negotiations was a trade-off of free agency for a salary cap. All teams, despite their revenues, despite the fact the Eagles might have $15 million more than the Falcons, the Packers and Bengals, have the same amount of dollars to sign players.

“In the future, it will become a question of who best allocates the money. Everybody will have the same amount of money to spend. Who makes the best decisions with that money?”

This first year of unrestricted free agency--players with five or more years of service qualified--prompted a spending spree by owners, and players changed teams. Those players enjoyed an average increase of % over their previous contract package, according to the NFL Players Assn.

One hundred and forty-six players re-signed with their former employers, and as a group they realized a 74% increase over their previous contracts.

There were restricted free agents--four years of service--who stayed with their teams, and on the average their contract packages increased %.

The financial bonanza appears to have been a one-time deal, however.

“If we spend, as a league, 67% of our defined gross revenue on player costs, which is roughly 92% of total gross revenue, then we trigger a salary cap the next year,” Shaw said. “From all appearances and from figures I’ve seen recently, we will trigger the cap.”

Although 67% of the league’s defined gross revenue will bring on the cap, only 65% of the league’s defined revenue will go to the players next year, and it will ultimately drop to 62%.

The amount of money available under the salary cap next year will be determined to a large extent by next year’s television contract, which has yet to be negotiated. Each team received an average of $ million a year for the previous four-year TV deal. In this, the final year of that pact, teams will each receive $39 million.

“A lot of problems will be solved if we have an increase in TV revenue,” Shaw said.

NFL owners are counting on a larger payoff in the new television package, but network executives have hinted that if there is an increase, it may be minor. A good deal will allow players to earn more money next season; a drop in TV money will force more veterans from the game.

“In looking at the cap, you have to stay focused on the big picture rather than taking a microscopic glance at one particular player,” Shaw said. “What we are saying to the players now is that we are partners in this business and for this business to succeed we have to do it together as a partnership.

“We are saying to the players, as our partners we are giving you 62 to 65% of our defined gross revenue. If our business has some unhealthy years, then you players as our partners have to share in the downside of those years. You still get the same percentage, but you share in a lesser portion of defined gross income.

“As this business expands and matures, then as our partner you will get more as the gross increases.

“Taking less money is a difficult concept for some to understand, but as in any partnership, when you’re not doing well, all the partners have to take less.

“You can have a player making $, in ’92, $ million in ’93 and there’s nothing to say now he couldn’t make $, or $, in ’ You’re seeing it in American business today during this recessionary period. High-paid executives are being asked to take less money. From our organizational view, we’re going to try and have the best players making the most money. If that means an unrestricted free agent might be asked to take less, then that’s going to happen.”

When all the economic decisions have been made, who will be left on the field to play the game?

“A lot will depend on management’s view,” Shaw said. “Some people think we’re moving to a star system where the stars will get a lot of money and the rest of the roster will include younger players and less expensive backups.

“There is another view, however, that this is a team sport and that there are very few stars who impact a club significantly. So the idea is, if you have a whole bunch of good players, rather than a few stars, then you can have a good football team.

“This just puts a greater emphasis on management, coaching and the ability to make the right roster decisions during the free-agency period. Many of these decisions will have to be made now rather than later in training camp. The teams that make the most right decisions will be the ones most successful under the salary cap.”

Unlike the NBA’s salary cap, which allows teams to increase the salaries of its own players without counting against the cap, the NFL will have an absolute cap.

The NFL’s cap will include all player costs. Most teams are spending $, to $, a year to induce players to work out in the off-season. That money will now count against the cap.

If a player moves to injured reserve next season, his salary counts against the cap, which theoretically could prompt a team to cut another player in order to have the money to sign a replacement for the injured player. The Redskins reportedly have already set aside $ million next season for injured-reserve situations.

“Teams that have a sudden rash of injuries could fall from being very competitive to just average and having to finish out the season,” agent Ralph Cindrich said. “And now you’re going to have more younger players because you’re not going to keep or be able to pay older players. Younger players are more apt to blow assignments because of their lack of experience, and now your quarterback is getting slammed to the turf.”

The cap, which might lead to ultimate parity in the game, is not being greeted by everyone with gloom and doom.

“Theoretically, it will help give backup players on good teams an opportunity to move to teams who haven’t done as well,” said Bill Polian, NFL vice president of football development. “Teams such as the Redskins and Bills, who had good veteran backups, may not have that luxury in the future. But I don’t believe any good football player is going to disappear. Good football players will still have a place in this league, although they might not be with the team they were a year ago.”

Some observers, however, have suggested that there won’t be much movement via free agency next season because teams won’t have the money to spend on high-profile performers.

“But I don’t think we’re looking at ‘Apocalypse Now’ for the season,” said Michael Duberstein, research director for the NFLPA. “If you have teams with high payrolls, such as the Redskins, 49ers, Giants, Bills making adjustments, these players aren’t going to leave the league. They are going to play for teams that have had lower payrolls. The salary cap is pro competitive.”

The draft, more than ever, will also become an important tool in dealing with the salary cap because teams will have to rely on youth to fill their rosters. In addition, teams are guaranteed four years of service from drafted players before they become eligible for free agency.

“You can’t afford to make mistakes in the draft with high picks,” Beathard said. “I’ve been a bit of a risk-taker in the second round before and have made mistakes, but you can’t do that anymore. The better you draft, the better chance you have of being good in the new system. The way the cap works, you can’t go out and buy the talent; now you have to draft the guys and get them ready to play right away.”

Projected Free Agents in ’94

Some of the NFL players who can become free agents in

Player Team Pos. ’93 Salary Darryl Talley Buffalo LB $, William Perry Chicago DT $, Chris Spielman Detroit LB $ million Andre Ware Detroit QB $ million Chris Dishman Houston DB $, Sean Jones Houston DE $, Webster Slaughter Houston WR $ million Jon Hand Indianapolis DE $ million Dave Krieg Kansas City QB $ million Henry Ellard Rams WR $, Anthony Carter Minnesota WR $1 million Blair Thomas New York Jets RB $ million Rickey Jackson New Orleans LB $ million Freddie Joe Nunn Phoenix LB $ million Herschel Walker Philadelphia RB $ million John Friesz San Diego QB $, Tom Rathman San Francisco RB $, Gary Anderson Tampa Bay RB $, Jeff Bryant Seattle DT $ million Earnest Byner Washington RB $1 million

The best VR headset draws you into another world with ease and comfort, and it isn't a hassle to set up either. There are plenty of headsets out there, and while many of them excel in graphical fidelity and technical feats, the best ones are the ones you'll actually use. We've tested a slew of VR headsets from Valve, Oculus, HTC, HP, Samsung, and more, and these are the best ones.

PC gamers have traditionally favored tethered VR headsets, but with the release of the Oculus Quest 2 (which can be tethered to your PC), there's been a fundamental shift in the market. Coming in at just $ for a genuinely great experience, it's not something anyone can ignore. There's still definitely a place for premium VR headsets, but they need to really bring something special to the table to compete—thankfully plenty of them do.

Once you've nabbed yourself one of the best VR headsets around, there's the question of what to play on it. Half-Life: Alyx shows what VR is capable of in the right hands, but there are plenty of other titles to enjoy, including Star Wars: Squadrons, No Man's Sky, and Microsoft Flight Simulator. If you're stuck for ideas, check out the best VR games on PC.

It really is a great time to get into virtual reality.

Best VR headsets

The Oculus Quest 2 both improves on the specs sheet of the original Quest and delivers it for cheaper. With a new LCD at x per eye, the Quest 2 offers exceptional clarity for an entry-level headset, through which you can enjoy a slew of games either purpose-built for the standalone headset, and thus rendered by the onboard Snapdragon XR2 chip, or beamed from your PC using Oculus Link and a compatible USB Type-C cable.

Thanks to Oculus Link, the Quest 2 becomes more than a standalone VR headset. It becomes an all-in-one VR Swiss army knife, capable of great on-the-move VR and gaming across SteamVR and Oculus Rift compatible titles. It's now capable of up to Hz refresh rate, thanks to a recent update, making it an even sweeter deal.

The Quest 2 is also one of the quickest headsets to get up and running on this list. With Inside-Out tracking and hand tracking built-in, you can go from unboxing to up-and-running in VR in just a couple of minutes. The Quest 2 has also enjoyed a boost in memory capacity recently, and $ now gets you a GB model, which is a sweet boost indeed.

There's only one hitch in the Oculus Quest 2's plan for virtual world domination: compulsory Facebook account login. The Oculus Quest 2 requires a Facebook account. The company says it's to better serve you, the customer, with services and products, although for a good while there the only discernible 'benefit' was direct to feed screenshots. Not great. Meta did seemingly look to be rid of this mandatory login, but it's currently still in place. 

If you're not a fan of Meta's (née Facebook's) practices then you'd best scroll further down the list for a VR headset worth investing in.

Read our full Oculus Quest 2 review.

The Valve Index boasts some of the best visuals of any mainstream, commercially available HMD, with a display resolution equaling the Vive Pro, Quest, and Odyssey+ but paired with a Hz refresh rate (up to Hz in a currently unsupported, experimental mode). The FOV, at °, is also best-in-class, and there's virtually no detectable screen door effect inside the headset. 

It also boasts some impressive technology and handy convenience features, like per-finger tracking on the excellent Index controllers, USB passthrough for future accessories, and fantastic, crystal clear audio via the near-field speakers, which hover just off the ears. It's also comfortable to wear, built from carefully selected, high-quality materials, with top-notch weight distribution. 

But all that comes at a price. It's the best VR headset on the market if you don't consider the value proposition. At nearly a thousand dollars, the complete Index package costs as much as three Quest 2s. There aren't many solid use cases for the finger tracking technology either, apart from Half-Life: Alyx, which you get for free. 

Read our full Valve Index review.

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