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Wednesday it was announced the finest boxer of his generation, unbeaten in 49 paying fights and 26 world championship contests with titles in five weight Authentic Brett Favre Womens Jersey classes, will fight a scheduled 12-round boxing match against an opponent with no professional boxing experience. It doesn’t take an expert to know how this one will play out. But we groundlings love a sideshow and always have, making us susceptible to promotional stunts like these for as as long as anyone can remember. There was Muhammad Ali’s risible fight with the Japanese pro wrestler Antonio Inoki in 1976, widely regarded as the most embarrassing moment of the Greatest’s career. There were Jesse Owens’ lamentable match races against thoroughbred horses, a humiliating comedown for the Olympic hero who had stared down Hitler in Berlin. There was the much-ballyhooed 150m race between Donovan Bailey and Michael Johnson at Toronto’s SkyDome to determine the title of world’s fastest man, a made-for-TV event that went down 20 years ago this month. Mayweather-McGregor would be mismatch, so why is everyone talking about it? Sean Ingle Sean Ingle Read more Occasionally, one-offs have positive consequences, like the Battle of the Sexes between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in 1973, which altered the perception of women’s sports in many doubters’ eyes. But far more often they leave their participants debased unless they’re forgotten altogether: George Foreman, still nursing the psychological wounds of Zaire, taking on five hopelessly shopworn opponents in one night in 1975. Or the cringeworthy one-on-one match at the Trump Taj Mahal between NBA greats Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Julius Erving, retired quadragenarians both, that aired on pay-per-view for $19.95 a pop. Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor are hardly the first to prey on PT Barnum’s target market, but they’re certain to scale the tried-and-true formula to dizzying profits that would have left the old carnival barker doubled over in laughter. Showtime boxing czar Stephen Espinoza’s straight-faced assessment on Wednesday night offered an understated http://www.officialsfalconsauthenticshop.com/Brian_Poole_Jersey_Cheap taste of the bluster to come: “We’ve never seen a combat sports event, or even a sporting event, of this magnitude.” Over the next 10 weeks, the combined promotional heft of Mayweather Promotions and the Ultimate Fighting Championship will attempt to seduce you into believing the outcome is anything but the foregone conclusion it is. Hell, some are already biting. You’ll hear plenty about Floyd’s age. You’ll hear about his struggles with left-handed opponents and the strides McGregor has made with his boxing. Later there will be race-baiting on both sides, the same cynical tactics that lifted Jack Johnson v James J Jeffries and Larry Holmes v Gerry Cooney and Mike Tyson v Peter McNeeley to record-breaking profits. That’s the thing with one-offs: everyone involved knows they only need to fool the customer once. It’s not bad for boxing. It’s not bad for MMA. It’s not anything except a quick-strike money grab with no enduring significance. It’s an exciting fight until it actually starts and it will be forgotten the minute it’s over, unworthy of a chapter in either man’s memoirsNo amount of salesmanship, misdirection or promotional razzle-dazzle can alter the obvious: McGregor’s chances under the unified rules of boxing that will govern the 26 August meeting are so infinitesimal they’re hardly worth discussing. It’s simply unfathomable that a man with zero fights will defeat any elite boxer, let alone one of the greatest defensive technicians to ever take up the gloves. Just as Mayweather would stand no chance in a mixed martial arts match. Shame on the thirsty Nevada Athletic Commission for sanctioning this circus. Hardened skeptics pooh-poohed Mayweather’s summit meeting with Manny Pacquiao for happening far past its sell-by date and were partially vindicated by a one-sided fight that left customers feeling let down and ripped off. That outrage almost feels quaint now. At least Floyd and Manny, in the anxious http://www.ramsofficialsonline.com/Cory_Harkey_Jersey_Cheap moments before the opening bell, were staring across the ring at the most decorated opponent either had ever been in with. McGregor? There are 20-year-olds in boxing gyms right now that would light him up like a Christmas tree. That’s at least what’s suggested by the infamous footage of the Irishman’s sparring session last year with Chris van Heerden, a former welterweight belt-holder from South Africa. Sure, there’s reason to believe his clumsy, plodding approach could improve with a training camp devoted completely to boxing. But there’s simply no way he can catch up to the fistic aptitude of Mayweather, who’s been drilled in the mysteries of the sport since childhood. There’s no such thing as a crash course for a lifelong craft. Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight agreed for 26 August Read more Remind yourself what Mayweather did to some of the greatest boxers of his era. We’re not even talking about the destruction of Diego Corrales, a fight where Mayweather entered an arguable underdog, before he surrendered his power by climbing in weight to chase the bigger money. Even late-period Floyd’s brittle hands didn’t keep him from making the likes of Juan Manuel Marquez and Canelo Alvarez appear as if they were stumbling around in the dark trying to find the light switch. If that lot couldn’t even find let alone hurt Mayweather, what Coty Sensabaugh Jerseyhope does our Conor have? Making this fight required the improbable reconciliation of warring interests. But Mayweather-McGregor was inevitable because whenever there’s enough money on the table, people find a way to make things happen. You can’t blame the fighters for taking the payday. The only reason it’s happening is because they don’t merely think you’re gullible enough to buy it. They’re certain of it. On Saturday night, Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev will meet in a rematch of their terrific unified light heavyweight title fight in November. It is, at least by one metric, the best fight that can be made today: Ward and Kovalev are rated the two best prizefighters in the world, pound for pound, by Ring magazine. As a genuine sports experience, it will be a hundred times better than Mayweather-McGregor and, especially after Wednesday’s announcement, is doomed to receive one-hundredth of the attention
Wednesday it was announced the finest boxer of his generation, unbeaten in 49 paying fights and 26 world championship contests with titles in five weight Authentic Brett Favre Womens Jersey classes, will fight a scheduled 12-round boxing match against an opponent with no professional boxing experience. It doesn’t take an expert to know how this one will play out. But we groundlings love a sideshow and always have, making us susceptible to promotional stunts like these for as as long as anyone can remember. There was Muhammad Ali’s risible fight with the Japanese pro wrestler Antonio Inoki in 1976, widely regarded as the most embarrassing moment of the Greatest’s career. There were Jesse Owens’ lamentable match races against thoroughbred horses, a humiliating comedown for the Olympic hero who had stared down Hitler in Berlin. There was the much-ballyhooed 150m race between Donovan Bailey and Michael Johnson at Toronto’s SkyDome to determine the title of world’s fastest man, a made-for-TV event that went down 20 years ago this month. Mayweather-McGregor would be mismatch, so why is everyone talking about it? Sean Ingle Sean Ingle Read more Occasionally, one-offs have positive consequences, like the Battle of the Sexes between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in 1973, which altered the perception of women’s sports in many doubters’ eyes. But far more often they leave their participants debased unless they’re forgotten altogether: George Foreman, still nursing the psychological wounds of Zaire, taking on five hopelessly shopworn opponents in one night in 1975. Or the cringeworthy one-on-one match at the Trump Taj Mahal between NBA greats Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Julius Erving, retired quadragenarians both, that aired on pay-per-view for $19.95 a pop. Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor are hardly the first to prey on PT Barnum’s target market, but they’re certain to scale the tried-and-true formula to dizzying profits that would have left the old carnival barker doubled over in laughter. Showtime boxing czar Stephen Espinoza’s straight-faced assessment on Wednesday night offered an understated http://www.officialsfalconsauthenticshop.com/Brian_Poole_Jersey_Cheap taste of the bluster to come: “We’ve never seen a combat sports event, or even a sporting event, of this magnitude.” Over the next 10 weeks, the combined promotional heft of Mayweather Promotions and the Ultimate Fighting Championship will attempt to seduce you into believing the outcome is anything but the foregone conclusion it is. Hell, some are already biting. You’ll hear plenty about Floyd’s age. You’ll hear about his struggles with left-handed opponents and the strides McGregor has made with his boxing. Later there will be race-baiting on both sides, the same cynical tactics that lifted Jack Johnson v James J Jeffries and Larry Holmes v Gerry Cooney and Mike Tyson v Peter McNeeley to record-breaking profits. That’s the thing with one-offs: everyone involved knows they only need to fool the customer once. It’s not bad for boxing. It’s not bad for MMA. It’s not anything except a quick-strike money grab with no enduring significance. It’s an exciting fight until it actually starts and it will be forgotten the minute it’s over, unworthy of a chapter in either man’s memoirsNo amount of salesmanship, misdirection or promotional razzle-dazzle can alter the obvious: McGregor’s chances under the unified rules of boxing that will govern the 26 August meeting are so infinitesimal they’re hardly worth discussing. It’s simply unfathomable that a man with zero fights will defeat any elite boxer, let alone one of the greatest defensive technicians to ever take up the gloves. Just as Mayweather would stand no chance in a mixed martial arts match. Shame on the thirsty Nevada Athletic Commission for sanctioning this circus. Hardened skeptics pooh-poohed Mayweather’s summit meeting with Manny Pacquiao for happening far past its sell-by date and were partially vindicated by a one-sided fight that left customers feeling let down and ripped off. That outrage almost feels quaint now. At least Floyd and Manny, in the anxious http://www.ramsofficialsonline.com/Cory_Harkey_Jersey_Cheap moments before the opening bell, were staring across the ring at the most decorated opponent either had ever been in with. McGregor? There are 20-year-olds in boxing gyms right now that would light him up like a Christmas tree. That’s at least what’s suggested by the infamous footage of the Irishman’s sparring session last year with Chris van Heerden, a former welterweight belt-holder from South Africa. Sure, there’s reason to believe his clumsy, plodding approach could improve with a training camp devoted completely to boxing. But there’s simply no way he can catch up to the fistic aptitude of Mayweather, who’s been drilled in the mysteries of the sport since childhood. There’s no such thing as a crash course for a lifelong craft. Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight agreed for 26 August Read more Remind yourself what Mayweather did to some of the greatest boxers of his era. We’re not even talking about the destruction of Diego Corrales, a fight where Mayweather entered an arguable underdog, before he surrendered his power by climbing in weight to chase the bigger money. Even late-period Floyd’s brittle hands didn’t keep him from making the likes of Juan Manuel Marquez and Canelo Alvarez appear as if they were stumbling around in the dark trying to find the light switch. If that lot couldn’t even find let alone hurt Mayweather, what Coty Sensabaugh Jerseyhope does our Conor have? Making this fight required the improbable reconciliation of warring interests. But Mayweather-McGregor was inevitable because whenever there’s enough money on the table, people find a way to make things happen. You can’t blame the fighters for taking the payday. The only reason it’s happening is because they don’t merely think you’re gullible enough to buy it. They’re certain of it. On Saturday night, Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev will meet in a rematch of their terrific unified light heavyweight title fight in November. It is, at least by one metric, the best fight that can be made today: Ward and Kovalev are rated the two best prizefighters in the world, pound for pound, by Ring magazine. As a genuine sports experience, it will be a hundred times better than Mayweather-McGregor and, especially after Wednesday’s announcement, is doomed to receive one-hundredth of the attention
oday at about 10am the artist Nic Fiddian?Green will complete the installation of his latest monumental sculpture at Ascot. Fire – the name of the sculpture, not actual flames, though we’ll come on to those – will stand 25ft tall and sit opposite the Royal Box for the duration of the racecourse’s Royal Meeting which starts next Tuesday and, confusingly, lasts for five days. Nic Fiddian-Green grooms his giant horse sculpture for Goodwood View gallery The success of Fiddian-Green’s enormous horse heads, the most famous of which dives nose-down at Marble Arch in London but which have also been spotted at Goodwood, Glyndebourne and across the horsey world, demonstrate the enduring popularity for taking popular sporting figures – and, clearly, creatures – significantly increasing their size and casting them in bronze. Over the past year at Newmarket AP McCoy unveiled a statue of himself and the Queen one of herself (and a horse), Fulham erected a statue of George Cohen, Newcastle http://www.rangersteamonline.com/Chris_Kreider_Jersey ne of Alan Shearer and Wigan one of Dave Whelan. Meanwhile Leigh unveiled one of John Woods, Peterborough have one in the works of Chris Turner, Barcelona have announced plans for a Johan Cruyff, Watford are working on a Graham Taylor, Everton are proposing a Howard Kendall, Colin Harvey and Alan Ball trifecta, while in foreign news Alexis Sánchez unveiled a colourful statue of himself in his hometown, Tocopilla, and a bust of a strange smirking caricature of Cristiano Ronaldo was installed in his native Madeira. It is true that Britain continues to create statues of non-sporting inspirations – the past year, for example, has seen major public works commissioned or completed of Henry VII, Victoria Wood and an otter – and also that this is not exactly a new trend. Many Ancient Greeks, after all, could hardly walk past a chunk of marble without sculpting it into a scantily clad discus-thrower. But it was more understandable then, when making a representation of an athlete out of mosaic or masonry was the closest thing they had to an instant replay. Omri Amrany’s statue of Walter Johnson Facebook Twitter Pinterest The family of Washington Senators pitcher Walter Johnson boycotted the unveiling of Omri Amrany’s statue, which features a motion-blurred right arm. Johnson’s grandson called it ‘hideous’ and ‘ridiculous’. Photograph: Diamond Images/Getty Images For all that both bronze and marble are materials already associated with sport, through Jake Muzzin Womens Jersey the Olympics’ least-important medal and the game played using spherical glass objects respectively, they are two media which in their solidity and permanence seem entirely antithetical to activity. In football, and indeed most sports, being considered statuesque is an insult, yet being rendered statuesque is an honour. It is far better for an individual to be labelled quicksilver or mercurial, or for a team to be in full flow; the phrase “liquid football” might have been coined by Alan Partridge, but it is a perfectly serious aspiration. This whole sporting statue business simply hasn’t been thought through. Geoffrey Green of the Times once asked Matt Busby how he went about building a football team. Busby smiled and said: “A sculptor was once asked how he managed to turn a square slab of stone into, say, an elephant. He said: ‘Easy. I just knock off the bits that don’t look like an elephant.’” So it is that the only similarity between team sports and sculpting seems entirely philosophical. Sport is the most ephemeral of activities. Its finest moments are conjured, savoured and lost in the same instant. They live on only in the memory of those who witnessed them, where they generate a spirit of their own, foggily recalled whirlpools of emotion and incredulity. This is why, while it may be an acceptable way to honour a particularly generous chairman or successful manager, sculpture is the clumsiest and most jarring possible method of remembering a sportsman. What is beautiful when fluent and ephemeral is clumsy when made immobile and http://www.officialhurricanesproshop.com/Jaccob_Slavin_Jerseyhard-edged. Some sculptors, to their credit, have realised this and – often less creditably – tried to do something about it. Omri Amrany, a “mostly self?taught” US-based artist who has specialised in commemorative sporting statues, says he likes to “work with new approaches, like fractal geometry and my own techniques of sculptural montage”, by which he means trying to capture motion in metal. Who are the footballers celebrated in these statues? – quiz Read more Representations of Gordie Howe and Alex Delvecchio made for the Detroit Red Wings both have multiple excess limbs and hockey sticks and appear to be being agonisingly sucked into a space vortex; for a statue of the Arizona Cardinals’ Pat Tillman he gamely attempted to create in bronze the impression of flowing hair on a sprinting athlete and succeeded in making the player look like he was fleeing a burning building with his head on fire. Most famously, the family of the Washington Senators pitcher Walter Johnson boycotted the unveiling of his statue in horror at his motion-blurred mutant right arm. Johnson’s grandson called it “hideous” and “ridiculous”. He said: “It just doesn’t work. Those big pieces of matter coming out of Walter’s shoulder look like driftwood. I really object to it. Something is really wrong.” (“This is not just about sports; it’s about art,” countered Amrany.) Amrany’s version of Josh Gibson is a little more successful, but there are still better ways for artists to recall the spirit of sportsmen. Another creative type, Daniel Sonenberg, clearly thought so: his opera about Gibson – The Summer King – premiered in Pittsburgh in April (“a serious, thought-provoking piece, musically sound and emotionally musing” according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), and Authentic Kyle Seager Youth Jersey surely had a better chance of capturing the essence of the brilliant black batter who died, drunk and drug-addled, aged 35 in 1947There are other options, some of them very simple. A young Arsenal fan will surely find more inspiration from tapping Thierry Henry’s name into YouTube than from his superficially impressive but emotionally vacant statue of the Frenchman’s celebratory knee-slide outside the Emirates Stadium. Perhaps it’s time for sport to think outside the blocks. There will always be a place for statuary, but its use – like most sportsmen – shouldn’t be set in stone. ? This article was amended on 12 June 2017 because an earlier version said Ascot’s Royal Week starts on Wednesday. This has been corrected to reflect that it starts on Tuesday 20 June
The controversial owner of Diore Lia, a rank outsider for Saturday’s Derby until her late withdrawal, has now made the extraordinary claim that she was nobbled. Richard Aylward, whose filly was described as having a pulled muscle on Saturday morning, appears convinced that someone deliberately inflicted the injury on his horse.
he British Horseracing Authority and the executives at tracks such as Ascot and Goodwood Rickey Henderson Womens Jersey have – quite understandably – had little or nothing to say so far about the developing crisis in the Gulf, which places British racing’s two biggest benefactors from the region on opposite sides of a blockade. Godolphin’s Sheikh Mohammed is the defence minister of the United Arab Emirates, part of a coalition led by Saudi Arabia which has cut diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar. Land, sea and air links have been severed, while Qatari citizens in the UAE have been given a fortnight to leave. The Saudi-led coalition accuses Qatar of support for terrorist groups and destabilising its neighbours, claims that Qatar denies. Talking Horses: British racing to follow government’s lead over Qatar Read more Thus far, the BHA has noted the British government’s encouragement “of a strong and growing trading relationship with Qatar”, and that it is “not currently aware of any change in that regard”. Ascot, meanwhile, simply stated the obvious, pointing out the “significant contribution” that Qatar has made to British racing in recent years. Of that, there is no doubt. European racing in general – and the sport in Britain in particular – has benefited hugely from Qatari largesse. It takes colossal wealth to buy your way on to the top table in international racing, and both Sheikh Fahad al-Thani and Sheikh Joaan al-Thani, members of Qatar’s ruling family, have done so in double-quick time, not just via their bloodstock but also through long-term Rollie Fingers Womens Jersey sponsorship deals with major tracks. Goodwood has a 10-year deal for sponsorship of its summer Festival meeting which is due to run until 2024. Qipco, whose board of directors are all members of the ruling family, has a deal to support the Champions Series and Champions Day at Ascot which also expires in 2024. The new money has led to significant boosts in prize funds, and helped to keep prices buoyant at the major yearling sales. Champions Day, the BHA’s most cherished project in recent years, might have struggled to get off the ground without Qipco’s support (and disappointment at the viewing figures for Champions Day on Channel 4 was, it is rumoured, a factor in the decision to switch coverage to ITV). Any situation which threatens to disrupt or terminate the flow of Qatari money into British racing is one that the biggest beneficiaries will view with alarm, to say the least. The al-Thanis are young men in their early 30s, and apparently as enthusiastic about racing as Sheikh Mohammed and his brothers were when they caught the bug, back in the 1970s. There has been a growing, and possibly dangerous, assumption that the latest billionaires to fall in love with the turf would http://www.authenticmilwaukeebrewers.com/Orlando-Arcia-Jersey be around for decades to come. And it is still very possible that they will. But however the current crisis plays out, it is a reminder that even where billionaires with sovereign wealth are concerned, nothing can ever be taken for granted. Godolphin split goes public after John Ferguson quits as chief executive Read more It is difficult to imagine where British racing might be now without the staggering sums that have found their way into the sport since Sheikh Mohammed took a train to Brighton in 1977 to watch his first winner. But the next generation of the Maktoum family does not, as yet at least, seem to share the same zeal for the sport as the one before. Nor is there an obvious heir at present to the Juddmonte racing and breeding empire, which has seen the Saudi prince Khalid Abdullah race such brilliant horses as Dancing Brave and Frankel over the last 40 years. One side of racing’s funding equation – the income from betting – was secured for the foreseeable future earlier this year with the introduction of a new funding mechanism to capture all off-course bets. Securing the http://www.authenticmilwaukeebrewers.com/Paul-Molitor-Jersey other side – the income from owners – promises to be the greater issue over the years ahead
Senior executives in British racing are starting to consider the possibility that some of the Flat Jansen Harkins Authentic Jersey season’s marquee events might suffer directly as a result of the diplomatic crisis in the Gulf, in which some of the sport’s most powerful participants are on opposite sides. Gulf crisis reminds racing not to take billionaire foreign owners for granted Greg Wood Greg Wood Read more The current crisis, seen as the most serious in the region for several years, started on Monday when a coalition of states including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates announced that it was cutting all economic and diplomatic ties with Qatar. The Saudi-led coalition has accused Qatar of destabilising the region by supporting “terrorist and sectarian groups”, charges that Qatar denies. Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai, the most significant owner in world racing, is the UAE’s vice-president, prime minister and minister of defence. His Godolphin racing operation has 375 horses in training in Britain, and a total of 750 worldwide. Qatar, meanwhile, has also invested heavily in European racing in recent years through the increasing interest in the sport of two members of its ruling family, Sheikh Joaan al-Thani and Sheikh Fahad al-Thani. The Qatari http://www.atlantafalconsauthorizedstore.com/desmond-trufant-jersey-elite investment extends to racehorses and sponsorships, including the main Festival meeting at Goodwood in August and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe meeting in France, both of which have Qatar as their principal sponsor. The British Champions Series, which includes races at a number of top tracks and Champions Day at Ascot in October, is sponsored by the Qatari investment fund Qipco, which also supports Ireland’s most prestigious all-aged race, the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown in September. If the current crisis is not resolved swiftly it is possible major events including Glorious Goodwood could be affected. None of those connected to the key players that the Guardian contacted was prepared to comment on Thursday. Godolphin was created to promote Dubai to the world and Sheikh Mohammed is its driving force. There is an acute awareness that, if the breakdown in diplomatic relations continues, it could seem inappropriate if the famous royal blue silks lined up for a race sponsored by http://www.greenbaypackersauthorizedstore.com/don-barclay-jersey-elite Qatar. Advertisement Godolphin’s leading miler Ribchester, an impressive winner of the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury last month, finished a close third in the Qatar Sussex Stakes last season, and would be expected to be a leading contender for this year’s renewal. The Sussex Stakes is the feature event of what is now known as the Qatar Goodwood Festival as part of a 10-year sponsorship deal, which was the most valuable that British racing had seen when it was signed in 2014. Ribchester is an obvious example of the possible dilemma that could face his owner, but Godolphin is such a major player in the sport that it would also expect to field fancied runners in other major events such as the Goodwood Cup, Richmond Stakes and Nassau Stakes, all of which are sponsored directly by Qatar. The sensitivity over the situation among senior racing executives is considerable, and what all those involved in the administration and promotion of British racing are most desperate to avoid if the current situation Authentic Hunter Henry Womens Jersey in the Gulf continues is any hint of partiality. It is difficult to underestimate the importance of both sides to the future financial wellbeing of British racing, and the most earnest wish of all concerned is that diplomacy will find a way to resolve the crisis speedily
The dusky antechinus is a small marsupial native to south-east Australia. The males in Sean Doolittle Womens Jersey the species live until their first mating season, when they breed and then quickly die from all the exertion. All that build up to a moment of accomplishment, the pinnacle of their existence ... and then nothing more but the dark embrace of death. The Golden State Warriors may have made the NBA into the dusky antechinus of sports leagues. It’s a waste of time to debate that the 2017 Warriors are anything but one of the greatest NBA teams of all-time, if not the greatest team ever. Last year, they added Kevin Durant, the second-best player in the world behind LeBron James, to a 73-9 team that was one win away from an NBA title, and then proceeded to go 67-15 in the 2016-17 regular season and 16-1 in the postseason, beating James and the Cavaliers by an average of 13 points in their 4-1 finals win. It was beautiful and artistic and dominant basketball from the season’s opening tip through to the final minutes of their title-clinching win. Name the championship or dynasty team from the NBA’s past, and these Warriors match up very favorably against them. Modern basketball has hit its zenith in Golden State. The Warriors would be lesser champions without Steve Kerr's gift for joy Read more The question for the NBA is: what now? What does the league do now that its champion for the next two, three, five (?) years is as much of a foregone conclusion as this whole season was? We all experienced basketball perfection, but how many fans will have the interest to watch it unfold again and again and again, all domination and no drama? One of the globe’s most dynamic sports leagues reduced to a small, rotting marsupial carcass. To be clear: the Warriors are indeed well set up to win a string of championships (while turning down White House visits long into an even two-term Trump presidency). The team’s unmatched core of Durant, Steph Curry, Klay http://www.officialathleticshop.com/authentic-54-sonny-gray-jersey.html Thompson and Draymond Green are all 29 or younger. Golden State’s window of title contention is not closing. In fact, it’s not even a window. It’s a massive bay door on an airplane hangar that they can, and likely will, stuff full of trophies. No NBA team, at least not as currently constructed, is within sniffing distance of the Warriors for 2018 or beyond. Vegas has the Warriors as early 4-6 favorites to repeat, with LeBron’s Cavaliers next at a generous 3-1. No other team is better than 12-1. Advertisement Despite a postseason that was widely panned for lack of competitiveness, the just-completed finals still brought in huge TV numbers. The finale earned the highest ratings for a Game 5 in the United States since 1998 – Michael Jordan’s last championship with the Bulls. But few believe the same level of interest will be there for more of the exact same next year. “The fan in me would to see more competition at times, but we should celebrate excellence,” the NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, said in his pre-finals press conference. “This is real life. It’s not scripted. It happens. It will work itself out.” That’s not a plan to achieve balance. That’s not even hope. That’s just resignation to a Warriors-dominated future. But there’s really little Silver can do to change the direction the league is going. As long as top-tier players like Durant make far more money on shoe contracts than from their NBA deals, they can happily leave money on the table to be on a “super-team”. No one begrudges them that. It’s just hard to imagine that attendance and TV numbers will continue to be there for teams like the Atlanta Hawks or Toronto Raptors when their fans know that entering the season, outside of the plague hitting Golden Stephen Vogt Youth Jersey State’s roster, their team has zero shot of winning a championship. None. And what’s the draw for casual sports fans to another Warriors v Cavaliers or Warriors v Whoever Finals again next year? Whether Golden State can score 200 points in a game or maybe make LeBron weep on live television? LeBron James refuses to be drawn on future: 'I need to figure this thing out' Read more The era of the Warriors, an era which is really only just now beginning, is not going to be kind to the NBA on the court or off. Unless they can at least be challenged so the next few years don’t feel like seven months of exhibition basketball culminating in another Warriors trophy ceremony. Still, great teams do fail. Here are a few scenarios that could see the status quo in the NBA changeThe biggest blemish on Golden State’s postseason resume this year is not their Game 4 finals loss to Cleveland when the Cavs shot the lights out. It was Game 1 of the Western Conference finals when, in Oakland, San Antonio blew the doors off the Warriors through the first half and built a 25-point lead before Zaza Pachulia undercut Kawhi Leonard, injuring Leonard’s ankle and ending San Antonio’s shot at an upset in the game and series. If the Spurs can build a super-team of their own – and rumors say free agent point guard Chris Paul is very interested in http://www.officialathleticshop.com/authentic-36-terry-steinbach-jersey.html signing on – maybe they have enough to slow the Warriors dynasty. After all, they already have the right coach
The British & Irish Lions have been accused of not being ruthless enough and told they must improve http://www.ramsofficialsonline.com/Cory_Harkey_Jersey_Cheap sharply if they want to upset the All Blacks in the Test series starting on Saturday week. According to Rory Best, Ireland’s captain, the manner of the Lions’ narrow defeat to the Highlanders was “not acceptable” and losing in a similar fashion to New Zealand is unthinkable. Lions failings return while it’s time to be ruthless with Sam Warburton Read more As far as Best is concerned, the main lesson of the Highlanders game was to finish off opponents when the chance arises. “It’s about being ruthless,” Best said. “If we get to Saturday or the following Tuesday or Saturday week more importantly and we go 22-13 up and we don’t put our foot on the throat, that is what NZ teams are good at. “ We put ourselves in a position to really take a hold of the game and probably the biggest disappointment is that we let it slip. At this level that’s not acceptable. We’re really disappointed to have lost that game. “We had enough class on the pitch to see that game off and go on and take a real stranglehold of it. “When you give Brian Propp Authentic Jersey good sides and good players momentum, there is a good chance they are going to take it. We just weren’t ruthless enough. When the game breaks up and you give them half a sniff, they take it. That’s probably when you have to be more clued in than at any other time in the game because that is when they are the most dangerous: whenever you feel you are out of sight of them.” Best also believes the Lions were harshly dealt with in terms of the refereeing of the scrums in the second-half. “It was very frustrating,” the hooker said. “We got penalised rightly for the one that they kicked but there was another couple where their prop was on their knees. All you are really looking for is a bit of consistency and I am not sure we necessarily got it. Having said that, there were probably factors in our control in the scrum that we can do better at and that is what we have to look at. We have to probably be a little more adaptable but it is frustrating. It’s an area of strength for us and I don’t think we are going to let one scrum penalty completely derail us. The boys are disappointed but we can’t lose them because the preparation they can give the guys who play next is essential.” Advertisement The prop Kyle Sinckler felt the flurry of penalties against the Lions late on ran contrary to the evidence of the game. “There were no penalties conceded in the scrum for the whole game but then a whole new front-row comes on, the scrum collapses and the referee gives the penalty straight Eddie Murray Womens Jersey away,” Sinckler said. “It just doesn’t make any sense to me, some of the calls. Normally when you have a whole new front-row on, you give it time. “How can you have dominance? It’s a perception thing. We know we’re going to have our backs against the wall every single game when we’re here and we are going to stick together as a 41-man squad.” Warren Gatland hopes Courtney Lawes (concussion) and Rhys Webb (dead leg) will recover swiftly. “We’ve probably taken a bit of a step backwards, the coach said. “It is a dent. The boys said they were reasonably comfortable but unfortunately some big moments got them back into the game. I spoke to the players about learning from those experiences. “If you come down to New Zealand you need to play for 80 minutes. Unfortunately there were some key moments we didn’t nail. We’ve just been caught on one or two occasions and I think the players will learn from those. It’s http://www.officialmetsproshop.com/Curtis_Granderson_Jersey about staying alive for every moment. If you do switch off they take advantage
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday night withdrew from the Aegon Championships at Queen’s, which starts next Monday, on http://www.officialcelticsproshop.com/Dennis_Johnson_Jersey doctor’s advice, but insists he will be fit for Wimbledon early next month. Rafael Nadal reveals freewheeling philosophy directed at Wimbledon Read more Nadal, who won his 10th French Open on Sunday said: “I am very sorry to say that I am not going to be able play Queen’s next week. I was hoping to take some days off and then be ready. But, at 31, and after a long clay-court season with all of the emotions of Roland Garros, and after speaking to my team and doctor, I have decided my body needs to rest if I am going to be ready to play Wimbledon. “I am sad to make this decision because I love Queen’s. I won the tournament in 2008 and every time I reached the Wimbledon final it was after playing Queen’s.” The announcement nevertheless comes as a surprise and throws into doubt Nadal’s chances of winning a third Wimbledon title. He has been in phenomenal form on his favourite clay and breezed through the French Open in near-record time, thrashing Stan Wawrinka for the loss of six games in three quick sets and showed no obvious physical distress. He did hint in his victory press conference that the grass season made extra Authentic Chris Kreider Womens Jersey demands on his knees, which have let him down several times during his long career. If he is not confident of getting through the warm-up tournament, he might be more vulnerable at Wimbledon than previously thought. The integrity of Queen’s remains intact however, with the world No 1 Andy Murray committed to defending his title. Wawrinka, the reigning US Open champion, the 2014 winner Grigor Dimitrov, and last year’s runner-up Milos Raonic will join Juan Martín del Potro, Nick Kyrgios, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Marin Cilic and Tomas Berdych in a quality field. Britain’s Kyle Edmund, the world No44, has been added to the draw for the first time, after the withdrawal of the world No35 Diego Schwartzman through injury. Roger Federer, meanwhile, returns from a 10-week break during the clay season in Europe refreshed for Wimbledon, and told the ATP on Tuesday he was committed to a full schedule for the rest of the season. “I’ve had enough breaks,” he said. “I’m a practice world champion now, and that’s not who I want http://www.officialkingsteamstore.com/Jake_Muzzin_Jersey to be. I want to be a champ on the match courts, so I’m going to be playing a regular schedule for the second part of the season.” New LTA chief Lloyd will focus on Murray success Advertisement Scott Lloyd, a former teenage prodigy, has been named the new chief executive of the Lawn Tennis Association. The 41-year-old leisure industry magnate starts work in January but set out his broad aims after his appointment yesterday. “The current success of Andy and Jamie Murray, Johanna Konta, Gordon Reid and others is helping inspire a whole new generation to give this great sport a go,” Lloyd said. He was a good junior but chose to make his career in business rather than sport. He certainly had the pedigree. His father, David, was an accomplished Davis Cup player and later Great Britain team captain and his uncle, John, was an Australian Open finalist. Konta, meanwhile, chalked up her 300th career win when Tara Moore retired in the second set of their first-round match at the Aegon Open in Nottingham, leading 6-4, 3-0 when her compatriot called it a day due to Jaccob Slavin Womens Jersey a foot injury. Heather Watson lost 6-2, 6-3 against the fourth seed Alison Riske
West Ham United will be unable to play their first scheduled home match of the season against http://www.authenticsandiegopadres.com/Rickey-Henderson-Jersey Southampton on 19 August because the London Stadium will not be ready after hosting the world athletics championships this summer. The athletics finish on Sunday 13 August and West Ham confirmed after the Premier League fixtures for 2017-18 had been released that their first home game will be against Huddersfield Town on 9 September. Restoring rows of seats moved to accommodate the running track will take too long to allow the match to go ahead. Premier League fixtures: full club-by-club list for the 2017-18 season Read more “Our opening fixtures in August will be played away from home as London Stadium welcomes the 2017 World Athletics Championships for a once-in-a-generation occasion,” West Ham said. “Supporters are therefore advised that our second fixture of the campaign, against Southampton, will be rescheduled, with further details to follow.” One possibility is that the Southampton fixture will be reversed, with Slaven Bilic’s side scheduled to visit St Mary’s on 31 March, meaning that West Ham would play their first three games away from home. Liverpool had a similar arrangement last season because of delays in the expansion of a stand at Anfield. Work has begun on stripping all West Ham branding from the London Stadium, which is also hosting concerts this summer, while the seats removed for athletics must be stored off-site in a specific configuration to enable them to be put back again, like a giant jigsaw puzzle. It was estimated last year that it would take at least 15 days to remove the lower tiers, even with a team of labourers working 24 hours a day, and the same again to put them back. West Ham Rollie Fingers Youth Jersey earned only 25 points in their first season at the London Stadium, the fifth-worst record in the league, although the away form was enough for them to finish 11th. They start their season at Manchester United. Chelsea begin with a home game against Burnley but the champions have an awkward start. Not only does their first away game take Antonio Conte’s side to Wembley to face Tottenham Hotspur, their closest challengers from last season, they also welcome Arsenal and Manchester City to Stamford Bridge before the end of September. Chelsea visit Newcastle United on the final weekend. Advertisement Manchester United, back in the Champions League after their Europa League win last month, will be happier with the way their fixtures have fallen. José Mourinho’s side do not play a likely rival until mid-October, when they visit Liverpool, offering a chance to build early momentum in their quest to win the title for the first time since Sir Alex Ferguson retired four years ago. Arsenal, however, will need to adapt quickly to the challenge of recovering from playing on Thursday nights, given that they will be away from home after five of their six Europa League group games. For the teams promoted from the Championship it was a mixed bag. Newcastle have Orlando Arcia Youth Jersey a kind run after hosting Tottenham on the opening weekend. Yet Brighton & Hove Albion begin with a home game against Manchester City and face Spurs, Manchester United and Liverpool in three of their final four matches, while Huddersfield’s delight at not facing any of the big sides in their first six games is tempered by a daunting run-in featuring games against Chelsea, Everton, Manchester City and Arsenal. Tottenham will reschedule their second home game, against Burnley on 26 August, because rugby league’s Challenge Cup final takes place at Wembley that day. Football Supporters’ Federation warns against disruptive kick-off time changes Read more A fans’ working group, set up under the auspices of the Football Supporters’ Federation, raised a number of concerns. Among them is the fact that clubs are due to play 10 Premier League game between 25 November and 1 January. “This means that over this period, where family commitments and money are at a premium for many, supporters face two league games a week for five weeks,” a statement read. “Little or no effort has been made by the Premier League to try to minimise away travel, given that Newcastle United supporters travelling to all five games will face three trips to London in that time, and travel a total of 2,484 miles. Ten sets http://www.authenticmilwaukeebrewers.com/Paul-Molitor-Jersey of match?going supporters face round trips totalling in excess of 1,500 miles
