Flying high with the backing of Angry Birds, Finland received a wild card for the World Cup of Basketball on Saturday in a decision criticized for being more
about business than basketball.
Willie
Brown Womens Jersey . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey
drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers
tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its
meeting in Barcelona. The draw is Monday. Greece is ranked fifth in the world
and the only team to beat the U.S. since Mike Krzyzewski became coach in 2005.
Turkey is ranked seventh and was runner-up to the Americans in the 2010 world
championship. Brazil, which will host the 2016 Olympics, is No. 10. Finland is
only 39th, the only one of the 12 teams since 2006 to receive a wild card that
wasnt in the top 24. But it had the support of Rovio, the Finnish company behind
the popular Angry Birds games that had agreed to provide advertising if Finland
was selected. "We are fully aware that despite our strong athletic results and
fan support, we need to think creatively about how we can truly show our
strength to FIBA and the basketball world," Antti Zitting, president of the
Finnish Basketball Association said Thursday in a release announcing Rovios
support. "As a small Northern country we cannot deliver the same type of TV
audience as some other nations, but thanks to Angry Birds, we can offer an
engagement platform that no other country can match." FIBA lists economic
aspects among the criteria for wild cards, which became part of the
organizations biggest tournament in 2006. Secretary general Patrick Baumann
noted Finlands recent success on the court but also its potential off it in a
statement about the decision, citing the Finns four victories over top-15 teams
at the 2013 European championships and their strong fan support. "The Finns are
enjoying massive support with their fans travelling in big numbers to their
games," Baumann said. "The current growth of Finnish basketball is the result of
a solid long-term strategy being executed by the Finnish Basketball Association
and still has a lot of potential for development." Russia, the 2012 Olympic
bronze medallist , China, Canada, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Israel,
Italy, Nigeria, Poland, Qatar and Venezuela were the other countries that had
applied for wild cards. Italy and Germany had previously withdrawn their bids
and China, which was considered a leading candidate to get one because of its
population and passion for basketball, did Saturday morning. FIBA also announced
it had lifted a ban on Senegal and would allow it to be in the tournament.
Dave
Casper Jersey . "It was a little weird looking over and seeing all the
green uniforms," he said of his first game against the Boston Celtics.
Otis
Sistrunk Womens Jersey . Virtanen opened the scoring at 6:45 of the first
period, then gave Canada a two-goal lead with a power-play goal 1:03 into the
second. Sweden cut the lead in half when Daniel Muzito Bagenda scored a
power-play goal at 10:57 of the second.
http://www.authenticraidersfansclub.com/Black-Friday-Howie-Long-Jersey/ . Calgarys Bo Levi Mitchell and Montreals Troy Smith will be the starting
quarterbacks in a CFL season-opener for the first time in their careers. Both
want to reinforce their No. 1 status. You can watch the game live in the first
half of a doubleheader on TSN and TSN GO at 3:00pm et/Noon pt.Just past the
midway portion of the 2013-2014 NHL schedule, Scott Cullen has his picks for
first half award winners. There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but
most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy
runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first
half of the season. While there is much room for movement over the second half
of the year, the Calder Trophy race might be the most volatile because no one
has run away from the pack and when there are so many candidates close together,
it gets easy to see big changes. Anyway, here are my picks for awards through
first first half of this season: HART TROPHY Winner: Sidney Crosby, C,
Pittsburgh Runners-up: Ryan Getzlaf, C, Anaheim; Patrick Kane, Chicago Comment:
After what counted as a slump for him knocked Crosby to runner-up status through
the first quarter, hes pulled away from the pack, leading the scoring race by
nine points over Kane and 15 points ahead of Getzlaf who fit second and third,
respectively. Scoring isnt everything, but all three have been on a roll through
the first half of the season. Getzlafs shooting percentage (17.9%) and on-ice
shooting percentage (12.0%) are a tad higher than his norm, but hes also
shooting more than he has in the past and the results are there -- his 20 goals
already counts as his most since 2008-2009 and has him in easy range of
surpassing his career-best of 25 goals. Kane has a strong supporting cast, of
course, but hes on pace for a career-high in points and shots per game. Hes
slumped in his last four games, but Kane has done enough to deserve
consideration. If not Kane, Capitals RW Alex Ovechkin is worthy of
consideration. His 31 goals is six more than anyone else, and while Ovechkin has
an unsightly minus-17, his possession stats are solid and basically has bad puck
luck when it comes to percentages. NORRIS TROPHY Winner: Duncan Keith, Chicago
Runners-up: Erik Karlsson, Ottawa; P.K. Subban, Montreal Comment: Keith is
having a season very similar to his 2009-2010 season, when he won the Norris
Trophy, putting up dominant possession stats, but also contributing more
offensively -- his 42 points in 45 games (0.93 per game) represents the best
per-game scoring rate of his career. Karlsson continues to be a game-changer
offensively, and his possession numbers are more favourable than his minus-12
rating would suggest, but the percentages have not been playing in his favour
through the first half of the season. Subban had a fantastic start to the year,
but his play dipped some in December. Not enough to knock him from contention,
but enough that hes closer to other contenders, like Nashvilles Shea Weber and
St. Louis Alex Pietrangelo, than he is to Keith at this point. VEZINA TROPHY
Winner: Ben Bishop, Tampa Bay Runners-up: Josh Harding, Minnesota; Tuukka Rask,
Boston Comment: The 32 games that Bishop has played this season already counts
as a career-high, so who knows where this is going (especially considering his
injury on the weekend), but he leads in even-strength save percentage (.945) and
has been an anchor for a team that has been playing without their top offensive
threat for more than a quarter of the season. Harding was the early
front-runner, but has only played two games in the past three weeks as he took
time to adjust MS medication. That hes usurped Niklas Backstrom in net for the
Wild is a story in itself, but Hardings numbers still have him right there with
Bishop through the first half of the year. Rask is the more predictable option,
the one goaltender that would have been considered a contender in the preseason
because Rask is always turning in excellent wwork -- his worst save percentage
in the last five seasons was .
Willie
Brown Raiders Jersey. 918 and this years .934 currently ranks as a
career-high. There is plenty of time for other goaltenders to make their move.
Montreals Carey Price, Torontos Jonathan Bernier and Colorados Semyon Varlamov
are among those closest to the contenders. CALDER TROPHY Winner: Torey Krug, D,
Boston Runners-up: Tomas Hertl, LW, San Jose; Seth Jones, D, Nashville Comment:
With 23 points in 42 games, defenceman Krug is only three points behind
Colorados Nathan MacKinnon, who leads the rookie scoring race. More than half of
Krugs points have come on the power play, where hes running the point on the
Bruins number one unit, but without any breakout forwards, Krug is the pick at
the midpoint of the season. Hertl was the leading candidate, even if he slowed
down from his tremendous start, but hes already missed more than two weeks since
taking a knee-on-knee hit from the Kings Dustin Brown and hes still going to be
on the shelf for the forseeable future. Jones had a strong case early in the
year, then his game fell off and his ice time was reduced dramatically. Hes
working his way back up lately, enough to get a runner-up nod, though not far
ahead of the competition. MacKinnon is starting to pick up offensively, and
injuries in Colorado are opening up more opportunities. Others of note include
Rangers LW Chris Kreider, Jets D Jacob Trouba, Kings RW Tyler Toffoli, Panthers
C Aleksander Barkov and Stars RW Valeri Nichushkin, who could be in the best
position of all if he can stick on the wing with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin on
the Stars number one line. SELKE AWARD Winner: Jonathan Toews, Chicago
Runners-up: Patrice Bergeron, Boston; David Backes, St. Louis Comment: Its a
familiar group, with Toews and Bergeron the last two winners. They simply excel
as two-way players, typically dominating possession even when they face elite
competition. Backes isnt far behind, either. Hes a beast to play against,
handles tough assignments like Bergeron and Backes is probably getting a little
more notice this season because hes been running alongside Alexander Steen for
most of the year. Steen would be a candidate too, but thats because hes always a
sound two-way player, not because of his goal-scoring explosion, and Avalanche
captain Gabriel Landeskog has such a strong two-way game that he has a chance to
work his way into consideration, which isnt easy for a winger. JACK ADAMS AWARD
Winner: Bruce Boudreau, Anaheim Runners-up: Ken Hitchcock, St. Louis; Todd
McLellan, San Jose Comment: Its always difficult to narrow down the best
coaching jobs, but the Ducks have been so good that some credit should go to
Boudreau, who is not only getting the most out of his superstars, but also the
supporting cast. The St. Louis Blues play such a grind-it-out style of game that
its a testament to the coaching of Ken Hitchcock that they stick with it, and
they have one of the leagues best records despite what has been merely decent
goaltending. Same goes for San Jose and coach Todd McLellan, who is succeeding
without great numbers from his tenders and has done some line juggling to
incorporate younger options. A couple of other viable candidates -- Colorados
Patrick Roy and Tampa Bays Jon Cooper -- have had such strong goaltending that I
have a hard time separating that from the team success. Theyre worthy, but would
they be worthy if their goalies werent great? Scott Cullen can be reached at
[email protected] and followed on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook.
Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
