There was lots of opportunity for defensive maneuvers during the early part of the game.  And the B2 Black offense got a few opportunities at the Edina goal, as well.  Despite the Andy’s heroic efforts defending the net, the Edina team scored early in the game.  At the end of the first period, the score was 2-zip in their favor.

Robert with the puck

Wyatt prepares to defend the zone

Ross heads into the opponents' zone

Andrew pivots to catch a pass in front of the opponents' goal

Andy defending the goal

A hard shot over Andy's glove...

...into the back of the net

After a terrific showing in the first two games of the Minneapolis Cup, the Storm B2 Black team won the right to play Edina Green for the championship on November 29 at the Parade Ice Gardens.  It was a tough game in which both of the B2 Black’s goalies had to prove their worth again and again as the Edina Green team bombarded them with shot after shot.

The game started calmly enough, and the early penalties that both teams drew did not set the tone for what was a clean, hard-fought contest.

Preparing for the opening face off

Henri in the penalty box

An opposing player, sent to the penalty box

Simon skates with the puck

Connor getting into position

Wyatt, having checked an Edina player, keeps his eye on the puck

Willy traps an opponent against the boards

The World Cyber Games is looking for the next set of games for the 2010 season!  The WCG wants to hear from YOU!  What fighting game do you want to see next year?!  Make sure you vote by clicking below!

• VOTE FOR TEKKEN 6 – World Cyber Games 2010 !

This past weekend, Niigata Popy played host to one of the  recent TEKKEN 6 competitions in Japan!  Using the the familiar Tougeki / Super Battle Opera format, the 3 vs 3 team battle was played out in epic fashion!  Click below for all the vids!

Special thanks to Niigata Popy for uploading these videos!

13 teams entered and one was victorious!  Here are the matches:

FINALS 1

FINALS 2

]]> http://mertesgameblog.wordpress.com/2009/11/30/i-wonder-why-games-arent-taken-seriously/ Mon, 30 Nov 2009 01:04:20 +0000 Merte http://mertesgameblog.wordpress.com/2009/11/30/i-wonder-why-games-arent-taken-seriously/

Some hobbies are taken seriously, some are not. Some sports are taken seriously, some are not. Gaming is an activity popularly (and perhaps ignorantly) connected to immature and pubertal males. Why? Well, gaming tournaments like these definitly don’t help.

Game conventions like E3 are, to a large extent, the very display window of the game industry. And what would a gaming convention be without pleasant looking women with big boobs? Unheard of to most participants. We want to looka at new games, and we want them to be surrounded by half naked women.

A book convention or a film convention would be a much more classy experience. Why can’t games be classy? Well, that’s a good question. When a Counter Strike championship is taking place, and a pair of naked women start to rub themselves up against the competitors, in order to destract and test team loyalty, then serious isn’t exactly the first word that comes to mind.

When will the gaming industry grow up? Not in a while, it seems.

We are being bombarded about the possibility of England hosting the 2018 World Cup. A fundamental argument is that we have the best infrastructure to host the event.

In my view, England will not host the World Cup for a very long time. Here are the reasons why:

You have to think like FIFA. Their actions clearly show that football is truly the “world game”. Think about it. The next World Cup is in South Africa – the first time an African nation has held the event. Asia, Europe and both North and South America have held the event.

With an event every four years, there will be a rotation of continents. Subject of course to finances ruling the roost. And therein lays the tale. The big money is in Europe. Now I have no idea about how the finances work, but my best guess is as follows:

An Asian Tournament should make a profit.

An African Tournament is likely to loose money as the whole infrastructure needs to be created to hold the event. But a financial loss is suffered as it promotes the world game concept.

Tournaments in North and South America will probably break even or make a smallish profit.

A European Tournament is the major “kerching” moment. The entire infrastructure is in place, high stadium ticket prices will be paid, and an unlimited number of sponsors will be wanting TV coverage.

So I would suggest that a European tournament should take place every 3rd event. That’s one every 12 years. And the queue comprises:

England, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Germany. And waiting in the wings are the old Eastern Block countries. As FIFA want a true World game, it makes sense for this to add say two countries to the list. That makes a total of 8 countries.

8 European countries times once every 12 years comes to 92 years. England held the 1966 event, so roll on 2058 – nowhere near 2018. Unless of course someone comes up with a stupid bid that FIFA simply cannot ignore…….

31st P.S.P.B. Inter Unit Badminton Tournament 2009-10 in Noida for details http://www.parichowk.com/events.aspx

Yes, Matt Steger is still on Northwestern's basketball team

It was a strange sight; Northwestern standing at half-court of the UIC Pavilion holding a giant tournament trophy. They are the champions of the Chicago Invitational. Northwestern hadn’t been the champions of any tournament since 1993. Going into the four-team tournament portion of the Invitational, no one really expected NU to get past the 1st round.

But sophomore forward John Shurna, who earned tournament MVP honors, would not let them lose to Iowa State on Saturday, and he tallied a career high 25 points in Friday’s upset over #23 Notre Dame.

He “only” scored 23 against Iowa State, but he had 17 before you could blink in the 1st half. Northwestern’s offense was absolutely stagnate against the Cyclones early on in the game. Shurna was the only man who kept them going. He drilled two three-pointers early, but actually struggled with his outside shot as the game went on, finishing 3-10 from deep.

No worries, Shurna went inside and displayed the best post moves I’ve seen from him during his short time at NU.  He wasn’t just a scorer either, he pulled down a team leading 7 rebounds and dished out 4 assists. Shurna doesn’t just put points on the board, he makes others better as well.

As the second half rolled around, other NU players started to give Shurna some help. The Princeton Offense was run to perfection a number of times, as the ‘Cats scored on a bunch of back-door cuts.

Junior point guard Michael “Juice” Thompson and Senior shooting guard Jeremy Nash were named to the All-Tournament team for good reason. They each tallied double figures in the finale against Iowa State, and Juice was unstoppable at times against Notre Dame. Meanwhile, Nash’s defense at the top of the 1-3-1 was a wonder to behold versus the Fighting Irish.

Speaking of defense, Iowa State handled both the 1-3-1, and the 2-3 zone defenses pretty well, so NU head coach Bill Carmody did something you don’t often see: he instructed the ‘Cats to play man to man.

It worked. During a 12-minute span in the second half, the Cyclones tallied exactly ONE field goal.

The X-factor on this team, and the man who gives me great hope for this season is freshman shooting guard Alex Marcotullio. Not only does he shoot the lights out from outside, he plays terrific defense as well. He made some excellent defensive plays against the Cyclones, leading NU with three steals. He tallied 13 points against Notre Dame, including two dagger threes, and chipped in 8 points versus ISU.

But what impresses me most about the freshman is not necessarily his stats. It’s his attitude. The kid WANTS the ball in crunch time, and he’s tenacious on defense. His body language on the court just exudes confidence. Plus, his high socks are just plain baller.

NU’s performance in the Chicago Invitational was very impressive to be sure, but there was some significant room for improvement.

First and foremost, they have to get SOMETHING out of 6′11 Luka Mirkovic and 7′0” Kyle Rowley. Both showed flashes of competence last year as freshmen, but as of now they’ve seemingly regressed this season.

Rowley turned the ball over three times in nine minutes against ISU, while Mirkovic looks very confused and nervous whenever he gets the ball. He had a nice game against Notre Dame, but struggled against Iowa State.

Both were so bad on Saturday that Carmody went to reserve big man Davide Curletti, who didn’t even play against Notre Dame. The sophomore made the most out of his opportunity though, draining a huge three from the top of the key and dishing out a couple of assists.

Right now I’m holding out hope that at the very least Mirkovic can get back to last year’s form, but as of now, there’s a big void in the middle.

Drew Crawford continues to be a bit of an enigma. The freshman has tremendous athleticism and I love his contributions on the boards, but he looks uncomfortable in the Princeton Offense. He’s very streaky too, after a huge game against Liberty, he went scoreless against Notre Dame. He came back and played OK against ISU, tallying four points and pulling down four rebounds while blocking two shots. But they need more from him. I’d like to see Crawford average about 10 points per game. If he can, he provides another option for NU on offense, and they become even more dangerous.

Besides that, I’m very pleased with where NU is at right now. They have a big road test coming up on December 1 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge as they take on North Carolina State. If they can pull out a win there, the only remaining potentially tough non-conference game is when Stanford comes to town on December 19.

They have a brutal start to the Big Ten schedule, as they take on a bunch of NCAA tournament teams right off the bat. They must avoid the 0-4 start that made their climb towards the NCAA bubble quite the uphill journey last year.

If they do, we could be in for one wild ride towards Selection Sunday as the season rolls along.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with all the trimmings.

We rolled out of Chicago today–some of us had to be rolled into the car–to our skater’s exciting news that his team had won a second game in the tournament.  Many congratulations to Coach Jacob Mars and the players who contributed.

Not sure what lapse of judgement led us to schedule visits with family and friends over a weekend in the fall, even if it was Thanksgiving.  We should have known that we could run into conflicts with a hockey tournament.  We’re back now, though, and I’m looking forward to watching the game tomorrow.  Good luck to the team!

Walkers Stadium will need to increase capacity for 2018

Leicester’s 2018 World Cup bid was submitted to the Football Association at Wembley last Thursday.

To say they were competing against the 15 other cities would be wrong – they simply have to meet certain criteria to be selected, therefore all the entrants have the potential to be successful.

The bids are judged on a variety of factors including their stadiums, training facilities, hotels, transportation and location of airports, train stations etc.

However, selection does not guarantee hosting the World Cup – even if England do get the games in nine years time – it simply means they will be submitted to FIFA as a candidate city.

FIFA will choose the successful hosts after deciding which country will stage the tournament.

I spoke to FAs press office a few months back, and their chief press officer told me that they would help every city to do their absolute best to meet all the criteria.

They sent teams of inspectors, on more than one occasion, to scrutinise the contenters and report back to each city, explaining where they needed to improve – which hints that it’s down to the organisers to mess this one up…

Last Thursday, Alan Shearer and 1966 World Cup winner Jack Charlton were at the national stadium supporting Newcastle’s bid with Gazza, who was also backing rivals Sunderland with Niall Quinn and Kenwyne Jones.

Paul Ince was backing Milton Keynes, Gary Mabbutt was there to cheer on Bristol and John Barnes and Roger Hunt – another 1966 World Cup winner – were behind Liverpool.

Leicester’s bid was backed by councillor Ross Willmott and Filbert Fox.

Where were Gary Lineker, Nigel Pearson, Milan Mandaric, Muzzy Izzet, Steve Claridge, Emile Heskey… or even Alan ‘The Birch’ Birchenall?

I’ve never known The Birch to turn down a public appearance, he’d open a packet of biscuits if asked nicely.

So, were they asked, did they decline? I can’t say.

It just seems very lacklustre and slightly embarrassing that the highest profile person we had campaigning for the city was a man who doesn’t like, and knows nothing about, football.

Ross Willmott - the leader

Speaking about the bid at Wembley, Coun Willmott said: “I’ve come into this as someone who doesn’t like football so I brought a bit of scepticism to the bid team, but I’ve been caught up in World Cup fever and now I’m very excited about the prospect of Leicester being a host city.”

The decision about the successful host cities will be announced on December 16, 2009. The FA will then submit a Bid Book to FIFA, detailing all the aspects of the country’s resources relating to staging the tournament – which will hopefully include Leicester’s bid proposal.

FIFA will then decide in December next year which country gets the games in 2018.

Following that, teams of FIFA inspectors will descend on the successful country to assess whether each individual proposal meets their criteria – so even if Leicester are chosen as candidates next month, there is still a long way to go.

Looking on the bright side, it gives Mr Willmott a long time to brush up on his football knowledge.

Online Poker on Multi-tabling.

Multi-author online poker is called to play a few tables at the same time to submit more in poker terminology. It is possible to play poker concurrently at 2 to 12 tables at a Poker room. It makes sense that One who plays in multi-tabling gets the maximum benefit, which one has to keep in mind

No time for weak hands

Although it is often stressed that only very experienced players should play at multiple tables at once, it must be objected that especially the amateur player can get a big advantage through multi-tablinGo to the (g) part of the passage

Who is e?g. has four Poker tables open, can only focus on the playable hands, as a multi-table player you cannot even consider playing mediocre hands. You also don’t have to bother with patience anymore that you’d have to deal with when playing at just one table. You’ll no longer be so tempted to try to draw through any psychological games. Ideally, the first one that you have enough large enough screen, so all tables can be a good arrangement. Most of the poker room also provides a little think this is a small table look, so that multiple submission much easier. Research has shown that the optimal number of tables to be successful is four.

More tables, more hands, more profit

Who is a good player at one table, will be a good player at multiple tables. Morphsinto a Poker machine player, plays his hands right out of the textbook. He has done Poker homework, already, Assuming. It is striking that good players who win in the long run, are all multi-table players.

The identical game is played, regardless of the site. Nothing is worse than a table with let’s say Sit-and-Go, a second table with Cash Game NL $ 3 / $ 6, a third with Cash Limit $ 5 / $ 10 and the fourth with a big tournament going. Prevent an optimal match by this kind of constant rethinking. The skill levels and players are random at each table, so do not waste time or energy searching for a favorite table.

Rapid starting of the internet Poker Bonus

They in times take a long time to open a reward. Of course, multi-table players reduce this time when they play at multiple tables. To unlock a bonus it’s very convenient, of course, but it should not be the only reason to play multi-tablin7. Eagerly, this seems to happen only rarely. Many players are normally not that much interested about other opponents, also to their table too. However, be pointed out that a number of players playing style sheet can sometimes be predicted. The play is like a text book for a multi-table player, as already said. Another player could take advantage of this and simply bluff him, because he knows that the multi-table player here will automatically press the fold button.

Today, I won the Hexa Tennis Under 15s tournament for the 4th time in a row! I made it to the final with a lot of lack in consistency for my first match with a guy from ISB named, Natt. To make it to the final, I faced SHB player, Ken. In the extrodinary-celebration final, I played Natt’s brother Poo. [Yeah I know, funny name]. I won 7-5 [1], 6-2[2], and 6-3 [final] to take the glass-made cup. I will bring this trophy after school to show Mr.Sam  my 4th time achievment. I have the confidence to play my own birthday tennis cup. Anyone who wants to see the trophy- my mom will come after break on either Monday or Tuesday [according to her own convinience]

The overall standings look like this:

1. Ranvir- Nist

2. Poo-ISB

3. Ken-SHB

4. Big-ICS

5. Natt-ISB

6. Art- ICS

7. Kanpot-SHB

8.Poon-RIS

Now, to relate this win to class work, I will express my feelings through music because I love music. The music I would use is embedded below:

As a moderator and an affiliate for WDIAV I am continiously impressed by the promotions they offer to their players. Here is an awesome promo rewarding those that grind on Full Tilt! The top 90 players earn a spot in this monthly tourney which could really help a new player kick off a bankroll!!

$1000 Full Tilt Points Race

Who is Eligible: Any WDIAV or FPCB Player who set up a player account at FullTilt through our link and also received the free $50 bankroll from us.

Here is how it works…

Play on Full tilt poker starting on the 16th of each month thru the 15th of the next month and earn as many Full tilt Poker points as possible. The top 90 point earners during that time will be entered into our $1000 Points Race Freeroll.

Tournament Schedule
Time Period
Tournament Date

October 16th – November 15th
November 21st 1:00 EST

November 16th – December 15th
December 26th 1:00 EST

December 16th – January 15th
January 22nd 1:00 EST

January 16th – February 16th
February 26th 1:00 EST

Good Luck!

Here are the most recent promotions being offered at Full Tilt!
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Earn 3x Full Tilt Points by playing Triple Points Happy Hour ring games and tournaments on November 26th from 15:00 ET through 20:00 ET.

Take part in the Iron Man Challenge this December to earn your Iron Man Year-End Bonus in January. Opt-in and reach Bronze, Silver, Gold or Iron status to qualify for your bonus.

Take part in Sit & Go Madness from December 4th through December 6th to win your share of more than $125K in cash as well as special prizes.

I attached links to Full Tilt through a great site that offers a $100 sign up promotion .They also host a huge monthly freeroll for sign ups!!

Fixtures of the European Trophy 2010 edition, women 15 competition, have been made official on Tuesday November 17, 2009. The tournament will gather eight teams together and will take place in France in the Alsace Lorraine region, from 7 until 16 of May 2010.

“The European Trophy is an important tournament for the development of women 15’s rugby within Europe. The European Championship takes place each four years (Note: next edition in 2012) but the FIRA-AER must propose games to emerging unions trough a serious competition and with the help of the big nations.” Here are the words of Jean-Claude Baqué, Chairman of the FIRA-AER, and which sum up the philosophy of the European Trophy.

After Sweden in 2009, it is France, and more precisely the Regional Committee of Alsace Lorraine who will host the event from 7 until 16 of May, 2010.

Pool’s composition

Pool A
France A
Netherlands
Spain
Belgium

Pool B
Italy
Sweden
Russia
Germany

Fixtures

Saturday May 8, 2010

Pool A
France A – Belgium
Netherlands – Spain

Pool B
Italy – Germany
Sweden – Russia

Monday May 10, 2010

Pool A
France A – Spain
Netherlands – Belgium

Pool B
Italy – Russia
Sweden – Germany

Wednesday May 12, 2010

Pool A
France A – Netherlands
Spain – Belgium

Pool B
Italy – Sweden
Russia – Germany

Saturday May 15, 2010

Final
1st Pool A – 1st Pool B

Match for the 3rd place
2nd Pool A – 2nd Pool B

Match for the 5th place
3rd Pool A – 3rd Pool B

Match for the 7th place
4th Pool A – 4th Pool B

Each half of matches will last 35 minutes playing times.

via http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com

I got to thinking about this story again one night while I was reminiscing my experiences at Tennessee women’s basketball games, and I thought it was pretty funny.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure that Purdue’s a fine institution. I even have a couple friends who go there, but this is mostly the reason why I developed a healthy disdain for the school’s campus, which I feel lacks in beauty, and apparently on Easter, a place to eat.

Think back to Easter Sunday 2008, when just the night before my grandmother had lectured my mom about the fact that we were not going to be able to have a traditional Easter dinner since we were going to West Lafayette to see the Lady Vols play in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Well, after hearing that, I just assumed that I should save my grandmother the heart attack and not tell her that we had no dinner at all.

After driving around forever trying to find the entrance to the parking lot for Purdue’s Mackey Arena, which was as clear as mud, we had to ask a traffic cop where to eat. He suggested several fast food places (definitely not where you would want to have Easter dinner) and added that there were not many places to eat on campus (have they no students there, or just a bunch of starving people?). We wandered around for a while before we found a bar and grill place that accepted all ages (I was only days away from turning 17 at the time). Upon opening the door to the restaurant, it was obvious that the traffic cop was right. This was one of the only places open today. The restaurant was overcrowded and there did not appear to be much staff, so we just seated ourselves at the lone empty table and waited. A few minutes later, a fairly stressed-out woman in her twenties sat down with us and informed us that she had come in earlier that day wanting some food, but then found herself busing tables after no one came in to work. I was baffled by her almost unbelievable story. Great. We were in the only restaurant on campus and being served by a woman who didn’t even work there! She later admitted that there were only two cooks in the back, one of whom had just arrived, and it took them almost an hour to serve one table. We understood and waited for food as long as we could before we had to cancel our order and head over to the arena, but not before we left the poor woman a generous twenty-dollar tip.

The worst thing about Mackey Arena that I did not realize until getting there is that the ushers have NO idea about the layout of the arena. Or, at least the ushers who were there for that game. Still puzzled about Purdue’s lack of employment (even though they had known that they would be hosting the first and second rounds of the women’s tournament that week for quite some time), we get into the arena and find Section 2. As we walk down the isle leading to Section 2, we hand our tickets to the usher, who requests to see them. Remembering my father, who works at the NCAA, saying that they were good seats, I was quite surprised to see the usher pointing us up to the rafters. As I made my way up the stairs in confused disappointment, I could hear my dad’s voice getting high as he argued with the usher, desperately trying to explain that our tickets said Section 2 Row 12, not Section 102, which was where the usher was trying to put us. It became obvious that the blind usher was not going to budge and I made my way to Section 102 Row 12, only to see that it was closed off for ESPN media. Therefore, we should be right, right? We returned to the usher to explain this situation, that Section 102 Row 12 was not open to the public and thus it was impossible for us to sit there. The only other logical solution was for us to sit in OUR real seats in the lower bowl of Section 2! But despite my father’s experts, the usher refused to let us into Section 2 and directed us over to the Section 3 usher.

So, we went over to the Section 3 usher and handed him our tickets, only to have him say that we were in the wrong section and that we needed to go to Section 2.

WE JUST CAME FROM THERE!

Though we could have easily accessed our seats from Section 3 since it was connected to Section 2, the usher simply refused to let us in and made us return to the Section 2 usher, infuriated.

Finally, after about a half an hour, we were finally allowed to sit in our CORRECT seats and I cheered whole-heartedly against the Boilermakers as they faced Utah. Unfortunately Purdue won, but, on the other hand so did the Lady Vols, forcing a matchup between the two in the second round game two days later. Needless to say, that second round game (which by the way was played on my 17th birthday) was the last time I would see a game in Mackey Arena. I guess the only good thing about that little Easter adventure was that it made the Lady Vols’ 35-8 lead over Purdue in the first half that much sweeter.

Ok, so if you want the truth, I didn’t go there because I didn’t think the campus was that pretty and it’s known for more of the engineering and sciences, not art. This game was actually not the initial deciding factor. I’m not quite that shallow!

Put the Boot In is off to Oostende in Belguim on the 12th/13th December for the 7th Brassman Blood Bowl tournament.

The tournament is a TR110. I’m looking at taking Wood Elves with the following roster:

1 Thrower

2 Wardancers

3 Catchers

1 Treeman

4 Linemen

2 Re-rolls

and a big fat zero Fan Factor.

Though I’m currently pondering dropping Catcher #3 for a Lineman, as the new MA8 & Sprint Catchers will be used. The difference would then go to Fan Factor. I’m a big fan of the 12th man (or elf, dwarf, mutated pulsating pulp thing, etc)

Next up, deciding which skills to take.

This ones for you Jesus

As of Saturday night we have a new WBA super middleweight champion and now possibly (in my opinion anyway) a new favourite to even win the whole tournament.

I’d never heard of Andre Ward before the Super 6 but this guy really impressed me in this fight he had Kessler’s number from the opening bell starting off with quick snappy jabs that  set everything else up and occasionally switching to a south paw stance where he was landing straight lefts right through the center and this was all in the first round!

He also hit Kessler with some vicious right hands hurting Kessler early in the fight and backing him up constantly. He was holding alot but the referee didn’t put a stop to it so Ward kept doing it which is the kind of tactics you expect from a veteran fighter like Bernard Hopkins not a young guy relatively inexperienced only 25 years old.

Ward jabs Kessler as he's coming in

However Ward’s ring generalship was impressive and even more so his speed had Kessler baffled and cautious about coming in because every time he did he got tagged and after suffering two cuts over both eyes due to accidental headbutts the ring doctor called the fight in the 11th round handing Andre Ward his first major title and 3 points going into the next round.

It has to be said though I thought the referee was terrible he didn’t seem to know when to break the fighters up which Kessler complained about after the fight which I think he was well within his rights to do. I don’t recall Ward being warned for holding or telling the fighters to watch their heads he didn’t see the first clash of heads which caused a cut over Kessler’s left eye and he was generally moving around the ring way too slow for my liking thus missing key points in the fight.

Although to be fair I don’t think it would’ve made much difference Kessler looked off and Ward was very much in control of the fight from the opening bell. As the fight went on Ward’s confidence grew and he knew he could do anything he wanted to Kessler without much coming back at him.

A great performance by Ward probably the best in the tournament so far next to Abraham’s KO of Taylor who depending on whether he chooses to remain in the tournament will be Ward’s next opponent.

I think depending on Taylor’s mental state after his brutal back to back KO losses to Froch and Abraham I think it could be a tough fight for Ward though.

Taylor is a big super middleweight who can really drop a bomb on you with the right hand. He is much quicker than Kessler and he could match Andre Ward’s jab also. The question would be how confident does Jermain feel right now coming off the back of those two losses.

In the Froch fight I don’t know whether it was pure fatigue or a lack of concentration (maybe a bit of both) that made him lose that fight but he out boxed Froch for 12 rounds and even had him down in the 3rd the first time he has been down in his entire professional career had he of just stayed on his feet and finished the fight he would’ve won and become a champion again.

Abraham made Jermain look pretty average but I think Abraham is a very good solid fighter who is of course is still undefeated which adds a bit of the invincibility factor to him and was an extremely tough assignment for Jermain or any fighter for that matter but especially a guy coming off a KO loss. Abraham was a little more marked up then I expected though considering he had control of the fight I think Jermain caught him with some jabs early on that produced a little swelling on Abraham’s face so even with the tight guard Jermian was getting some shots through and Abraham did say after the fight that Taylor hits hard so again depending on Taylor’s metal state I give him a good shot of pulling off an upset against Ward.

That being said my favourite to win the tournament is still Abraham who looks very strong and he appears to have a warriors heart also which will make him a very tough fighter to beat although his next fight against Dirrell could present some problems how will he cope against Dirrell’s speed and reflexes?

In the wake of Manny Pacquiao’s demolition of Miguel Cotto the Super 6 has been somewhat overshadowed but with the possibility of a guy coming off a 2 fight losing streak becoming champion again, a guy who was robbed of a decision in his last fight coming back to beat an undefeated fighter for his belt and the prospect of a guy who just lost his belt beating another undefeated fighter for his title I say there is more than enough excitement in this tournament to keep us going untill a mega fight happens between Pacquiao and Mayweather.

Don’t sleep on the Super 6 tournament it’s just getting interesting.

Kessler's cuts over both eyes caused the fight to be stopped

soccer tournament on the basketball courts

my baby!

]]> http://lordsipra.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/the-gaming-bug-part-4-a-period-of-silence/ Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:34:43 +0000 icecoldsipra http://lordsipra.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/the-gaming-bug-part-4-a-period-of-silence/

Hello people,

I am back with the 4th installment of The gaming Bug. This part focuses on my pre-university days.

Once I completed my 10th standard, I continued my pre-university education from the same college. I took PCMB as my subjects. During my first year, things changed drastically. I no longer played any sport. The reason was, I could not find the time. Football was a distant dream. All we did was talk about how things were in high school. There were no houses like the previous years and no rivalries with any other section of my college. It was really boring. I however maintained my reputation as a hot headed guy. As for physical fitness, I used to do a lot of cycling. This helped me maintain my stamina even though I had no other physical activity.

This was the time video games came into the picture. Of course, they were in my head ever since I saw one. But now, the interest to play more and more video games started kicking in. Games like Super Mario, Adventure Island, Contra, Donkey Kong, Mortal Combat, Street Fighter and so many more were the happening games during those days. My concentration slowly but surely drifted from football to video games. There was a rumor about some district level football tournament but no one came to me saying the same. I too did not bother much because I had enough of football in my life. I completed the first year and completely forgot about football in the process. But.. I guess time had fixed one last appointment that would once again drag me to the football ground.

I was now in the second and final year of my pre-university days. All of us were quite busy with our subjects when there was one more talk about a district level football tournament. I was not too interested. I thought it was another passing rumor. But it wasn’t. Swapnil one day came to me and told me that there will be a district level football tournament which once again would be held in our own college ground. He also told me that this was the last chance for us to relive those olden days and to do what we do best.. play football. I did not even think much and just agreed.

Once again we had a great team. Some of the guys from the state level football team like Satya, Swapnil ,Shashank and Arun were once again reunited. There were some new guys like Deepak and Manju. Shivananda was also part of the team. The problem was we had very less time to practice. Some of us had lost touch of the game. Because some of them were new to the team, we had a difficult time understanding each other on the ground. But training takes you only that far and then comes pure instinct. We had a great team. Once again, we had a rock solid defense. Our attack was balanced. Unlike the last time, I was one of the main players in the team. All other players came to me for suggestions and tactics. We planned our positions and were all set for one final show down.. the time of our lives was here.

When the time finally came, there were 5 teams for the competition. The 4 colleges that came were EMHS, Suratkal College, Karkala College and SRS College. Over time, SRS College had become our sworn enemy. What I heard as a rumor during my first was in fact real. Our college has then lost to the very same SRS College. Some of our team members who were part of the team that lost to them knew that team very well. We on the other hand, were excited and waiting for the challenge. Our fixtures were Us Vs Karkala College and EMHS Vs SRS College. The Suratkal college got a bye which meant they directly played in the finals.

They say experience counts. This was the first time I understood what that meant. Most guys in our team had not played competitive football. Most importantly, they had no idea how to handle the expectations of the huge crowd. Some of us had been there and done that. So it was up to us to calm these guys down. We just told them to concentrate on the ball and play like how we always played during our school days without worrying too much about the crowd.

Ours was the very first match. The whole college was let off only to see our match and to support us. It was some atmosphere. This team from Suratkal was not so good. Our defense proved too strong for them. I may not have played much football over the last one year. But the magic was all there. It came back the moment I got into the ground. All the spectators kept screaming our names each time we got the ball and booed the opponents whenever they got the ball. This brought down the morale of our opponents. Shashank with our fellow defenders stood like a wall at the back. No body could penetrate them that day. The BIG 3 from the previous games were no longer there but these 3 guys never gave us any chance to worry. Satya was as good as ever as a golie. This was the time me, Shashank and Arun played as a unit. Our One-Two-One passing was tearing our opponents down. They had no answer to our focused counter-attack. Swani and Swapnil along with all the other guys were as good as ever. We had a lot of chances to score in the first half but we did not convert any of the great opportunities. It was in the 2nd half that we got our chance to break free. We got a great ball from Satya back from our goal. Our team was passing effectively and Swani took the ball the opponents’ goal. There were 3 defenders in front of him and I was behind. He could not penetrate them alone. I just called him from behind and he quickly responded with a pass. The crowd was getting anxious with every passing minute. I tapped the ball and just shot it into the goal. The very next second, the crowd was dancing and cheering “SIPRA SIPRA” because it was now 1-0. I had scored again and this time in front of my open people. It was a great feeling. I just ran around like a mad dog celebrating and my team mates joined the party. Satya came running down to me and he reminded me of the same situation back during our state level match. We won the match 1-0. The other match was won by the SRS College. The next match was against our worst enemy.. SRS College. It was a match we were waiting for. The time had finally come. It was the final showdown of our lives.

Swapnil and Satya knew this SRS team well. More specifically, had a bitter experience with one guy.. Ryan. They told us to watch out for this guy. We all saw who this guy was and were all ready for the match. There was good support for the SRS team also. When the match started the entire crowd erupted once again. We got better completion from these guys than our previous opponent. Just before we could get into to the groove we were shocked at what we saw. Enter the scene.. Ryan. Every time this guy got the ball, their supporters went crazy and they kept shouting and cheering “GO DIXCY GO”. And god! I now understood why those supporters loved this guy so much. He had amazing control over the ball. He single handedly dribbled past every guy from our team. He on his own easily penetrated the powerful defense of ours. For the first time, there was a crack in our wall. He was so fast that we could hardly match him. This guy what the best football I had even seen in my life. But from the opposite team, even we were amazed by this guys game. He was highly professional and played a clean game. But this was not the time to relax. We somehow managed to control those guys till the 1st half. During the break, we were just talking one thing. How to control this Ryan. We knew that if we had to win, we had to contain Ryan. So we decided that each time he got the ball, every body would target him. It was like a pack of hungry wolves chasing down their selected prey. And to some extent it worked. When the second half started, we made sure Ryan did not get the ball. Every time he got the ball, all of us would just forget the other guys and just run to attack this one person. They say nobody is perfect. So was this guy Ryan. He was a great dribbler but a very bad finisher. He could single handedly take the ball till the other end, ripping our famed defense apart but he could not score goals. In fact he did not even attempt to score goals. He never passed the ball which was his biggest weakness. Our team had finally cracked the Ryan code. We had a lot of good chances but could not convert. Time was running fast. Almost at the dieing moments, I got the ball and I gave a precise long ball to Deepak. He did well and took the ball till the very end. His cross was prescise and right in front of the goal. There were 3 of us running for the ball and no defender to stop us. We were hardly a meter away from the goal post. Unfortunately, the ball was intercepted by my other team mate Rakshit I think his name was. He did not try to stop the ball. He just put his leg forward. The ball bounced onto his knee and went above the goal. We were all disappointed. This was the last minute of the game. If ever he left the ball, I was in line and may be the result would have been better. But this is football and sometimes things don’t work as expected. He apologized but we said it was not his mistake at all. The game ended with a draw 0-0. The match went to a penalty shootout. SRS went on to win the match. We all were disappointed but the experience is all that kept us alive. It was the last time for some of us and we enjoyed the moment.

After the match, we congratulated the SRS guys. I went and shook hands with our tormentor Ryan. I told him he was great with the ball and wished him the very best for the rest of the tournament. For my surprise, he told me I was the best among my team and I must continue to play football. We hugged each other and hoped to meet again in some other football match. we then walked away. It was all over.

This concludes the fourth part of ‘The Gaming Bug’. Stay tuned for the fifth and the final part ‘The End of an Era’.

by Lucky Kalanges

I am glad to report that Youbet.com will host its first qualifier for the DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship in three years this coming Saturday, Nov. 28. The online handicapping contest is open to all Youbet.com members who live in eligible wagering states. There is no entry fee; this is a live betting contest, which has some advantages.

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It is hard to find a more convenient or economical way to qualify for the NHC or HPWS. If you are inclined to give it a try and don’t already have a Youbet.com account, you can sign up at www.youbet.com. You can also find out more about our NHC qualifier there. Use the promo code tpf2 and we’ll spot you $25.

Good luck!

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Lucky Kalanges is the Director of Track Marketing at Youbet.com, Inc. Since 1998, he has been providing Youbet members with his unique insight to handicapping and the world of horse racing. His most recent claim to fame is cashing Win tickets on Dancing in Silks (25-1) and Furthest Land (21-1) on his Youbet.com account on Breeders’ Cup Day. You may contact him via email or through his Twitter account.

The opinions of our bloggers are their own and not necessarily the opinions of Youbet.com, Inc. Handicapping, Wagering Selections and Analysis are given for Informational Purposes Only and should not be used to make actual wagers. Bettors should perform their own research and use caution when wagering. Past Handicapping success is not an indication of future performance.