Each week, The Reporters put their thumbs out to the good and the bad in the world of sports. This week, they discuss sports off-day, the MLB All-Star game, Canadas field lacrosse team and Huston Streets comments upon being traded. Bruce Arthur, Toronto Star My thumb is up to Wednesday of this past week. Now, you probably read and heard a lot of sympathetically depressed moaning about how it was the slowest sports day of the year - no baseball, no hockey, no basketball, no football, and nothing to entertain those in search of sports except... Well, Major League Soccer, the Tour de France, and the ESPYs, featuring Drake. Thats hardly nothing, the semi-vacancy of the ESPYs aside, but you know what? Good. We could use some time with less sports. The days are packed with sports. Christmas day is basically a basketball tournament now. We could use some time to breathe, take a walk, reconnect with family, learn to make a bookshelf. Sports are fun, no question. But how can we miss them when they wont go away? Steve Simmons, Toronto Sun My thumb is down to major league baseball, the Minnesota Twins and broadcasters of the All-Star game for failing to appropriately recognize the passing of Tony Gwynn just one month ago. Its not like Gwynn was just another player. He was a 15-time All-Star, perhaps the most beloved figure in a game with not enough beloved figures, and yet somehow there was no tribute to Gwynn throughout the three hour Derek Jeter infomercial that we endured. And I have nothing but regard for Derek Jeter, who has had a storied career; but there should have been something for Gwynn. For the fans. For baseball. A moment of silence. Some words of tribute. Something. At least Adam Jones of the Baltimore Orioles had it right. He wrote in marker on his baseball cap the initials TG with the number 19. He had the sense of moment baseball didnt have. Gary Lawless, TSN Radio My thumb is up to Canadas national mens field lacrosse team for winning the world championship last night. Canada defeated the U.S., handing the Americans just their third loss in tournament history dating back to 1967. All three of those U.S. losses have come to Canada and all three in championship games, 1978, 2006 and now 2014. Lacrosse is our national sport but its box lacrosse most Canadians play, not field. In fact, Canada has never lost a box lacrosse game at the worlds. Winning the field championship doesnt qualify as a shock but more of a nice surprise. Congrats to Team Canada, who just so happened to be one of the youngest teams weve ever sent to the worlds, and will be a very serious threat to repeat in 2018. Dave Hodge, TSN My thumb is up to the refreshing comments of relief pitcher/closer Huston Street as he departed the bottom-feeding San Diego Padres for the playoff-bound Los Angeles Angels. There would be lots to say about the horrible state of the Padres franchise, but street said this; "I believe in the ownership--they want to win--theyre not satisfied with the status quo. I blame the players for what has happened here." Well, even though theres plenty of blame to go around and it does extend to the front office and to ownership - the Padres field a lineup that is not of big-league quality - Street is quite right, as a player, to let others find fault with others and to say that, of all the reasons teams lose, the biggest reason is always that players perform badly. NIKE AIR MAX 90 CAMO UOMO . Malone will become an unrestricted free-agent and as per the collective bargaining agreement, the Lightning will be responsible for two-thirds of the remainder of his contract over twice the length of the rest of the deal. NIKE AIR MAX 2015 UOMO . Playing in her third final this year, the 32nd-ranked Zakopalova won 11 straight games to win the match in 2 hours, 12 minutes, securing her first trophy since 2005. She had lost 12 straight finals, including to Kurumi Nara of Japan at the Rio Open last weekend. http://www.maxsaldionline.it/nike-air-huarache-in-offerta/nike-air-huarache-og.html . "Im not sure Ill be back next season," said Mike Gillis. Speaking to the Team 1040 in Vancouver on Thursday, the Canucks general manager spoke of his clubs failure to live up to the success of past years, but refused to heap all the blame on his coach. nike air huarache NM nero . Marian Gaborik had two goals and an assist and Martin Jones made just 17 saves to record his fourth shutout of the season as the Kings snapped a three-game losing skid with a 3-0 victory over the lowly Oilers on Thursday. nike air huarache NM ." That, Smith explained Monday at a news conference, would be the "typical thoughts a defensive player (would have) with the ball." And he heeded his own advice, going 69 yards for a touchdown on that play. He added a fumble recovery later and earned MVP honours as Seattle beat Mannings Denver Broncos 43-8 for the Seahawks first NFL championship.Estonian pro Madis Muur has done it again, and is narrowly ahead of would-be two-time EPT champion Mike McDonald for the overnight chip lead - going in to the final of the $10k PCA 2014 Main Event with 6,205,000. All eight players in tomorrows final are guaranteed at least $173,220, but a life-changing prize $1,820,420 first prize awaits the winner, along with the title of PCA 2014 champion, a trophy and stunning "Steel and Black" design watch worth 5,550 from SLYDE, the Official Watch Sponsor of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure 2014. Final TableMadis Muur, Estonia, PokerStars qualifier, 6,205,000Mike McDonald, Canada, PokerStars qualifier, 5,605,000Pascal LeFrancois, Canada, PokerStars player, 5,595,000Dominik Panka, Poland, PokerStars qualifier, 3,695,000Fabian Ortiz, Argentina, 3,040,000Isaac Baron, USA, 2,995,000Daniel Gamez, Guatemala, PokerStars player, 1,885,000Shayam Srinivasan, Canada, PokerStars qualifier, 1,505,000 It was a super-quick Day 5 in the Atlantis Ballroom with 20 players whittled down to eight in record time. UKIPT Dublin champion Max Silver, bubbled the final table and finished ninth for $135,400. As well as Muur and McDonald, tomorrows final will include WSOP bracelet winner Pascal LeFrancois, online pros Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron and Shyam "gs zee" Srinivasan, plus LAPT Vina del Mar champion Fabian Ortiz. There were 1,031 players at this years PCA, creating a prize pool of $10,000,700. Among the 143 players who have already cashed are Team PokerStars Pros Vanessa Selbst, Angel Guillen, Liv Boeree, Marcel Luske, George Danzer, Jason Mercier, Leo Margets as well as Team Onlines Marc-Andre Ladouceur and Caio Pessagno. The players hail from 65 countries including 346 Americans who defied atrocious weather in the States to get to the Bahamas. They accounted for 34% of the field, with 143 Canadians also present (14%). See below for nationality pie chart and info graphic on how well Americans have performed at the PCA over the years! PCA 2014 MAIN EVENT FINAL TABLE PLAYER PROFILES Seat 1: Pascal LeFrancois, 27, Montreal PokerStars player - 5,595,000Canadian student Pascal LeFrancois first shot to fame in 2010 when he won the WSOP $1,500 NL Event $568,974. However it wasnt his victory that made him famous it was the fact that he ripped off his shirt and posed bare-skinned in the traditional winners photo shot. It was the first time any player in the history of the WSOP had gone bare-chested for the champions portrait. He said at the time that hed done as a joke for friends: "They were all cheering for me to take off my shirt. I was excited, so I did it." Only a month after that victory, LeFrancois then went really deep in the WSOP Main Event, finishing 11th for $ 635,011 his biggest cash to date. His other major result was runner-up to fellow Canadian Jonathan Roy in the 2012 WPT Montreal Main Event for $470,130. His lifetime tournament winnings already total nearly $1.8 million. LeFrancois is here at the PCA for the fourth time and has been an EPT regular for the last four years as well. He is one of a large group of French-Canadian players who have started playing on the EPT circuit. You can follow Pascal via twitter: @Pass_LeFrancois Seat 2: Dominik Panka, 22, Poland PokerStars qualifier - 3,695,000Panka, who hails from the tiny town of Brzesc Kujawski in Poland, is enjoying the deepest run hes ever experienced in a live event. Before this years PCA Main Event, Panka only had $8,092 in live tournament cashes to his name, the majority of that from a 42nd place finish in the EPT 10 Barcelona Estrellas 2k High Roller. Guaranteed $173,220 for eighth making the PCA final, Panka is now set to earn at least 21 times his lifetime tournament cashes. Panka is the ninth player hailing from Poland to make an EPT final table but no Pole has ever laid claim to a title. Entering the final table fourth in chips, Panka has a solid chance to make history and become the first Polish EPT champion. He won his seat to the 2014 PCA in a $700 Mega Qualifier on PokerStars. Seat 3: Seat: Shyam Srinivasan, 32, Toronto, Canada PokerStars qualifierShyam Srinivasan isnt a well-recognized face on the live circuit, but his online handles "gs zee" (PokerStars) and "s_dot111" (Full Tilt Poker) certainly are by those in the know. Srinivasan has clocked up more than $7m in online tournament winnings and is looking to convert that success into a PCA title tomorrow. "I think Im gonna win," Srinivasan told the PokerStarrs Blog.dddddddddddd "Thats it. Im not here to do anything else. I know Im gonna win. I told myself Im gonna win
and anything else would be a disappointment to me because you dont know when this opportunity will come up again." Srinivasan won his seat in the PCA $700 Qualifier on PokerStars. Seat 4: Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron, 26, Chicago, USA - 2,995,000Originally from Menlo Park, California, Baron now calls Chicago, Illinois home. Its not the only major change for the 26-year-old online poker legend. Baron has lost a lot of weight in recent months and is hardly recognizable. This is Barons first major final table in nearly two years. "Its been a while since I made a big final table. Ive kind of been flying under the radar. I havent been playing too many tournaments," he said." In the meantime, the man with millions in online wins and $2.6 million in live cashes has been playing live cash games and taking some college classes. Hes looking forward to getting back to the big time. "I had decided to give tournaments a break for a little while, but I decided in the New Year I was going to give them another go. Its going good so far." Seat 5: Fabian Ortiz, 44, Chaco, Argentina - 3,040,000Fabian Ortiz, a 44-year-old businessman from Argentina, has owned several discos during his career, but recently hes been doing most of his dancing on the poker circuit. Ortiz was the first Latin American player to win a LAPT title when he made a sensational comeback from just one small blind to take down LAPT2 Viña del Mar in Chile in January 2009. But his biggest live result was last summer when he finished 17th in the WSOP Main Event for a cash of $357,655. His lifetime tournament winnings of $565,570 put him at third on the Argentina All-time money list, behind Team PokerStars Pros Nacho Barbero and Leo Fernandez. Seat 6: Mike McDonald, 24, Waterloo, Canada - PokerStars qualifier - 5,605,000Canadian phenom Mike McDonald is currently in second place, and looking a very strong contender in the bid to become the first-ever two-time European Poker Tour Main Event champion. The 24-year-old from Ontario, whose lifetime tournament winnings already total nearly $6 million, first shot to fame in 2008 when he became the youngest ever EPT winner, taking down the EPT Dortmund Main Event for 933,600, aged just 18. He came close to retaining his title the following year, with a fifth place finish. As well as making the final of this PCAs $100k Super High Roller, his phenomenal results also include third at EPT Deauville, bubbling the EPT Madrid final and making the final in both the EPT Barcelona Super High Rollers - in 2012 and last August. Like 426 other players, McDonald won his PCA 2014 seat on PokerStars but he isnt just any old qualifier - he was actually the very FIRST player win a package, securing his trip in a $700 qualifier back in August last year. Seat 7: Madis Muur, 27, Tallinn, Estonia PokerStars qualifier 6,205,000Muur enters the final table as the chip leader with 6,205,000. Hailing from the Estonian capital of Tallinn, Muur is mainly an online player, focusing his attention on mid-stakes tournaments on PokerStars during the week, and the majors on Sunday. This is the Estonians first year on the European Poker Tour, as he only plays live if he is fortunate enough to qualify. Muur has already won seats to three of the four EPT Main Events this season, playing in London and Barcelona along with PCA. Muur finished 12th in the EPT Barcelona Main Event, earning $78,892, and has just over $100,000 in career tournament earnings. He has already doubled that number by reaching this final table, and will be looking for his first seven-figure score on Monday. Seat 8: Daniel Gamez, 29, Guatemala City PokerStars player - 1,885,000Gamez is a recreational poker player who invested some $4,000 in online qualifiers and finally won his trip to the PCA in a $33 unlimited rebuy satellite. A keen golfer, Gamez works as an event coordinator for his familys radio company in Guatemala and is soon to be a dad in February. The former communications student mainly plays mid stakes multi-table tournaments online. He has been to the PCA three times but this is his first ever live cash. His biggest online cash was $17,500. He said: "My dad is my mentor and if I win the tournament I plan to help him out with the company." Gamez, whose Panamanian wife is expecting the couples first child in February, came to the Bahamas with his friend Juan Carlos. cheap nfl jerseys authentic jerseys nfl wholesale wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '
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