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GRAPEVINE, Texas -- Commissioner Bud Selig expects baseball owners to vote next week from a list of three candidates for his successor. "Yes, there will be a vote in Baltimore," Selig said Wednesday, referring to the owners meeting next week. Selig said the seven-member panel appointed earlier this year, and headed by St. Louis Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr., worked independently to get to this point. "I told them at the time that the job was theirs because, after all, they have to live the commissioner. Im going to be gone," said Selig, who is retiring in January. "Ive been very well-informed and briefed and so forth, but theyve been independent and theyve come up with this list on their own, and Im grateful for that. They did what I asked them to do." The reported finalists for the job are Rob Manfred, MLBs chief operating officer; Tim Brosnan, MLBs executive vice-president for business and Boston Red Sox chairman Tom Werner. When asked about those names, Selig said "the list is accurate." The commissioner has refrained from publicly endorsing anyone as his replacement after 22 years on the job. Selig spoke to reporters after addressing the opening luncheon for the 2014 Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) World Series, which will feature about 300 players ages 13-18 with 16 teams playing in the Dallas-Fort Worth area this week. The gathering came a day after the former clinic owner accused of selling performance-enhancing drugs to Alex Rodriguez agreed to plead guilty in what prosecutors called a wide-ranging conspiracy to distribute steroids to both major league ballplayers and high school athletes. With potentially more legal proceedings related to Biogenesis, after former owner Anthony Bosch and six others were charged, there is always the possibility of additional names being revealed. "Im really not concerned," Selig said. "We did what we had to do. Well be very thorough. ... I dont really have any knowledge if theres anything else coming. "Look, Im proud of where we are," he said. "We have the toughest drug testing program in America, and certain American sports." It was a year ago this week that Rodriguez was among 13 players disciplined by Major League Baseball as a result of the Biogenesis scandal, two weeks after Ryan Braun had already accepted a 65-game penalty. Most of the other penalties were for the final 50 games last season, though Rodriguez appealed his much longer suspension and is out for all of this season. Selig planned later Wednesday to visit the Rangers ballpark in nearby Arlington on his tour of the 30 franchises. He also planned to visit with Dr. Bobby Brown, who practiced cardiology in the Dallas-Fort Worth area before serving as vice-president of the Texas Rangers and later the AL president from 1984-94. "Ive been so busy and things have been so hectic that I havent really had a chance to focus on (pending retirement). Next November, December and January, Im sure Ill do a lot of that," Selig said. "I try not to think about that, I really dont. Yeah, there are a few times when Ive said to myself, well, this is the last time youll do this. And this is the last time Ill do this. I think the emotion will come later." Scarpa Nike Air Max 90 Donna . Lin averaged 27.3 points and 8.3 assists while leading the Knicks to a 4-0 record. The undrafted Harvard graduates 109 points are the most by an NBA player in his first four starts since the 1976-77 season, and he became the first player in NBA history to tally at least 20 points and seven assists in each of his first four starts. Nike Blazer Donna . Of course that doesnt mean hes ignoring it. Thats actually rather impossible given the behind-the-scenes access to the Toronto Maple Leafs the network is getting. http://www.itscarpesaldionline.com/nike-air-max-thea.html. Following a lopsided 5-2 loss against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night, Paul MacLean told reporters that "theres a lack of focus, theres a lack of leadership and theres a lack of preparation" with his struggling team. That came on the heels of Bryan Murray taking the unusual step of going into the locker room at the Prudential Center and addressing the players himself. Air Max 90 Essential Bianche . At least for the preseason. The Roughriders announced on Monday says the Grey Cup champions will host -- as the visitors -- the expansion club in a preseason contest on June 14. Nike Roshe Run Flyknit Italia . "Im pretty beat right now," admitted John Salmons, one of four players coming to the Raptors from Sacramento in the deal, finalized Monday, that shipped Rudy Gay out of town.It shouldnt come as a disappointment anymore for England supporters. They are used to this. Losing. It isnt underachieving when the team isnt good enough. This is as good as it gets. Whenever Englands Brazilian journey comes to an end (they havent been eliminated, yet) the diehard support and those responsible for overseeing English football will hold on to the positive moments. Flashes of ability and promise are what constitute hope. "They werent that bad" is excused as progress. The play of the likes of Sturridge and Sterling, and the futures of Barkley and Shaw will be used as evidence brighter days ahead. Yawn. Weve heard this before. Weve done this song and dance. The days of a semi-final shoot-out loss in Italia 90 are long gone. Lets not go back to 1966. The failures have piled on, one less painful than the next. Success would be a surprise. Losses to more intelligent and superior football nations are the expectation. The English should be immune from the feeling of devastation or outrage. From a Golden Generation not good enough, to the likes of Rooney, Lampard and Gerrard who have failed to capture the imagination. Its a vicious cycle of mediocrity. A 2-1 loss to Uruguay is just the latest chapter. England was poor. Nothing new. The how it happened is what drives home the obvious. Too weak in too many areas and lacking true top talent to break down their competition. Out-managed. Out-witted. Out-classed. Uruguay only completed a pathetic 64 per cent of passes. The South Americans struggled in build up and were content to sit back. It was an astute page out of Italys book from Englands opening match; sit-back and force England to break you down. Dont get beat for speed. And counter-attack. Thats what Uruguay did, and credit for executing. They got stuck in and remained organized. Forget basic statistics telling you England dominated possession with Uruguay on the back-foot. It was calculated. It worked to perfection. A basic approach against a basic team. Simple. The game winning goal incredibly came directly from the Uruguayan goalkeeper Fernando Muslera. A ball put on the ground and a long ball played out. Simple to defend, right? Apparently not. Edinson Cavani dropped deep all match to expose long-in-the-tooth Steven Gerrard sitting on top of the England backline. For what the England captain has in experience, he lacks in legs because of the kilometers accumulated. Cavanis aerial challenge of Gerrard forced a wayward header backwards from the England midfielder. Luis Suarez, as proper poachers do, tucked in behind the backline looking for an advantage. He gambled and he won, as Gary Cahill got caught. Suarez was clinical in finish and again showed his special talent. A game breaker and match winner, something England doesnt have. Likewise on Suarez opener, he exposed Englands backline. The Uruguayan number nine did well to create the needed space on the far post behind Phil Jagielka. The ball played to Suarez by Cavani was all-world. But it was two Uruguayan players on six England defenders. Nobody put pressure on the ball. And to leave Suarez lurking on the far post wasnt good enough. Not to mention is was a missed tackle by Gerrard in the midfield, leading to the attack. Two England centre-backs and two mistakes leading to goals conceded. Cahill and Jagielka are experienced at the position, at least at the club level. They are the best in the country at the position and they were exposed. The best England has at an all-important position and not good enough. Its the same story at the other end of the field. Not good enough. Wayne Rooney and Daniel Sturridge are more than fine players. They are very good. But they are not at the same levels of other top forwards in this tournament, let alone not the top forwards on their own club teams. Therein is the difference. The likes of Rooney and Sturridge require real substance around them to be at their best, and thats fine. They are better the complimentary piece rather than the focus at this level. p; When played appropriately, they can shine.dddddddddddd In this England team, their play often times is representative of the whole. These are the best England has and they are not good enough. The midfield, a make-shift, comprised of decent parts with no direction on how its supposed to work. Jordan Henderson had a fine season on a good attacking Liverpool team. Yet something suggests he has the makings of becoming the next Sinclair, Wright-Phillips, Mills, or Parker – take your pick of the long list of players youll ask, "Did he really play for England?" Is he really the best England really has? The rest of the midfield is all over the place. The left-side exposed defensively and the movement in attack not creative or consistent. Passing the ball around without purpose wont break down a back line. Its no surprise this area of the field is stagnant and lacks influence. And the manager, oh the manager. Roy Hodgson saw fit to keep Englands double-pivot of Gerrard and Henderson on the field in a game begging for attacking players to breakdown the Uruguayan defensive wall. Comically, two holding players were preferable to keeping on Sterling or Welbeck, or even throwing on a Rickie Lambert until after England went down. The options at Hodgson arent flattering. But neither were the tactics. The very least Hodgson could have done was shuffle the deck. Bring off a defensive midfielder or ineffective wing-back in preference of another attacking player. Change the shape. Instead, the end result of a cautious approach was not good enough. Some will suggest Ashley Cole and Jermain Defoe should have been in the England set-up. Leighton Baines has struggled and another forward option off the bench could have proved decisive. Arguments can be made but how much of a difference they would have made most likely would have been negligible. It made more sense to include Michael Carrick in the squad as a holding midfielder able to provide distribution. But then again, this is a country deeming Paul Scholes not a proper fit to be an England regular over the course of his career. The best England had, but not good enough? Theres a pattern here. Selection issues are nothing new. But no matter who dons the England kit, are they ever good enough? There have been phenomenal performances over the course of the first week of the World Cup, both by individuals and team. Honest assessment would tell the standard of football played by the true top football nations is a step beyond England. Its all very disturbing considering important players for the likes of Chile and Colombia (etc…) are buried in the League Championship, or in some cases not deemed good enough for even that. This should trouble the English to the core. But it wont. Overrating their own talent has become a past-time and feeds the beast. Criticism and finding scapegoats has become a past time. In reality, these are the best players they have. And they are not good enough. The Premier League is the most entertaining league in the world and the most popular. It is not the best. Englands best players are not even the top talent in their own domestic league. Taking a look in the mirror doesnt always cast a pretty reflection. But the look in the mirror is necessary. Acceptance is needed. This was a day England will never have a better context to beat a Uruguay team as such on a stage made for a statement performance. The weather was an ideal 14 degrees Celsius for the hardened English. The opponent was missing two of their preferred back-four. The star player was not 100 per cent. And Uruguays confidence was shaky coming off a shock 3-1 loss. England didnt let it slip away. They were incapable of seizing the moment. It is possible England can still advance from the group stage, even though a team losing their first two games at a World Cup has never done so. Italy must beat Costa Rica then Uruguay, and England will need a comprehensive victory over the Ticos to have superior goal differential. But really, would that constitute success? Squeaking by would be as good as it gets for a team not good enough. Cheap Soccer Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys cheap jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China ' ' ' |
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