Saturday, June 30, 2012

Trento (Italia) – „Stadio Briamasco”

„Stadio Briamasco”
Este stadionul din oraşul italian Trento, aici având loc partidele formaţiei ASIS Trento. Arena a fost inaugurată în septembrie 1922, a fost modernizat în mai multe rânduri, găzduieşte destul de frecvent şi concerte şi are o capacitate de 4.227 locuri.
Trento
Este un oraş din nordul Italiei, situat pe valea râului Adige, în regiunea Tirolul de Sud. Are o populaţie de aproximativ 115.000 locuitori. Catedrala, piaţa din faţa ei, alături de numeroase biserici, pieţe şi palate, reprezintă cele mai importante repere turistice ale acestui oraş.

Kevin Garnett returning with the Celtics

Kevin Garnett returning with the Celtics, NBA


Garnett has decided to re-sign with the Boston Celtics for a three-year, $34 million contract. The NBA's free-agent period begins at 12:01 a.m. ET Sunday and players can officially start signing contracts on July 11.

Kevin Garnett 36, averaged 15.8 points and 8.2 rebounds for the Celtics last season. A lot of team are interested in getting him, but his loyalty to coach Doc Rivers made him likely to return to Boston once he decided to keep playing.

The Celtics have several other free agents in Ray Allen, Brandon Bass, Marquis Daniels, Keyon Dooling, Jeff Green, Ryan Hollins, Sasha Pavlovic and Mickael Pietrus. Allen is expected to be courted by the Phoenix Suns.

Source Yahoo

Turul Franţei, prolog, în imagini

Duminică, 1 iulie, partide internaţionale oficiale

Campionatul European, finala
Ora 21.45, Kiev: Spania – Italia
arbitri – Pedro Proenca – Bertino Miranda (foto), Ricardo Santos – Manuel De Sousa, Duarte Gomes (Portugalia) – Cuneyt Cakir (Turcia); observator – David Elleray (Anglia)

Călătorii. Deasupra norilor...

Am mers de câteva ori în viaţa mea cu avionul. Probabil că nu de prea multe ori, după gustul meu... Visam de copil la zborul cu avionul - dar cine nu visează?! - şi mulţi ani mi-am sucit gâtul privind la cer pentru a vedea te un avion. În urmă cu mai mulţi ani am fost pentru prima oară cu avionul şi m-am decis să împărtăşesc această experienţă... Continuarea, aici.

Al doilea meci din barajul pentru Liga lu' Lică a amânat verdictul pentru marţi

Voinţa Vadu Părului - Găzarul Surani 6-1
Marţi, 3 iulie, de la ora 17.30, pe stadionul "Matizol" din Ploieşti va avea loc meciul decisiv, Voinţa Vadu Părului - Unirea Cocorăştii Colţ, câştigătoarea asigurându-şi un loc în viitoarea ediţie a Ligii lu' Lică. În caz de egalitate, nu va conta golaverajul din celelalte două meciuri de baraj, ci se va trece la prelungiri şi, eventual, lovituri de departajare.

Next Week!!!

*Our story on Card Company Ratings based on their products

*Tuesday will be a Topps Flashback day with multiple posts. When we held a poll on what your favorite part of the blog was...The Flashbacks never got a vote so since we had multiple ones already put together we thought it was time to publish those!

*Hopefully some Panini products to review!

*Favorite Card Thursday (don't forget you can join in too and be featured on our blog!! email us at sportcardcollectors@hotmail.com with your card, why its your favorite and we accept entries from now til Wednesday!!)

*Card Previews

*Contest winner announced

*New contest up for 10,000 views part 2

*And all of the sport card news you can ask for from your number one source Sport Card Collectors!!!

Upper Deck's Promo Plans at the 2012 National!

At this years National in Baltimore, Maryland from Wednesday, August 1 through Sunday, August 5 Upper Deck will be running a Wrapper redemption program at their booth.

Collectors who purchase five HOBBY packs of any of the UD products (listed below) from a Certified Diamond Dealer and they will provide you with a voucher from Upper Deck. Bring that voucher and your packs over to the Upper Deck Booth and you will receive one of their 2012 Upper Deck National Sports Collectors Convention pack in exchange for the voucher you bring and the wrappers from your packs. These special packs from UD will be while supplies last.

Here are the participating products:
2011-12 NHL SP Game-Used
2012 Upper Deck Football
2011-12 NHL SPx
2011 College Football Legends
2012 SPx Football
2012 SP Signature Edition Baseball
2011-12 NHL SP Authentic
2012 Upper Deck Soccer

Here is a small gallery of what you could get!

Tiger Woods National Upper Deck
Base Card Design


Griffin National Autograph
Sweet auto


Finals MVP


Crosby Autograph National
Huge Contract just received..an auto of his would be sweet to have
  To find out more info and more pics try these Upper Deck Blog links below!

http://upperdeckblog.com/2012/06/upper-deck-announces-wrapper-redemption-promotion-for-2012-national-sports-collectors-convention-in-baltimore-md/

http://upperdeckblog.com/2012/06/brag-photo-2012-upper-deck-national-sports-collectors-convention-autograph-cards/


Friday, June 29, 2012

Helmond (Olanda) – „Lavans Stadion”

„Lavans Stadion”
Este stadionul din localitatea olandeză Helmond. A fost inaugurat în anul 1967 şi are o capacitate de 4.142 locuri.
Helmond
Este o localitate cu aproximativ 88.000 locuitori, care se află în sud-estul Olandei. Prima atestare documentară a acestei localităţi datează din jurul anului 1000.

A Model Provost

Western New England University Provost and VP for Academic Affairs Jerry Hirsch, center, models the commemorative t-shirt of the university delegation that will attend the 2012 Olympic Games in London this summer.  Senior marketing communication/advertising major, Marisa Harris, will join 14 fellow WNE students in a trip of a lifetime that will be led by Center for International Sport Business director Curt Hamakawa.

Istoria se repetă după numai doi ani!

În 2010, englezul Howard Webb era primul arbitru care conducea în acelaşi an şi finala Champions League şi finala celui mai important rueneu interţări din acel an. După numai doi ani, finala turneului final al Europeanului din Polonia şi Ucraina a fost încredinţată celui care condusese şi finala Champions League din acest an, portughezul Pedro Proenca
Englezul Howard Webb (stânga) devenea în anul 2010 primul arbitru din lume care conducea în acelaşi an atât finala celei mai importante competiţii europene intercluburi, Champions League (Bayern Munchen - Inter Milano 0-2, la Madrid), cât şi finala turneului final al Mondialului din acel an (Olanda - Spania 0-1, la Johannesburg). Până atunci,
mai marii arbitrajului european sau mondial evitaseră să delege acelaşi arbitru la cele mai importante două meciuri ale anului respectiv. Ceea ce acum doi ani a fost o premieră, acum pare a deveni tradiţie, finala EURO 2012 (Spania - Italia, duminică seară, la Kiev) revenind celui care a condus şi finala Champions League din acest an (Bayern Munchen - Chelsea 1-1, 3-4, după lovituri de departajare, chiar la Munchen), portughezul Pedro Proenca (dreapta). Într-adevăr, lusitanul a avut cea mai bună prestaţie de la acest turneu final polonezo-ucrainean, decisivă - probabil - în delegarea sa fiind prestaţia de la "sfertul" Anglia - Italia, din punctul meu de vedere, cel mai bun arbitraj de la EURO 2012.

Va mai finanţa noul Consiliu Local activitatea FC Unirea Câmpina?

După primul sezon în care au fost finanţaţi de la bugetul local, jucătorii de la FC Unirea Câmpina au reuşit promovarea în Liga a III-a. Dacă s-a cheltuit mult sau nu, este o altă discuţie, dar se pare că noua majoritate creată în Consiliul Local Câmpina după alegerile din 10 iunie nu mai pare dispusă să finanţeze cu aceeaşi largheţe activitatea de la FC Unirea. A spus-o chiar viceprimarul municipiului Câmpina, Ion Dragomir (foto), astăzi, în cadrul unei conferinţe de presă la sediul PSD Câmpina:
"Cu noua majoritate creată în Consiliul Local ne vom uita foarte atent unde se duc banii. Toţi cei care au fost ajutaţi de Primăria Câmpina şi apoi s-au înrolat în PDL, aşa cum este şi cazul lui Mara (n.r. - preşedintele clubului Unirea, Mărgărint Ciobotaru, cunoscut în lumea fotbalului sub apelativul "Mara") ar trebui să nu se mai aştepte la acelaşi sprijin şi cred că-i vom lăsa în continuare să-i susţină doar PDL-ul!"

Vineri, 29 iunie, partide internaţionale oficiale, rezultate

Campionatul European Feminin Juniori sub 17 ani
Finala mică
Nyon (Elveţia):
Elveţia - Danemarca 0-0, 4-5, după lovituri de departajare
Finala
Nyon (Elveţia):
Franţa - Germania 1-1, 3-4, după lovituri de departajare

FINALLY!! Prestige Football 2012 Now out!


Product image for 2012 Panini Prestige Football Hobby Box   
Look for(4) Memorabilia or Autograph Cards per box!  
One of the most anticipated football card releases of the season is now out. With NFL Rookies in their pro uni's this is very exciting for us football card fans!

Item image
Rookie Alternates are one per box
If any of you have been around on this blog for awhile now you will know our LOVE for this product. And now finally...we might be able to get our hands on some!

Item image
Sweet auto!

With autographs from all of the top rookies in their pro uniforms, the best base card design for the product ever, great looking inserts and some on card autographs this years version of Prestige is a winner.
Item image
Unique looking card

We hope to break some of the product whether its retail, hobby, one pack, two or a rack pack. And of course we will review it on here. We would also like to hear from you guys if you bust any and how you did with it!! Just comment below about your break or you can send us an email at sportcardcollectors@hotmail.com with what you busted and pics too if you would like! Maybe we will feature your break on our blog!












10,000 View Contest #1: Autographed UD NBA Card

To enter this contest other than the normal daily entering, you must like One of the Bring Back Upper Deck pages. Whether its NFL, MLB, NBA cards on Facebook. Tell us when you have done so in one of your comments or if you already do. They are the ones who sponsored these contests to help them out and to help us out. We have included the links to those pages at the bottom of this post. We will check with them to make sure our winner likes one of those pages. This card has a book value of $20. Good luck to everyone that enters! And as always, thanks for your support!!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bring-back-Upper-Deck-NBA-cards/125420660892207
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bring-back-Upper-Deck-MLB-cards/139965539433757
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bring-Back-Upper-Deck-NFL-cards/276839095678663

*The contest winner will be announced Friday morning (July 6th) so make sure you get your entry in before then
*To enter, please leave a comment in this post
*You can enter ONCE PER DAY! The more entries, the better chance you have at winning!!!!
*The winner will be selected at random
*You can win even if you have won before!
*Contests open to U.S. residents only! (sorry)
*Please provide your name and we will post the winners name on Friday and how to contact us so we can mail your card(s) out for FREE!!
*You must claim your prize by the following Friday or it gets given away again! Thanks!

Cardiff Met head for Sarajevo in Uefa Women’s Champions League

A student soccer team from Cardiff Metropolitan University will head for the Balkans this summer when they make their debut in Europe’s premier competition for women footballers.

The Met, reigning Welsh Premier Women's Football League champions, were yesterday (note: Thursday June 28) drawn in a Uefa Women's Champions League qualifying tournament based in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Qualifying tournament winners progress to the Champions League final 32 when opponents could include holders Olympique Lyonnais, Spanish giants Barcelona or previous European champions Arsenal.

From August 11-16, the Met will face host club and group top seeds SFK 2000 Sarajevo, Israeli outfit ASA Tel-Aviv and Irish hopes Peamount United, from Dublin.

The hosts are twice Bosnian champions and three times national cup winners. Their squad features internationals with Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia and America. In 2003-04 they beat Cardiff City 2-1 in the European Women’s Cup.

Met coach Kerry Harris said: “We’re thrilled with the draw; just seeing in black and white shows that the dream really is becoming reality.

“It’s going to be a fabulous opportunity for our students; we can’t wait to fly the flag for Wales and the Met.”

Karen Espelund, chairwoman of the Uefa Women's Football Committee, said: "This is the fourth season of the Women's Champions League in this form and the very start to the road to the pinnacle of European women's club football. The winners will be crowned champions in London on 23 May 2013."

The Cardiff Met team, known as UWIC until now, won the Welsh title in May. Their players, all aged 18-23 and amateur, have started an eight-week training programme leading to Sarajevo. It will include intensive conditioning and a series of friendlies.

Last season’s Welsh representatives Swansea City lost out at the qualifying stage.

More: www.cardiffmet.ac.uk, www.cardiffmetsu.co.uk, www.welshpremier.com, www.uefa.com


Thursday, June 28, 2012

Bolzano (Italia) – „Stadio Marco Druso”

„Stadio Marco Druso”
Este stadionul din localitatea italiană Bolzană, unde îşi dispută partidele de pe teren propriu două formaţii din Bolzano – FC Sudtirol-Alto Adige şi FC Bolzano 1966. Arena a fost inaugurată în anul 1936 şi are o capacitate de 2.798 locuri.
Bolzano
Este capitala provinciei Tirolul de Sud, din nordul Italiei. Are o populaţie de peste 104.000 locuitori, iar centrul său vechi reprezintă un adevărat punct de atracţie turistică.

The Lamest People on Earth are



















People who like to correct Spelling and Grammar.

People who  take inappropriate photos of Natural disasters. 

Teenagers who  pull out their cellphone and
 say "I'm putting this on youtube"

Middle age rude woman who work in an
office and often start a sentence with "Well my Husband"

 A male sexist and racist who says "Well that's
just being politically incorrect"


A ten/eleven year old boy  at school who starts most
conversations with  "Well my Dad"


A religious person who says "God made Adam and Eve
not Adam and Steve"


A female losing an argument and they scream
out "Mansplainer" to everything else someone says.

A internet activist who constantly uses the
term "White Privilege".

Socialists who  criticize America on blogs, yet they have never been there.

 Bloggers who call themselves writers.

People who walk into a near empty cinema and sit next to someone.

Boyracers who think people should care about their issues.


People who think  Rugby Union players are great sportspeople.

People who call Netball a sport.

People who blame the  Police for being too rough.

Bloggers who  delete comments, then tell
the person who commented that they suck without
a right of reply.

People spit or swear in my vicinity.

People who  scream FREE SPEECH but then tell people
to SHUT UP if they disagree with you.

People who  think they're cool because they tell people they
don't like Country Music.


People who like French Movies.


People who say  "I can cook better than Gordan Ramsay he
is overrated"


If you believe President Obama wasn't born
in the USA and health care is socialism.


Anyone who says FOX NEWS is fair and
balanced.







Cycling Up an Appetite: Women and Food

When I was in graduate school, a friend was conducting a research study that involved interviewing female students with and without eating disorders. This proved to be more difficult than she anticipated. Of the young women she'd recruited though a randomised process, all but one showed signs of disordered eating: She did not have a sufficient control group. So she dismissed her initial participant pool and tried again, only to get a similar result. Eventually this caused her to change the direction of the investigation: Her inability to recruit a group of university women with no history of eating disorders in itself became the theme of her research.

Looking back at this 10 years later, I don't think that she or I would have qualified for the control group of that study either. While neither anorexic nor bulimic, our eating was not what I would now consider normal. We were hyper-aware of our calorie intake. We knew our precise weights. We paid attention to the times of day we ate. After a meal, we would keep a mental note of the amount of exercise we'd have to do to compensate for it. The truth is, eating at that age for many of us was an inherently conflicted experience, the effect of food on our bodies ever-present in the backs of our minds. We were not fashion models and we were not athletes; we were university students. For most of us, it was not about our looks but about maintaining control in a competitive and stressful environment.

It was also a matter of having lost our natural appetite regulation mechanisms. We counted calories because we genuinely had no idea when we were truly hungry and when we were not. Our hunger and satiation signals were so out of whack with reality that we no longer trusted them. At age 12, feeling hungry simply meant I needed to eat something. But by age 22, this connection had become severed. There was nervous hunger, cravings for comfort food during all the endless studying, emotional eating. Lack of appropriate satiation signals could lead to overeating unless we were vigilant. And so we were, and it made us miserable.

How did this become the norm for so many women? Most likely it began with dieting during our teenage years and spiraled from there. We did not see it as abnormal, because we were neither puking up food nor outright starving ourselves. We were simply "eating healthy," watching our weight, making sure we maintained whatever clothing size we saw as being appropriate for our body types. But in truth we were suffering, and did not know how to put an end to it. In retrospect, I cannot believe how normalised this was in my generation of university women. Most of my female friends, acquaintances and colleagues had these issues and hid them with various degrees of success. Countless male friends have told me that they've never had a girlfriend who was not "weird" about food.

I cannot pinpoint exactly when things began to turn around for me. Possibly it was moving to a large city in my late 20s where I was suddenly doing lots of walking - not for exercise, but as a natural part of living and getting around. But riding a bike was what really accelerated the process of getting my appetite instincts back on track, so the connection is a strong one for me. Experiencing my body as a useful machine and not just as a bothersome appendage to my brain was what really did it. Through cycling I began to think of food as fuel. If I wanted to ride, I had to eat. And at age 30, for the first time in what must have been 15 years, I was once again able to eat when hungry and stop when full, just like I did when I was a child.

Since I began writing this blog, I have spoken with many, many women cyclists who describe similar experiences. Regaining trust in their hunger and satiation instincts for the first time since their pre-teens has been a gift more dear than they can express. And while cycling is not the only way to achieve this, it is certainly a great way, both fun and practical. Here's to all the women out there, cycling up an appetite.

YES!!!











Insurers cant deny coverage for pre existing
conditions.

A great victory for all in the USA.

SC Jerk

Oa swings 24kg: 5/5/5....

LC 2x24kg: 5, 5
SC jerk 2x32kg: 3,3,5,5,5
SC jerk 2x24kg: 2x 10reps
Bench press w 2x24kg: 3 x10reps

Lats still felt tired from Sunday's deadlift and Tuesday's few cleans. Thus, I decided to go easy on the back. I was happy with the few jerks I did.

EURO 2012, Germania - Italia 1-2. Imagini cu brigada francezului Stephane Lannoy

Vineri, 29 iunie, partide internaţionale oficiale

Campionatul European Feminin Juniori sub 17 ani
Finala mică
ora 12.00, Nyon (Elveţia):
Elveţia - Danemarca
Marte Soro (foto) (Norvegia) - Katalin Torok (Ungaria), Tzvia Malca (Israel) - Daniela Stricker (Elveţia)
Finala
ora 15.30, Nyon (Elveţia):
Franţa - Germania
Amy Rayner (Anglia) - Svetlana Bilic (Serbia), Yana Mazanova (Rusia) - Daniela Stricker (Elveţia)

Joi, 28 iunie, partide internaţionale oficiale, rezultate

Campionatul European, semifinale
Varşovia:
Germania - Italia 1-2

Do You Believe He Can Fly? Royce White and Reasonable Accommodations Under the Americans with Disabilities Act for NBA Players with Phobias

I have posted on SSRN an early draft of my forthcoming article in the Pepperdine Law Review: Do You Believe He Can Fly? Royce White and Reasonable Accommodations Under the Americans with Disabilities Act for NBA Players with Phobias.

The article is about Royce White, who is expected to be selected in the first round of tonight's NBA draft (rumors are the Celtics will pick him, though other teams are interested), and what impact his severe fear of flying will have on his NBA career. The article also considers the legal mechanisms that may be available to White under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Here's an excerpt:

If fear of flying constitutes a disability for White under the ADA, he could argue that the NBA or his team should accept any reasonable request for accommodation. They may disagree about what constitutes "reasonable". Allowing White to take a train from Boston to New York City, or even a ship to Europe, would probably be reasonable so long as White does not miss meetings, practices or games. Then again, White as a rookie traveling alone, might not gain valuable insight from conversations with coaches and teammates or develop camaraderie with them.

Seemingly less reasonable would be allowing White to miss a road trip. Unless he is injured, suspended or assigned to the D-League (the NBA's minor league), White will be contractually obligated to play 82 regular season games, along with four to six pre-season games, up to 28 postseason games, and possibly a handful of summer league games. No player signs a standard contract to play in "some games." Consider the impact of such an arrangement on White's coach: if White's only an occasional player, his coach might struggle to set his rotation. On the other hand, professional leagues have carved out exceptions for players to miss road games. This has been true of NBA players recovering from injury. Gilbert Arenas, returning from a knee injury in 2009, was allowed a flexible schedule whereby he would play in all home games but only some road games. Other circumstances have led to similar arrangements. Last year the Central Hockey League allowed Rapid City Rush forward Brett Nylander, a second lieutenant in the Air Force, to only play home games because his military service limited travel.

Hope you have a chance to read this early draft and email me thoughts.

Another Economic History of the US

At the Breakthrough Dialogue 2012 later this week I'll be giving a response to Michael Lind, of the New American Foundation and author of the recent book, Land of Promise: An Economic History of the United States with a focus on innovation.

I liked Land of Promise, but I will offer two critiques. One is that while history provides an unbroken narrative structure to economics, it can mask changes that make one era incomparable with another. This is illustrated in the slide above from my presentation.

It shows that in 1800 the size of the entire US economy (GDP in 2005 dollars) was the same size as the GDP of Pascagoula, Mississippi in 2005. (Data from here and here.) By 1850 the US economy had grown to the size of Rhode Island's 2005 GDP, by 1900 it was Virginia, and 1950 it was the size of California's 2005 GDP.

While I am sure that Robbie Maxwell, current mayor of Pascagoula, has some fine ideas on economic development, they probably don't carry the authority of invoking George Washington. Yet, both public officials manage(d) economies of comparable size. So I do have some issues with applying lessons from economic history to innovation-focused policies of the 21st Century.

That said, I do agree with Lind's bottom line:
"Industrial policy is not alien to the American tradition. It is the American tradition." (p. 465)
The bulk of my response will focus on explaining the mythology of the so-called "linear model of innovation" (discussed here in PDF by Godin) which surrounds Vannevar Bush and post-War US science policy -- which Lind accepts far too uncritically.  The linear model, married to a convenient misreading of economics theory, has restricted our view of innovation policy for decades.

Land of Promise is a stimulating book. Despite these issues, I enjoyed it a great deal. (See also David Douglas here).

Manny Pacquiao wants Floyd Next

Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather

According Ronnie Nathanielsz, Manny Pacquiao has asked promoter Bob Arum to make a bout with Floyd Mayweather a priority. Bob Arum has made it clear that they can only realistically working on the possible fight the world wants to see sometime next year.

Arum said "Obviously the one fight that Pacquiao wants is Floyd." "I don't think we have enough time to do it." Mayweather is in the middle of an 87-day jail sentence for domestic battery at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas.

Arum indicated that Pacquiao understand that the Mayweather fight is not going to be this November and that he would need to choose among Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez. However, no decisions were reached.

Age of Entry and NBA Success

Jun Woo Kim and I recently published a (non-legal) statistical article in the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports that looks at age and NBA success. A link to the article can be found here. The abstract is below:

The NBA’s age eligibility rule is controversial. To examine the on-court efficacy of the NBA’s age eligibility rule, we test the effect of age of entry on NBA career performance. Our data set comprises the 332players selected in the first round of the NBA draft from 1989 and 2000. Using censored normal regression models, we found that players drafted at a relatively younger age have more successful NBA careers across three different metrics. To explore a beneficial effect of one year in college, group selection bias tests were conducted by comparing differences in career success between quasi-“one-and-done” players and players who entered the NBA straight out of high school. The results were consistent with our main analyses – players who moved into the NBA directly from high school generally perform better than players with a single year of college experience. We find no systematic evidence in support of the on-court efficacy of the NBA’s age eligibility rule.