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Storylines in the Rugby World Cup 2015

Although not as popular outside Australasia, the British Isles, France, and South Africa, rugby union and the Rugby World Cup has continuously shown growth (in terms of viewership) in the past couple of years. For the uninitiated, the sport might seem barbaric at first glance but it really is a complex mix of physicality, team play, and strategy. The Rugby World Cup, an event that’s held every four years, is a venue where the top international teams stake out their claims of being the best in the sport.

Pool Play and the Knock-out Stages

This year’s iteration of the tournament features 20 teams divided into four pools. The tournament will start off with the teams competing against other teams in their own pool at least once. To determine standings for the pool phase, a match points system is in place to reward teams based on the wins, draws, and loses that they incur. The top two teams from each pool will then proceed to the first of the knock-out stages of the competition: the quarter-finals. Teams who lose during the quarter-finals will be eliminated from the competition while the teams that win are guaranteed at least a runner-up finish.

Storylines that Need to be Followed

New Zealand’s All Blacks have been one of the most dominant teams in the sport for quite sometime now and are currently the defending Champions (as well as the tournament’s inaugural champion). The All Blacks are also trying to become the first team to successfully defend their championship. To achieve this, they’ll have to go through Georgia, Tonga, Argentina, and Namibia. With Argentina already taken cared of, New Zealand figures to come out on top (at least during pool play) due to relatively weak competition in its pool. Host nations England and Wales are currently heading a competitive Pool A which also features another perennial powerhouse in Australia (with Fiji and Uruguay rounding out the field). France and Ireland are off to a great start in Pool D by winning their respective first matches and might be on track to the quarter final considering the competition isn’t as strong as compared to Pool A. 

The Brave Blossoms and Pool B

Other than New Zealand’s bid to defend its championship, perhaps the most compelling Pool to follow this 2015 Rugby World Cup is Pool B which has Japan’s Brave Blossoms. Earlier this week, the Japanese team shocked the world by claiming its first win of the tournament off of a close match against no less than South Africa. The win over South Africa also served to help the Brave Blossoms climb up in the world rankings from 13th to 11th place. On the other hand, the Springboks fell down to 6th with England now replacing them at 3rd place (by virtue of the English team’s win over Fiji in Pool A play). Of course, pool play is far from over and the Springboks can still turn things around and qualify for the knock-out stages. However, it would be interesting to see how far Japan can go this year especially since they’ll be hosting the Rugby World Cup in 2019.

Fifa considering lifting hijab ban. Should religion be allowed in football?

First it was Qatar getting the world cup in 2022 now it appears that one of the FIFA vice presidents thinks it is time to remove the hijab ban. 

Jordan’s Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein, a FIFA vice president thinks it should be removed because there are safe ways to wear the hijab. You can find more about the article in thestar article here.

The problem is for some countries this is religion being pushed on other people. What is next, other countries taking advantage of this head gear allowance and people will be able to wear beanies and say this is their religion like saying they are Pastafarians for the religion the flying spaghetti monster. 

In France the hijab-veil has been banned and certainly if a game was in France they wouldn't be able to wear the hijab because they would be breaking the law. 

Apparantly the ban has already been in place for 5 years. The game of football is a world sport and it shouldn't be used as a tool to promote politics or religion and FIFA has their own rules about having politicians interfere with the national football clubs. Clearly this is a big conflict of interest and one has to wonder if money is involved in these decisions. 

In France which is starting to become a more muslim country the veil is already starting to divide the population.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13031397

NCAA March Madness betting

Who will win the 2011 NCAA March Madness basketball tournament? If you think you know then maybe you should put some money on the line. Playing in brackets can be fun but it you want to enjoy the entire tournament then it is best to make your picks and watch the games with some bets.

March Madness Tournaments and Bonuses

BetOnline sportsbook is a bonus friendly book that will give you a lot of value over the whole tournament. You can collect signup bonuses plus play in their March Madness contests.

BetUS sportsbook is offerin ga $5 million bracket contest

The NCAAb tournament gets a lot of buzz year after year and also more punters are using mobile phones to place their bets. There are many sportsbooks you can do your betting with but we recommend BetOnline and BetUS online sportsbooks. 

Collect betting bonuses when you signup and keep an eye on your inbox to get more bookie bonuses.

Ready for another boring season of baseball?

Baseball is a boring sport. Sure it can be fun to play it but the idea of spending money on a ticket to watch players make $20 million in a year while standing around with chewing tobacco in their mouthes doesn't sound appealing to me.

Most people say that baseball isn't exciting until the playoffs start. That is because you have too many games in a season, like over 160 is almost a game every day. It is too much for a fan to want to deal with. I mean if you have season tickets to a team it gets really boring after a while. I mean cricket is probably far more exciting.

MLB baseball also isn't as competitive anymore. Look at the leagues with salary caps, NFL and NHL. Any team can win and the NFL has had a cap for a long time and it certainly makes it far more exciting to watch.

Team Canada collapse 3rd period: Russia takes gold

Team Canada had probably the worst collapse in the history of the world junior hockey championships with a 3-0 lead going into the 3rd period only to see Team Russia score 5 unanswered goals to stun the 'home' crowd of Canadians in Buffalo. Canada looked to secure their 6th gold medal in their last 7 appearances in the gold medal game but fell short on epic proportions.

Team Canada now get their 2nd silver medal in a row while the Russians win for the first time since 2003 when the tournament was in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Many fans in at the game were in tears and the Canadian players looked completely dejected but have nobody to blame but themselves. There were very few Russian fans at the HSBC arena and what looked like a certain loss turned into an unbelievable comeback.

Team Canada MVP World Junior hockey 2011

Who should be the Team Canada MVP at this years World Junior Hockey Championship taking place in Buffalo, New York? There are many good players that are leaving their mark on the tournament so let us look at some of the shining starts for Team Canada.

Mark Visentin

Olivier Roy has started most of the games for Team Canada but lost his job after losing to team Sweden which forced Canada to take the long route to get to the gold medal. Mark Visentin was the player of the game against Team USA stopping 22 shots. While his save percentage is high his best asset has been his stick handling and with him in the net against the Americans they played with a confidence and determination never seen by this team in the tournament.

Ryan Ellis

Ryan Ellis is more than just the team Captain but he is playing in his 3rd world junior championship tournament and is now the all time leading scorer amongst defenceman. His agent is Bobby Orr and he is playing just like him being a high scoring defenceman that changes the game with his hockey presence, speed through the neutral zone and consistent outlet passes that stretches the opponents defence. He has truly done it all this tournament.

Brayden Schenn

The younger brother of Luke Schenn, Brayden has made his own name for himself leading the tournament in scoring and tying Mario Lemieux and Simon Gagne for most goals scored in a game at 4. He has won some of the games himself and been the tsn turning point in many of them already.

Casey Cizikas

Casey Cizikas made this team because the coaching staff felt this guy does anything to win. He was called upon to be the utility guy to do it all from defence, to shot blocking and to chip in with offence when possible. True hockey fans will know that some of his plays alone could warrant him as the MVP of the entire tournament. He showed his teammates in the first game against the Russians what he was made of nearly single handedly taking on multiple Russian players and eating up valuable power play time while generating a scoring chance as well. That was the play of the game against Russia and the turning point when Canada took over the game. He has also scored timely goals and added some points when the team needed them the most.

Ryan Johansen

As the tournament moves on Ryan Johansen has made a name for himself and started to give problems to the opponents defence and goalies. He is a big tall strong young man who plays a smart cycle game and is doing what it takes to score goals in any league, go to the net. He has gone to the net and is getting rewarded and learning fast. He provides screens and is picking up loose pucks and punishing the opponents in the offensive zone.

Ryan Ellis Team Canada MVP 2011

If you have to pick one player to fill your roster Ryan Ellis is automatically the number 1 choice. He has too much experience in this tournament and he is the leader that all the other players look up to. He solidifies the team defence and can single handedly break down any defence.

 

World Junior hockey championship final Canada versus Russia 2011

Canada takes on Russia in the final of the world junior hockey championships taking place in Buffalo New York, United States. The Canadians suffered a shootout loss to Sweden which forced Team Canada to play a quarterfinal game against the Swiss team. Perhaps that extra game gave the Canadians a chance to fine tune their game and prepare for the Americans.

The semi-final game against the Americans saw a delirious crowd at HSBC arena that was mostly made of Canadians. Even though the Americans were the home team they were booed when they hit the ice by the Canadian fans. The 2010 final saw the Americans beat Canada on their home ice in overtime to win their 2^nd ever world junior championship. The Canadians got redemption and completely ran over the Americans with a final score of 4-1 but the Canadians dominated the game. If it wasn't for Jack Campbell the score could have easily been 8-1 for Canada. The Canadian goaltender Mark Visentin was the player of the game as his puck handling skills helped the Canadians counter attack which on the first goal of the game Visetin was the player that kick started the first goal.

In the other semi-final game Team Russia fell behind to team Sweden 3-2 with 2 minutes left to play. With 1 minute left in the game the Russians tied it to send the game to overtime and with no result there, the game went to a shootout. In the shootout Golubev was the only goal scorer as the Russians upset a strong team Sweden that was well rested and the Swedish players looked absolutely heart broken on the ice while the Russians celebrated their 2^nd come from behind victory in as many days. The Swedish goaltender was upset after the game about the referees yelling icing on a play where the whistle never blew and this caused the Swedish defence to let the Russians score without any challenge. This controversial goal means Sweden will play the Americans for the bronze medal while Team Canada players in their 10^th gold medal game in a row and looks to recapture the gold they lost last year to the Americans. At least they have the satisfaction of dumping the favourites from the tournament.

Overall both the Russians and Canadians had to player 2 games in 2 days and perhaps that might have been the difference as the lack of rest meant both teams had to play not only desperate but they were both absolutely focused on winning.

BCS is stupid

The BCS system of awarding the national championship in NCAA football is stupid and it really doesn't help decide who is the best team at the end of the season. Every year this discussion happens where everyone seems to agree both fans, sports writers and even the players think the system is stupid and complicated. The best teams never always get a fair shot at winning the big title.

So will there be a new system in place? The truth is having a playoff system is a huge logistical nightmare and the one thing people don't consider is that these kids playing American football are also in school and don't have the luxury of playing whenever someone wants them to.

Good luck BCS bs

2010 year of sports

The 2010 calendar year is closing and it's been quite the year in sports.

Tiger Woods has maybe his worst year ever. Golf is now officially boring.

LeBron James and Chris Bosh leave their former clubs to join the superfriends team in Miami.

Brett Favre finally snaps his iron man streak in NFL something that will probably never be challenged.

Spain wins its first world cup title in dramatic fashion over a violent Dutch team. Andres Iniesta scores the extra time goal that would give them the world championship.

Michael Vick is potential NFL MVP. He is playing amazing.

Donovan McNabb signs huge contract but proves he is a washed up quarterback.

Major League Baseball proves that it's a league that might fail in the future that doesn't cap team spending. See teams like the Yankees just inflating contracts of players.

Shogun knocks out Machida to become the UFC light heavyweight champion.

Cain Velasquez knocks down Brock Lesnar to become the UFC heavyweight champion.

Fifa awards world cups to Russia and Qatar. Russia I can understand but Qatar? Either this is the worst choice ever or more Fifa officials received large sums of money for this bid as Qatar has perhaps one of the largest GDPs in the world. It looks like they bought their way into this one.

Happy New Year and here is to another great year in sports signing off for 2010 and welcoming 2011.

NHL pre-season

NHL pre-season is around the corner and here is a look at some of the teams around the National Hockey League are making waves.

Chicago Blackhawks

Chicago are the champions but don't look like the same team as they did when they won. The salary cap strapped Blackhawks had to get rid of a ton of key members of their Stanley Cup championship team namely Kris Versteeg and Antti Niemi. Expect them to lose in the 2nd or 3rd round. They did pick up Marty Turco, great goalie.

Toronto Maple Leafs

They added Kris Versteeg and Colby Armstrong. Actually this team looks very similar to the one that placed 29th last year. Of course everyone in Toronto is optimistic but they don't have Tyler Seguin. Who knows if Kaberle will stick around after having problems with coach Ron Wilson. It is tough to finish in 30th or 29th so expect this team to at least do better than last year. That isn't saying much.

Montreal Canadiens

Who knows what this team is doing. They trade Halak and keep Carey Price who hasn't signed. Well he did sign now but who is the GM making idiot decisions like this? The only thing looking good for the Habs this season is PK Subban. 

Ottawa Senators

Here is a team that will probably not do too much this year. They have so so players and Jason Spezza is a bum. He doesn't play defence and he wouldn't be worthy of the 2nd line on Detroit Red Wings. Just don't ask him about Dany Heatley ...

New Jersey Devils

They finally signed Kovalchuk. He actually might do something in New Jersey besides become really rich. Devils have a history of winning so a player like Kovalchuk doesn't fit but who knows, maybe he is hungry and wants to actually play in the post season.

Detroit Red Wings

Expect them to come back strong. Not having Frazen hurt the team so expect them to dominate.

Vancouver Canucks

Canucks fans get ready for another horrible season where you think your team is hot stuff but fails miserably in the post season. Sedins will put up points in the regular season but expect that to disappear when the playoffs come.