In the nine seasons since Arsenal last won the Premier League from miao1234's blog
SAINT JOHN, N. authenticraidersshop.com/Khalil-Mack-Raiders-Jersey .B. - The Swiss were as surprised as anyone else by their gold-medal victory at the 2014 Ford Womens World Curling Championship. Binia Feltschers inexperienced Flims Curling Club foursome upset Canadas Rachel Homan 9-5 in Sundays final at Harbour Station. "Im speechless. Its like dream. Its awesome," Swiss third Irene Schori said. "We were very relaxed. We had nothing to lose and they were under pressure. "We are surprised. We did a great job the whole season, but we never thought we could win a medal at the world championship." Its Switzerlands second womens world title in three years after Mirjam Ott won it in Lethbridge, Alta., in 2012. Feltscher won an Olympic silver medal in 2006 playing third for Ott, but Schori, second Franziska Kaufmann and lead Christine Urech made their world championship debuts in Saint John. It was a deflating end for Canadas Homan, third Emma Miskew, second Alison Kreviazuk and lead Lisa Weagle out of the Ottawa Curling Club. The host country boasted an 11-1 tournament record going into Sundays final, but a devastating eighth end cost Canada. Leading 5-3 after seven, the Swiss scored three points on Canadian mistakes and Homan couldnt recover. More errors in the ninth forced Homan into a low percentage angle raise double takeout with her final throw. The Canadian skip missed and gave up a steal of three for the first time in the tournament. Down four points coming home, even a team as potent with the hammer as Homans had been couldnt generate four points. "Im disappointed we didnt finish off that last game," a stoic Homan said. "We had a really good week. "The whole game we just werent quite making the shots we needed to make." Homan went undefeated to win a second Canadian championship and earn a return trip to the world championship. The skip missed her last shot of the semifinal in Riga, Latvia, last year to give up the steal of a point and the win to eventual champion Eve Muirhead of Scotland. The Canadians settled for bronze in Riga and came to Saint John bent on moving two steps up the podium, not one. Muirhead opted to focus on the Winter Olympics in Sochi instead of participating in playdowns for this world championship. Canadas lone loss of the preliminary round was to Switzerland on Day 2. With runbacks and raises, Homan drained the Swiss of their offence in Fridays playoff game between the tournaments top two seeds. The Swiss felt no weight of expectations and Canada did. "A silver medal is still an improvement from the bronze last year," Kreviazuk said. "We worked so hard this year. It feels good to come out of this with at least a medal. "Tomorrow were going to look at the silver and be a lot happier. Right now, its a little tough to swallow. Im still proud and happy. I know I will be tomorrow." Winnipegs Jennifer Jones went undefeated in Sochi to claim Olympic womens curling gold last month, but Canada hasnt won a world womens title since Jones in 2008 in Vernon, B.C. Homan and Miskew led in shooting percentages at their position prior to the final, but shot 61 and 63 per cent, respectively Sunday. "They just made more mistakes than they usually make," Feltscher said through an interpreter. In the eighth end, Kreviazuk needed to put her draw on the top of the four-foot rings, but her stone stayed top 12. Miskews draw was heavy and Homan missed a freeze with her first shot of the end. She threw big weight to chip off one of her own stones to the button and missed, leaving Feltscher with a draw for three. "I thought I stuck it for shot and it just kept spinning," Homan said. The future of Homans team in Canadian curling remains bright if they continue on together as a team. Weagle, who turns 29 on Monday, is getting married in July. Her teammates are all 25 or under and in the early stages of their careers after earning their university degrees. The South Koreans, Chinese and Russians are full-time, paid athletes. The federations focus on a chosen few because those countries dont have Canadas depth. Canada determines its international representatives via the natural selection of regional, provincial and national playdowns. Qualifying for Canadas 2017 trials requires travelling to World Curling Tour events across Canada throughout the winter to earn ranking points. Thats a difficult commitment when juggling careers and families. "Its not a discussion weve had, but I cant see the girls backing down anytime soon," Kreviazuk said. "Youll probably see a lot of us." Kelly Scott, winner of the womens world title in 2007, recently announced her team is disbanding. "At this point, all the ladies are assessing where curling fits into their busy lives; complete with careers and young families," Scott said in a statement. Jones, 39, has a young daughter. It is unclear at this point if she wants to commit to another Olympic quadrennial. Earle Morris, who had a cult following at Harbour Station, has coached Homan for the better part of the last decade. He wasnt certain he would be coaching them next season because he too may take a break. "I think they will have a great future," Morris said. "The problem with curling and stereotypically with women is life gets in the way. We just have to hope thats not going to happen with this team. It would be hard to replace anybody on this team in their position. "Your motivation, suddenly its not the most important thing in the world when you have a little baby to worry about or a family to raise or work commitments. It is a challenge for women more so than men in that regard." Anna Sidorova claimed the first womens world curling championship medal for Russia by scoring two in the 10th and stealing one in an extra end in a 7-6 win over South Koreas Ji-sun Kim. "I just dont have enough words to describe my feelings," said Sidorova, who went 3-6 in Sochi. "Now Im pretty sure we are able to play at a really high level and were able to beat everybody. We just need to execute well and believe in ourselves sometimes." Albertas Kevin Koe won the Tim Hortons Brier and will represent Canada at the mens world championship Saturday to April 6 in Beijing. The 2015 Scotties Tournament of Hearts will be held in Moose Jaw, Sask., and Sapporo, Japan will be the host of next years womens world championship. Saint John drew approximately 44,000 people to Harbour Station for the nine-day event. The last world curling championship at Harbour Station in 1999 drew 96,000 when it combined both mens and womens events. Since they were split into two separate events in 2005, Grande Prairie, Alta., holds the attendance record for the womens event at 60,000 the following year. Gabe Jackson Raiders Jersey . As well as "Dolla Bill" and "Sheriff Gonna Getcha." Clinton Portis was released by the Washington Redskins on Monday, ending a charismatic and sometimes contentious seven-year stay that, for a while at least, made him the face of the franchise. Derek Carr Womens Jersey . -- The San Jose Sharks chose centre Tomas Hertl of the Czech Republic with the 17th pick in the first round of the NHL draft on Friday night.Britains national weather service announced this week they had suffered their wettest winter ever. Yet, when Arsenals players woke up on Saturday morning, the calendar had turned to March and the sun was shining. In Stoke, of all places. The white ball was back, a sign that the harshest conditions were behind us, but also a stark reality that the final stretch of the season was now here. Arsenals journey, in the marathon that is the Premier League season, had so far been a success with them spending much of the race out in front. Many onlookers expected them to hit a wall but here they were in March, now, and the only thing remotely looking like a wall was a brief meltdown as they passed through the red half of Merseyside last month. Four points against Manchester United and Sunderland, plus a win over Liverpool in the FA Cup, had put them back on track, sprinting into March with more and more believing they could be the first across the line when their race is run in Norwich on May 11. Yet, still there were the non-believers. "They have always been an outstanding team and they have great ability within their ranks," said Stoke manager Mark Hughes on Friday before going on to tell us what he really thinks: "but I just felt maybe they wouldnt have the ability to sustain a challenge. I think there are possibly stronger challengers, stronger teams that could take it away from them." Arsenals match with Stoke was only one of 38 encounters that will define their league season but given the time of the year and their history with this opponent, it felt much more than that. It proved to be a test they failed miserably. The result went against them, losing 1-0, as did the decisions, a questionable penalty call and a missed red card for Stokes Charlie Adam amongst them, but if Arsenal want the jury to make a decision on whether they are genuine title contenders, this would not be evidence theyd want to present them. The Gunners were unimaginative in attack, too narrow and slow in tempo. They lacked the creative brilliance that has so often helped them this season and the sharpness in possession. As often happens when they struggle going forward, they look to have too many similar players; ball treasurers who demand it and flock towards it. Oh, how they missed a Theo Walcott, someone in attack who can sprint on to a ball rather than run towards it. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who is showing he will one day be a fine player, offered this in all-too-brief substitute appearance late on. Stoke, of course, deserved credit for defending well and it should be noted that Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City have also not won there this season, but the concerns for Arsenal didnt start and end with the final result. "Its a defeat that hurts," said Wenger after the match. He added: "The consequences of this defeat could be very difficult to take and we will have to respond very quickly." Wenger is not a man that allows a conclusion to be reached based on one game but the choice of consequence as a word shows he has a concern that the league challenge could slip away. Arsenal ended the day in third place on 59pts after 28 games, four points off leaders Chelsea. On this same weekend four years ago, Wenger also met with the media at the Brittania Stadium after his team had won 3-1 against Stoke (to this day their only victory there in eight attempts). It was a sad day for the Frenchman after Aaron Ramsey had broken his leg but, despite being visibly angry and upset, Wenger admitted that he felt his team was very much in the title race after the win. Derek Carr Kids Jersey. Arsenal ended that day in third place on 58pts after 28 games, three points off leaders Chelsea. Arsenal faded down the stretch, going from an average of 2.07 points per game (PPG) to 1.70 in the last ten games, with 17 added to 58 to give them a total of 75. They finished third, 11pts back of winners Chelsea and they were out of the race with a month to go. Two years earlier, on this weekend during the 2007-08 season, Arsenal led the league with 10 games to go, sitting on 65pts to Manchester Uniteds 64 and Chelseas 61. At the end of the season, United won the title on 87pts (23 in their last 10 games), Chelsea finished second on 85pts (24 in their last 10 games) and Arsenal finished third on 83pts, going from an average of 2.32 PPG to 1.80 PPG (18pts in their last 10 games). With 10 games remaining in the 2010-11 season, Arsenal were second on 57pts, just three points off leaders Manchester United. Once again they faded down the stretch, going from an average of 2.04 PPG to 1.10 PPG, achieving just 11pts in their last 10 games to with a total of 68, in fourth, and 12pts back of winners Manchester United.Arsenal hit their wall while the best got stronger. 2009-10 -- Chelsea 25pts from a possible 302010-11 -- Manchester United 20pts from a possible 30 That is the nightmare scenario that Arsenal fans are concerned about happening again. The fixture list will ensure the Gunners will have their answer to this by early April. Of their last 10 league games, the four most difficult happen next - Tottenham (a), Chelsea (a), Man City (h), Everton (a) with the first three all happening this month, which also includes a trip to Bayern Munich and an FA Cup match against Everton. Talk about March Madness. After that, Swansea, West Ham, Newcastle and West Brom all come to the Emirates while Hull and Norwich welcome the Gunners. Last season, Arsenal achieved just 13pts from these 10 games (using Hull as Reading) losing at Tottenham, Chelsea and Norwich and at home to Man City and Swansea. It is their difficulties against these teams, coupled with their recent history, as title contenders through 28 games, that leads many to believe Arsenals pursuit of the finish line will fade quickly. Ironically, last season they ended the season extremely strongly, gaining 28pts from a possible 30 to qualify for the Champions League. Unfortunately, for them, at this time last season, they were already 24pts behind leaders Manchester United. In the nine seasons since Arsenal last won the Premier League, the average number of points achieved by the champions in the last 10 matches has been 22, with the lowest being 19 coming by two teams who were running away with the league - Chelsea of 2004-05 and Manchester United last season. Should Arsenal get 22pts from their last 10 games, that would give them 80pts, perhaps not enough to win the title but, likely, enough to maintain their challenge into May, and a haul that would show significant improvement considering they havent gotten over the 75. Arsenal players and fans are regularly told they have not won a trophy in eight years and, soon, that needs to change but, above all else, Arsenal finally need to be relevant title contenders into May, no matter who wins the league. Recent history suggests even that moderate, achievable goal could be beyond them. Upon the marathons completion, we wont just know if Arsenal were worthy title contenders, we will know if they were much better than their unsuccessful teams of the recent past. ' ' '
The Wall