DALLAS SPORT

The Story of the Premier League

The English Premier League (EPL) is a top flight league for association football teams, in England. The League is run as a corporation of which the 20 member clubs are shareholders.

Every season, matches start in August and go on till May the next year. Each team play every other team, once at its home venue and once away, thereby playing 38 matches in all, which translates into 380 matches, played mainly on weekends, with occasional week day matches.

The League is sponsored by Barclays Bank, and is officially known as the Barclays Premier League.

The 80′s marked a low point in English football, when the football infrastructure began to crumble, English players’ standards fell, as compared to those of European players, and football hooliganism became rife.

The lowest point was reached when English football teams were banned for 5 years from 1985. Things took a turn for the better when England performed well at the 1990 World Cup, reaching the Semifinals. Also, after the Hayworth tragedy, a decision was made to improve the infrastructure of stadia across Britain.

The EPL was formed in 1992 by teams that decided to break away from the Football League, founded in 1888. Their chief incentive was a television rights deal. They would also be free to negotiate their own sponsorship agreements.

However, the television rights are sold collectively. From 1996-97 onwards, the tournament has been dominated by the big four, namely, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. Manchester united has never featured outside the top three, in any Premiership season.

This is the story of one of the world’s richest Football Leagues, with the combined revenues exceeding 3 billion dollars, per annum. It is also the highest rated league in Europe by UEFA, ahead of Spain’s La Lira and Italy’s Series A.

Since 1888, 23 teams have won the football league. The EPL which has completed 18 seasons has had 4 winners. Manchester United has won it 11 times, Arsenal and Chelsea, 3 times each, and Blackburn Rovers, once.

Once the EPL came into existence, the relationship between the Premier League and the Football league was exactly similar to that between first and second division football in the previous era.

Initially there were 22 teams. This was reduced to 20 in 1995 when four teams got relegated and only 2 teams were promoted from the Football League (now called the Championship League).

Opening weekend of the 2010 college football season will find the LSU Tigers battling it out with the UNC Tar Heels in the Kickoff Game in Atlanta. These two top rated teams have played six times in the past, the most recent being in 1986. The LSU Tigers have a 5-1 advantage in these meetings.

LSU’s NCAA Division I teams are always a force to be reckoned with in the Southeastern Conference. They have been particularly successful in the last decade. This is their sixth year with head coach Les Miles, who has amassed an impressive 51-15 record at LSU. Under his tenure they have been National Champions and SEC Conference Champions in 2007 and have won four bowl games. This year’s schedule includes eight conference and 4 non-conference games. LSU claims three National Championships in football, in 1958, 2003, and 2007. They have had ten SEC Championship Football teams. The Tigers also claim a Heisman Trophy Winner- Billy Cannon in 1959.

The LSU Tigers’ home turf is Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Tiger Stadium, nicknamed “Death Valley”, has been called one of the most dreaded road playing sites in college football. The stadium holds over 92,000 fans, and the noise level is known to be deafening. LSU plays the majority of its home games at night under the lights. Tiger Stadium opened in 1924 and has been enlarged a number of times over the years. It is currently one of the largest college football stadiums in the country.

LSU has a proud history. The university opened in 1860 and is Louisiana’s flagship university. Its main campus is in Baton Rouge, on 650 beautifully landscaped acres adjacent to the Mississippi River. The current student enrollment is over 21,000 undergraduates. Their sports teams are known as the “Fighting Tigers”, and the mascot is a live Bengal-Siberian tiger whose 15,000 square foot habitat is across from Tiger Stadium.

The CFA Kickoff Game in Atlanta is the leading season opening game in college football. This year’s game will take place on September 4 at the Georgia Dome, and will air nationally on ABC. The Kickoff Game was created by CFA and ESPN in 2008, and always matches two top rated football teams in a neutral setting. In preseason polls, UNC is ranked at #18, and LSU is ranked #21. The game promises to be an exciting matchup.

One of the exercises that you can include is aerobics. This can be done on a daily basis in order to enhance your cardiovascular system alongside polymeric workouts to improve your jumping.

It is natural that in starting your polymeric workouts, you want to perform the easy ones first and slowly work on the difficult ones later on. This is not a hard thing to do as there are a lot of polymeric exercises that you can choose from. Squats are a good routine to start with for beginners and usually used by a lot of athletes. I have listed some guidelines as to what exercises must be performed and in which step these should be included in your routine.

First Step

As mentioned above, squats must be added to your polymeric workouts. If you claim that you have not tried it in the past, it is most likely that you have seen it on television or in a gym. It is simply a movement which most actors, singers and athletes always do. You start with your feet apart just about the length of your shoulder. Then bend your knees into a squat and jump back to the squatting position. To get the best results in vertical jumping, this must be done a lot of times.

Second Step

The other exercise which must be incorporated in your routine is lunging. Having multiple benefits aside from enhancing your leap, it also enhances your muscle tone, cardiovascular system and your weight. Lunging can be performed in a lot of ways so before starting the lunges, you need to examine all of them and then decide which one is good for you. When you have done this, your next move is to find out how to execute them appropriately to avoid injuring yourself.

Third Step

This third step is the most significant exercise that you must include in your polymeric workouts. They are the step-ups or at times referred as box jumping. It involves stepping on and off a hard facade to enhance both of your agility and speed alongside your vertical leap. Since this is also the exercise that will possibly cause you injury, you must be sure that the surface you will use is sufficiently tough and make sure to follow the instructions well.

These kinds of serves are called “top spin” because the direction the ball is spinning appears to be over the top of the volleyball. After you make contact the ball spins away from you and toward your opponent.

This type of spin helps the ball drop quickly downwards because that’s the direction it’s spinning. Servers who can consistently execute a top spin serve are generally feared when they step back to the serving line, because these kinds of serves are notoriously difficult to pass.

As a passer, just when you think you’ve gotten yourself into exactly the right spot to receive a top spin serve it will drop about 2 feet in front of you. It’s counter intuitive, but once you realize you’re dealing with a top spin server try to force yourself to take an extra step forward. This can make the difference between a good pass and a shacked pass.

How to Serve with Top Spin

To achieve the top spin effect you need to contact the ball slightly below its center with the base of your palm so that you can roll your hand over it as you serve. This will give it the spin that you need.

You’ll also find that it’s easier to contact the ball farther behind you to give you more time to achieve the necessary wrist snap. If you contact the ball in front of you like you would when attempting a float serve it’s much more likely that you’ll end up sending your serve into the net because the wrist snap takes too long.

The advantage of extra height (both on the jump and the distance the ball is traveling once it reaches the other side of the net) is why may jump servers use a top spin serve as their weapon of choice.

There was much talk before and after the 2010 US Open about the downfall of American tennis, particularly men’s tennis. The last time an American man has won a major championship was 2003. Andy Ruddick capture the US Open that year, and there has been a drought since that time. In sports it’s not that unusual for trends to be cyclical, and the American fans and pundits may be expecting too much. Though, you can’t blame the people for asking the question, “Were the American players”. There is such a rich tradition of players from the US winning major titles and being ranked in the top 10.

Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, and Pete Sampras helped US to remain atop the tennis world throughout the prior decades. Andy Ruddick looked to follow in that tradition and be a factor among the top two or three players for many years. Andy achieved the world’s number one ranking and has had his ups and downs since. His greatest misfortune was being on tour at the same time when Roger Feeder was at his absolute peak. James Blake is another prominent player of note for the US over the last few years. James was always a strong Davis Cup player and a factor in tournaments when he was playing his best.

Since Andy Ruddick and James Blake have peaked and the US Open was once again a disappointment for American men, the state of men’s tennis in America is being scrutinized. Younger players such as John Inner and Sam Quarry will be looked to the most to gauge the future of American success. But, it may be the players just behind Quarry and Inner that will bring the game back to its full glory in the US. Ryan Harrison, Jack Sock and Denis Kula are all juniors who had an impact at the open one way or another. Ryan Harrison qualified for the main draw and beat 20th ranked Ivan Bulimic in the first round. Ryan lost in the second round in a thrilling five set match settled by a tiebreaker. Jack Sock and Denis Kula met each other in the junior finals, with Jack Sock winning.