Funkerstation » like Anderson and Broad and know how to utilize that, they

ATLANTA -- As cars speed on Techwood Drive by Hank McCamish Pavilion, the venue for thousands of basketball games, another much-anticipated sporting event is ready to kick off across the street for its second season of the year. ELeague, a collaborative project between television network Turner Broadcasting and sports management agency WME|IMG, is set to host four teams in its first group as it prepares for its second season of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive action.And for Jason Moses OToole, a former Counter-Strike player of analyst and casting fame, he prepares to once again provide analysis to hundred of thousands at home watching on television and on livestreaming platform Twitch. Moses, for his part, is known as one of the best, if not the best, North American analysts, often partaking in the analysis desk of most events within the Counter-Strike scene.Today, hes set to analyze a wide array of teams as North Americas Cloud9, Brazils Immortals, Germanys mousesports, and European-mixed team FaZe Clan have upcoming matches. This group, ELeagues group A, has some key differences from its sister groups.Group A lacks some of the strengths and [brand] names like some of the other ones, Moses tells ESPN. It doesnt have the Ninjas in Pyjamas, the Fnatics, Na`Vi, Virtus.pro obviously, but it still has some very interesting storylines. Can mousesports repeat? What are they going to look like after the [Tomá? oskar ??astny] situation? Cloud9, obviously, can they continue this run? How are they going to continue to look as they go on? Immortals, who I think is a dark horse, they dropped their first map. There is kind of some cool, interesting storylines without the strength of name.Moving forward, two of the groups, in particular group B and C, pit some of the best -- such as G2 Esports, Ninjas in Pyjamas, and Virtus.Pro in group B and Natus Vincere (Na`Vi), SK Gaming, and Astralis in group C -- against one another. But only two teams can make it out of each group alive and move on to playoffs.With the way [ELeague] has cut the groups down to the four groups of four, there are a lot of groups out there where you cant predict a winner, Moses says. There are very, very good teams that are going to be left out of the playoffs just because [there are groups] that are basically only good teams.ELeagues format change for this season, shortening the season from six groups and a last chance qualifier to four groups who automatically seed into playoffs, comes after feedback from teams, such as Virtus.pro, who had to stay for extended periods of time in Atlanta last season. Now with the new format, many teams have been seeded in extremely difficult groups.But if previous Counter-Strike tournaments are any indication, group B may be one of the best tournament groups any Counter-Strike competition will see this year. Polish team Virtus.pro, who is expected to top that group, is the best team in the world right now, according to Moses.Its rise to contest for first comes after the previously undisputed first place team, SK Gaming, who won both Major League Gaming Columbus and ESL One Cologne, have been in a slump since the departure and now return of Fernando fer Alvarenga; he was absent from the team for an extended period of time due to nasal surgery.I think also part of it has to do with those couple of months off [SK] took when fer was out with his surgery, that natural decay over their spot from just not competing in too many tournaments while Virtus.pro is doing a massive tour of the world, Moses explains. I wouldnt put Na`Vi up there as a danger to take the number one spot yet, just because I think they have critical issues in their map pool that looks very weak; I think thats whats going to stop them, despite the amount of skill [they have] and [the fact that] theyve been able to overcome [map pool weakness] to a certain degree.The Counter-Strike scene, for the past few months, has taken a swirling change with massive roster moves on both major continents, North America and Europe. Some teams, such as Cloud9 and Na`Vi, have seen improvement from said changes, while others like Fnatic and Godsent -- who made a swap with one another for several players -- have taken a hit in their performance.North America has seen improvement this year as well, particularly with Team Liquid, who took third-fourth at Columbus and second at Cologne, as well as a third-fourth recently at ESL One New York, showing moments of fantastic play. But Liquids lacked consistency and Cloud9, at least online, has recently shown that it too should be taken seriously.Despite these small weaknesses, Moses, a former North American player of the game, has an optimistic outlook.Its obviously the best weve seen North America; this region is the strongest its been, he says. Still, I think there are a lot of question marks. Im not sure, this Liquid team is like the eternal tease of North America, where all the roster changes and coaching changes theyve gone through over the entire year, theyve always been poised to get there.He says his questions lie in that of Liquid, Cloud9 and OpTic Gaming, each of which have had some good performances, but have failed to remain consistent. Consistency will be key if North America, as a region, wants to perform well at the upcoming ELeague major, the first of 2017, at Atlantas Fox Theatre. Moses has a pick for which NA representative will go the furthest.I dont think were going to see an American team in the final again [at the major in January], he explains. Cloud9, its going to see how things shape up with the group draw goes; I would still say at this moment that Cloud9 is the best hope [for North America] right now.He says he wont count out Liquid though, who has had two great major performances in 2016. But with a roster change in July of adding Jacob Pimp Winneche, the team has looked off base from its previous outings with former player Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev. Additionally, Liquid has just parted ways from coach Luis Peacemaker Tadeu, who signed on in May.I think Liquid, if they can fix some of their issues, if they can find a way to get [Josh jdm64 Marzano] a little bit better, continue to improve with Pimp, I think theyre going to be the best hope come January, Moses says. I still think that that roster still has better pieces to be a stronger team, they just havent realized it yet and thats been the story of this core of [Nicholas nitr0 Cannella, Jonathan EliGE Jablonowski and Spencer HiKo Martin] ... since mid-2015, since whenever HiKo joined on basically.But as Counter-Strike moves into 2017, a glaring issue within the industry has come to a head: oversaturation. With many investors and tournament organizers taking interest in Counter-Strike in 2016, events have become plentiful, too plentiful in many cases. Often times, teams dont get breaks nor much time to practice before competing online or offline. Many players and teams complain that there are too many events, something Moses agrees on.To end this year, we have, even outside of ELeague: minors, the major qualifier, theres another DreamHack event, theres IEM Oakland, theres like four or five events coming in the end of the year and theres only two months [left] in the year, he says.Recently, one team, Australian squad Renegades, had to cancel its trip to the ESL Pro League finals in S?o Paulo, Brazil, as they have to travel to Johor Bahru, Malaysia instead to compete in the Asian Minor. There they will play to earn a chance to play in the major qualifier for the ELeague major in January. Much of the Counter-Strike community was outraged by this scheduling issue when it was announced.Thats atrocious, the Renegades situation should never happen, Moses says on the topic. This team qualified for a huge event with the ESL Pro League and they should never be forced to choose between that and going to a minor. Unfortunately, you look at it and who can you really fault? Thats the tough part because these minors have to get scheduled at some point and with the way were going at it, and Ive heard about this same issue with different tournament organizers, where theyre looking for space to fit their league or tournament or whatever it might be, but no matter where they put it, someones getting screwed.But theres no easy solution and Moses says that hes certainly not in the position to come up with one. Some of the Counter-Strike community on social media has expressed that teams should just not attend events, but Moses says that doesnt make sense.Thats just, to a certain degree, not realistic when you dont know in esports how long Counter-Strike is going to be around, when you get a tournament thats $250,000, $500,000, were starting to get some high prize pools, he explains. As a player and being competitive, you want to go to all of them. Its not always realistic, whether its sponsors, whether its the exposure of an event, whether its your organization wanting you to go. Its not always a simple yes or no answer for players, especially considering the fact that when youre a team performing well -- weve seen it with multiple teams -- that your window to win championships is very, very small. Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys . The Barrie Colts defenceman, who impressed many with his play for Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship, is the top-ranked skater in the February rankings. He has 19 goals and 24 assists for 43 points in 45 games with the Colts this season. Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping . Mitch Holmberg added a goal and three assists. Connor Chartier also scored for the Chiefs (3-0-0). Luke Harrison spoiled Garrett Hughsons shutout bid with a power-play goal at 13:17 of the third period. 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Alastair Cook has dismissed allegations of ball tampering against his England side as a load of rubbish.Englands seamers used reverse swing to cut through the Pakistan batting on the final day of the Edgbaston Test, claiming, at one stage, four wickets for one run. It left England leading the four-match series 2-1 with only the Oval Test left to play.Some news organisations in Pakistan have subsequently broadcast footage of England in the field at Edgbaston and suggested that they tampered with the ball in order to gain reverse swing.Although that footage, particularly footage showing Joe Root vigorously shining the ball, looked innocuous and the Pakistan camp have dismissed the allegations, the story has rumbled on for a couple of days.Its a load of rubbish, Cook replied when asked about the allegations. Someone showed me the clip on Twitter of Rooty shining the ball. Its just shining the ball, isnt it?Lets be honest. Its shining the shiny side of the ball on his trousers. Its an absolute load of rubbish as far as Im concerned. Its so far-fetched that its just nonsense. I dont think it will affect anyone, it certainly hasnt affected our changing room.Cook also expressed disappointment that the story might overshadow what has been, until now, a good quality series played in fine spirit between two well-matched sides. While previous encounters between the sides have been tainted by various controversies - not least when some in the British media made similar allegations against Pakistan players - this one has been notably free of such issues.Weve been talking about cricket for three Test matches - for the first time in a series Ive played against Pakistan, Cook said. And hopefully well be talking about the cricket - good or bad - at the end of this next game.Its a little sideshow and hopefully it stays there. Both sides should be commended for the way theyve played so far.Mickey Arthur, the Pakistan coach, confirmed that there had been no complaints from his team to the match officials at the time or subsequently and Misbah-ul-Haq also played down the allegations. Indeed, the Pakistan captain suggested his bowlers could learn from the way in which England cared for the ball.We dont just want to get into those things, he said.dddddddddddd The game is over and credit should be given to the England team for the way they bowled and got us out. That was a super spell by all their bowlers, especially after lunch. That happened, its gone and we have to focus on the coming game. We should have played better.Reverse happens and sometimes on the last day it happens because the pitch is so dry. There are right ways to roughen the ball. You bowl cross seam, throw the ball from the boundary on the ground, you shine it from one end and these are legal ways to roughen the ball. You care for the ball and the team which does better it achieves reverse swing. This is an art, a science and whole time you have to care for the ball.We have to carefully look at it so that our bowlers can also achieve that. We have to take care of the ball and these days one or two bowlers bowl cross seam so that you hit one side of the ball on the pitch, we have to do that.England bowlers are experienced like Anderson and Broad and know how to utilize that, they know the conditions. Our seam bowlers have played less cricket so they have to learn that and care for the ball. We have to gain that experience and concentrate on that.We were a little bit concerned, the way it just happened just after the lunch, because it was not doing anything until the fourth day and suddenly it started. But obviously the fifth day is different and it could happen. The umpires are there, the match referees are there and I am not there to check those things.I think they are very good bowlers and a very good side. Especially Anderson and Broad. These bowlers know what to do especially how to take care of the ball day, how to reverse it specially. There was concern the way it just swung in that hour, but we are not taking anything ahead of that.The on-field umpires check the condition of the ball at the end of each over and when a wicket falls. The TV umpire can also advice on the basis of what they see on their screens. The ICC have confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that no complaints were made by the umpires and that there is no on-going investigation. ' ' '