Neo Workxx » or all of Pettys titles, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Inman

Team Sweden is devilishly clever. Its players exude a quiet, calm confidence. There are plenty of reasons to believe that Sweden -- considered a perennial powerhouse among European teams -- will win the World Cup of Hockey. Its team is loaded with talent, depth, experience and goaltending. Pride is a major factor for Sweden, and its players have said time and again how badly they want to win this best-on-best tournament.How Team Sweden could winIt starts with?Henrik Lundqvist. The 34-year-old goalie has not played in a game since April 23, when he gave up six goals on 23 shots and was pulled after two periods in the?New York Rangers 6-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins?in the series-clinching Game 5 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. He took time during the summer to reflect and refocus his efforts to prepare to represent his country at the World Cup with the hope it will be a springboard to the regular season with the Rangers.Besides Lundqvist, Sweden has the best overall defense corps in the tournament. The blue line of Victor Hedman, Anton Stralman, Erik Karlsson, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Mattias Ekholm and Hampus Lindholm has the ability to dominate the opposition in every part of the game. Those players will also help offensively and can shut down any opposing offense in this tournament.The top forward line of Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin and Loui Eriksson has been outstanding. Beyond that trio, opponents also have to deal with Filip Forsberg, Nicklas Backstrom and Patric Hornqvist as a second line. Depth and puck possession are key for Sweden, whose special teams, especially the power-play unit, are major weapons. Karlsson will basically quarterback both units from the point, and the Sedins, Eriksson and Larsson will join him to make up the first power-play unit.How Team Sweden could loseIf Sweden does lose, it will be at the hands of an extremely talented team. Opponents will try to limit the Swedes puck-possession time. If Sweden doesnt have the puck, or cant get it -- or if Lundqvist isnt sharp -- that could be its downfall. With that in mind, the Swedes focused on winning faceoffs during the pretournament, so quickly gaining possession of the drop will be key.Health is, of course, a factor for every team, but Sweden cant afford to lose anyone else. Before training camp, captain Henrik Zetterberg, goalie Robin Lehner, defenseman Niklas Kronwall and forward Alexander Steen?all bowed out of the World Cup. Forward Rickard Rakell was recently scratched from the roster because of an unspecified illness. Despite all that, Sweden begins the tournament in good shape.What to watch for: To win big, Swedes must think smallSince this best-on-best tournament is being played on the smaller North American ice surface, goals will be at a premium. Most goals should come from the dirty areas in front of the net, so Sweden spent a lot of time during camp working on small-area games. That forces quick decisions with the puck and the Swedes want that to become second nature, because teams will attempt to push them around in those areas. Keep an eye on young forwards Forsberg and Jakob Silfverberg. Both are coming into their own for the national team, and this could be the perfect stage for their continued development. Yeezy Scontate . No. 13-seeded John Isner and No. 21 Philipp Kohlschreiber were among six players who dropped out of the tournament on Tuesday, joining No. 12 seed Tommy Haas and two other players who withdrew on Monday. Yeezy Scarpe Sito Ufficiale . Clarke was injured while practicing on the Doha Golf Club range after the pro-am on Tuesday. The Northern Irishman arrived at the course on Wednesday hoping to start, but after hitting a few balls on the practice putting green Clarke advised officials he was not fit to play. http://www.yeezyscarpeitalia.it/ . -- Gus Malzahn finally had his day in Fayetteville. Scarpe Adidas Nmd Uomo Italia . -- The Sacramento Kings are set to become the first major professional sports franchise to accept Bitcoin virtual currency for ticket and merchandise purchases. Nmd Scarpe Italia .Y. -- Sabres forward Drew Stafford has witnessed plenty of turmoil during his eight seasons in Buffalo. HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- The celebration was a bit messy. That tends to happen when history is made.?As Jimmie Johnsons Chevy blew burnout smoke along the Homestead-Miami Speedway frontstretch and his crew hugged it out behind him, the ticket buyers bum-rushed the gates. Race fans funneled through an opening in the catch fence that lines the grandstand and poured over the shoulder-high wall that separates pit road from the racing surface. By the time track workers had set up the stairs to aid their climb, it was too late. They were on the track by the hundreds. And only a few of them wore Jimmie Johnson gear. That did not matter.?I thought people were supposed to not like Jimmie, right? observed Johnsons employer, Rick Hendrick. I said on Friday that I felt like a guy like him wouldnt be appreciated until his career was done.The just-crowned 12-time champion car owner looked over the still-growing crowd being showered in confetti.But it looks like they are doing a pretty good job of appreciating him right now, doesnt it? Hendrick said.? ?Johnson, the 41-year-old Californian, outran the field on a wild final restart, holding off two of his four fellow championship competitors, as well as Kyle Larson, the noncontender who had dominated the 400-mile event. With the win, Johnson became only the seventh driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to reach 80 wins. That was merely his second-most impressive record of the night -- a distant second.?Johnsons seventh Cup title places him alongside Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt to share the most coveted line of the stock car racing record book. His march to that accomplishment has not been easy.He grew up on the low end of the income scale in Southern California, where he became a desert rat, an off-road truck racer. His personality and work ethic endeared him to the builder of those trucks, Chevrolet, and it pushed him into stock cars.He moved east and slept on other racers couches while working to find his NASCAR footing. When Jeff Gordon was wowed by Johnsons fearless style while driving second-tier Busch Series (think Triple-A baseball) equipment, he impossibly tabbed the kid to drive for the team he was cofounding with Hendrick.No one -- especially not Johnson -- foresaw the near-immediate success that followed.?Yet, somewhere along the way, Johnsons story became twisted, from the blue-collar truth into a silver spoon myth. Some of that was rooted in his ride. Hendrick Motorsports is the New York Yankees of NASCAR. More money, more resources ... so, no way the driver could actually be great, right??Petty heard the same complaints in the 1960s and 1970s as he blew past the records set by NASCARs pioneers, including his father, three-time champion Lee Petty. But by the time he won his seventh Cup in 1979, he was the sports most beloved figure.?Earnhardt dealt with even more vicious criticism, directed at his steel-toed driving style and a perception that he was handed multiple advantages by Chevy and even NASCAR. It is conveniently forgotten to history now, but when The Intimidator clinched his seventh Cup at Rockingham, North Carolina, in 1994, the crowd reacted with as many boos as cheers.How dare that scofflaw tie The King!But eventually, even the naysayers embraced Earnhardts greatness.?I think you end up getting what you deserve, Dale Earnhardt Jr. explained, having just left a stage celebration that included his teammates, Gordon and Johnson, as well as a conga line of visits from Tony Stewart, who had just finished his final Cup race, and Kyle Busch, a former Hendrick teammate and one of the fellow title contenders Johnson had to hold off at the end.I think peoplee are coming around, Earnhardt said.dddddddddddd Hes always had a great understanding with his people, his fans. Now others are realizing how great he is.?I can tell you this, Earnhardt continued. I have no doubt that you can take Jimmie, my dad and Richard Petty and they would have won championships races whenever and wherever they raced. If Jimmie had raced against Dad, Dad wouldnt have won seven championships; and if Dad had raced against Jimmie, he wouldnt have won seven championships.Again, I think people are coming around. I hope so.?? ?????? ?Thats why Hendrick said what he did on Friday -- that Johnson would be appreciated only through the rearview mirror of time. But the crowd that climbed and shoved its way into his celebration on Sunday night never uttered as much as one boo. Instead, there was thunderous applause, from the grandstand in front of him to the skyboxes behind him.?There was no shortage of questions about how this title was earned. The caution flag that set up the madness -- a pair of late restarts and a red flag -- created plenty of online outrage.Austin Petty, grandson of Richard, tweeted that NASCAR was doing all it could to help Johnson win. (Petty later took the tweet down.) On any other night during Johnsons career, that would have been the prevailing sentiment. Come Monday morning, when sports talk call-in shows crank up, it might be again.?But thats not what the Homestead crowd was running with on Sunday evening. They were running with their smartphone camera apps open, eager to capture the moment.Before the race, when they put the four of us [Cup contenders] in the truck to do a lap around the track, usually I get flipped off, like a lot, Johnson recalled of traditional parade laps. I mean, I get flipped everywhere, every state, no matter where we are. So today, I looked up and they had their hands up, and I realized they werent holding up one finger. They were holding up seven -- so maybe, with what we were trying to do, no matter what hat they were wearing, we had their support today.?Earlier in the day, around the team transporter of Richard Pettys famous No. 43 team, there was a lot of talk about history and what it might mean should Johnson match their boss famous mark.The crew chief for all of Pettys titles, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Inman, embraced the idea. (Its likely easier for him to take because he actually has eight titles, winning another with Terry Labonte.) Standing alongside Inman was his nephew, racer-turned-NBC analyst Kyle Petty.The Kings son got visual with his explanation of it all, using a Sharpie to sketch out various peaks to show the eras of his father, Earnhardt and Johnson, with connectors of the others -- the one-, two-, three- and four-time champs.Its like looking at a mountain range, Kyle Petty said. Theres plenty to look at, but the tallest peaks are pretty obvious arent they? It makes it impossible not to notice those guys.??? ?On Sunday night, amid the crushing throng on the Homestead-Miami Speedway frontstretch, they were certainly noticing and perhaps -- finally -- appreciating Jimmie Johnsons ascension to one of those all-time pinnacles.?Honestly, Im a Dale Earnhardt Sr. fan, and Ive always hated Jimmie Johnsons ass, said Bill Lindon of Ocala, Florida, one of those fans who had pushed his way to the edge of the temporary stage NASCAR rolled out atop the start-finish line. But this is a chance to see something thats only happened twice before.I can still think hes great even if I still hate his ass, right? ' ' '