Stars und Sternchen! » on Bart Starrs

SOELDEN, Austria -- Tina Maze has improved one place on the womens overall World Cup each year -- from fourth in 2010 to winning it last season. Is there a way she could top it this season? There is; a first Olympic gold medal. Main rivals label the outspoken Slovenian as the undoubted favourite for the overall title again, two days before the ski season gets underway with Saturdays giant slalom on Rettenbach glacier, where four-time former overall champion Lindsey Vonn will be missing. "Its going to be difficult," Maze said. "Last season, I didnt focus on the points (total) or the number of podiums. I just focused on racing and thats what I want do again this year." Maze, who turned 30 in May, won 11 races last season, taking the GS and super-G titles, and racking up a record points total of 2,414. She also became only the sixth female skier to win events in every Alpine discipline, with Vonn the only other active achiever. Maze capped her season by winning super-G gold and two bronze medals at the world championships in Schladming, Austria. "Not for Lindsey or for Maria (Hoefl-Riesch, the 2011 overall champion), but it was important to me that I showed who is the best skier," she said. "Still, you can always do better." Her rise to the top started in 2008 by starting her own independent team, led by her Italian coach and partner Andrea Massi. The team lost long-term coach Livio Magoni, who joined the Italian womens team in the off-season. He has been replaced by Walter Ronconi, who previously worked with GS specialist Massimiliano Blardone. The change initially unsettled Maze, Massi said. "When Walter came, communication was difficult," he said. "For Tina it was not easy to have new people in the team. She needs continuity. Tina always wants brief information. When she won her first medal (at the worlds) in 2009, I said four words to her and that was enough. Some coaches speak too much about the weather, the turns, the position on the skis. You need to be brief." Massi said the situation "is better now" and that it didnt affect Mazes preparation too much as "we stuck to the same schedule as last year but started two weeks later to have more time for regeneration." The pair used the extended break for a 10-day trip to the Maldives, though Maze said "living without sports made me nervous. But my body needed the rest." Training during summer included practice sessions with the Austria mens speed team and with Marcel Hirscher, the two-time mens overall champion. "I always learn from people who are better," Maze said. "There are many things the men do better. They take more risks, they are more consistent, without feelings or too many emotions." Last season, Maze succeeded Vonn, who had won the overall title four times in five years. The American has recovered from her season-ending right knee injury at the worlds in February, but said she didnt feel ready to race again, postponing her return for another month. "It was her own decision," U.S. womens head coach Alex Hoedlmoser said. "Shes experienced enough to know what she can do and what she cant. ... If you want to race, you want to be competitive. She knew that shes missing training days -- everybody knew." Vonn returned to Colorado in Wednesday and will resume training there ahead of the first speed events in late November. Vonns teammates Julia Mancuso and Mikaela Shiffrin, who finished fourth and fifth respectively in the overall standings last season, hope to gain ground on Maze, starting with Saturdays GS. "Tina is definitely favourite," Mancuso said. "We had the big rule change on GS skis last year and she proved to have figured it out. She is right there and the person to look out for and try to beat." Shiffrin, coming off her breakthrough year which included the slalom World Cup and world championship titles, said shes been "working hard on my GS and I feel like Ive made a lot of improvements, so its just a matter of racing now ... I dont have any expectations." Hoefl-Riesch was Mazes closest challenger last season, finishing runner-up but trailing the Slovenian by a massive 1,313 points. "After last season, who else could be favourite?" the German said. "Her strength was her consistency, which really lasted for the entire season. It wont be easy for her to repeat that." Jordan 11 Authentic Cheap . Cornet won six straight games to rally from a 2-0 deficit and take the first set. The 25th-ranked Frenchwoman broke back twice in the second set before Bacsinszky saved a match point at 5-4. Wholesale Air Jordan 11 Australia . - Loosening up for their first training camp practice, the Miami Dolphins high-stepped sideways up and down the field while House of Pains song "Jump Around" blared on the loudspeakers. http://www.airjordan11australia.com/ . Ibrahimovic put PSG ahead when he got in front of his marker to neatly flick in Lucass cross in the 59th minute. New signing Yohan Cabaye came on as a second-half substitute and headed Ezequiel Lavezzis cross against the post in the 87th. Moments later, Lucas set up another goal from the right when fellow countryman Alex turned in his corner with a strikers finish. Air Jordan 11 Retro Australia . Or at least on everyone elses expectations. Costa Rica followed up its surprise win over Uruguay with another World Cup stunner on Friday, beating four-time champion Italy 1-0 to secure a spot in the next round and eliminate England in the process. Air Jordan 11 For Sale Australia . Grilli hasnt pitched since straining his left oblique in late April. Manager Clint Hurdle says the right-hander will make a couple of appearances in middle relief before the team determines whether to return Grilli to the back end of the bullpen.Frozen memories, for sure. Frostbite memories, even.In the history of NFL games, none stands out for the brutal conditions in which it was played like the NFC championship on the last day of 1967. Simply dubbed the Ice Bowl, those who participated in Cowboys-Packers that day at Lambeau Field still shiver when talking about it.With Dallas paying its first post-season visit to Green Bay since losing 21-17 on Bart Starrs quarterback sneak with 13 seconds remaining on that frigid day, recalling that game 47 years ago is timely.Painful, too, if you were a Cowboy.Its something you cant imagine, being in that kind of cold, says Dan Reeves, whose 50-yard halfback option pass to Lance Rentzel on the first play of the fourth quarter put Dallas ahead before Green Bay rallied and advanced to the second Super Bowl against Oakland.Id been in games around 5 or 6 degrees and it was not even close to being like that.Like that was anywhere from minus 13 with the wind chill at kickoff to 10 or more degrees colder when Reeves threw his pass.I think it was weird to have that weather because it dropped about 32 degrees overnight, Reeves adds. The forecast was to stay the same as it was, and when we worked out it was 15 degrees the day before.But the Cowboys knew conditions had changed when they got their wakeup calls that Sunday morning at the Holiday Inn. The telephone operator told them it was 16 below, and the clerk at the front desk warned of minus 41 with the wind chill.Gil Brandt, then the Cowboys player personnel director, noticed three bus drivers standing by a fireplace in the hotel lobby. Each was wearing galoshes, which Brandt referred to as big boots.I said, Where did you get those big boots, and they told me a local store. I asked if they could you take me down there, but they said the store was closed on Sundays.So Brandt bought a pair of the $9.95 galoshes from one of the drivers for $20.Brandt wasnt done. He also wore long johns, an overcoat that was knee-length, and a down jacket over the overcoat. He took a stocking cap and cut holes in it for his eyes and ears: I looked like a hockey goalie out there with a mask on.The Dallas equipment staff gave each player a salve to rub on to help keep him warm, and put saran wrap around their feet because it kept the heat in your body better, Brandt recalls.Did all that help?Not much, Brandt says. George Andrie and Jethro Pugh (who died Wednesday) got some frostbite. I dont think anything prepares you for that kind of weather.Certainly not back then, when there were no high-tech gloves or form-fitting undergarments to help keep warm. The only gloves available were the cotton types, and neither Hall of Fame coach — Green Bays Vince Lombardi nor Dallas Tom Landry — approved using them.ddddddddddddBut linebacker Dave Robinson opted for survival rather than obedience.During the game, Vince Lombardi said he didnt want us to wear gloves. He didnt want anyone to miss the ball because of the gloves, says Robinson, one of 12 Hall of Famers who played in the Ice Bowl.I told our assistant trainer — he gave me a pair of brown gloves — that they wont notice. I had them on for running plays. When they snapped the ball right away you could tell run or pass, as I soon as I could tell it (was a pass he would discard the gloves). ... He never caught me.Packers guard Jerry Kramer, behind whom Starr sneaked for the winning points, grew up in northern Idaho and had hunted ducks at 25 below zero.So I knew about the cold, I knew how to prepare for the cold, and I knew that the cold wouldnt kill me, he says. But I did put on thermal underwear, cut off @ the knee and elbow. A wool dickey around the neck and back a little bit, and then I put on gloves. I was able to focus on the game and not focus on the cold.Hardly anyone else managed that.Dallas middle linebacker Lee Roy Jordan — yep, a Hall of Famer — isnt sure he ever got caught up in the football or the historic nature of the game.I dont think we cared about history there for the next four or five years, he says. We were still trying to get warm two or three years later.Not only the players suffered during the game. Referee Norm Schacter tore a piece of his lip off while trying to remove the whistle from his mouth. Some of the other officials also had bloody lips.Brandt noted that the Cowboys normally had 20 or more people on their sideline during the game. For this one, a throng of zero hangers-on.Zero also was the number of folks in the stands at Lambeau when the teams came out for early special teams warmups. Yet, when they headed onto the field for the coin toss, the stands were full.Members of the Packers and Cowboys who were there usually point to one player as being the most uncomfortable: Dallas receiver Bob Hayes, another eventual Hall of Famer.Bob Hayes had his hands down in his pants the entire game, Jordan recalls. I dont know that Bob caught a pass that game (he had three for 16 yards). He didnt run many routes because he always had in his hands in his pants trying to keep warm. A South Florida kid thats never seen anything like zero degree weather.If its that cold Sunday, take note: Dallas has five players who went to college in Florida, Green Bay has four.___AP Sports Writers Schuyler Dixon and Genaro C. Armas contributed to this story.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL China NFL Jerseys Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys NFL Jerseys Cheap Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap Basketball Jerseys Online Stitched Hockey Jerseys Wholesale Baseball Jerseys Football Jerseys Outlet College Jerseys For Sale Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys For Sale Wholesale NFL Jerseys ' ' '