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enough not to limit the highest echelon of players to a specific total number.This is the part of the story w
enough not to limit the highest echelon of players to a specific total number.This is the part of the story w
in Introduce Yourself As A Pony! Fri May 10, 2019 3:49 pmby dasg234 • 815 Posts
STOKE, England -- Stoke striker Wilfried Bony scored twice against his former club in a 3-1 victory over Swansea in the English Premier League on Monday, leaving American coach Bob Bradley still seeking his first win in charge of the Welsh club.Bony put the hosts ahead after only three minutes before Wayne Routledge equalized for the Swans five minutes later.Stoke went back in front 10 minutes after the interval with an own-goal by Alfie Mawson, and Bony headed in a third goal to put the result beyond doubt in the 73rd. It was the third straight league win for Mark Hughes Stoke.Bradley lost 3-2 at Arsenal in his first game with Swansea and drew 0-0 at home to Watford in the second.Stoke moved up to 12th while Swansea stayed in the relegation zone, five points from safety.Bony hadnt scored since December last year but grabbed two against Swansea, both set up by Joe Allen, who had been heavily linked with the Swans before Stoke swooped this summer.Xherdan Shaqiris near-post corner was nodded into the air by Neil Taylor and Allen reached it, knocking the ball into the six-yard box with his left foot to leave Bony the simplest of finishes to get off the mark.Bradley saw an equalizer from his teams first attack. The recalled Fernando Llorente held the ball up for Gylfi Sigurdsson and he lifted a cross into Routledge, who headed in the equalizer.Stokes Charlie Adam struck either post with left-footed attempts before Marko Arnautovic was frustrated by the woodwork after collecting Allens pass and shifting to the side of Swansea goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, with a narrowing angle working against the Austrian as he fired against the post.Stoke would take the lead again not long after, although it came via a Swansea player.Glenn Whelans superb pass was latched upon by substitute Ramadan Sobhi and he fired toward the far post, with Mawsons intervention only diverting it past Fabianski.A third Stoke goal arrived 17 minutes from time as the Allen-and-Bony connection worked again. The Welsh international fired into Fabianski and, when the ball came back to Allen, he flicked to Bony to head home.Swansea felt aggrieved when Routledge was denied a penalty.Referee Michael Oliver motioned toward the spot as he was pulled down by Erik Pieters but, after consultation with his assistant, he gave a free kick outside the area, with replays showing contact occurred in the box.Authentic Jerseys Cheap . Ouellette, from Montreal, already has three Olympic gold medals since joining the team in 1999. Wholesale NFL Jerseys . LOUIS -- Mike Smith is used to facing plenty of shots, so this was nothing new. http://www.wholesalejerseyscheapauthentic.com/ .ca NBA Power Rankings, ahead of the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. Cheap Jerseys From China . A knee to the thigh might have stung him the most, but his sixth straight double-double made up for the brief burst of pain. Wholesale Jerseys Cheap . LOUIS -- St.Id like to think were collectively smarter about anointing golfs biggest stars than we were at the beginning of this year. Id like to think we learned something about the game at its highest level -- and more importantly, something about ourselves -- but maybe thats just wishful thinking.It wasnt so long ago that the idea of a Big Three was prevalent among those who observe the game on professional and recreational platforms. And yet, it was long ago enough that I actually had to look up exactly who those three players were. The answer: Jason Day, Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson. Thats right -- way back in early 2016, we somehow categorized the worlds best players and didnt include a guy named Rory McIlroy. This is the same Rory McIlroy who wound up winning the FedEx Cup and was far and away Europes most imposing team member at the Ryder Cup.So yeah, sometimes we dont know nearly as much as we think we know.That is, unless you never bought the Big Three hype and considered it a Big Four. But that, too, still eliminated deserving contenders. Some insisted wed need to throw in Henrik Stenson for a Big Five, plus?Adam Scott for a Big Six or even plus?Patrick Reed for a Big Seven.If this all sounds silly, thats because it is. All of it. As much as wed like to compartmentalize this generation with an updated version of Jack, Arnie and Gary, thats not a viable option anymore.I was reminded of this idea once again while watching Hideki Matsuyama win the WGC-HSBC Champions this weekend.Youd be hard-pressed to find many people who had Matsuyama in their Big Eight or Big Nine or Big Ten or whatever it was earlier this year, but the man is good. Like, really good.In lieu of adding another really to that adjective, I submit these numbers: In his past four worldwide starts, hes been top five in all of them. Six of his past nine, too. Extend that over the past 12 months, and his top-10 results have more than doubled his missed cuts.One week after moving into the worlds top 10 for the first time after a runner-up finish at the CIMB Classic, Matsuyamas 7-shot victory vaulted him to sixth in the world -- behind only Day, McIlroy, Johnson, Stenson and Spieth.ddddddddddddaybe he needs to contend in a few more major championships to move into that next tier on golfs hierarchal stratosphere, but we shouldnt neglect the fact that his two MCs in majors this year were sandwiched by a T-7 at the Masters and a T-4 at the PGA Championship.If there exists a main criticism of Matsuyamas game, its his putting, which often ranges from passable to pitiful. For the PGA Tour season that just passed, he ranked 103rd on the greens, posting a negative score in the strokes gained putting statistic.Not one of those numbers, though, is as important as this one: 24. Thats his age, several years younger than young guns Day and McIlroy (who are barely clutching to that moniker these days) and less than 18 months older than Spieth.All of which suggests Matsuyama should be in the conversation about the best players right now, part of some Big Six, if you will.Except that would repeat this silly process all over again.Any golf aficionado knows enough to not overly credit anything that happens in the years final three months, just as we should now know enough not to limit the highest echelon of players to a specific total number.This is the part of the story where I should warn that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Lets not rush to judgment here. Lets not automatically launch Matsuyama into some imaginary upper tier, but lets not exactly leave him out of the conversation, either.Theres a delicate balance here, but maybe we collectively learned something over the past year. This business of casually ranking the games elite is fickle, at best. At worst, it makes us appear foolish when circumstances change. This much we should know by now. ' ' '
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