youve got to come out and guard him rather than sag off

LA PLAGNE, France - Elana Meyers Taylor of the United States and Kaillie Humphries of Canada can now officially drive against men on the World Cup circuit.Meyers Taylor and Humphries fulfilled their last eligibility requirement Sunday by competing in a European Cup four-man race, satisfying an international rule saying they needed to finish five races on three tracks within two seasons before being cleared to drive on the top tour.Meyers Taylor and her team of Kris Enslen, Nic Taylor and Trevor Christianson finished 10th, and Humphries teamed with Douglas McClelland, Dan Dale and Joey Nemet to finish 17th.Neither result was relevant. They only went to France looking to finish, and qualify.Kris, Trevor and Nic were great and supportive all week, said Meyers Taylor, who used borrowed equipment in France and got help from several different national teams to wrap up her qualifying. It was a long week for all of us. Thanks to everyone all season long who helped me get qualified, Im so excited for the World Cup season to start.The International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation decided earlier this year to declare four-man bobsledding gender neutral, meaning women would be afforded the chance to drive against men. The rule change does not affect two-man or womens racing; until now, women have competed in only two-person sleds.Humphries is the two-time Olympic womens champion and Meyers Taylor was the silver medallist at the Sochi Games. They long lobbied for the chance to race against men, and both qualified for their respective national teams in that discipline this fall. All that remained was securing eligibility, and now after racing twice in Park City, twice in Calgary and once in France that process is complete.The World Cup season starts this coming weekend in Lake Placid, New York. The first time Meyers Taylor and Humphries plan to compete in four-man is in the second stop on the circuit, at Calgary later this month. Scarpe Air Max 96 Scontate .Y. -- The Montreal Canadiens have had few reasons to celebrate this season as they have been mired near the basement of the Eastern Conference. Scarpe Air Max 120 Scontate . Mars announced Saturday that the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers will join him as part of his halftime show. Super Bowl halftime performers often have collaborators. http://www.airmaxitaliascarpe.it/ . Jeff Carter had two goals and an assist as the Kings stretched their streak to seven wins in a row with a 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday. Air Max Ingrosso . Louis Cardinals for the National League Wild Card, are in the drivers seat as they open the final series of the regular season, but they face a large task in the form of the Philadelphia Phillies. Scarpe Air Max 270 Scontate . Locke overcame a shaky start to pitch seven innings and Josh Harrison had three hits to extend his hot streak as the Pirates beat the Miami Marlins 7-3 on Wednesday night.FIVE QUICK NBA THOUGHTS: 1. RAPTORS STRUGGLING: The bottom line is the true test in sports isnt just how you handle failure, but how you handle success. This team has gotten off track from the formula that it was using beautifully of late. The games against the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and Mondays loss to the Charlotte Bobcats all had major stretches where this team looked like they acted as if they had already "arrived" and didnt have to do the dirty work anymore and just wanted to win pretty instead of grinding it out and laying it on the line with great effort and passion. I felt bad for coach Dwane Casey in Charlotte. Its a helpless feeling as a coach when you have a team that thinks that they can beat folks with talent and not have to do the work to win. He was scrambling, trying to mix and match combinations and burn timeouts to give wake up calls, yet in the end, a terrific desperate effort came up short. As you can tell, I havent even mentioned Xs and Os once and dont have to or plan to - thats not the issue here, nor is it talent. To sum it up, winning is really, really, really hard to do, but losing is really easy. Youre a 20-20 club. Do you want to be mediocre or average or do you want to accomplish something? Its gut-check time and theres a very simple solution to the problem: Respect your opponent, have top-notch attention to detail, compete with great passion and stay committed to the team concept. You do that and youll be fine. If you dont, there will be changes. The trade deadline is 30 days away. You dont want to get stuck in no mans land. You gave away three games in the past six days to teams that are banged up with slightly inferior talent levels and you have to wonder about the direction you want to take this. I love what general manager Masai Ujiri has done with this whole thing, being patient with the process. Its all on the players now. Its time to produce and, more importantly, learn from this experience and, if you do have success again, dont let these things happen again. You cant stay like this - either cross the line and be a consistently good team with great habits or make changes. The clock is ticking now. 2. HERE THEY COME: Hearing footsteps yet? Im sure youve all noticed that the Atlanta Hawks have gotten the third seed back in its possession and the Brooklyn Nets are now breathing right down the Raptors backs with Deron Williams back in the line-up, as well as a huge game on Monday between the Raptors and Nets in Brooklyn coming up. And dont sleep on the Washington Wizards and Chicago Bulls, either. Theyre both 20-20 and not going away. The Raptors had a chance to make hay against weak competition and didnt do it. Things get tougher and tougher now. Can they still win the Atlantic? Sure. Can they get the #3 seed? Sure. If, and its a big if, they play the way theyre capable of playing. Excellence is a habit, not an act. This is a nice test coming up and weell all find out in the next few weeks what theyre all about.dddddddddddd. I think they can do it. Its a good group of guys with enough talent that get more than a good share of the coaching and leadership they need to be successful. Theyve now put themselves into a "backs are against the wall" scenario and maybe thats what this team needs and I cant wait to find out. The middle part of the schedule is when the distancing starts to happen. Who will fight and contend and who will fade away and make plans for golf and the beach for mid-April? The Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat already know what their spring plans are, but the rest of the East is in complete flux. It is all starting to take shape now and the competition is on. 3. NICK YOUNG (Lakers): This guy can flat out score. He torched the Raptors on Sunday with some ridiculous shots and then drops 31 against a terrific Bulls defence on Monday. Hes one of those guys that will always have a job because its hard to find guys who can heat up like him and bring you back into a game. His defence and maturity are areas you wonder about sometimes, but he is a talented guy who has some high octane ability. He creates his own shot quite well and shoots it from distance effectively. Hes able to get to the foul line and has good creativity with his ball skills. He seems to wear out his welcome eventually, but while you have him, he gets you the numbers, thats for sure. 4. RICKY RUBIO (Timberwolves): Hes an exceptional defender and a wonderfully entertaining and creative passer and playmaker. With that said, for his game to truly get to the next level, he has to become a guy who is a consistent long range shooting threat in order to open up his impact in the screen and roll game and space the defence out, because youve got to come out and guard him rather than sag off him. Hes a point guard who can make all the plays with amazing vision and reflexes, yet for him to reach that upper tier, he needs to get his shot mechanics in order. He has great work habits, so Im sure hell pay the price. If he gets that together, he can make that next step. 5. JOAKIM NOAH (Bulls): You gotta love this guy. Hes already had three 20 and 15 games this season and had 17 and 21 against the Lakers last night in an OT win. Since the Bulls traded Luol Deng, hes been on a mission and hes playing angry and with amazing energy. Hes a winner in every sense and doesnt get enough credit for this, but hes a really good passer. Hes a smart player who makes the right play next in your offensive sequence. Hes got a bigger piece of the puzzle in the Bulls scheme now with Deng in Cleveland and hes responding. Noah is not a bad guy to bank on. And, by the way, Im happy for former Raptor DJ Augustin. Hes found a home with this Bulls team and playing pretty well. Hes a good guy who has the talent to help you win.Im glad its worked out for him. ' ' '