2012年05月11日

Soccer superstars are more readily forged in a mature soccer culture

Not long ago, I went back and tracked down the Rossi story I had written, the one that wasn't published:In Italy, the home of the four-time World Cup champions, they call Giuseppe Rossi's remarkable sports journey "the American dream." And who could argue? How's this for a storyline: A 12-year-old kid from Clifton, N.J., moves to Italy, becomes a top soccer prospect, spends three years on the books at Manchester United (where he scores on his debut), lights up Spain's La Liga for Villarreal and blasts two goals for his national team at his first major tournament, the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa. After years of searching, the world may finally have discovered the first U.S.-born soccer superstar, a dynamic 22-year-old whose transfer price tag (for potential suitors like custom team jerseys giant Juventus) is an estimated $25 million.
The only trouble with Rossi's American dream is that it's also an American nightmare. Those two goals at the Confederations Cup came *against* the United States on June 15, when Rossi was wearing the famous blue jersey of Italy, the nation of his parents' birth. Rossi's pair of second-half strikes gave the Azzurri a 3-1 come-from-behind personalized jerseys , sending the U.S. into a tailspin that included an embarrassing 3-0 loss to Brazil last Thursday and a tk-tk koming on Sunday against Egypt.In magazine parlance, we use "TK" and "koming" as place-holders for information that we don't know yet. In this case, those TKs spiked my Rossi story. But several aspects of the article are still pertinent today, from Rossi's personal story to the question SI was asking: When will the U.S. produce its first genuine global soccer superstar? To wit:Perhaps the lesson of Giuseppe Rossi's rise to torment the Americans for Italy isn't so much that U.S. Soccer whiffed by failing to land Rossi for the Stars & Stripes -- "my dream was always to play for the Italian national team," Rossi says -- but something else entirely. Soccer superstars are more readily forged in a mature soccer culture, from the earliest age possible.
If you ask Rossi whether he could have developed into the player he has become by staying in the United States as a teenager, his response makes complete sense. "It would have been very difficult," he says in a sharp New customized San Francisco Giants jerseys accent, "because people know that the best soccer is played in Europe, and if a player wants to be the best and to learn from the best, then going to Europe is the best way to go." It's better, moreover, to go early. Several American players have moved overseas in their late teens, but soccer's superstars joined their clubs even sooner: Argentina's Lionel Messi with Barcelona at age 12, Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo with Sporting Lisbon at 11 and England's Wayne Rooney with Everton at 10.
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a Confederations Cup game in South Africa

I've been thinking lately about Giuseppe Rossi, and about the twists and turns that a sports career can take, even for the most promising athletes. If you're a U.S. soccer fan, you know plenty about Rossi, the Italian-American New custom women jerseys native who chose to play for Italy over the U.S. and became a budding star for the Azzurri and Spain's Villarreal (where he scored 32 goals in all competitions in 2010-11).Now 25, Rossi should be readying to lead Italy at Euro 2012 starting next month. Instead he's in the middle of a catastrophic injury run. Rossi tore his right ACL last October and, just as he was preparing to return, tore it again in training last month. By the time Rossi is scheduled to play again in early 2013, he will have been out for at least 14 months from competitive soccer.
Things don't always turn out as you plan them in sports. I wrote a Sports Illustrated magazine story about Rossi three years ago, in the days after his two goals sank (of all teams) the United States in a Confederations Cup game in South Africa. I spoke at length to Rossi and his father, Fernando, a legendary high school soccer coach, and SI's Adam Duerson made the rounds in New custom kids jerseys interviewing people who were close to the Rossis.In my experience with Giuseppe, he came across as a humble customized Washington Nationals jerseys guy who had set extremely high goals for himself -- let's be honest, it's harder to make Italy's national team than it is the U.S.'s -- and had attained them.But Rossi's SI mag story never ran.It was all ready to go, but the only thing that could have prevented publication was the most unlikely of results: The U.S. would have to advance from the Confed Cup group stage, which required beating Egypt 3-0 in the final group game while Brazil would have to beat Rossi's Italy 3-0 at the same time. What were the odds of that happening? 100 to 1? 10,000 to 1?
Sure enough, that's exactly what happened. So I pulled an all-nighter in South Africa, wrote an entirely new magazine story and figured I'd write an updated Rossi story soon enough. But the timing never worked out. Rossi was on the bubble to make Italy's 2010 World Cup roster, so we couldn't risk devoting significant magazine space to a player who might not be in South Africa. (He ended up being one of Italy's final cuts, a decision coach Marcello Lippi no doubt regrets now after the team's dismal first-round exit.)
These days I'm getting a bit more magazine space for soccer, but now Rossi is injured. It's part of the sports media business, I guess. But I also felt badly that Rossi, his father and the others had taken the time to speak to me, and they were probably looking forward to his first significant story in SI -- which for some athletes and their families is an important moment.
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2012年05月09日

states with similar tax policies

Preliminary figures show New required jerseys ’s business and income tax collections for the crucial month of April have fallen short of expectations, according to a recent memorandum prepared by the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services.The anticipated April revenue shortfall contrasts with Gov. Chris Christie’s often-repeated narrative of a " customized mlb jerseys Comeback" and could hamper efforts by him and Democratic lawmakers to deliver on competing tax cut proposals that rely on a revenue surge.Connecticut, Massachusetts and California − states with similar tax policies as New custom mlb jerseys − have already reported disappointing revenue collections in April, disrupting plans by their governors to deliver on key agenda items.
In a May 3 memo to lawmakers obtained by The Star-Ledger, OLS budget analyst David Rosen said "it appears that both the gross income tax and the corporation business tax under performed OLS’s expectations for the month."April is the most important month of the budget cycle because that’s when the state receives most of its income tax revenue, especially from its wealthy residents. Rosen, who declined to comment, did not provide lawmakers with the specific size of the shortfall, advising them that official figures will be released later this month.
In March, Rosen and the Christie administration were already $537 million apart on revenue projections through fiscal year 2013, with the OLS anticipating a slightly lower revenue rebound. At the time, Christie blasted OLS for its more modest projections, saying "they’re background noise to the New Jersey Comeback."Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said the administration is still reviewing the April figures."With two months left of revenue collections and potential revisions before the end of the fiscal year, we need to look at the total revenue picture before drawing broad conclusions," Drewniak said.
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