Dein erstes Forum » Their mystified, frustrated countenance betrayed a des

CHICAGO -- When Dwyane Wade was a free agent in 2010, he got a Chicago Bulls jersey when he met with his hometown team. He took it home, put it on and took a picture. Then he deleted it.He got another Bulls jersey Friday, and there were more pictures. Lots of pictures, and there was no need to erase anything this time around.The long dance between Wade and the Bulls took the next step when he was officially introduced as a member of his favorite team growing up in the Windy City. The 12-time All-Star had two workouts with the Bulls before he was drafted by Miami in 2003, and then had two more meetings with the team before deciding to stay with the Heat six years ago.My dream of becoming an NBA player started here, started here in my hometown, Wade said. I know it took a long time to get here, but I am here and Im excited to be here.Wade announced he was leaving Miami for Chicago on July 6, and the Bulls confirmed the deal two weeks ago. But his introductory press conference was delayed by a trip to China for Wade and his wife, actress Gabrielle Union.Judging by the smile on the face of general manager Gar Forman, it was worth the wait for the Bulls.Knowing him and studying him over the years, his makeup and character, his work ethic and his commitment to winning is something that I think is really going to serve our team well, Forman said. You look at our team and we basically got a young team. Weve got 10 players now with three years or less experience, and to have Dwyane come in and kind of show these guys the way, I dont think you can put a value on something like that.Wades two-year contract worth about $47 million is part of a delicate balancing act for Forman and Chicago, trying to get younger and more athletic while staying in contention. After finishing 42-40 and missing the playoffs for the first time since 2008, Derrick Rose, another local product, was traded to the New York Knicks, and All-Star center Pau Gasol left for a free-agent deal with San Antonio.But the Bulls convinced Rajon Rondo and Wade to come to Chicago, adding two more dynamic guards to play with Jimmy Butler. While Rondo and Wade are on the wrong side of 30 and have never been strong 3-point shooters in a league with increasing emphasis on the outside shot, everyone with the Bulls think they will be able to work it out.We have our own strengths, and with those strengths is what were going to bring to this game, Wade said. Were not going to come out there and try to be Stephen Curry. Thats not our game.Butler watched from the back as Wade held his press conference, and Wade playfully ribbed him about his shirt exposing his muscular arms. Wade then watched from a courtside seat as Butler helped the U.S. national team beat Venezuela 80-45 in an exhibition across the street at the United Center.While Butlers reputation took a hit following Chicagos poor finish last season, Wade said Butler called him during free agency and the deal would not have happened without his recruitment.Were not going to go through this all year. Its Jimmy Butlers team, Wade said. Myself and Rondo are here to bring what we bring as athletes to this team and to this city.Scoring has never been a problem for the 34-year-old Wade, who leaves Miami as the franchises career leader with 20,221 points. The 6-foot-4 guard averaged 19 points and 4.6 assists in 74 games last season, his highest total since he appeared in 76 games in the 2010-11 campaign.After the Bulls missed out on him in the draft, Wade turned into a beloved figure in South Florida, helping the Heat win NBA titles in 2006, 2012 and 2013. He had repeatedly returned to the only NBA franchise he had ever known, but he said the direction and focus for each side was a little different this year than in the past.I had a contract offer in Miami that I could have took. I decided not to take it, Wade said. It was my decision to be selfish and to live out a dream of mine. I brought a lot of excitement to Miami and its a home to me. It will always be. I want to bring a little bit here to Chicago while I have a little bit left.---Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap Christian Okoye Womens Jersey . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. Khalen Saunders Womens Jersey . -- Timbers coach Caleb Porter didnt stray from his business-like approach to the season even after Portland downed the two-time defending league champion Los Angeles Galaxy to gain crucial playoff position. http://www.thechiefsshoponline.com/Youth-Marcus-Allen-Chiefs-Jersey/ . Vettel was 0.168 seconds faster than Red Bull teammate Mark Webber around the Suzuka circuit. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was two tenths of a second off Vettel. "The car balance is decent, but I think we can still improve," Vettel said. Darwin Thompson Chiefs Jersey . Breaking three of his own world records on his way to winning in Paris, Chan silenced the critics and left the audiences standing in appreciation and awe. Tyreek Hill Youth Jersey . Brad Jacobs and his Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., team took control of the game early. In 1969, when choosing the Australian touring team for India, the selectors omitted a young Greg Chappell to the surprise of many. When pressed for a reason why, the selection chairman Sir Donald Bradman is said to have replied: We dont want him going to India and getting sick.Though Bill Lawrys team went on to win a fractious and tightly contested series, Bradmans comment endured as a summation of Australian attitudes to Asia for years afterwards. It was the place you went to to get sick, to have your batting average halved by wily spinners and trigger-happy umpires, and to have your back broken by pitches designed to break fast bowlers hearts. Tim May, the former Test spin bowler, penned a satirical book called Mayhem, that focused on digestive misadventures as the hallmark of trips to the subcontinent.It was not until a more enlightened generation of players made visits, led with perseverance and forbearance by Allan Border, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh in turn, that this attitude began to change. Asia went from being a place to be endured to a challenge to be enjoyed, and a land to be embraced. Others helped too - notably the writer Mike Cowards unstinting efforts to encourage Australian understanding of the region, and to find beauty in the disparate brands of cricket played here.Cowards last Test tour was to India in 2008, coinciding with the start of the barren run that has only got worse over time. The trip ended in a 2-0 defeat over four Tests, followed by another 2-0 loss in two matches in 2010. A 1-0 victory in Sri Lanka on Michael Clarkes first Test tour as captain looks increasingly like an outlier, followed as it has been by the 4-0 drubbing in India in 2013, a 2-0 caning by Pakistan in the UAE, and now the ignominy of a 3-0 sweep by Sri Lanka, the team that Australia have historically known better how to beat than anyone else. The ledger over eight years now reads 18 Tests for one win, and the last nine lost in a row. The gains of the preceding generation or two have been utterly and irrevocably lost.Whether watching the Australians slide from 100 for 1 to 160 all out or listening to the captain Steven Smiths befuddled comments after his first series defeat, the incomprehension of the tour party was clear. This team has now spent comfortably more than a month in Sri Lanka, but they are no wiser as to how to succeed in this part of the world than they were on arrival. Not so much in terms of rhetoric, plans or intentions, but critically in terms of putting the best ideas into action when faced by hot days, dry wickets and doughty opponents.Why is this so? Certainly prevailing conditions in Australia do not give players much of an opportunity to show themselves capable against spin bowling, or capable of delivering it for that matter. The coach Darren Lehmann has pined for a return to the former contrasts between pitches in Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane. The team performance manager Pat Howard has tried to aid the players by having spin wickets installed at the National Cricket Centre, and Australia A and national performance squads have spent considerable time in India over the past 12 months.Equally, the IPL experience has not added much to the knowledge base of Australian players despite the fact they have now spent nine editions of the tournament traipsing across India and playing at most of the nations major grounds. Truly spinning pitches are an IPL rarity, while batsmen and bowlers do not hone skills of patience and judgment in the most truncated format. This has led to a fundamental disconnect between Australian displays in the IPL and those seen in Asian Test matches: never in history have Australian cricketers spent more time playing cricket in Asia, yet never have they looked less equipped to deal with conditions presented in Asian Tests.Another factor that has arisen in recent times, harking back to the days of barren subcontinental trips without much hope oor expectation of victory.dddddddddddd This is the perceived preparation of pitches in Asia with the express purpose of aiding the home team. A guided tour of the SSC pitch in Colombo for the touring press by the selection chairman Rod Marsh was indeed a throwback to days of greater distrust between tourists and hosts, accompanied as it was by predictions of an early finish.There is a sense, too, about this team that success at home is what really matters. For all the well-intentioned homilies about the best teams winning away and the need to be more adaptable - Smith has spoken often of it as the buzzword for his captaincy - no jobs would appear to be under threat based on results in Asian Tests. After all, Lehmann has just been reappointed until the 2019 Ashes series. While Smith was able to notch a first Asian Test hundred in the first innings of this match, his deputy David Warner has now gone 12 away Tests without reaching three figures. That statistic will only come to affect his standing and bank balance if he experiences a similar dry spell in Australia, broadcast around the country on Channel Nine. An attitude of impatience with this part of the world has also been evident in the dealings of Howard and the team manager Gavin Dovey, two appointments from the more hermetically sealed world of rugby. While undoubtedly professional, businesslike and efficient, these men have struggled at times to bridge the gap in understanding between the highly regimented, budgeted and corporatised world of Cricket Australia and the far more ad hoc ways of the cricketing subcontinent. Both are committed to getting things just right for the national team. But it is arguable that in Asia, just right simply isnt possible, whether in terms of training facilities, travel arrangements or match schedules.As it was, the SSC pitch held together much better than any member of the visiting team thought, even as they were comprehensively out-batted and out-bowled on it. That fact served only to heighten focus upon the performance of the Australian players themselves, as a pair of horrendous batting collapses delivered Sri Lanka victory on a plate, even when the home captain Angelo Mathews declined to declare overnight on what turned out to be a more than match-winning lead.The recurring nature of so many Australian dismissals, from Smith being bowled trying to cut off the stumps for a second time in the series to Adam Voges being pinned lbw by a Herath slider, left the distinct impression that the match and series had been decided as much between the ears as between wickets. From the moment the tourists failed to take advantage of Sri Lankas swift dismissal for 117 on the opening day of the series this was no longer a contest between the worlds No. 1 ranked side and a modest No. 7. Instead, it was Australia against Asian climes, complete with all the attendant mental baggage that now comes with that billing.Each batsman wore a slightly dazed look on his face that earlier touring teams will be familiar with. Their mystified, frustrated countenance betrayed a desire to get home to more comfortable conditions and speedier pitches, just as their forebears once felt. Next time Australia come to Asia, for Tests against India next year, they are likely to form a more radically selected squad. But regardless of the personnel involved, attitude and understanding will be the most important qualities of all.To lose patience is to lose the battle is a proverb the former Test legspinner and later selector Jim Higgs adopted after seeing the sign on a wall in India in 1979. This Australian side must find a way to grasp how matches are won and lost in Asia. The first step to finding it will be to accept the challenge as Border, Taylor and Waugh once did, rather than echoing the skeptical sentiment of Bradman. ' ' '