Dein erstes Forum » Monaco with jets and hotels and boats

NEW YORK -- Baseball writers could elect a quartet of players to the Hall of Fame for the first time in more than a half-century. Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas appeared to be on track to gain election from the Baseball Writers Association of America on Wednesday, and Craig Biggio could join them. The last time four players received the required 75 per cent was in 1955, when Joe DiMaggio, Gabby Hartnett, Ted Lyons and Dazzy Vance all got in. Surprisingly, it was the third ballot appearance for DiMaggio, who fell 81 votes short in 1953 and 14 shy the following year. When he announced his retirement in December 2008, Maddux wouldnt talk about the Hall. "I think theres a lot of good players in there," he said. "Dont really have any thoughts on it." Maddux could break the mark for highest percentage (98.84), set when in 1992 when Tom Seaver topped the record Ty Cobb set in 1936. "I just have just never come across any human being, whether theyre a voter or just a fan, that doesnt think Greg Maddux is a Hall of Famer and one of the greatest pitchers who ever pitched," The Boston Globes Nick Cafardo said Tuesday. "I cant imagine someone not voting for him. So I would guess that hes going to break Seavers record." Maddux is among three high-profile players on the BBWAA ballot for the first time, joined by his former Atlanta teammate Glavine and Thomas. Holdovers include Biggio, who topped voting at 68 per cent last year, 39 votes short of the 75 per cent needed for election. It was only the second time in four decades the BBWAA failed to elect anyone. Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, a former reporter for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, said Tuesday the only player he voted for was Jack Morris, on the writers ballot for the 15th and final time after falling 42 votes shy last year. "To me, I didnt exclude Maddux. I excluded everybody from that era, everybody from the Steroid Era," Gurnick said. "It wasnt about Greg Maddux, it was about the entire era. I just dont know who did and who didnt." Gurnick said Morris also was the only player he voted for in 2013 and added he intends to abstain in future elections. "Some people quibble over when the era starts, but the bulk of his career was in my opinion well before all of the widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs," Gurnick said. Given that 569 ballots were submitted in 2013, Maddux likely could be omitted from six this year and still break the record set by Seaver, who received 425 of 430 votes. Seaver was left off by Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Daily News, Bob Hertzel of The Pittsburgh Press and freelance writer Bob Hunter. They all submitted blank ballots to protest the decision by the Hall of Fame board of directors to bar Pete Rose from the vote because of his lifetime ban from baseball following a gambling probe. Retired writers Deane McGowen and Bud Tucker also did not vote for Seaver. "If it had cost Seaver anything, yeah, I probably would regret it at some level, but it didnt really cost him anything," Hagen, now with MLB.com, said Tuesday. "He still got the highest vote (percentage) total ever, and he wouldnt have been unanimous anyway." The Steroids Era has impacted the vote totals of players with stellar statistics. In initial appearances last year, Mike Piazza was at 57.8 per cent, Roger Clemens at 37.6, Barry Bonds at 36.2 and Sammy Sosa at 12.5. Mark McGwire received 16.9 on his seventh try. The Baseball Think Factory website compiled votes by writers who made their opinions public, and with 194 ballots had Maddux at 99.5 per cent, followed by Glavine (95), Thomas (90) and Biggio (78). The websites count had Piazza (69), Morris (61) and Jeff Bagwell (58) falling short along with Tim Raines (54), Bonds (42), Clemens (41), Curt Schilling (37) and Mike Mussina (26). McGwire (11) and Sosa (8) had little support. Approximately 600 writers who have been members of the BBWAA for 10 consecutive years at any point considered the 36-player ballot. Next years ballot could be even more crowded when Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz, Carlos Delgado and Gary Sheffield become eligible, five years after their retirements. The BBWAA last month formed a committee to study whether the organization should ask the Hall to change the limit of 10 players per ballot. Jeremiah Attaochu Jersey .com) - No Sidney Crosby, no problem. Cheap Chiefs Jerseys Authentic . 9 Baylor Bears just needed some time to get on track in their first game after the Christmas break. http://www.cheapchiefsjerseysauthentic.c...ison-jersey.cas NHL Play of the Year showdown continues today with a man whos spent most of his career on highlight reels and a goalie actually "reaching back" for a save. Anthony Sherman Jersey . The Raptors two leading scorers were never able to co-exist the way they hoped or the team had envisioned, but individually DeRozan was thriving, in the midst of a career season. Jody Fortson Jersey . Unfortunately for the Cleveland Cavaliers, James Harden was in the building. MONACO -- The rivalry between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton for the Formula One title is turning into a full-blown scrap -- both on and off the track. Rosberg won the Monaco Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday to take the championship lead back from Hamilton, who won the previous four races but was left infuriated by Rosbergs sudden and late accident the day before in qualifying. The win was a fifth straight 1-2 finish for Mercedes, which has swept all six races this season, but thats the only type of harmony in the team. Tension is building, with Hamilton appearing unhappy before, during and after the race. "Its a fierce battle between me and Nico and will continue that way," he said. "Im going to keep my head up and keep pushing." Rosberg drew his teammates ire in qualifying when his late error led to a yellow flag and ended Hamiltons chances of beating his time with a final flying lap. Rosberg denied that he caused the incident intentionally and he was cleared of any wrongdoing by race stewards. He went on to clinch his second victory of the season and fifth of his career, repeating his maiden GP win from pole here in Monaco last year. He leads Hamilton by four points in the drivers standings, 122-118. Ferraris Fernando Alonso, who was fourth, is already 57 points behind Hamilton. "Its a special win, definitely, because Lewis has had the momentum with results," Rosberg said. He finished 9.2 seconds ahead of Hamilton, who was 0.4 faster than Daniel Ricciardos Red Bull. Four-time defending champion Sebastian Vettels frustrating season with Red Bull continued as he abandoned the race on lap eight with a power unit failure. Hamilton and Rosberg raced each other in their junior karting days, but they did not appear to shake hands after the race, and Hamilton looked visibly tense in the post-match race conference as he sat next to Rosberg. He revealed that he and Rosberg had not even been in the post-qualifying debriefing together on Saturday. "Nico did his big debrief before I got there, which is not what we normally do," Hamilton said. "Fortunately the engineers wrote down what Nico said." Even at the drivers prre-race parade they were at opposite ends of the circuit, and now they have six months left together until the end of the season, starting with the Canadian GP in two weeks time.dddddddddddd Hamilton said after the race that he "drove fairly all weekend," which sounded like a veiled swipe at Rosberg. During the race, a tense Hamilton snapped back at his team when told that Ricciardo was closing on him. "I dont care about Ricciardo, whats the gap to Nico?" Hamilton said. Hamilton would certainly have attacked more on another track. But overtaking on Monacos tight and narrow 78-lap circuit -- which has the slowest average speed -- is so tough that 10 of the past 11 winners came from pole. The exception was Hamilton in 2008, the year he won the title. Hamilton had sparked the escalation in the rivalry with Rosberg when he questioned his teammates hunger on Thursday as he compared their different childhoods. Rosberg is the son of former F1 driver Keke Rosberg. "I come from a not-great place in Stevenage and lived on a couch in my dads apartment, and Nico grew up in Monaco with jets and hotels and boats," Hamilton said on Thursday. "If I were to come here believing that Nico is hungrier than me then I might as well go home." Later, Hamilton explained what hed meant. "I said what gives me the hunger is where I grew up, in comparison to where Nico grew up," he said. "I was striving to come to live (in Monaco). I used to travel around with Nico on his dads plane, I used to go on his boat, (in) his house. That gave me the desire to want that." The race itself was also eventful as eight drivers failed to finish. The safety car came out on lap one after Sergio Perez was bumped off the track by his former teammate Jenson Buttons McLaren at the Mirabeau turn. The safety car came out again on lap 26 when German driver Adrian Sutils Sauber went into the barriers on the run down to the chicane. Mercedes t