导出博客文章WASHINGTON -- The Kansas City Royals are going to have to work on their
nicknames as far as President Barack Obama is concerned. Everything else was
looking pretty good though as he honored the 2015 World Series champions at the
White House on Thursday, describing them as one of the grittiest, most complete
teams weve seen in a long time.The Royals last visited the White House in 1985
when President Ronald Reagan saluted their never-say-die spirit in the Rose
Garden. The 2015 team showed the same quality. Six outs away from playoff
elimination, the Royals scored seven runs to defeat the Houston Astros. They
went on to win that series and to beat the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York
Mets. Obama noted that the Royals held the record for comeback wins in the
playoffs.Obama also acknowledged that it had been a long time between visits to
the White House for Kansas City. Lets face it, its been a long road for Royals
fans, Obama said. There were some dark years, some tough decades.But Obama said
that began to change when General Manager Dayton Moore was hired and the Royals
started to develop talented players through their minor league system. Among
them: outfielder Alex Gordon, infielders Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer, and
catcher Salvador Perez.Obama called each of the players by their nicknames,
Gordo, `Moose, `Hos and Salvy. But the president didnt seem to find those too
creative.Were going to have to work on these, Obama said.When the president
calls you out, you definitely got to start thinking about something, Hosmer said
after the ceremony. Weve got some guys in the locker room, Im sure theyre
starting to bear down on that.However, Obama admitted to liking outfielder
Jarrod Dysons description of one of the teams top weapons: Thats what speed
do.Thats a good quote, Obama said.Obama noted that his spokesman, Josh Earnest,
was a big Royals fan, and that the Royals visit Thursday was right up there as
far as best days ever. Manager Ned Yost, Hosmer and Perez interrupted the days
press briefing to present the Kansas City, Missouri native with a team jersey,
an upgraded mug and an autographed World Series baseball. Yost said the team
didnt want Earnest to get into trouble by him trying to hijack the presidents
jersey.The team gave Obama a Royals jersey with the number 44 in gold lettering,
which nicely matched the ornate drapes in the White House East Room.---On
Twitter, reach Kevin Freking at
https://twitter.com/APkfreking---This story has
been corrected to note that Obama called the Royals one of the grittiest teams
in a long time.
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BOSTON -- The crowd goes wild as U-S-A chants fill the Boch Centers Wang
Theatre. Weve seen this before in Seattle in front of tens of thousands, but
American pride is at an all-time high following one of the biggest wins on
Thursday in the past few months from North Americas most popular Dota 2 team,
Evil Geniuses.Four months ago, Wings Gaming decimated Evil Geniuses at Seattles
KeyArena during The International 6, a tournament which Evil Geniuses had won
just a year prior. But on Wednesday, a rematch between the teams took place in
the Round of 16 of The Boston Major, one of two events leading up to the
International 7 in 2017. Evil Geniuses, for their part, reversed the roles and
smashed the reigning International champions 2-0.For Evil Geniuses coach Clinton
Fear Loomis, a retired player who was on the team during their historic
International 5 win in 2015, and also a member of the team who lost to Wings in
August, the Wings Gaming win on Wednesday was a massive confidence boost.It felt
really great [to beat Wings], he says. [They are] one of the most respected
teams, but especially by our guys in particular. We respect them a lot. Being
able to overcome them when were feeling down was probably one of the biggest
confidence boosters we could have.That boost paid dividends on Friday morning as
Evil Geniuses beat Virtus.Pro, a team which has won several tournaments prior to
the event and was a favorite coming into the Boston Major. Predictably, the
crowd roared for their home team, EG. Hundreds of fans then lined up in the two
lower levels of the Wang Theatre to meet and greet with Evil Geniuses.But
despite the Virtus.Pro win, Evil Geniuses side of the bracket will continue to
get harder. The team will now face OG, a two-time major winner that defeated
Evil Geniuses at The Summit 6 several weeks ago. That match on Saturday will
determine which of the two moves onto the grand finals.If we do it make it to
grand finals, its going to be quite the journey and we would be very confident
because we wouldve gone through a lot of the tough competition already, Fear
says. Thats the most exciting thing for me. The journey to get to the grand
finals is very tough for us.Unlike previous tournaments, however, there is no
second chance here in Boston. One series loss and youre out, something new to
Dota 2 tournaments, particularly as The International has been praised for its
double-elimination bracket.I think what were really looking forward since we won
[Wednesday], the format is kind of interesting for us, Fear says. Its a
single-elimination tournament and on top of that, we believe to have the harder
side of the bracket. So basically whoever wins their side of the bracket is
guaranteed grand finals, [but] I think our side of the bracket, in my opinion,
has four of the best or hardest teams that most people thought going into this
tournament.ddddddddddddThe Boston Major doesnt just mark a stepping stone for
Evil Geniuses in bracket strength, but its the first major tournament the team
has competed in since a massive restructuring in September through October. The
team not only made two roster changes -- bringing back Artour Arteezy Babaev and
adding Andreas Cr1t- Nielsen -- but also made organizational changes, having
former Dota player Peter ppd Dager move to a managerial role atop the
organization and Fear became coach.I think the restructuring [in Evil Geniuses]
in particular was just trying something new, Fear says about the changes.
Before, you would just have some captain, older players just kind of leading the
younger guys. Instead [now], were just trying to bring in all the talent and
then we have the older players helping from outside instead of inside the
game.Fear says that he believes in their current talent but that success will
rely on how the teams two new members, Arteezy and Cr1t-, mesh into the team.Its
a new way of looking at it and its something I think has a lot of promise,
because in particular [Arteezy] is a great player, he says. He hasnt had the
most success before but I think I can lend him my wisdom and he can play the
role I played better than I can. If they can all just get their stuff together
and [Cr1t-] needs to be able to pull them together as the captain, because you
need to have an in-game captain. If hes able to pull them, which hes doing a
really good job, this team should be, on paper, one of the strongest teams in
Dota.While The International 6 marked an end to Fears 11-year competitive
playing career, his role as a coach in the team is still in the process of being
figured out. Like many other retired pros, he has moved into the role without
any form of coaching experience. As a player, he was often praised as being an
encyclopedia of Dota knowledge, but he seems himself differently in the role. He
says that he wants to offer his player skills and knowledge of how to be
successful, rather than strategic advice.Most of the coaching structure right
now [in Dota] is players who are current players but failed to get to an event,
he says. There are a lot of smart players in Dota and someone will be in the
qualifiers but its unfortunate when they dont qualify but they still want to be
part of the experience. Im not going to be actively competing in any tournaments
from now on, Im just going to be using my previous experience. Its still fresh
in my head now, but going on in the next 2-3 years, if I dont continue playing,
how good will I be as a coach still? Im not sure. Ill still just do it for now
and right now, I am enjoying it and well see where it goes. ' ' '
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