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Tuesday, January 4, 2011

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alessandro del piero super star pictures

Alessandro Del Piero (Italian pronunciation: [alesˈsandro del ˈpjɛːro]) Cavaliere Ufficiale OMRI[2][3] (born November 9, 1974 in Conegliano, Veneto) is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer who plays for Serie A club Juventus. Del Piero was named in the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers selected by Pelé as a part of FIFA's centenary celebrations.[4] Del Piero was also voted in the list of best European players for the past 50 years in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll. In the year 2000, Del Piero was the world's best-paid football player from salary, bonuses and advertising revenue.[5]

Along with three awards in Italy for gentlemanly conduct[6][7] he has also won the Golden Foot award, which pertains to personality and playing ability.[8]

Del Piero usually plays as a supporting-striker and occasionally between the midfield and the strikers, known in Italy as the "trequartista" position. Although he is not very tall, Del Piero's playing style is regarded by critics as creative in attacking, assisting many goals as well as scoring himself, as opposed to just "goal poaching."[9] His free-kick and penalty taking is also highly regarded.[10] Del Piero has become famous over the years for scoring from a special "Del Piero Zone"("Gol alla Del Piero"), approaching from the left flank and curling a precise lob into the far top corner of the goal.[11]

Del Piero holds the all-time goalscoring record at Juventus.[12] On April 6, 2008, Alessandro Del Piero became the all-time highest-capped Juventus player, ahead of Juve legend Gaetano Scirea. As of May 2010, he is in eighth place in the UEFA Champions League all-time goalscorer records[13] and joint fourth with Roberto Baggio within the Italian national team records.[14]
In 1993, he transferred to Juventus, and has been there ever since.[19] Del Piero made his Serie A debut against Foggia in September 1993, scored his first goal in his next game against Reggiana after appearing as a substitute, and then grabbed a hat-trick against Parma on his first start. Juventus claimed their first Scudetto in eight years in his first season and success continued to follow. With the Turin club, he won the Serie A championship seven times (1995, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006[20]), the Champions League (1996), and the Intercontinental Cup (1996). His best season was in 1997-98, when he scored 21 goals in Serie A and finished top scorer in the Champions League with 10 goals, which included a peach of a freekick against Monaco in the semi finals. His goal in the 1997 UEFA Champions League Final was unable to prevent Juventus from going down 3-1 to Borussia Dortmund.

Del Piero struggled for form at the beginning of the 1998-99 season, whilst doping allegations were aimed at Juventus (they were later found innocent). In October he picked up a serious knee injury in the 2-2 draw with Udinese. This kept him out of action for the remainder of the season. Juventus struggled without him and limped home to a lowly 6th place in the league.

During this time, Del Piero earned the nickname Il Pinturicchio, in reference to a comment by former president Gianni Agnelli when he compared the emerging Del Piero to the renaissance artist Pinturicchio. He's also been nicknamed by the fans "Il Fenomeno Vero"[21] meaning "The Real Phenomenon", in a sort of comparison with Ronaldo, who was nicknamed "Il Fenomeno" by rival supporters of Internazionale.

One of Del Piero's greatest strengths as a footballer is his versatility, which allows him to play in a variety of attacking positions. While he started his club career playing as an out-and-out striker, he settled into a deeper role as a support-striker. He has also been positioned as a playmaker in the central slot behind the forwards. Under Marcello Lippi's reign as Juventus coach Del Piero played in the "trident-attack" formation along with veterans Gianluca Vialli and Fabrizio Ravanelli. After that, he took a role in a combination with Zinédine Zidane behind Filippo Inzaghi. As Juve's playing style changed in Lippi's second stint with Juventus starting 2001, Del Piero partnered with Zidane's replacement Pavel Nedvěd in midfield and David Trézéguet upfront.

After Euro 2004, Marcello Lippi was replaced by Fabio Capello as Juventus coach. Capello was not convinced of Del Piero's abilities and frequently benched him in favor of the new signing Zlatan Ibrahimović, much to the disappointment of many fans. But Del Piero still managed to score 14 goals as Juventus won their 28th league title, thanks to his spectacular overhead assist to teammate David Trezeguet which proved decisive in a crucial match against AC Milan at the San Siro.

Childhood and early career
Del Piero is the son of Gino, an electrician, and Bruna, a housekeeper. He regularly played football in the backyard with two friends, Nelso and Pierpaolo as a child. All three dreamed of becoming footballers, but only Del Piero would eventually manage to do so.[15] Alessandro's older brother, Stefano, briefly played professional football for Sampdoria before injury struck him. The family lived in the hamlet of Saccon - a rural home in San Vendemiano. While growing up Del Piero's family didn't have much money for travelling abroad, so he was considering being a lorry driver in order to see the world.[16]

While playing for the local youth team of San Vendemiano since the age of 7,[17] Del Piero used to play as a goalkeeper because he could play a lot more football that way. His mother thought it would be better for him if he played as a goalkeeper, since he wouldn't sweat and the possibility of him getting injured was less likely. His brother Stefano told their mother: "Don't you see that Alex is good in the attack?" and Del Piero switched position.[18]

It was while playing with his local side of San Vendemiano in 1988 that Del Piero was first spotted by scouts — he left home at the young age of 13 to play in the youth side of Padova Calcio

alessandro del piero super star pictures
Experts agree that Del Piero was back to his best in the 2005-06 season[22] having scored 20 goals in all competitions. However, his role at Juventus changed in the following season, as coach Fabio Capello preferred to use him as a substitute for an "immediate impact", as Capello put it.[23] Del Piero never had a calm relation with Fabio Capello though, evident from the quote on his official site "If Capello had stayed as coach of Juventus, I would have left Juventus".

In 2006 Del Piero equalled José Altafini's Serie A record of 6 goals as a substitute after scoring in the final minute of Juventus's final game of the 2005-06 season. On January 10, 2006 Del Piero became the all time leading goalscorer for Juventus when he scored three times in a Coppa Italia match against Fiorentina and took his total goals for the club to 185. The previous record holder was Giampiero Boniperti, who scored 182 goals for the club.[24] Del Piero scored the last goal for Juventus the 2005-06 season before Juve were forcibly relegated due to the infamous Calciopoli scandal.

[edit] 2006-07 season in the Serie B
Juventus were demoted to Serie B and their last two Scudetti were revoked (see 2006 Italian football scandal). Del Piero announced that he would stay to captain the team in Serie B. He underlined that players should stick with the team, explaining that “The Agnelli family deserve this, as do the fans and the new directors".[25] While many key players such as Zlatan Ibrahimović, Fabio Cannavaro and Lilian Thuram left Turin, he chose to stay and help Juve regain promotion.

Del Piero's first appearance after the World Cup's triumph was in the Coppa Italia match against Cesena on August 23, 2006. Since Juventus played in Serie B for the 2006-07 season, the Coppa Italia campaign became increasingly important for the club in order to achieve a UEFA Cup spot. Having been on vacation beforehand, Del Piero started on the bench. Juventus and Cesena were locked on 1-1 when Del Piero entered in the 74th minute and after 9 seconds scored the winning goal for Juventus.[26]

Del Piero then came in as a substitute at the 61st minute for Juve's next Coppa Italia match on August 27 vs. S.S.C. Napoli. Again Juventus were behind, but Del Piero scored twice to give Juve the lead. In the end the match went to penalties. Del Piero scored but Napoli eventually won 5-4 in the shoot-out.[27]

Following this, Alex was locked in months of fractious negotiations over the signing of a new contract with Juventus' new management. After successfully negotiating a new contract till 30 June 2010, Alex was greeted with news of the birth of his first child, Tobias Del Piero. This was quite a staggering turnaround in his fortunes, as only two weeks earlier he was dropped by Claudio Ranieri for the Serie A match with ACF Fiorentina and was then axed from Roberto Donadoni’s Italy squad for the games with Georgia and South Africa.

alessandro del piero super star pictures

alessandro del piero

alessandro del piero
alessandro del piero

NEW BEGINNINGS

January always gets me thinking about New Beginnings - a chance for assessment and resolutions, a time to appreciate the past year in retrospect and to anticipate the upcoming year and the change we will strive for in our lives.

Perhaps because we have also just celebrated Nativity, the New Year brings to mind new birth and hope.

These two children's books reflect that appreciation and anticipation of new beginnings - in the birth of babies...

JANUARY'S CHILD by Andrea Alban Gosline, illustrated by Lisa Burnett Bossi.

"You were born in your very own month of the year and the world was waiting to welcome you here with daydreams and wishes and circles of love and in turn you brought a gift from above...."

Every day is someone's birthday, which January's Child celebrates with creative attributes for each month of the year. More positive than the traditional "Monday's Child" rhyme, and geared for families to share among youngest and oldest members, this is a beautifully illustrated treasury, perfect as a gift for birthdays or new babies.

ON THE NIGHT YOU WERE BORN by Nancy Tillman.

On the night you were born, the moon smiled with such wonder that the stars peeked in to see you and the night wind whispered, "Life will never be the same..."

The sweet rhyming text of this book celebrates and praises the uniqueness of a newborn. Creation - polar bears, giraffes, geese, the moon, the wind - is shown as jubilant in the poetry and rich illustrations of this beautiful book (also a wonderful baby shower or birthday gift)!

Monday, January 3, 2011

LeBron James Power Heat to 96-82 Victory over Bobcats

LeBron James scored 38 points, Dwyane Wade added 31 and the Miami Heat dominated the second half to beat the short-handed Charlotte Bobcats 96-82 on Monday night for their 11th straight road win.

Playing for the first time against Paul Silas, his first NBA coach in Cleveland, James scored 26 of his points in the second half and added nine rebounds. Wade grabbed 11 boards in Miami's 18th win in 19 games.

Charlotte played without starting forward Gerald Wallace (ankle) and center Nazr Mohammed (knee) the same day tests revealed backup big man DeSagana Diop is lost for the season with a ruptured Achilles' tendon.

With Kwame Brown the only healthy center, the Bobcats fell apart offensively, missing 18 straight shots bridging the second and third quarters.

Stephen Jackson scored 22 points and D.J. Augustin added 16 for the Bobcats, who shot 38 percent from the field with 15 turnovers.

It was a day of awards for the Heat, with James and Wade sharing the Eastern Conference player of the month award, Wade named the East's player of the week and Erik Spoelstra picking up the coach of the month honor.

After worrying before the game that his players might get complacent amid their hot streak, Spoelstra had some concerns early in his 200th game on the bench.

Charlotte, one of the league's worst offensive teams, shot 63 percent in the first quarter behind Jackson's 12 points. The Bobcats led by seven in the second and went up 41-35 on Gerald Henderson's hoop with 4:05 left.

But Miami clamped down defensively and by the time the Bobcats got another shot to fall — Augustin's 3-pointer with 5:30 left in the third — Miami led 61-51.

James later made four straight shots as the lead ballooned to 78-59 heading into the fourth.
After the Bobcats cut the deficit to 80-69, James beat the shot clock by swishing a 30-footer along the left baseline while double teamed. He then stole a pass and went in for a reverse dunk on the next possession and Miami had locked up matching the second-longest road winning streak in franchise history.

James, whose Cavaliers lost here twice last season, revealed before the game players refer to themselves as the "Heatles" as they played in front of a rare sellout crowd in Charlotte.
"Off of the Beatles," James said. "Every time we take our show on the road, we bring a great crowd out."

This time, James took out his former coach, whom he credited for "learning how to be a professional on and off the court" as a rookie and second-year player in Cleveland.

Silas, who dropped to 2-2 since replacing the fired Larry Brown, had little to work with against a dominant team on a roll as owner Michael Jordan watched courtside.

Wallace was back on the shelf after playing in two games following a five-game absence for a sprained left ankle. The 2010 All-Star, who also has a bone bruise, aggravated the injury in practice on Sunday and Silas said he'll be out "a few games."

Mohammed was scratched about an hour before the game with a bruised right knee, and the Bobcats were outrebounded 46-35 in their second straight loss.

Joel Anthony had 11 rebounds in Miami's sixth straight win to help offset an off night from Chris Bosh, who had 11 points and four rebounds on 4-of-9 shooting.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

I SPENT MY NEW YEAR'S DAY WITH ROSES...

It's amazing to see the roses up close!

"In New York, people are buried in snow, here our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear. Let's hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise." - Professor Charles F. Holder, 1890...

Looking down Washington Blvd. at the floats on exhibition

What started as a promotional effort by the Valley Hunt Club to bring East Coast tourists to the warm Southern California town of Pasadena for a mid-winter holiday with games such as chariot racing, jousting, foot races, and polo, preceeded by a showcase of carriages adorned with fresh flowers, became a festival with marching bands and motorized floats and, starting in 1902, included a football game.

Happy spectators!

The Tournament of Roses has come a long way since its early days. The Rose Parade’s elaborate floats now feature high-tech computerized animation and exotic natural materials from around the world. Although a few floats are still built exclusively by volunteers from their sponsoring communities, most are built by professional float building companies and take nearly a year to construct. The year-long effort pays off on New Year’s morning, when millions of viewers around the world enjoy the Rose Parade. (from tournamentofroses.com)

The floats are traditionally displayed to the public the day after the Rose Parade. The 47 flower-covered masterpieces were on display at Sierra Madre and Washington boulevards, up close and personal, for great photo-ops.