Watching Asensio"s development has returned a sense of joy to Real Madrid

Real Madrid vs Deportivo Alaves 3-0 2017 - Highlights & Goals
Stewart Robson doesn"t see Bayern posing much of a threat to Real Madrid when they square off in the UCL quarterfinals.

At some point during Real Madrid"s successful trip to Leganes on Wednesday, this scribe caught himself cursing Luka Modric. The Croatian had joined the team in the 85th minute. After just a couple of plays, he had the chance to find Marco Asensio on the left with some room to run, but decided against it and passed the ball to Danilo on his right.

The realisation that, after five and a half seasons, Modric had finally taken a passing decision I disagreed with was shocking, but it was explained by my own biased interest: I wanted Asensio to get the ball in every single play until the end of the match.

As a football fan, few things are as satisfying as a successful youngster making it big for your team"s senior side. Even though Asensio doesn"t quite fit that profile -- he was signed from Mallorca at age 18, so he"s hardly a Real Madrid product -- the fact that the club invested in a fresh talent, loaned him to Espanyol so that he could develop, and then brought him back to play with some of the best offensive players in the business feels good. It seems like that policy, also applied to Dani Carvajal and Casemiro, is working like a charm.

However, Asensio"s case is special. Rooting for his success has little to do with the club"s recruiting policy or its loan agreements, but with the sheer joy of playing and watching football. Asensio is not business, he"s fun.

Marco Asensio is emerging as one of Real Madrid"s brightest young talents this season.

In the past few decades, the sport has indeed become more professional, more tactical, better structured and, yes, a bit more predictable in the way games happen and even plays within a game unfold. Very few players have the gift of making the unexpected happen, and when one of those is a young prospect of your team, it feels like you have a treasure you"d rather not share with anyone.

Asensio"s talent and self-confidence allow him to generate advantageous situations when he"s obviously in numeric or physical inferiority -- or both! His accuracy, the speed at which he moves with the ball or makes decisions, his selflessness when he can find an open team mate, it"s just a gift to watch him play. And he still carries himself without the gravity of the professional, showing the fun of the kid that loves to play and for whom football hasn"t yet become a job.

His stats this season show that he"s one of those players who shine, rather than disappear, when surrounded by talent. With nine goals in 26 matches across all competitions, he"s already surpassed his scoring figures with Espanyol last season: four in 37 matches in which he played around 1,100 minutes more than in this term. With the competition he faces in Isco and James Rodriguez in the attacking midfielder position, or Lucas Vazquez and Gareth Bale as a winger, the fact that he"s putting up those numbers is more than remarkable.

Ahead of the Madrid derby, Football Whispers looks into the stats behind Real and Atletico.

But restricting Asensio"s impact on this Real Madrid to a set of facts and figures would take us back to the conception of modern football as a numbers game, when the potential of the young leftie from Mallorca goes well beyond that. On the pitch, he takes some real madrid fans back to the times of yore when one would go to the Santiago Bernabeu every other week just to watch one single player grow and evolve. He reminds us of the coming of age of Raul Gonzalez and Emilio Butragueno, when you would see sparks of the players they would later become combined with a youthful, exuberant energy they would progressively lose as years went by.

Asensio"s performances have given many Real Madrid supporters reason to feel good about watching his team play in a way they hadn"t for a while, and that alone is already great news. But his ceiling is still unknown, and that is the most exciting aspect of the Asensio hype, even if it means having to curse Modric every once in a while.

Eduardo Alvarez covers Real Madrid and the Spanish national team for ESPN FC. Twitter: @alvarez.

Source: http://www.espnfc.com/club/real-madrid/86/blog/post/3097886/watching-asensio-development-has-returned-a-sense-of-joy-to-real-madrid

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LaVar Ball trashes Lonzo"s teammates for tournament exit

LaVar Ball, Lonzo Ball join Skip and Shannon to talk reality TV show and more | UNDISPUTED

In the latest instance of putting his oversized foot in his equally oversized mouth, lavar ball blamed uclas exit from the NCAA Tournament on the slow foot speed of three white guys in the starting five.

LaVar Ball, who in November, guaranteed the Bruins would win the national championship explained why they realisticallycouldntcut down the nets in an interview with Clay Fowler of the Orange County Register on Thursday evening.

Realistically you cant win no championship with three white guys because the foot speed is too slow, Ball told Fowler. I told Lonzo One of these games you might need to go for 30 or 40 points. It turned out the that was the one game. Then once they get to the Elite 8, theyre right there.

As Fowler notes, its easy to pinpoint who Ball is referencing: Thomas Welsch, Bryce Alford, the head coachs son, and T.J. Leaf, who is so slow hes expected to be a first-round pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.

Lonzo Ball, a consensusfirst-team All-American, was anything but that in his final game in college. The 6-foot-6 freshman phenom was 4-of-10 shooting from the field with 10 points, eight assists, and four turnovers.

LaVar is right, foot speed was the issue, as no Bruin, especially his son, could stop Kentucky point guard DeAaron Fox, who poured in a career-best 39 points in Kentuckys 86-75 win over UCLA in the Sweet 16.

LaVar blames that showing on a hamstring issue Lonzo was playing through.

Trashing members of the UCLA roster, including the head coachs son, is an interesting strategyconsidering Ball has two more sons committed to play for Steve Alford.

Source: http://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2017/04/06/lavar-ball-trashes-lonzos-teammates-for-tournament-exit/

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Fox News: Russian Warships Heads Toward US Destroyers That Launched Strikes Into Syria

UPDATE! Russian warships headed to US destroyers that launched Syria strikes

A Russian warship was steaming toward the area in the Mediterranean where U.S. Navy destroyers launched missile strikes into Syria, Fox News is reporting.

The Russian frigate, Admiral Grigorovich RFS-494, passed through the Bosphorus Strait "a few hours ago" from the Black Sea, the news network said, attributing the information to an unnamed U.S. defense official.

the russian ship is armed with cruise missiles and is headed the direction of the U.S. warships, according to Fox News.

The news network also reported that one of the American destroyers that launched the missiles into Syria was heading to an undisclosed location to rearm.

The latest moves came after the U.S. attacked a Syrian airbase in retaliation for chemical weapons attack against civilians, including small children.

Meanwhile, the Russian news agency TASS claimed the frigate is on a "routine voyage" and was planning to stop at the Syrian port of Tartus.

2017 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/russia-warships-us-destroyers-syria/2017/04/07/id/783165/

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Boy, 14, tried to buy sub-machine gun on the dark web, court hears

BBC Genghis Khan
Image caption The 14-year-old appeared in Ballymena Magistrates" Court

A 14-year-old boy has appeared in court in Northern Ireland accused of trying to buy a sub-machine gun and 100 rounds of ammunition from the dark web.

The boy appeared in Ballymena Magistrates" Court in County Antrim.

He is charged with attempting to possess a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life.

A police officer told the court that she believed the boy"s intention was to intimidate another person using the weapon.

He was arrested at a retail park in Coleraine, County Londonderry on Thursday.

A police officer said the boy was detained when he met an "operative" at the retail park.

The court heard that the accused tried to give the operative 150 to pay for the ammunition and that he believed he could further purchase the gun.

It also heard that the defendant told the operative that "his intention was to intimidate a third party".

Image copyright Google Image caption Police said the boy was arrested at Riverside Retail Park in Coleraine on Thursday

The police officer told the court that during an interview with police, the boy provided a pre-prepared statement naming a Jamaican man who he said had asked him to collect blank ammunition and a deactivated gun.

The officer said the accused told police he was to collect the deactivated gun in a few days.

She added: "It was in fact a live gun and ammunition."

The officer said the police opposed bail and alleged the defendant"s only reason for purchasing the gun was to cause serious injury.

She said: "The account provided was somewhat unbelievable.

"He provided an account that he was purchasing a gun for a male that was a Jamaican national living in Northern Ireland who he was friendly with on Facebook."

She said none of his friends on Facebook matched the name given for the 40-year-old friend.

The officer said if the child was released he could destroy evidence by deleting any conversations he may have had online.

However, the accused"s lawyer said there was no evidence presented to support what his client"s intent was and described the police"s assertions as "guesswork".

The judge released the defendant on bail of 500 with conditions that he stays at home overnight and does not possess a mobile phone or any other internet-enabled device.

He was also warned that he could spend months in a juvenile justice centre awaiting trial if he broke any of the conditions.

The 14-year-old is due to appear in court again on 25 April.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-39538330

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New Harry Styles Single Faces Spotify Glitches on First Day of Release

Primera entrevista de Harry Styles como solista! [Subtitulado]

Chelsea Lauren/REX/Shutterstock

A technical issue on the music streaming platform Spotify kept the new single by Harry Styles from being accessed on the network for several hours on its first day of release.

The highly anticipated first solo track from the One Direction member, Sign of the Times was the top trending topic worldwide upon its debut at 8 a.m. London time on April 7 (and in the two hours leading up to Styles appearance on BBC radio), but initially was not found on Spotify either through search ofthe name Harry Styles or via the New Music Friday playlist, where it was set to appear.

The issue took less time to resolve on Spotifys premium tier than the free tier, where well into Friday, users and fans were still experiencing problems locating the song or accessing Styles brand new artist profile. Spotifys user base was last reported to be 50 million.

When contacted by Variety, a rep for Spotify confirms the glitch as a technical issue for both Free and Premium, adding, There should be no further issue, though users unable to play this track need to reinstall the Spotify application to remove the cache.

Many fans who went in search of the single elsewhere ended up at music video hub VEVO, where the lyric video for Sign of the Times racked up more than 6.4 million plays in 24 hours.

Data on multiple platform first-day streams has yet to be confirmed by Styles label, Sony Music subsidiary Columbia Records, which would not comment on the Spotify outage, but One Direction devotees were quick to voice their disappointment at a perceived disadvantage for Styles out-the-gate performance. After all, it was only a month ago that another beloved British singer, Ed Sheeran, shattered streaming records with the arrival of his latest album, (Divide), and single Shape of You, which logged 68.6 million streams and 10 million streams on Spotify in day one, respectively, upon release.

As for Styles, the singers team is expecting a second and subsequent waves of interest in Sign of the Times, as the Spotify community catches up, says a source, who adds that any judgment based on the first 24 hours is not an accurate reflection of the songs impact, due to its absence from Spotify.

Indeed, the introspective rock ballad, which nods to such musical icons as David Bowie and The Beatles, has received glowing reviews thus far, with both fans and critics applauding styles against-the-grain approach to pushing the traditional limitations of the pop format.

A look at its performance on iTunes shows an unqualified smash as Sign of the Times reached No. 1 in 82 countries and, according to an insider, beat label-mate Adele to the top spot on the iTunes singles chart by reaching the feat in 19 minutes (Adeles Hello took an hour). Apple also didnt encounter any issues with the Styles single on its streaming service, Apple Music, which last reported 20 million subscribers.

Still, the hiccup, which comes on the heels of a just-announced multiyear global licensing deal between Universal Music Group and Spotify, have some in the Sony Music orbit snickering that the Styles snafu was somehow instigated by the competition. But in all seriousness, says the Styles source, In the grand scheme of things, what it did across the board was bonkers.

Source: http://variety.com/2017/music/news/harry-styles-spotify-sign-of-the-times-1202026858/

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UPI Almanac for Saturday, April 8, 2017

Mary Pickford (AMERICAN HOLLYWOOD HISTORY DOCUMENTARY)

Today is Saturday, April 8, the 98th day of 2017 with 267 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Venus. Evening stars are Mercury, Mars and Jupiter.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aries. They include Lewis Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, in 1726; pioneer neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing in 1869; actor mary pickford in 1892; Olympic figure skater/actor Sonja Henie in 1912; former first lady Betty Ford in 1918; comedian Shecky Greene in 1926 (age 91); composer Jacques Brel in 1929; actor/ former Ambassador to Mexico John Gavin in 1931 (age 86); journalist Seymour Hersh in 1937 (age 80); former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1938 (age 79); basketball Hall of Fame member John Havlicek in 1940 (age 77); choreographer Michael Bennett of A Chorus Line fame in 1943; baseball Hall of Fame member Jim "Catfish" Hunter in 1946; rock musician Steve Howe in 1947 (age 70); baseball Hall of Fame member Gary Carter in 1954; novelist Barbara Kingsolver in 1955 (age 62); actor/singer John Schneider in 1960 (age 57); musician Julian Lennon in 1963 (age 54); actor Robin Wright in 1966 (age 51); actor Patricia Arquette in 1968 (age 49); actor Taylor Kitsch in 1981 (age 36) and Taran Noah Smith in 1984 (age 33).

On this date in history:

In 1913, the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted, requiring that U.S. senators be "elected by the people."

In 1918, actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin pitch Third Liberty Loan bonds in front of the Sub-Treasury (now Federal Hall National Memorial) in New York City.

In 1935, the U.S. Congress approved the Works Progress Administration, a central part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt"s New Deal.

In 1952, U.S. President Harry Truman ordered government seizure of the steel industry to avoid a general strike.

In 1960, the United States Senate passed the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1960. President Dwight D. Eisenhower would sign it into law on May 6, 1960.

In 1974, Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run, breaking Babe Ruth"s longstanding career record. Aaron played two more seasons, ending with 755 home runs, a total eventually surpassed by Barry Bonds, who had 762.

In 1990, Ryan White, who put the face of a child on AIDS, died of complications from the disease at age 18.

In 1992, former tennis great Arthur Ashe confirmed he had AIDS. He said he contracted the disease from a blood transfusion.

In 1993, Marian Anderson, the first African-American singer to appear at New York"s Metropolitan Opera, died at age 91.

In 2005, about 250,000 mourners attended a 3-hour funeral mass for Pope John Paul II in Rome"s St. Peter"s Square while about 1 million others gathered nearby. Among those in attendance were U.S. President George W. Bush and about 100 other world leaders.

In 2008, American Airlines grounded all 300 of its MD-80 jetliners after an FAA review found faulty wiring in nine of them. Over the next five days, American canceled about 3,300 flights, disrupting travel of more than 100,000 passengers.

In 2011, with less than 2 hours to spare, U.S. President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders reached agreement on a federal budget, narrowly averting a government shutdown.

In 2012, a church in Makurdi, Nigeria collapsed during Easter mass, killing 22 people.

In 2013, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the merger of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Al-Nusra Front under the name Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham, or ISIS.

A thought for the day: "April hath put a spirit of youth in everything." -- William Shakespeare

Source: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2017/04/08/UPI-Almanac-for-Saturday-April-8-2017/8921491096417/

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hhgregg. RadioShack. Now Payless | Protect yourself when stores file bankruptcy

Indy-based hhgregg to close all stores after failing to find a buyer

Danielle Serino, WKYC 11:43 PM. EDT April 07, 2017

hhgregg (photo: eileen Blass, USA TODAY)

hhgregg, Radio Shack and now Payless.

Theyre just some of the retailers who filed bankruptcy this past year. Its not just bad for business in Northeast Ohio, but it can mean big problems for the people who shop there.

What do you do when a business goes belly-up and they still have your money, goods or services?

WKYC Consumer Investigator Danielle Serino tells us how to protect ourselves.

It was the Facebook post heard round the internet.

Josh Haladyna, of Kirtland, wrote on Facebook that he and his pregnant wife were cheated out of $3,000 in appliances they bought from hhgreggfor the new home they were remodeling.

"They didn"t have any of the appliances. They said they were discontinued, and that ours were gone from the warehouse. They were basically sold to someone else," says Haladyna.

hhgregg had filed for bankruptcy a week earlier and Haladyna says the general manager told him the company hadn"t paid its vendors, so they refused to send any more products.

But after more than 75,000 shares on Facebook and offers of help from the media, it wasn"t new appliances he got, but a full refund from the company.

"I didn"t understand the power of social media...how everyone had each other"s backs, he said.

"The squeaky wheel gets the grease," says Dworken & Bernstein bankruptcy attorney Howard Rabb. He agrees social media is often a great way to go, but adds that, whatever you do, you have to act fast.

"If the store is still open, get over to the store, the closest store to you and see if you can get action," Rabb said.

Warranties

When it comes to warranties, manufacturer or third-party warranties are sometimes honored.

If it"s the retailers own warranty, ask for a refund, since you may not be able to rely on it,. Or try to get a partial refund on the product price.

"Maybe you can get 10 percent off, 20 percent off, some amount of money so at least it pays for it to some extent, Rabb says.

But if the store is closed, you"re probably out of luck.

Gift Cards

If you have gift cards, what happens depends on the bankruptcy judge.

For example, when gadgets company Sharper Image filed for bankruptcy, consumers could cash in their cards, but only if purchases were twice the card"s value.

"Try to find some way to dump the card," Rabb says. "If it"s still open in another state, go online. Maybe somebody"s buying. There is a market."

Down Payment/Deposit

If you left a payment and the store"s closed, you have to file a proof of claim with the Bankruptcy Court.

But know that Bankruptcy Court is like a pyramid...with the secure creditors, like banks on topand unsecured creditors like customers on the bottom. The ones at the bottom get paid last.

You could also go to small claims court for any of the above, because Rabb says the company probably won"t hire a lawyer to fight it.

So what you"ll do is possibly get a default judgement, and you can file a claim in Bankruptcy Court, or maybe they"ll answer because you have a judgement now, he adds.

If all else fails, do what Josh Haladynasaid he woulddo if the store didn"t come through: "Just stand at the door and tell people to walk away, they are stealing your money. Don"t do it."

These scenarios are one reason why its best to pay with a credit card, not a debit cardand I hate to say itnot cash. Because they dont offer any protections.

With a credit card, you can dispute the charges. And if youre dealing with a business whose doors are closed and they have your merchandise, file a complaint with the Attorney Generals Office or the Better Business Bureau. They often mediate those cases.

Better Business Bureauhttps://www.bbb.org/

Ohio Attorney Generalhttp://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/

2017 WKYC-TV

Source: http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/hhgregg-radioshack-now-payless-protect-yourself-when-stores-file-bankruptcy/429723254

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