By Yangtze Yan nike air maestro ii uk , James Jia
TORONTO, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- After igniting a baseball frenzy in Toronto by entering MLB postseason for the first time in two decades, Blue Jays however fell 6-4 to Texas Rangers in a sold-out Rogers Centre on Friday afternoon to fall 0-2 in their best three-out-of-five game in American League Division Series.
Toronto was unable to give the 49,716 fans what they wanted, a Blue Jays win.
After starting the season 53-51, Toronto went on a Major League-best 40-18 after the All-Star break to secure their first playoff appearance in 22 years.
This incredible run gained the following of casual baseball fans from not only Toronto nike air scream uk , but all across Canada. As the first and, to date, only team based outside of the United States, the Blue Jays became Canada's national team.
Ticket sales spiked, resulting in 20 out of the 21 final regular season home games to be sold out. When playoff tickets were released, they were sold out after less than one hour.
The team's popularity was also evident on the television side nike zoom fly uk , with Rogers Sportsnet, the exclusive Canadian broadcaster of Blue Jays games seeing an average of one million viewers this season, a 56 percent increase from last season.
During game one against Rangers on Thursday evening, the network averaged 2.35 million viewers, making it their most watched program of all time.
The city of Toronto has been long awaiting for a championship. Despite being the fourth most populous city in North America behind Mexico City, New York and Los Angeles nike air force 270 uk , the city and their fans have dealt with continued mediocrity from their four major sports franchises.
Toronto Raptors has won a total of one playoff series since entering NBA in 1995. Toronto Maple Leafs has not reached the NHL Finals since 1994 and not won a Stanley Cup since 1967. Toronto FC has not reached the MLS playoffs since entering the league in 2007.
Despite missing the playoffs for the past 22 consecutive seasons, Blue Jays are the most successful Toronto franchise in recent memory. They won back-to-back World Series in 1992 and 1993.
Locally in Toronto, the city has added a Blue Jays theme to buildings in the downtown area. The CN Tower, located adjacent to the Rogers Centre has been illuminated blue during both game days to commemorate the team's playoff games.
In addition, Toronto Mayor John Tory has set up a large television system outside of City Hall to allow fans to skip work to take in the game.
Outside of Toronto and Canada, the Blue Jays have also garnered attention. The team received extensive coverage from American media due to their acquisition of All-Stars Troy Tulowitzki and David Price at the trade deadline in August and their post-All Star break performance.
At the start of the postseason nike air footscape uk , American Online Sportsbook, Bovada gave Toronto the best odds of winning the World Series at 31 odds.
Instead of being up 2-0 as many fans had hoped, Toronto are on the brink of elimination from the postseason.
The series resumes in Texas on Sunday for game three. If a fourth game is needed, it will be played on Monday afternoon in Texas too.
Should Toronto come out of Texas with two wins, they will return home for a fifth and deciding game on Wednesday.
by Xinhua writers Zhong Qun and Zhang Hui
RUIJIN, Jiangxi nike flyknit trainer uk , June 27 (Xinhua) -- After a night of rain seeping through the cracks in Hua Chongqi's ramshackle house, his arthritic knees creak and complain worse than ever.
Years of living in the dark, dank hovel in Ganzhou -- a center of the early revolutionary activities of the Communist Party of China(CPC) -- have taken their toll on Hua's health.
Tucked away in east China's boundless mountains, the mud shack that Hua and his wife Liu Daoxiu, 77, call home covers less than 20 square meters and is little more that a windowless room with simple nike air more uptempo uk , old household items: a stove; a rickety wooden table and a few oily bowls; a big, blurred heirloom mirror propped against the moldy wall.
On the simple wooden door hangs a ragged poster of Mao Zedong. Outside, flutter a pair of Duilian, hanging scrolls of optimistic poetic couplets. All around are the marks of damp and water damage.It rains a lot in Jiangxi.
"When it rains, the roof leaks and we put out washbasins to catch the drips," said Hua from his perch on a wooden stool. "Because the house was built with earth nike vandal high uk , it is susceptible to water damage."
Liu Daoxiu is scared that on rainy or windy days the weather will completely destroy their home.
There are no modern domestic appliances, because of the low voltage. The only modern thing in the house is an MP3 player. Liu is a pious Buddhist and the gadget constantly cranks out Buddhist music.
"Some villagers bought washing machines which they now use to store sweet potatoes instead of washing clothes. When my children tried to buy us some electric appliances, we just told them to save their money," Hua said.
The couple have lived in poverty for years. They depended on 240 yuan (38.40 U.S. dollars) a month from the government and support from their children. They are exemplars of the picture all across Ganzhou. The once glorious center of China's early revolution is now a miserable wasteland of wartime damage, unfavorable geological conditions and a dearth of government preferential policies.
STRUGGLING WITH POVERTY
Ganzhou is an inland city with a complicated landscape in Jiangxi Province. It was important in early revolutionary activities thanks to its remoteness, but the wartime geographical advantage has now become a developmental stumbling block.
Just after reform got underway in the late 70s nike dynasty hi uk , the government tried to push regional development, but Ganzhou won no major projects or key investment due to its geography, hence industrial growth is slow to nonexistent. Ganzhou's rate of industrialization in 2010 stood at a mere 38 . Cheap Lightning Jerseys Cheap Islanders Jerseys Cheap Vegas Golden Knights Jerseys Wholesale Flyers Jerseys Wholesale Flames Jerseys Wholesale Devils Jerseys Wholesale Canucks Jerseys Wholesale Capitals Jerseys Wholesale Team Canada Hockey Jerseys Wholesale St.Louis Blues Jerseys