Ich suche » Keselowskis victory wasnt the only thing to celebrat

Andy Carroll had a quiet transfer deadline day. He trained, prepared himself for his first home start of the season and got rid of some overdue baggage, finally shaving off his overgrown beard. It was three years to the day since he was the most expensive British signing in history. January 31st, 2011 changed the Gateshead lad forever. Playing and scoring goals for his boyhood club, Newcastle United, Carroll was enjoying the dream life - on the pitch. Off it was a constant battle. That Andy Carroll came with some serious baggage. Multiple assault charges finally saw him granted bail on the condition of him moving to a permanent residence, rather than a hotel. Newcastle teammate Kevin Nolan took him in and put a curfew on Carroll to help him stay out of trouble. "I said he could stay, I cleared it with the Mrs, of course, first, Nolan later reflected. She was down in Liverpool a lot of the time so we were like roommates. He was a pretty good cook. Pasta with tomatoes, chicken; things like that." On the field, Nolan wanted nothing changed and loved making runs from midfield to get on the end of a knockdown by the big striker. Back at the family home, issues around Carroll continued when his car was set on fire in the driveway and graffiti was written all over the garage door. The Nolan family stuck by him as the midfielder revealed to the Guardian, back in 2010: "Andy has got to be indoors for 10.30pm and he has got to be in bed by 11pm. Wed already got the kids on curfews, so its no trouble to enforce.What I have learnt about Andy, though, is that hes always asleep at the wrong time, like when I get him up early to do the school run with me. He gets up at 10 to eight and we leave at five past. We then have our breakfast at the training ground. I dont know if he likes it but thats the way it is." Carroll would later see the assault charges dropped and as he moved out of the Nolan household, he did with much less baggage. Nolan told the Daily Mirror in 2012: "When you look back on it now, it was bizarre him staying with us, but it worked. In our family, thats what we do for our friends. Ive been brought up like that by my mum and dad. "I know Andy was very grateful for what we did for him, thats why were so close. He has his family there for him but sometimes you need other people as well." Carrolls 35 million pound move to Liverpool in 2011 was called a dream move by Nolan, who was obviously delighted for his mate, but the dream soon turned out to be a nightmare for Carroll. It was not a move that came too soon for him. It was simply a move that should never have come at all. Liverpool captured the Englishman on the day they let Fernando Torres leave. The 35 million pound figure they paid was never what Carroll was worth. It was simply a number Newcastle, on the final day of the transfer window, would allow their goal scorer to leave for. Incredibly, Liverpool took the bait and Carrolls life changed forever. Sure, there were some good moments, such as scoring the winner at Wembley over Everton in the FA Cup semifinal, but there were some tough moments too and when Kenny Dalglish was replaced by Brendan Rodgers as manager, it was only a matter of time that Carroll would be moved on. Nineteen months after signing at Anfield, Carroll was reunited with Nolan, this time down south at West Ham, agreeing to a season-long loan. "He has learned so much. There is a different lad standing in that dressing room now. There is a man who can look after himself and do the right things on a daily basis," Nolan said. Carroll did enough last season to convince the Hammers to pay Liverpool 15 million pounds and hand the striker a new six year contract. Except, once again, Carroll came with baggage, this time in the case of a heel injury that he picked up on the final day of last season against Reading. The injury proved to be far worse than original thought and with Carroll out for months; West Ham struggled badly, causing many to panic, including the clubs co-owner David Sullivan. "Had we known he would be out for this long, we would not have signed him," Sullivan told the BBCs Football Focus in December. "We are not a rich enough club to deal with that. You know any player can get injured, but we cant buy a player knowing he is going to be out for half the season. When we signed him we were assured by the medical staff that the very, very latest he would be back was September 1st. That would have meant he would only miss two league games." Sullivan has every right to look after his investments but it seemed a bizarre thing to say publicly. Even if he privately believed it, it is not as if the money spent on Carroll could have gone on another player who would have instantly changed the clubs fortunes. You only have to look at the long list of strikers bought for a lot of money, in the Premier League, to know many do not work out. Injury or no injury, that label is yet to be attached to the now 25-year-old Carroll. The jury still remains out on what he can actually become. On Saturday he started his second game of the season, at home to Swansea, and in the first half showed exactly why West Ham wanted to spend that amount of money on him. Carroll was magnificent, finding pockets of space to hold up the ball and supply wide men, choosing his battles in between Chico Flores and Dwight Tiendalli, to regularly win aerial duels, and then winning two significant headers that set up the games two goals, in a 2-0 West Ham win. The beneficiary? Nolan of course. Like Carroll, the 2013-14 season had been a season to forget so far for the Hammers captain but he had no injury to blame for his torrid campaign. Nolan scored 10 goals from midfield last season and had been expected to score regularly again this season but, heading into Saturday, the 31-year-old had as many league red cards as goals this season (2). After the second red card, against Fulham in December, manager Sam Allardyce had seen enough, fining him two weeks wages (100 thousand pounds), saying: "Our captain was irresponsible. Not just today but for the future because he is suspended. Hes let everyone down and himself. I just dont quite understand where hes lost his cool and why its happened." Nolan sat out seven games through suspension but on Saturday he was reunited with his mate, playing just behind Carroll, giving West Ham fans what they hope to be a glimpse at the partnership that can keep their team in the Premier League this season. Except, once again more baggage comes with Carroll. In the second half on Saturday he was sent off for extending a wild arm to Chico Floress head. Allardyce called it an injustice and plans to appeal against it but if that is unsuccessful Carroll will again sit out for three more games. Once Carroll returns he will have gone nine months without playing a full 90 minutes. He will have three months to not only play a pivotal role in saving West Hams season but also attempt to get on Roy Hodgsons England plane to Brazil. At the moment he appears to be completely off Hodgsons radar but in just 45 minutes on Saturday he showed why he should be more than just considered if he can play regularly. Carroll offers something completely different to the England manager, who has enough quick forwards looking to get in behind a defensive line. Carroll showed against Sweden in Euro 2012 that he can be a real handful for international defenders if the quality of the deliveries into the box is high. West Ham became the final Premier League team to score a headed goal this season on Saturday and if they can improve their crosses and get Carroll heavily involved down the stretch then do not rule out the forward making an unlikely late, successful attempt at the 23rd and final player seat on the plane to Brazil. Time is certainly running out but if Carroll can remove the personal baggage, he may well be packing his own baggage to the World Cup. Patric Hornqvist Penguins Jersey . Manager Alex Ferguson says the injury was sustained while the player tried to hit a volley toward the end of training on Tuesday. Custom Pittsburgh Penguins Jerseys . The 2010 batting champ showed what he can do when hes mostly healthy. Gonzalez homered, doubled and singled in his return to the lineup, and the Colorado Rockies snapped a five-game losing streak with a 13-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night. http://www.penguinsauthenticofficial.com/kris-letang-jersey/ .Kessy tried to show what he can do playing left wing for the Oilers in 5-0 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday in pre-season action. Ron Francis Penguins Jersey . -- The Detroit Lions made it crystal clear to Golden Tate that he was their top target in free agency. Bryan Rust Penguins Jersey . The 23-year-old restricted free agent appeared in all 48 games last season, finishing second among all Sabres skaters with 15 goals and 34 points.HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- With tears in eyes and three fingers in the air, Richard Childress hardly had words to describe his latest NASCAR championship. His grandson, Austin Dillon, won the Nationwide Series title in the famed No. 3 and by three points. "Hard to believe," Childress said. "I couldnt be more proud of Austin. He drives with his heart every lap. What can you say? Hes just a great competitor, a great grandson. Im proud, really proud of him. He ran good and hard tonight." Sprint Cup regular Brad Keselowski won the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, moving up 10 spots in the closing few laps to give an otherwise typical race a wild and wacky finish. But the night belonged to Dillon, who overcame a sluggish start and a scrape against the wall to finish 12th. It was good enough to hold off Sam Hornish Jr. by three points. Hornish crossed the line eighth. "It was ugly," said Dillon, who won the Truck Series title in 2011. "Probably the worst car we had all year. But we fought. My guys kept me positive in the car." Hornish looked as if he would overcome an eight-point deficit in the standings for much of the 200-lap race, but a lengthy caution late posed problems. NASCAR slowed the race for 12 laps -- tied for the longest caution of the year -- and it turned out to be a setback for Hornish. He dropped from third to ninth on the final restart with five laps to go, ending his chances at getting a title in what was his final race for Penske Racing. "I felt very sorry for Sam," Penske said. "And I have to say Ive never seen a race that was so important give away 15 or 16 laps before you have five laps to go. To me, that is very disappointing from the standpoint of the fans and (us) as competitors. When I think about it, it could have gone either way." NASCAR defended its decision to keep the race under caution. "When youre in situations like that, the most important thing is getting the track race ready," said Robin Pemberton, NASCARs vice-president of competition. "You know, you can look at, you can use your hindsight every chance that you want to, but in this particular time, we did the best we could to do, and it was more important to get the track ready." Keselowski got new tires during the final caution and used them to weave his way through traffic. He went from 11th to first in a two-lap span after the restart. And once hee was out front, no one was catching him.dddddddddddd Certainly not Dillon and Hornish, who were stuck on old tires because they had used their allotment. "I dont even remember what happened," Keselowski said. "We were going to win the race or I was going to bring back the steering wheel. With five laps to go, thats the only attitude that can win the race. Sometimes you make it through, sometimes you dont. Today we did. A lot of aggressive moves. "It almost felt like a video game passing 10 or 12 cars in two or three laps. Thats what youve got to be able to do to win at this level." Keselowski finished the season with seven victories, all in the last 10 of his 16 series starts. Rookie Kyle Larson finished second, followed Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Trevor Bayne. Hornish and Dillon had nothing for the leaders down the stretch. Having worn tires made passing difficult, if not impossible, in the final few laps. It didnt help Hornish that Kyle Busch spun his tires on the restart. "Couldnt get far enough ahead of those guys who had taken four tires," Hornish said. "Thats how it worked out for us tonight. We gave away points throughout the season, between the driver making mistakes, from everybody on this team making the car better. We win as a team, we lose as a team. Just needed a little bit more." Keselowskis victory wasnt the only thing to celebrate for Penske Racing. The team won the owners title for Roger Penske -- edging Joe Gibbs Racing by a point -- and landed Ford the manufacturers championship. Joey Logano finished sixth in the title-winning No. 22 car. "We had four goals coming in here: win the manufacturer championship for Ford, help Sam win the driver title, win the owners title and then win the race. We got three out of the four," Keselowski said. "Sam did a great job, even though he didnt get the fourth one done. He did an awesome job, and Im really proud of his effort." But the biggest celebration was saved for Dillon, whose fondest memory as a kid was seeing late NASCAR great Dale Earnhardt win the 1998 Daytona 500. Dillon knew all he had to do was stay close to Hornish. "I knew if I could see him and see where he was, then I wasnt going to give up all the way to end," Dillon said. "He was a great competitor. Sam, he brought his stuff tonight. We were able to pass one at the end, and it was a hell of a race." ' ' '