Portal:Sports/Selected group

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Futbol Club Barcelona is a professional football club, based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

Founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English and Catalan footballers led by Joan Gamper, the club has become a symbol of Catalan culture and Catalanism, hence the motto "Més que un club" (More than a club). Unlike many other football clubs, the supporters own and operate Barcelona. It is the world's second-richest football club in terms of revenue, with an annual turnover of €398 million. The club has a long-standing rivalry with Real Madrid; matches between the two teams are referred to as "El Clásico".

The club has won 21 La Liga, 26 Copa del Rey, 10 Supercopa de España, 3 Copa Eva Duarte, and 2 Copa de la Liga trophies, as well as being the record holder for the latter four competitions. In international club football Barcelona have won four UEFA Champions League, a record four UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, four UEFA Super Cup, a record three Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, and a record two FIFA Club World Cup trophies. Barcelona is also the only European club to have played continental football every season since 1955, and one of three clubs never to have been relegated from La Liga, along with Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid. In 2009, Barcelona became the first Spanish club to win the treble consisting of La Liga, Copa del Rey, and the Champions League. That same year, it also became the first football club ever to win six out of six competitions in a single year, thus completing the sextuple, comprising the aforementioned treble and the Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. (Full article...)

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Malmö Fotbollförening, also known simply as Malmö FF, is a Swedish professional association football club based in Malmö. The club is affiliated with Skånes Fotbollförbund and the team play their home games at Swedbank Stadion. The club colours, reflected in their crest and kit, are sky blue and white.

Formed on 24 February 1910, the club have won sixteen national championship titles and fourteen national cup titles, making them the most successful club in Sweden in terms of total trophies won. Malmö FF have also won the highest Swedish league, Allsvenskan, on three occasions when the title of Swedish champions was not decided by the outcome of that league. They were runners-up in the 1979 European Champions Cup final, which they lost 1–0 to English club Nottingham Forest. This made them the only Swedish football club, as of 2012, to have reached the final of the competition, for which the team were awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal.

Malmö FF is an open member association and the annual general meeting is the highest policy-making body. The meeting approves the accounts and elects the chairman and board. With an equity of 109.5 million SEK (approximately €12.4 million) the club is the richest football club in Sweden as of 2012.

The club first won Allsvenskan in 1944. Malmö FF were most successful during the 1970s, when they won five Swedish championships and four Svenska Cupen titles. The main rivals of the club are Helsingborgs IF, IFK Göteborg, and historically IFK Malmö. MFF Support is the official fan club of Malmö FF. The club have also been featured in the media, including the football documentaries Blådårar 1 and Blådårar 2. (Full article...)

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The Germany women's national football team represents Germany in international women's association football and is directed by the German Football Association (DFB). Initially called "West Germany" in informal English, the team played its first international match in 1982. After German reunification in 1990, the DFB squad remained the national team of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The German national team is one of the most successful in women's football. They are two-time world champions, having won the 2003 and 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. Germany is the only nation to have won both the men's and the women's World Cup. The team has won seven of the ten UEFA Women's Championships, claiming five titles in a row. Germany has won three bronze medals at the Women's Olympic Football Tournament, finishing third in 2000, 2004 and 2008. Birgit Prinz holds the record for most appearances and is the team's all-time leading goalscorer. Prinz has also set international records; she has received the FIFA World Player of the Year award three times and is the joint overall top goalscorer at the Women's World Cup.

Women's football was long met with scepticism in Germany, and official matches were banned by the DFB until 1970. But the women's national team has grown in popularity since winning the World Cup in 2003, when it was also chosen as Germany's Sports Team of the Year. Silvia Neid has been the team's head coach since 2005, succeeding Tina Theune after nine years as her assistant. As of December 2012, Germany is ranked No. 2 in the FIFA Women's World Rankings, behind only the United States. (Full article...)

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The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey, United States. They are members of the Atlantic Division. The club was founded in Kansas City, Missouri as the Kansas City Scouts in 1974, moved to Denver, Colorado as the Colorado Rockies after only two seasons, and then settled in New Jersey in 1982.

The franchise had been poor to mediocre in the years before moving to New Jersey. The pattern continued in its first five years in New Jersey; they failed to make the playoffs and never finished higher than fifth in their division. However, under current president and general manager Lou Lamoriello, the Devils have made the playoffs all but three times between 1988 and 2012, including thirteen berths in a row from 1997 to 2010. They finished with a winning record every year from 1992–93 to 2009–10, tied with the Detroit Red Wings as the longest such streak of any team in America's four major sports. They have qualified for five Stanley Cup Finals in their history, winning in 1994–95, 1999–00 and 2002–03.

For their first 25 seasons in New Jersey, the Devils were based in East Rutherford and played their home games at Brendan Byrne Arena/Continental Airlines Arena. Prior to the 2007–08 season, the Devils relocated to Newark to play their home games at the newly-constructed Prudential Center.

The Devils have a rivalry with their cross-Hudson River neighbor, the New York Rangers, as well as a rivalry with the Philadelphia Flyers. Since the division's creation in 1993, the Devils have won the Atlantic Division season title nine times, most recently in the 2009–10 season. (Full article...)

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The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The club is the third major-professional ice hockey team to represent the city of Calgary, following the Calgary Tigers (1921–27) and Calgary Cowboys (1975–77). The Flames are one of two NHL franchises in Alberta, the other being the Edmonton Oilers. The cities' proximity has led to a famous rivalry known as the Battle of Alberta. Games between the teams are often heated events.

The team was founded in 1972 in Atlanta, Georgia as the Atlanta Flames until relocating to Calgary in 1980. The Flames played their first three seasons in Calgary at the Stampede Corral before moving into their current home arena, the Scotiabank Saddledome (originally known as the Olympic Saddledome), in 1983. In 1985–86, the Flames became the first Calgary team since the 1923–24 Tigers to compete for the Stanley Cup. In 1988–89, the Flames won their first and only championship. The Flames' unexpected run to the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals gave rise to the Red Mile, and in 2011 the team hosted and won the second Heritage Classic outdoor game.

The Flames have won two Presidents' Trophies as the league's top regular season team, and have claimed five division championships. Individually, Jarome Iginla is the franchise leader in games played, goals, and points, and is a two-time winner of the Maurice Richard Trophy as the league's leading goal scorer. Miikka Kiprusoff has the most wins by a goaltender in a Calgary Flames uniform. Nine people associated with the Flames have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. (Full article...)

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The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport. The team first competed in 1884 against Cumberland County, New South Wales, and played their first Test match in 1903, a victory over Australia.

The All Blacks are the Rugby World Cup champions, the leading points scorers of all time, and the only international rugby team with a winning record against every test nation they have ever played. The All Blacks have held the top ranking in the world for longer than all other countries combined, and in over 100 years only five test rugby nations have ever beaten New Zealand. The All Blacks have won The Rugby Championship a record eleven times (in 1996, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2012) in the competition's 16-year history. The All Blacks have won over a record 75% of all rugby matches they have played since 1903 (which is amongst the highest in all International sport) and they were named the International Rugby Board (IRB) Team of the Year in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010 and a record fifth time in 2011. Fifteen former All Blacks have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame; three of these are also inductees of the IRB Hall of Fame, and another player is a member of the IRB Hall.

The team's early uniforms consisted of a black jersey with a silver fern and white knickerbockers. By their 1905 tour New Zealand were wearing all black, except for the silver fern, and their All Black name dates from this time. New Zealand traditionally perform a haka (Māori challenge) before each match, traditionally the Te Rauparaha's Ka Mate. (Full article...)

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The France national rugby union team represents France in rugby union. They compete annually against England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales in the Six Nations Championship. They have won the championship outright sixteen times, shared it a further eight times, and have completed nine grand slams. Eight former French players have been inducted into either the International Rugby Hall of Fame or the IRB Hall of Fame—two to the International Hall only, two to the IRB Hall only, and four to both Halls of Fame.

Rugby was introduced to France in 1872 by the British, and on New Year's Day 1906 the national side played its first Test match — against New Zealand in Paris. France played sporadically against the Home Nations until they joined them to form a Five Nations tournament (now the Six Nations Championship) in 1910. France also competed in the rugby competitions at early Summer Olympics, winning the gold medal in 1900 and two silver medals in the 1920s. The national team came of age during the 1950s and 1960s, winning their first Five Nations title outright in 1959. They won their first Grand Slam in 1968.

Since the inaugural World Cup in 1987, France have qualified for the knock-out stage of every tournament. They have reached the final three times, losing to the All Blacks in 1987 and 2011 and to Australia in 1999. France hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup, where, as in 2003, they were beaten in the semi-finals by England.

French international matches are played at several venues across the country; the Stade de France in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis is used for their games during the Six Nations, and they have a formidable home record at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille where they have only lost twice, to Argentina in 2004 and to New Zealand in 2009. (Full article...)

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Motor Racing Developments Ltd., commonly known as Brabham, was a British racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. Founded in 1960 by two Australians, driver Jack Brabham and designer Ron Tauranac, the team won four drivers' and two constructors' world championships in its 30-year Formula One history. Jack Brabham's 1966 drivers' championship remains the only such achievement using a car bearing the driver's own name.

In the 1960s, Brabham was the world's largest manufacturer of open wheel racing cars for sale to customer teams, and had built more than 500 cars by 1970. During this period, teams using Brabham cars won championships in Formula Two and Formula Three. Brabham cars also competed in the Indianapolis 500 and in Formula 5000 racing. In the 1970s and 1980s, Brabham introduced innovations such as the Gordon Murray designed "fan car"—which won its only race before being withdrawn.. The team won two more Formula One drivers' championships in the 1980s with Brazilian Nelson Piquet. He won his first championship in 1981 in the Ground effects BT49-Ford, and became the first to win a drivers' championship with a turbocharged car in 1983. In 1983 the Brabham BT52, driven by Piquet and Italian Riccardo Patrese, was powered by the BMW M12 Straight-4 engine, and powered Brabham to four of the team's 35 Grand Prix victories.

Midway through the 1992 season, the team collapsed financially as its owner was unable to make repayments against loans. The case was investigated by the United Kingdom Serious Fraud Office. In 2009, an unsuccessful attempt was made by a German organisation to enter the 2010 Formula One season using the Brabham name. (Full article...)

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The Youngstown Ohio Works baseball team was a minor league club that was known for winning the premier championship of the Ohio–Pennsylvania League in 1905, and for launching the professional career of pitcher Roy Castleton a year later. A training ground for several players and officials who later established careers in Major League Baseball, the team proved a formidable regional competitor and also won the 1906 league championship.

During its brief span of activity, the Ohio Works team faced challenges that reflected common difficulties within the Ohio–Pennsylvania League, including weak financial support for teams. Following a dispute over funding, the team's owners sold the club to outside investors, just a few months before the opening of the 1907 season.

The club's strong record and regional visibility spurred the growth of amateur and minor league baseball in the Youngstown area, and the community's minor league teams produced notable players throughout the first half of the 20th century. The story of the Ohio Works team proved to be an early chapter in Youngstown's long history of amateur and minor league baseball. In the 1930s and 1940s, the city was a frequent host of the National Amateur Baseball Federation (NABF) championship. NABF officials praised the community for the condition of its sandlot baseball diamonds, which they rated as among the best in the country. During the first half of the 20th century, Youngstown-based teams provided experience and exposure to future major league players such as Everett Scott, Floyd Baker, and Johnny Kucab, and played an indirect role in launching the career of Hall of Fame umpire Billy Evans. In the late 1990s, this tradition was rekindled, with the establishment of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, a minor league team based in neighboring Niles, Ohio. (Full article...)

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Jesus College Boat Club (commonly abbreviated to JCBC) is a rowing club for members of Jesus College, Oxford, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. The club was formed in 1835, but rowing at the college predates the club's foundation: a boat from the college was involved in the earliest recorded races between college crews at Oxford in 1815, when it competed against Brasenose College. In the early years of rowing at Oxford, Jesus was one of the few colleges that participated in races. Neither the men's nor the women's 1st VIIIs have earned the title of "Head of the River", which is gained by winning Eights Week—the main inter-college rowing competition at Oxford.

A number of college members have rowed for the university against Cambridge University in the Boat Race and the Women's Boat Race. Barney Williams, a Canadian rower who studied at the college, won a silver medal in rowing at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and participated in the Boat Race in 2005 and 2006. Other students who rowed while at the college have achieved success in other fields, including John Sankey, who became Lord Chancellor, Alwyn Williams, who became Bishop of Durham, and Maurice Jones, who became Principal of St David's College, Lampeter. Another college rower, James Page, was appointed Secretary of the Amateur Rowing Association and coached both the Oxford and Cambridge University boat clubs.

The college boathouse, which is shared with the boat club of Keble College, is in Christ Church Meadow, on the Isis (as the River Thames is called in Oxford). It dates from 1964 and replaced a moored barge used by spectators and crew-members. (Full article...)

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The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Lakers play their home games at Staples Center. The Lakers are one of the most successful teams in the history of the NBA, and have won 16 championships.

The franchise began with the 1947 purchase of a disbanded team, the Detroit Gems of the NBL. The new team began playing in Minneapolis, Minnesota, calling themselves the Lakers in honor of the state's nickname, "Land of 10,000 Lakes". The Lakers won five championships in Minneapolis, propelled by center George Mikan. After struggling financially in the late 1950s following Mikan's retirement, they relocated to Los Angeles before the 1960–61 season.

Led by Hall of Famers Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, Los Angeles made the NBA Finals six times in the 1960s, but lost each series to the Boston Celtics, beginning their long and storied rivalry. In 1968, the Lakers acquired four time MVP Wilt Chamberlain to play center, and after losing in the Finals in 1969 and 1970, they won their sixth NBA title—and first in Los Angeles—in 1972, led by new head coach Bill Sharman.

The 1980s Lakers were nicknamed "Showtime" due to their Magic Johnson-led fast break-offense, and won five championships in a nine-year span, including their first ever Finals championship against the Celtics in 1985. The team struggled in the early 1990s before acquiring Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in 1996. Led by O'Neal, Bryant, and Hall of Fame coach, Phil Jackson, Los Angeles won three consecutive titles between 2000 to 2002, securing the franchise its second "three-peat".

The Lakers hold the record for NBA's longest winning streak (33), set during the 1971–72 season, it is also the longest of any team in American professional sports. Sixteen Hall of Famers have played for Los Angeles, while four have coached the team. (Full article...)

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The Maryland Terrapins football team represents the University of Maryland, College Park in the sport of American football. The Terrapins compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Since 1950, the Terrapins have played their home games at Byrd Stadium in College Park, Maryland. The team's official colors of red, white, black, and gold have been in use in some combination since the 1920s and are taken from the state flag, and the nickname of the "Terrapins" (often abbreviated as "Terps") was adopted in 1933 after a turtle species native to the state. Maryland shares storied rivalries with Virginia and West Virginia.

The program's achievements have included one NCAA-recognized national championships, nine ACC championships, two Southern Conference championships, eleven consensus All-Americans, several Hall of Fame inductees, and twenty-four bowl game appearances. Maryland possesses the third-most ACC championships with nine. Many former Terrapins players and coaches have gone on to careers in professional football including 15 first-round NFL Draft picks.

The first officially recognized football team was fielded in 1892, and excluding a brief hiatus in 1895, Maryland has competed in college football each season since. Harry C. "Curley" Byrd, a student-athlete at Maryland, became head football coach in 1911 and served in that role for two decades before he became the university president. The Terrapins had consistent on-field success between 1947 and 1955. Maryland then suffered a period of mediocrity, until 1972, when the program again rose to national prominence under coaches Jerry Claiborne and Bobby Ross. The football program underwent another period of lackluster performance beginning in 1986 and lasting until 2001, when Ralph Friedgen was hired as head coach and engineered a first-year turnaround that culminated in a conference championship. In the following years, the Terrapins made regular postseason appearances, but were unable to match the success of Friedgen's first season. (Full article...)

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The West Virginia Mountaineers football team represents West Virginia University (also referred to as "WVU" or "West Virginia") in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of college football. West Virginia plays its home games on Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium on the campus of West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. The Mountaineers compete in the Big 12 Conference.

With a 708–463–45 record, West Virginia has the 14th most victories among NCAA FBS programs, as well as the most victories among those programs that never claimed nor won a National Championship. West Virginia was originally classified as a College Division school in the 1937 season, becoming a University Division school from 1939–72. WVU received Division I classification in 1973, becoming a Division I-A program from 1978–2006 and an FBS program from 2006 to the present. The Mountaineers have registered 79 winning seasons in their history, with 35 of those seasons resulting in eight victories or more, 17 seasons resulting in at least nine wins, and eight seasons with ten victories or more. Of those successful campaigns, West Virginia has produced one unbeaten season in its history, going 10–0–1 in 1922, as well as five 11-win seasons (1988, 1993, 2005, 2006, 2007). The Mountaineers have won a total of 15 conference championships in their history, including eight Southern Conference titles and seven Big East Conference titles.

From 2002–2011, the Mountaineer football program yielded its most prolific era to date, producing a 95–33 record. During that span the Mountaineers participated in ten bowl games, finished ranked in at least one of the AP or Coaches Polls on seven occasions, won six Big East Conference titles, and produced three BCS bowl game victories. As of the 2012 season, West Virginia was one of only three FBS programs to have won at least nine games in each of the past seven seasons, and its 95 victories between 2002–2011 rank 8th amongst FBS programs. (Full article...)

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The Portland Trail Blazers, commonly known as the Blazers, are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Trail Blazers originally played their home games in the Memorial Coliseum, before moving to the Rose Garden in 1995.

The franchise entered the league in 1970, and Portland has been its only home city. The franchise has enjoyed a strong following; from 1977 through 1995, the team sold out 814 consecutive home games, the longest such streak in American major professional sports. The Trail Blazers are also currently the only NBA team based in the Pacific Northwest, after the Vancouver Grizzlies relocated to Memphis and became the Memphis Grizzlies in 2001 and the Seattle SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City and became the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008.

The team has advanced to the NBA Finals three times, winning the NBA Championship once, in 1977. The other NBA Finals appearances were in 1990 and 1992. The team has qualified for the playoffs in 29 seasons of their 42-season existence, including a streak of 21 straight appearances from 1983 through 2003, the second longest streak in NBA history.

Six Hall of Fame players have played for the Trail Blazers (Lenny Wilkens, Bill Walton, Clyde Drexler, Dražen Petrović, Arvydas Sabonis, and Scottie Pippen). Bill Walton is the franchise's most decorated player; he was the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player in 1977, and the regular season MVP the following year. Three Blazer rookies (Geoff Petrie, Sidney Wicks, and Brandon Roy) have won the NBA Rookie of the Year award. Two Hall of Fame coaches, Lenny Wilkens and Jack Ramsay, have patrolled the sidelines for the Blazers, and two others, Mike Schuler and Mike Dunleavy, have won the NBA Coach of the Year award with the team. (Full article...)

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John Morrison and The Miz were a professional wrestling tag team and former WWE Tough Enough contestants. The team was compried of John Hennigan, going by the ring name John Morrison, and Michael Mizanin, going by the ring name The Miz. The team worked for World Wrestling Entertainment on its ECW brand, but also appeared on the SmackDown and Raw brands due to ECW's talent exchanges with those brands during their tenure as a team. The team had no official name, although they had been referred to as "The In Crowd" or "The Dirt Sheet Duo", after the name of their online webshow.

They first began teaming together in 2007. John Morrison and The Miz, originally rivals, became partners as a result being paired together and winning the WWE Tag Team Championship, making the title exclusive to the ECW brand for a brief time. They eventually dropped the title in July 2008. During their title reign, Morrison and The Miz developed a gimmick that resulted in the duo being given their own webshow, The Dirt Sheet, and their own in-ring interview segment of the same name on ECW. In December 2008 they won the Slammy Award in the category for Tag Team of the Year and won the World Tag Team Championship. The team split in April 2009, after the Miz was drafted to the Raw brand and Morrison was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2009 WWE Draft.

In October 2009, WWE premiered a new pay-per-view event based around inter-brand matches. At the time, The Miz was the second-tier champion on Raw after winning the United States Champion and was subsequently booked against SmackDowns Intercontinental Champion, John Morrison. In the build up to their first match since splitting, the two hosted a one-off edition of The Dirt Sheet on the October 16 episode of SmackDown. The Miz won the bout. The following month at Survivor Series, Miz captained a team of five wrestlers against Team Morrison in a five-on-five Survivor Series elimination match and once again bested his former partner. Soon after, Miz continued his ascendency and won the WWE Championship. (Full article...)

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Paul London and Brian Kendrick were a professional wrestling tag team best known for their time together in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The team never had an official team name, but were just referred to as "the tag team of London and Kendrick.", going by their real names as opposed to using ring names. In 2006 London and Kendrick put the tag team name "The Hooliganz" on their wrestling attires and tried to convince the WWE management to start calling the team by that name, but were unsuccessful in their attempts.

They first began teaming together in 2003 as a part of WWE, but Kendrick left the company shortly thereafter. When he returned in mid-2005, he and London reunited as a tag team. In May 2006 the duo won the WWE Tag Team Championship from MNM; it was Kendrick's first title victory with the company, and London's third. Their reign was the longest since WWE created the title in 2002, and they became the fourth longest-reigning tag team champions in the company's history, finally dropping the titles to Deuce 'n Domino in April 2007.

Later in 2007, London and Kendrick were drafted from SmackDown to the Raw brand, where they briefly held the World Tag Team Championship. They would continue to work together until Kendrick was drafted back to SmackDown in the 2008 supplemental draft, thus disbanding the team until 2010, when they reunited in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla following their releases from WWE. They have since reunited on several occasions. In 2010 they defeated the PWG World Tag Team Champions Generation Me in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla's part of the aptly titled WrestleReunion 4 show in a non-title match, their first match back together. Later that year London and Kendrick made an appearance in an event for Dragon Gate USA, however Kendrick had to leave the company when the duo lost a Pinfall Loser Leaves Company match. They reunited most recently in an October 2012 pay-per-view event for Family Wrestling Entertainment. (Full article...)

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The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 25 times outright, second only to England with 26 wins. Wales's most recent championship win came in 2012. They also compete in the Rugby World Cup every four years. The International Rugby Board (IRB) regards Wales as a Tier One rugby nation.

The governing body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), was established in 1881, the same year that Wales played their first international against England. Wales' performances in the Home Nations Championship (now the Six Nations) continued to improve, experiencing their first 'golden age' between 1900 and 1911. They first played New Zealand, known as the All Blacks, in 1905, when they defeated them 3–0 in a famous match at Cardiff Arms Park. Welsh rugby struggled between the first and second World Wars, but experienced a second 'golden age' between 1969 and 1980 when they won eight Five Nations Championships (including 3 shared wins).

Wales played in the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987 where they achieved their best ever result of third. Following the professionalisation of rugby in 1995, Wales hosted the 1999 World Cup and won Grand Slams in 2005, 2008, and in 2012, their eleventh in total. Wales also came fourth in the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Their home ground is the Millennium Stadium, completed in 1999 to replace the National Stadium at Cardiff Arms Park. Ten former Welsh players have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame, and three are inductees of the IRB Hall of Fame. (Full article...)

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The Colorado Avalanche are a professional ice hockey franchise based in Denver, Colorado. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League. Their home arena is the Pepsi Center. Their head coach is Joe Sacco and their general manager is Greg Sherman.

The Avalanche were founded in 1972 as the Quebec Nordiques as a member of the rival World Hockey Association. The Quebec Nordiques were one of the World Hockey Association's original teams when the league began play in 1972. The Nordiques became members of the NHL in 1979 with the NHL–WHA merger. Following the 1994-95 season, the Nordiques were sold to the COMSAT Entertainment Group of Denver and relocated there, where they were renamed the Avalanche.

In their first year in Denver, the Avalanche won the Pacific Division and went on to sweep the Florida Panthers in the Finals, becoming the first NHL team to win the Stanley Cup in the season following a relocation. Among teams in the four major American professional sports leagues, only the National Football League's Washington Redskins had also accomplished the feat. This was the first major professional sports championship a Denver based team would bring to the city.

In the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals, the Avalanche defeated the New Jersey Devils 4–3 to win their second and most recent championship. The 2000–01 season was the best season the team has ever had, with the team finishing the regular season with a 52–16–10–4 record for 118 points.

The Avalanche have won eight division titles and they qualified for the playoffs in each of their first ten seasons in Denver; the streak ended in 2007. (Full article...)

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The Toronto Raptors are a professional basketball team based in Toronto, Ontario. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was established in 1995, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies, as part of the NBA's expansion into Canada. When the Grizzlies relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, to become the Memphis Grizzlies in 2001, the Raptors became the only Canadian team in the NBA. They originally played their home games at the SkyDome, before moving to the Air Canada Centre in 1999.

Like most expansion teams, the Raptors struggled in their early years, but after the acquisition of Vince Carter through a draft day trade in 1998, the team set league attendance records and made the NBA Playoffs in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Carter was instrumental in leading the team to a franchise high 47 wins and their first playoff series win in 2001, where they advanced to the Eastern Conference Semifinals. During the 2002–03 and 2003–04 seasons, they failed to make significant progress and he was traded in 2004 to the New Jersey Nets. After Carter left, Chris Bosh emerged as the team leader, but they continued to struggle. However, with the appointment of Bryan Colangelo as Raptors President and General Manager, the first overall NBA draft selection of Andrea Bargnani, and a revamp of the roster for the 2006–07 season, they qualified for their first playoff berth in five years and captured the Atlantic Division title with 47 wins. In the 2007–08 season, they advanced to the playoffs again but failed to make the playoffs in the following season. Although Colangelo overhauled the team in an effort to keep Bosh after the end of his contract, Bosh signed with the Miami Heat in July 2010, ushering in a new era for the Raptors with Bargnani becoming the new face of the franchise. (Full article...)

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Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool. The club has won eighteen League titles, seven FA Cups and a record eight League Cups. Liverpool has won more European titles than any other English club, having won five European Cups, three UEFA Cups and three UEFA Super Cups. Liverpool has long-standing rivalries with neighbours Everton and with Manchester United. The club's anthem is "You'll Never Walk Alone".

Liverpool was founded in 1892 and joined the Football League the following year. The club has played at Anfield since its formation. Liverpool reached its first FA Cup Final in 1914, losing 1–0 to Burnley It won consecutive League championships in 1922 and 1923, but did not win another trophy until the 1946–47 season, when the club won the First Division for a fifth time. The club was relegated to the Second Division in the 1953–54 season. The club was promoted back into the First Division in 1962 and won it in 1964, for the first time in 17 years. In 1965, the club won its first FA Cup. In 1966, the club won the First Division but lost to Borussia Dortmund in the European Cup Winners' Cup final. Liverpool won both the League and the UEFA Cup during the 1972–73 season, and the FA Cup again a year later. The most successful period in Liverpool's history was the 1970s and '80s when Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley led the club to eleven league titles and seven European trophies.

The club's supporters have been involved in two major tragedies. The first was the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985 in which charging Liverpool fans caused a wall to collapse, killing 39 Juventus supporters. In the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, 96 Liverpool supporters lost their lives in a crush against perimeter fencing. The incident remains the worst stadium-related disaster in British history and one of the world's worst football disasters. (Full article...)

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