ATHENS, Greece -- UEFA and its top clubs have enraged the rest of the continent with an unacceptable, secret deal to guarantee more Champions League spots for the elite, according to the favorite to lead European football from Wednesday. Tom Waddle Youth Jersey .In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, UEFA presidential candidate Aleksander Ceferin expressed his frustration that the governing body caved into the demands of Spain, Germany, England, and Italy to allow them to seize 16 of the 32 Champions League group-stage places.Ceferin viewed threats that leading clubs could break away to form a closed completion as a bluff, warning that a Super League for the elite and rich is out of the question, and would create a war with UEFA.Ceferin is challenging Michael van Praag of the Netherlands for the UEFA presidency in Wednesdays election. Although lacking experience in international football politics, the 48-year-old Slovenian federation head has swept up endorsements to complete the remaining three years of banned president Michel Platinis term. Ceferin said he has the public backing of 32 of UEFAs 55 members, while his Dutch rival has four so far.The winner of the vote in Athens will have to seek re-election before UEFAs next major event, the 2020 European Championship, which Ceferin said should never have been spread across the continent for the first time.Declaring himself as being not part of the football establishment, Ceferin is hoping his forthright approach can help him win over fans, whose trust in the sports leaders has plummeted after years of scandals at FIFA.Coming from an eastern European country of 2 million, the lawyer said he will have the interests of the whole continent at heart rather than just the powerful and wealthy.Ceferin is concerned lower-ranked leagues like Slovenia will suffer as a result of Spain, Germany, England, and Italy being guaranteed four Champions League places each from 2018-21, rather than 11 currently between them, following the deal in August.A document by the influential European Club Association, obtained by the AP, said UEFA accelerated the process in part to avoid interference with UEFA presidential election process (do not allow the topic to be subject of political capture).The problem is we didnt know anything that was going on -- that shouldnt happen again, Ceferin said. Its not frustrating just for me; its frustrating for all 55 national associations ... there was a group who decided, and the lack of communication is the main problem why clubs and national associations are mad now.The current qualification system, which makes one of the teams from the English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, and Serie A contest a playoff to reach the Champions League group stage, is the ideal model, Ceferin said.(The Super League threat) is a bargaining chip, Ceferin said. I am sure they do not want to leave UEFA and UEFAs competitions. It would be boring to play in some closed league and it will mean war with UEFA. They pushed it more because we didnt have any leadership and that was a problem with UEFA.As delegates arrived in Athens for the vote, Van Praag -- a UEFA vice president -- also spoke out against the Champions League deal after missing the executive committee meeting that backed it last month.If I would be elected I would reopen the negotiations, Van Praag said.The former Ajax president said he went to ECA chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge to talk some sense in him and insisted: There will be a Super League over my dead body.Here are other issues discussed by Ceferin in his AP interview:---EURO 2020The European Championship has been staged only in one country or co-hosted by neighbors, but Platini decided to take the tournament across the continent to 13 cities for the first time in 2020.Its quite a risk for us. It will be a problem for fans to travel from one part of Europe to another. So I would prefer that it changes after 2020 because its a bit risky.POWERUEFA is not very broken -- public opinion is worse than actually UEFA is. We have to work on transparency. We have to adopt term limits for presidents and ExCo (executive committee) members because you cannot stay in a certain position for 20 years. We have seen in the recent past what is happening if you are there for too long. You think you own the organization.LEADERSHIPI am a new person, not part of the old establishment. I have new ideas. I am transparent. I have a good life at home. I have a very big law firm so I dont need it (the presidency) for my CV or to get something for me personally. We need a new wind also in European football.Asked if he will leave his law firm, Ceferin said: Its a bit hard to say but Im afraid the majority of the time I will need to be in Nyon (at UEFAs Swiss HQ).FIFAS HELPCeferin dismissed claims that advisers for FIFA President Gianni Infantino, UEFAs former general secretary, are lobbying to assist the campaign.One day Im Infantinos puppet, next day Im Platinis puppet, third day Im (a) Russian puppet, then Im (an) Italian puppet. Its obviously a problem for people to understand you can be independent ... some people are nervous because I get so much support.WOMENS FOOTBALLWe didnt do much about it. We are years in front of the USA concerning mens football but concerning womens football we are at least equal if not worse, so we have to work on that.---Rob Harris is at www.twitter.com/RobHarris and www.facebook.com/RobHarrisReports William Perry Jersey . - Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie never doubted he would bring back coach Dennis Allen for a third year despite back-to-back 4-12 records. Mike Ditka Womens Jersey . Anthony Calvillo, through 20 CFL seasons, was frequently invincible and largely stoic in the heat of competition. But underneath the professional exterior he was, and is, compellingly human. http:///...letary_Bears_Jersey/ . It says Pocklingtons lawyer filed the appeal Friday in a California court. CTV Edmonton also says Pocklington gave a $100,000 cash deposit as part of the conditions of his bail, and that he will be out on bail until his appeal is heard. As expected, Blizzard announced its next expansion for Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft at this past weekends BlizzCon. The Mean Streets of Gadgetzan, Hearthstones fourth full-scale expansion, is set to be released in early December and will consist of 132 cards.The biggest change shown thus far is a series of tri-class cards, a departure from the past in which cards have all either been playable by one specific class or by all classes. This addition goes along with the general theme of the expansion set of three warring factions in the city of Gadgetzan, a neutral desert trading outpost found in World of Warcraft. The expansion draws heavily on the gangster film segment of film noir, with a generally lighter tone than the previous full expansion, Whispers of the Old Gods, that had tentacled monsters consuming souls rather than brightly covered gangsters in fedoras and pinstriped suits. MSG will also be the last set of new cards until next years rotation that will shuffle Blackrock Mountain, The Grand Tournament, and League of Explorers out of the Standard format.Well be discussing the card set and how the cards are likely to affect competitive play in the coming weeks, but today, were focusing on ESPNs card reveal, the Grimestreet Pawnbroker.How does this card fit in competitive play and how likely will it have a key part in the upcoming meta? While there are many cards still to be released, the Grimestreet Pawnbroker does use variants of mechanics with a long history in Hearthstone.Lets start with the basics. Its at three mana, 3/3 card at its core, a common stat configuration in Hearthstone. 3/3s match up poorly with the three mana 3/4 cards, of which there are many, so the playability of a 3/3 depends on it having a valuable effect.Looking at class cards, there have been ten 3/3 cards, of which about half have seen significant play at some point: Aldor Peacekeeper and Steward of Darkshire in Paladin, SI:7 Agent in Rogue, Silverware Golem and Void Terror in Warlock, and Ravaging Ghoul in Warrior. All of these cards have a significant effect to go along with them, one with the potential to be abused, whether its SI:7s ability to do damage and affect the board immediately, Silverware Golems ability to be played for free, or the Whirlwind which attaches to Ravaging Ghoul, which triggers other Warrior effects.The Pawnbrokers effect is a Battlecry, giving a random weapon in your hand +1/+1, these days, most likely a Fiery War Axe, Fools Bane, or Gorehowl. Weapon effects are common in Warrior, but we havent seen an effect quite like this, with the usual effect being to either give the player a weapon (NZoths First Mate, Arathi Weaponsmith, Malkorok) or enhancing a weapon already in play. This card instead applies its effect to the weapon cards themselves, making a Fiery War Axe a 4/3 weapon, Fools Bane into a 4/5, and Gorehowl into an 8/2 (which allows a face damage turn without destroying the weapon).But is this card good enough to see play in the likely Warrior builds? Thats a bit trickier. Affecting the card itself is a bit slow - a Warrior wants to be playing the Fiery War Axe on Turn 2 or Turn 1 with coin against decks with an aggressive early game, not waiting until Turn 4 to play a 4/3 weapon instead. A 4/5 Fools Bane can remove more cleanly cards like Azure Drake and Tomb Pillager (more often than not, the Warrior will have already had to deal with one or both Totem Golems).The best way to think of a card is a Shattered Sun Cleric (three-mana 3/2 that gives +1/+1 to a minion) for weapons instead of an on-board minion. The Cleric is a playable card, but its just not good enough to find a spot in highly-refined decks. Its certainly better than Ogrimmar Aspirant, a three-mana 3/3 that gives +1 attack to an equipped weapon with Inspire -- not enough of an effect considering you need to use five mana for it not to be vanilla -- but Aspirant wasnt even close to making any tournament decks. The effect is also less useful to an aggressive Pirate build as the Pawnbroker cannot buff the Rusty Hook equipped from NZoths first mate, while Bloodsail Cultist, a 3/4 for the same mana cost, can.Warrior has a lot of competition for the three mana slot and its hard to see this card fitting right now in most deecks. Anthony Miller Jersey. Among class cards, Bash, Fierce Monkey, Frothing Berserker, Ravaging Ghoul, and Shield Block all vie for spots in decks and a Warrior can run only so many three-drops. And Im not sure that Pawnbroker fits Warriors goals better than any of these cards. If Pawnbroker makes it into competitive Warrior decks, I think it would have to be after the rotation, when Bash and Fierce Monkey leave.In Arena, this card is more likely to see play simply because a three-mana 3/3 is more playable. Deaths Bite remains in Arena and getting from four attack to five attack for turn four on-curve is the best scenario for Pawnbroker, allowing Warrior to more easily deal with a wide array of five-health four drops (the Yetis, Senjin Shieldmasta, Violet Teacher, etc.) without the fear of Harrison Jones, a card that is less available in Arena.In summary, its a neat card with a new spin on weapon enhancement. It might not fit in existing Warrior decks, but if theres a midrange or an aggressive Warrior deck out that can still get enough armor to make use of an enhanced Fools Bane and maybe an Arcanite Reaper, this could be a powerful card.But really, whats the fun of a card unveiling if its just accompanied by one persons opinion? To get a wider view of where this card fits into the world of Hearthstone, I requested input from other members of the community.The first place I turned to for a second opinion was Brian Kibler, a veteran card pro -- hes in the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame -- and also a designer involved in a number of trading card games, such as the original World of Warcraft Trading Card Game.It seems like a potentially powerful effect that helps hit certain health flashpoints with mid-game weapons (could be great with a Deaths Bite-type weapon to follow it up, for instance) or to let heavy-hitting late-game weapons do more damage. It pairs very well with Gorehowl, for instance, which can hit for 15 total across two attacks if you can butt if with the Pawnbroker.Kacem Noxious Khilaji, an analyst, streamer, and broadcaster noted for his deck experimentation shared a more optimistic view of the Pawnbroker than I did. This card is awesome. It will either make Bloodsail Cultist better because of the redundancy or given how straight forward it is, make it obsolete, said Noxious in a short interview. You play Fiery War Axe on Turn 2 and this on Turn 3 and you can probably get a good Arcanite Reaper on Turn 5. This might be the basis for an alternate win condition in some Warrior builds.Chris ChanmanV Chan, the host and developer of Value Town also believes that the Pawnbroker could lead to a different type of deck, one that could be a Face Warriors dream.Its different than Upgrade since you cant upgrade the weapon activated. Thats the kicker with this card, but even one 6/3 Arcanite Reaper is well worth it. When you do hit, its ridiculous in a deck like Face Warrior. 3/3 isnt that bad of a body and even if you whiff, its not terrible. If this card became prevalent, you can guarantee that Acidic Swamp Ooze and Harrison Jones will be played even more than they already are.For the Arena side of Hearthstone, I consulted with Mike SimCopter1 Bender, who specializes in this part of Hearthstone.This is a decent minion that provides potential upside while sacrificing few stats (one stat point in this case, since true three-drops have a baseline of seven stat point). This card fits multiple playstyles: It can help midrange decks get the extra weapon value they need to keep the board, it can help face-oriented decks generate enough burn to win a match they might otherwise have lost. With that being said, I think Grimestreet Pawnbroker is best used as a midrange value generator that lets your weapons clear pressure from enemy minions.On the downside, if the Battlecry doesnt hit or isnt relevant, its going to be lackluster. A three mana 3/3 is below-average in an arena meta where high state minion on-curve in games. Luckily Warrior has quite a few weapons these days, but it would be a lot better if it interacted with Arathi Weaponsmith, Upgrade!, NZoths First Mate, or Malkorok. Wholeslae Jerseys NFL Jerseys Cheap Wholesale NBA Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Cheap College Jerseys Cheap Football Jerseys Cheap Basketball Jerseys Cheap Baseball Jerseys ' ' '