, missed the French Open to end a 65-appearance streak at majors, | Forum

Walking into the League Championship Arena on Friday, I narrowed down my choices for North American LCS MVP down to three, and all of them were about to play in the most anticipated match of the season: Team SoloMid vs. Replica Juventus Football Shirts . Immortals. It was the series that would tell us which team was going to grab the regular-season title in North America, and which team would enter the playoffs with a leg up on its closest rival for the postseason crown.At the center of the match stood three superstars with legitimate claims to being called the most valuable player in the league.The contendersOn the side of Immortals, there was the reigning MVP, Kim Reignover Yeu-jin. Outside of ROX Tigers Song Smeb Kyung-ho, no player in the world has transformed more in the past few years than Reignover. Given the nickname GameOver in South Korea for his tendency to throw games, Reignover has become a true conductor on Summoners Rift since linking up with fellow teammate Heo Huni Seung-hoon on Europes Fnatic last year. He is the main cog that stirs the pot for Immortals, a team that can make their overly aggressive style work due to the effort Reignover puts into vision, jungle control, and overall pressure. For me, hes one of the top five junglers in the world, and his bilingual fluency makes him a linchpin.The second candidate, another former winner, was S?ren Bjergsen Bjerg. Let me be frank: if this award was named Best Player in the NA LCS, then Bjergsen would get my vote. I still believe Bjergsen is the strongest player in North America, and Team SoloMid did the correct thing in the 2015 offseason by building a team around him instead of trying to plug its best player into an already half-solved jigsaw puzzle. Like Reignover, Bjergsen is a player that any team, North America or Europe, would drop everything to sign.Finally, Yiliang Doublelift Peng. Weirdly enough, I didnt think of him as a true candidate for the award through the first few weeks of the split. He was only playing one champion in Lucian, and all eyes were fixated on his rookie bottom lane partner Vincent Biofrost Wang, and the centerpiece of the team was seemingly in the mid lane. But as the season progressed, Doublelift started to gallop along with the other two frontrunners.Before I delve into my decision for my placement of how Im voting for MVP of the split, lets go through a few players who should be highlighted for their work during the summer season.Honorable mentionsAs crazy it seems, for a few moments during the weekend, Rami Inori Charagh popped up into my head as someone who should be on the ballot. Sure, he only played half of the season, but thats also the main reason why he entered the conversation in the first place. Without Inori, it was clearly shown that Phoenix1 was a downright bad team that didnt deserve to be in the LCS. With him, the team started to click, and mid laner Choi Pirean Jun-Sik played like an absolutely different player. In the end, I decided against including him in my top three but I feel like Inori should be credited as one of the main characters of this split. When people think about this split, outside of TSMs dominance and Doublelift and Bjergsens one-two punch for the ages, Phoenix1 and its rise from the ashes of an 0-9 start will be one of the first stories to come to mind.Besides Inori, I also felt like Eugene Pobelter Park is another player that was on the cusp of breaking into the top three. While Reignover is certainly the man pulling the strings for Immortals, Pobelter was the catalyst to Immortals being able to keep up with the likes of TSM during a season where mid pressure and mid lane control were so crucial. After the spring split where every Immortals player was seen as the best at their position except for the last remaining North American starting mid in the league, Pobelter was the best or second best player for IMT this season alongside Reignover.Zaqueri Aphromoo Black, per usual, pulled together his CLG troops following an awful start to the split and led the team to a top four position in the regular season. Id also be daft not to mention Jake Xmithie Puchero for his continual strong play in the jungle. On the topic of jungle, how do I even choose the top three junglers in the league for the All-NA LCS squad? Reignover, Xmithie, Inori, TSMs Dennis Svenskeren Johnsen, Liquids Joshua Dardoch Hartnett, and Cloud9s William Meteos Hartman all had stellar seasons. While a majority of the positions have a few clear trios at the top, the jungle position -- once the shallowest position in the NA LCS -- has a stack of candidates.Now, maneuvering back to the three players I will have on my ballot, Reignover will be my third choice for the award this split. The person I selected to get the award last split had another great split this time around, but those tiny mistakes Reignover and Immortals can usually cruise by with easier teams came back to bite them when they faced Doublelift and Bjergsen in the regular-season match that decided first place in the league.What makes an MVP?When it comes to criteria for how to vote for the MVP, a lot of people have different mindsets. Some will simply pick the player with the best stats across the board. Others will pick the player, regardless of team record, that influenced his team the most in a positive manner throughout the season. Personally, I have an assortment of different criteria, ranging from stats, to how well their team did, to what would happen if you took said player off his team and replaced him with merely an average player. In the end, to me, the MVP award, along with those other variables, should go to the player that you remember when you think about that season in the future.Someone may say, Remember the summer split of NA LCS in 2016? I want the player to whom I give the award to be that player who springs to my mind. The player that defined the regular season. The player who not only was world class in his play, influence, and stats, but put on a memorable enough performance where he made that split his own. To me, when looking back at the past nine weeks of trudging up to the LCS Arena, sleeping in hotels, and watching the games live, that player is Doublelift. When it comes to TSMs best season in team history, I dont think Bjergsen could have done it if you replaced Doublelift with an average AD, and I dont think Doublelift could have done it if you replaced Bjergsen with an average mid laner.When it comes to stats, Bjergsen and Doublelift are atop of almost all the major stats for each of their positions. However you look at it, TSMs success this season started with the two players that they built around during October of last year. Bjergsen was the last remaining player from the 2015 version of TSM, and Doublelift joined not long after. With Doublelift, Bjergsen was given a reliable carry he could trust in to help him carry the load, and the same could be said about Doublelift with Bjergsen.Yet, when I reached my hotel Sunday night after the final games had been played to start deliberating over the awards selection, the player that came to mind as the personification of the split was Doublelift. Last split, I couldnt even fathom a possible worse gut-punch exit to a season. Doublelift lost in the finals to the team that let him go. Instead of crumbling, he gave an interview after the loss, and hasnt let his head drop once this entire split.Defining the seasonWhile Biofrost isnt your average rookie, hes also a reason why I give the incredibly slight edge to Doublelift. Playing with a new support is always tough, especially for a player that has been around for a long time. You can have two players simply not meshing well, or the young player not following behind the veterans footsteps correctly. For Doublelift and Biofrost, they play like a bot-lane that has been around for years, and the season-long frontrunner for Rookie of the Split was enabled by Doublelift with their matching laning styles.His 1000th kill in the NA LCS. One of the main voices on the team when it comes to shot-calling. The best AD carry in the league, and one that was able to actually carry in a season where a lot of the players in his position were used in utility roles. After last seasons loss to CLG, a lot of players, years of experience or not, would have crumbled. You lost directly to the player who replaced you on the team that you put on the map. Your former bottom lane partner, considered one of the best in history, Fnatics Bora YellOwStaR Kim, leaves you to return to his home continent and former team.Instead of falling apart under scrutiny, Doublelift had the best split of his career. He helped Biofrost become one of the marquee supports in the league during his first split. He helped ease the pressure off of Bjergsens shoulders. He marched TSM to its best regular season in history with only one match blemish on its record.We dont know how the playoffs will unravel, but thats not what Im voting for. When I look back at this split in a few years, the first thing I will remember is Riot stretching out the league to three days a week and completely killing any sort of social life I had on Friday nights. However, after that, Ill think of Doublelift. A superstar that, for me at least, became a leader and the leagues most valuable player that summer near the beaches of Los Angeles in 2016. 18-19 Juventus Home Soccer Jersey Shirt . Capitals head coach Adam Oates said Ovechkin was injured in the first period against the Vancouver Canucks on Monday and clarified it was not a head injury. Cheap Juventus Jersey . All of the scoring came in the final 20:04. Lucic scored on a power play at 15:46 of the third period, when he tipped a shot over Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen for a 3-1 lead. http://www.juventusjerseys.com/ . Blackwood, 28, has played the last three seasons in the San Diego Padres system, including the past two summers with Class AA San Antonio of the Texas League. LONDON -- There was Roger Federer, so famous for his flawless footwork, flat on his stomach, face down and motionless on the Centre Court grass after jamming the toe of his left shoe and stumbling during what turned out to be the fifth sets pivotal game in his Wimbledon semifinal.And, a little earlier Friday, there was Federer, so successful through the years thanks in part to such a pinpoint serve, double-faulting two times in a row -- What?! Really?! -- while getting broken to drop the fourth set.Two miscues of the sort youre just not used to seeing from him all that often.Two moments that even Federer found hard to fathom.Once seemingly on the verge of a victory that would have given him a record 11th berth in the Wimbledon final, and a shot at an unprecedented eighth mens championship at the All England Club, Federer lost his way and the match, beaten 6-3, 6-7 (3), 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 by sixth-seeded Milos Raonic.This one clearly hurts, because I felt I could have had it. So close, said Federer, who had his surgically repaired left knee checked by a trainer after the uncharacteristic fall and wasnt sure whether he was seriously injured. It was really so, so close.Quite true.Federer, owner of 17 major trophies in all, was merely one point from serving for the match when, ahead two sets to one, he got to 30-40 on Raonics serve at 4-all in the fourth. But the 25-year-old Raonic, the first man from Canada to reach a Grand Slam final, cast aside that break point with a 139 mph service winner. Soon, he was in charge.I sort of persevered. I was sort of plugging away, said Raonic, whose serve reached 144 mph, produced 23 aces and saved eight of nine break points. I was struggling through many parts of the match. He gave me a little opening towards the end of the fourth. I made the most of it.Carlos Moya -- one of Raonics trio of coaches, including three-time Wimbledon champion John McEnroe -- said Federer kind of opened the door for Milos to have a chance to come back. At this stage of the tournament, you pay for that.On Sunday, Raonic will face No. 2 Andy Murray, who easily eliminated No. 10 Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in the second semifinal. Murray beat Raonic on grass in the Queens Club final three weeks ago.It will be Murrays 11th major final; hes won only two so far, including at Wimbledon in 2013, when he gave Britain its first mens champion at the tournament in 77 years. But this is Murrays first Grand Slam title match against someone other than Federer or Novak Djokovic. Cheap Juventus Soccer Jerseys. You learn from those matches, for sure, said Murray, whos 29. The older you get, you never know how many chances youre going to have.Federer, who turns 35 on Aug. 8, would have been the oldest finalist at the All England Club since 1974. He remains tied with Pete Sampras and William Renshaw (who played in the 1800s) with seven titles at Wimbledon, most recently in 2012, and was the runner-up to Djokovic the past two years.Maybe this time Federer ran out of steam, forced to play 10 sets in his last two matches, including a quarterfinal comeback from two sets down against Marin Cilic on Wednesday.Two years ago, Federer got past Raonic in straight sets in the Wimbledon semifinals. This time, Federer flinched the way he seemingly never used to.Serving to get to a tiebreaker at 6-5 in the fourth set, Federer went up 40-love. After a forehand winner by Raonic, the unthinkable: Those back-to-back double-faults to let Raonic back into the game. Eventually, Raonic took advantage of a soft volley to deliver a down-the-line backhand passing winner, breaking for the first time since the matchs fourth game -- which ended with a double-fault by Federer -- and sending the semifinal to a fifth set.I cant believe I served a double-fault twice. Unexplainable for me, really, Federer said. Very sad about that and angry at myself because never should I allow him to get out of that set that easily.He went up a break at 3-1 in the fifth by winning the game in which Federer tripped -- and contributed yet another double-fault.I hope its not so bad. I walked it off. I was able to finish, Federer said. But I dont slip a lot. I dont ever fall down. It was a different fall for me than Ive ever had.Asked how badly he might have been injured, Federer replied: I dont know yet. I dont even want to know. I just felt not the same afterwards.This has been a difficult season for Federer, who never needed an operation until having his knees torn cartilage repaired in February.Hes also had back issues, missed the French Open to end a 65-appearance streak at majors, and came to Wimbledon without a title in 2016.Youre playing who Roger is today, Raonic said, not who hes been the past few years.---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich Cheap NFL HoodiesCheap Nike NFL JerseysWholesale Nike NFL JerseysWholesale Jerseys Free ShippingJerseys NFL ChinaWholesale NFL Autographed JerseysCheap Jerseys Free Shipping ' ' '