The season began back in early March, with a cover story in ESPN The Magazine in which Bryce Harper, the 23-year-old reigning MVP of the Washington Nationals, declared that baseball is a tired sport. Wholesale Air Max China .It will end with the crowning of a World Series champion.In between, the season has played out in the background of a presidential race in which immigration became one of the pivotal issues.Jose Fernandez was an immigrant. He tried and failed three times to defect from Cuba before he and his mother finally made it on a fourth try. Last year, he became a U.S. citizen. And on the baseball field, he was anything but tired.Harpers argument was the games unwritten code limits self-expression. You cant do what people in other sports do, he said. Im not saying baseball is, you know, boring or anything like that, but its the excitement of the young guys who are coming into the game now who have flair.He singled out Fernandez. Jose Fernandez is a great example. Jose Fernandez will strike you out and stare you down into the dugout and pump his fist. And if you hit a homer and pimp it? He doesnt care. Because you got him. Thats part of the game. Its not the old feeling -- hoorah ... if you pimp a homer, Im going to hit you right in the teeth. No. If a guy pimps a homer for a game-winning shot ... I mean -- sorry.Fernandez not only had the flair that Harper admires but an unfiltered joy for the game. As teammates, opposing players and reporters talked about Fernandez the past two days, everyone mentioned that he simply loved playing baseball, always played with a smile, heck, could even make Barry Bonds laugh in the dugout:On Twitter, two moments from his rookie season were continuously retweeted as a form of grief therapy. The first one was when Fernandez improbably snagged a line drive off the bat of Troy Tulowitzki:Did you catch that? the cameras captured Tulowitzki asking. Fernandez grinned. Yeah. Of course he did.The second one was his reaction after Giancarlo Stanton hit a game-tying home run in the ninth inning of a game nobody now remembers except for this:The Marlins announced that they will retire Fernandezs No. 16. There were cries to allow him to be elected to the Hall of Fame or name an award after him. But this should be Fernandezs lasting legacy: Keeping baseball fun again.Thats an important idea to understand in this most divisive of years. Watching the pregame ceremony at Marlins Park before Mondays game, I saw Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich, a black man and a white man, doing their pregame sprints together, both with red-rimmed eyes. I saw teammates from America, from Cuba, from Taiwan, from Japan, from the Dominican Republic, from Venezuela, all wearing jerseys with Fernandezs No. 16 on the backs. I saw Bonds, the son of a major leaguer, a man with his own large footprint on this game, crying as a high school choir sang the national anthem. I saw Dee Gordon, another son of a major leaguer, cry as he rounded the bases after impossibly leading off the game with his first homer of the season. I saw the Marlins place their hats on the mound after they had defeated the Mets.It was a team rallying around a kid who was born in Cuba, escaped to Mexico on a boat, made his way to Florida and became a baseball star with a movie-star smile. It was all a reminder that this game brings together players from all over the globe. They all bring their own codes, their own style of play, their own idea of flair. Its up to all of us -- players and fans -- to understand our differences, to understand there are different ways to play this game. That a bat flip is sometimes just a bat flip. That we can have Mark Fidrych talking to the baseball, Rickey Henderson making one-handed snatch catches, Dennis Eckersley pointing at batters after a strikeout, the Red Sox Idiots breaking a curse and Asdrubal Cabrera hitting a walk-off home run and throwing his bat like hes competing in the Olympic hammer throw. Its all baseball.I read somewhere -- sorry, forgot who wrote it, but it was a good line -- that Fernandez was one of those players kicking and screaming to bring baseball into the 21st century. Theres something to that, although as Jeff Passan of Yahoo wrote, Fernandez had a blissful ability to take neither himself nor what he was doing too seriously.In other words: Have some fun. It is, after all, just a game. Cheap Wholesale Air Max Shoes . Reigning world champion Eve Muirhead of Scotland opened with a 12-2 rout of Winnipegs Jennifer Jones in a battle of teams bound for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Wholesale Air Max Sale Online . -- The plastic that was taped across the lockers in Oaklands clubhouse came down and the champagne that was on ice went back into the cooler. http://www.airmaxauthentic.com/ . Speaking to the Chicago Tribune at baseballs Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Boras called the former home of the Expos a "tremendous environment" for baseball.Oliver Burke admits he is still adjusting to life in Germany since his surprise summer move to the Bundesliga, but is already targeting the title with his new club. Burke, 19, raised eyebrows across British football in August when he signed for newly promoted RB Leipzig in a £13m deal from Nottingham Forest having played just 35 senior games.Officially RasenBallsport Leipzig - the club was formed in 2009 when Red Bull purchased the playing rights to local fifth-tier side SSV Markranstädt, rebranding the club in the companys image and cannily circumventing German footballs strict rules on corporate influence. Burke moved from Nottingham Forest to Leipzig Four promotions later, the city of Leipzig has welcomed top-flight football for the first time since 1994 and the team has hit the Bundesliga like a whirlwind.On the pitch, Leipzig is a hotbed young European talent - the upstart of the Bundesliga determined to upset the established order - and after winning promotion to the top flight for the first time since 1994, they are unbeaten in 10 games and sit second behind Bayern Munich on goal difference, with Burke contributing a goal and two assists already. Burke speaks to Sky Sports in Leipzig Its an amazing feeling to be second in the Bundesliga at the moment and still doing so well and comfortably winning matches as well as a team. We are doing very well and it is great, he told Sky Sports News HQ.Can we win the Bundesliga? Me personally, I believe we can, of course. But we cant think about that too much, we have to concentrate and go into each game and give 100 per cent and still keep working hard on the training field. But everybody strives for the top and everybody wants to win trophies, medals and stuff so why not?I want to win the Bundesliga and I want to win it with RB Leipzig. Why not? We have the players, the quality; we have a great team so there is no reason why we cant. For sure, it is a good shout to be in the Champions League but we take every game as it comes and we keep working hard and certainly we will get there with our hard work and dedication. Burkes new home is as a member of the Red Bull Leipzig squad Off the pitch, Burke is coming to terms with his move away from England.The biggest difference is probably driving on the other side of the road. And trams are everywhere in this city! That was hard to adjust to - youre checking thhe corner and there is a tram coming and you think, Am I meant to be here in the car? You dont know where to go. Cheap Wholesale Air Max. It was a challenge at first but now Ive adapted.The German is getting there - it is going to take a bit of time. Its a first proper language for me to learn but Im eager to learn it. Burke is having to pick up German in between Leizpig training sessions One-to-one German tuition is part of the daily routine for Burke at the world-class training complex of Der Roten Bullen, which is only 30 minutes walk - or 10 minutes on a tram - from Leipzig city centre. Across the river from the training ground is the Red Bull Arena, formerly the Zentralstadion, which hosted five games at the 2006 World Cup. For Burke, its a world away from the City Ground. Watch NOW TV Watch Sky Sports for just ￡6.99. No contract. Its very much different - sometimes you dont want to get away from this place, it has everything you need. We have a sauna steam room, the physiotherapy is fantastic, we have DVD rooms where we can watch our games and see where we need to improve on and there is always something you can improve on in yourself.We never leave the training ground until very late because we have our food here, everything is all cooked by a great chef for us; I guess it is everything you need to become a better player. Burke heads to Leipzig training Its been amazing so far and the team is so close and Ive bonded very well with the players. Many of the players speak English so it is quite easy to adapt and I get with everyone. They are a great bunch of boys and we are all young and we all strive for the same thing and we all want the same goal - to do the very best and to go into every game to win.I guess it is a brave move for me but I dont regret any of my decisions whatsoever. I am very happy and every day I keep learning, keep getting better and better and see where it gets me but it is a great club.I wouldnt say Im homesick at all really, my family have come over whenever they can. They pretty much come to every game, their support is unreal. But everyone is like family at this club, everybody looks after each other. Whenever there is a problem, everyone is there for you and it is one big family this club and it is really nice. Also See: Bundesliga fixtures Bundesliga table cheap falcons jerseys cheap ravens jerseys cheap bills jerseys cheap bears jerseys cheap bengals jerseys cheap cowboys jerseys cheap lions jerseys cheap texans jerseys cheap colts jerseys cheap jaguars jerseys cheap chiefs jerseys cheap rams jerseys cheap dolphins jerseys cheap vikings jerseys cheap saints jerseys cheap giants jerseys cheap jets jerseys cheap eagles jerseys cheap steelers jerseys cheap 49ers jerseys ' ' '