Cheer for the Giants
• Respect success Love them or hate them, the Giants are the closest thing Major League Baseball has to a dynasty.
Beating the Royals would make San Francisco the first National League team to win three World Series in a five-year span since the St Louis Cardinals in the 1940s.
The fact they missed the play-offs in the intervening odd-numbered years is the only thing keeping San Francisco from true dynasty status.
• Real baseball They represent the National League and, by extension, how baseball was meant to be played.
None of this designated hitter tomfoolery; everyone plays in the field, everyone hits.
• No-name team Catcher Buster Posey, left, is the only real star on the Giants. The rest of the team is made up largely of journeymen, role players and guys in whom other teams found little value.
There is definite value in a team built around home-grown talent rather than expensive free agents acquired at the cost of emptying the farm system.
Cheer against the Giants
• Old hat Three World Series appearances in five years is enough to begin wearing out the welcome of even the most loveable teams.
The Giants have 20 all-time World Series appearances, one more than St Louis and second only to the New York Yankees (40).
• Earned it? San Francisco appear to be the epitome of the team who does just enough to make the play-offs before playing their best when it matters.
They are an 88-win team who needed the second wild card to make the post-season. Supporting the Giants means supporting not just the wild card, but the second wild card.
• Giants fans Not to engage in stereotypes, but by all reports the majority of Giants fans are, shall we say, less than hard core.
There are old-timers who used to freeze at Candlestick Park, but many joined the bandwagon during the Barry Bonds years, left, then got back on the bandwagon around 2011. If you want to associate with that type of person, go ahead.
Cheer for the Royals
• Overdue Kansas City’s success came out of nowhere and they are on the cusp of ending 29 years of futility.
Royals fans have suffered through some truly diabolical baseball in the interim and, compared to a Giants side vying for their third World Series title in five years, it is difficult to begrudge them their moment in the spotlight.
• Small ball For an American League team, the Royals play a very National League brand of baseball.
Their stellar defence alone deserves the reward of a World Series victory and their willingness to bunt, steal and grind out runs makes for compelling viewing.
• Steady hand It took a while, but general manager Dayton Moore has found the right mix.
The Royals took Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer – their offensive core – with high draft picks in the mid-2000s, and smart choices lower in the draft and in trades have paid big dividends. Credit Moore for his patience and wisdom in sculpting this team.
Cheer against the Royals
• Ned Yost Kansas City’s manager is something of an enigma. His career record (745 wins, 835 losses) is unimpressive and he has been described as, at best, tactically deficient.
Yet here he is, sitting four wins away from a World Series title. How rewarding is it to watch someone succeed simply by getting out of the way?
• Please stop Royals fans have taken to singing Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ during games. As if the Boston Red Sox had not run that song into the ground in 2004, Detroit Tigers fans took up the song during the 2012 World Series – and promptly saw their team swept by San Francisco. Can they at least find something else from Journey’s back catalogue?
• Too smart A Kansas City victory will unleash a deluge of articles from the pundit class on how the Royals are the future of baseball and how everyone should follow their lead, ignoring the fact that this is an 89-win team the Oakland Athletics should have sent home in the wild-card round.
pfreelend@thenational.ae
Follow our sports coverage on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
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Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
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Du Football Champions
The fourth season of du Football Champions was launched at Gitex on Wednesday alongside the Middle East’s first sports-tech scouting platform.“du Talents”, which enables aspiring footballers to upload their profiles and highlights reels and communicate directly with coaches, is designed to extend the reach of the programme, which has already attracted more than 21,500 players in its first three years.
Expert advice
“Join in with a group like Cycle Safe Dubai or TrainYAS, where you’ll meet like-minded people and always have support on hand.”
Stewart Howison, co-founder of Cycle Safe Dubai and owner of Revolution Cycles
“When you sweat a lot, you lose a lot of salt and other electrolytes from your body. If your electrolytes drop enough, you will be at risk of cramping. To prevent salt deficiency, simply add an electrolyte mix to your water.”
Cornelia Gloor, head of RAK Hospital’s Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy Centre
“Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can ride as fast or as far during the summer as you do in cooler weather. The heat will make you expend more energy to maintain a speed that might normally be comfortable, so pace yourself when riding during the hotter parts of the day.”
Chandrashekar Nandi, physiotherapist at Burjeel Hospital in Dubai
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
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- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
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Day 3, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Just three balls remained in an exhausting day for Sri Lanka’s bowlers when they were afforded some belated cheer. Nuwan Pradeep, unrewarded in 15 overs to that point, let slip a seemingly innocuous delivery down the legside. Babar Azam feathered it behind, and Niroshan Dickwella dived to make a fine catch.
Stat of the day - 2.56 Shan Masood and Sami Aslam are the 16th opening partnership Pakistan have had in Tests in the past five years. That turnover at the top of the order – a new pair every 2.56 Test matches on average – is by far the fastest rate among the leading Test sides. Masood and Aslam put on 114 in their first alliance in Abu Dhabi.
The verdict Even by the normal standards of Test cricket in the UAE, this has been slow going. Pakistan’s run-rate of 2.38 per over is the lowest they have managed in a Test match in this country. With just 14 wickets having fallen in three days so far, it is difficult to see 26 dropping to bring about a result over the next two.
