The Race for Number Eight

Written by Ted Bauer


In any type of normal world,repparttar race forrepparttar 132886 No. 8 seed in either Conference wouldn’t matter at all, save for adding some interest torepparttar 132887 final third ofrepparttar 132888 season. Inrepparttar 132889 East,repparttar 132890 No. 8 crew will probably drawrepparttar 132891 Miami Heat in round one, facing off againstrepparttar 132892 inside-outside twosome of Shaq and D-Wade, who are poised to bring a big golden trophy to South Beach. It won’t be pretty.

The picture’s a bit different inrepparttar 132893 West, though ---repparttar 132894 battle forrepparttar 132895 No. 8 slot is a tighter affair, and there’s interest from close NBA watchers. Granted,repparttar 132896 last team in draws eitherrepparttar 132897 Spurs orrepparttar 132898 Suns, and both are going to be hard to knock off. But --- let’s say Steve Nash’s injuries continue to nag at him. Let’s also take into account that playoff basketball slows down and focuses on half-court sets. The Suns suddenly seem beatable, right? The Spurs are a bit tougher --- they thrive in half-court sets, and they’rerepparttar 132899 definition of consistent.

Still, let’s sayrepparttar 132900 Lakers getrepparttar 132901 No. 8 seed --- a possibility we’ll investigate. The Lake Show has reached 4 ofrepparttar 132902 last 5 Finals --- granted, with a vastly different chemistry. But Kobe is still a rare player. Let’s say Minnesota gets in just underrepparttar 132903 line --- they wererepparttar 132904 No. 1 seed last year, and possess arguablyrepparttar 132905 league’s most game-altering player in Kevin Garnett. And ifrepparttar 132906 Nuggets --- a young, eccentric mix of quality players --- getrepparttar 132907 nod, they might have enough firepower to run a full series with either San Antonio or Phoenix.

Sincerepparttar 132908 No. 8 seed inrepparttar 132909 West could, theoretically, knock off a potential No. 1, we decided to investigate who’s most likely to come out as No. 8 in late April. We evaluated onlyrepparttar 132910 Lakers, T-Wolves, and Nuggets, because let’s be honest --- as good asrepparttar 132911 Clippers have played this year, do you honestly see them anywhere nearrepparttar 132912 NBA Playoffs? We thought so.

Each team is assigned 3 (highest), 2, or 1 (lowest) points in four different categories: Personnel, Coaching, Remaining Schedule, and Intangibles. Scientific, no?

Personnel: The Lakers have Kobe, who is arguablyrepparttar 132913 best player inrepparttar 132914 game. He’s struggled without a presence inrepparttar 132915 middle (no offense to Chris Mihm…), and there’s serious strains on his image followingrepparttar 132916 rape trial and tumultuous breakup ofrepparttar 132917 championship run Lakers. Beyond Mr. Bryant, though, Los Angeles doesn’t have much. Caron Butler was promising as a rookie, but hasn’t done a ton since then. Lamar Odom isrepparttar 132918 second key to this team --- he needs to play atrepparttar 132919 level he’s capable of playing at, and he hasn’t been doing that. He goes inrepparttar 132920 tank more than Vince Carter claims he went inrepparttar 132921 tank in Canada, especially against higher-level foes.

The Timberwolves have an amazing team on paper. Garnett,repparttar 132922 reigning MVP, can beat you every which way. Sam Cassell is an experienced, showstopper point guard, and Latrell Sprewell can still score in buckets. Wally World gets injured, sure, but he’s got game. The problem is,repparttar 132923 entire team has underachieved this year, which creates a need for big games from Trenton Hassell and others. That shouldn’t be necessary given this squad, especially when Sprewell is playing for 14 million per (even though he’s apparently belowrepparttar 132924 poverty line).

The Nuggets are good all-around. We’re still waiting for Camby to tear something, and Nene has been onrepparttar 132925 injured list since Valentine’s Day. Carmelo Anthony has slumped a bit in his sophomore campaign, and he doesn’t play defense much at all. Earl Boykins has become a star here, regularly pacingrepparttar 132926 team in scoring, and Andre Miller --- who must be with his 19th NBA team by now --- seems to have acquiredrepparttar 132927 poise of a true floor general, leading this team pretty well on most nights. K-Mart has been energized byrepparttar 132928 recent hire of George Karl.

The Great British Aikido Controversy

Written by Henry Ellis


The Aikido Controversy

The Aikido Controversy is now a part of British Aikido History. It was a long and difficult fight to protectrepparttar true history of British Aikido fromrepparttar 132885 false claims of Mr Jack Poole and The British Aikido Board. Sport England totally exonerated Henry Ellis. The BAB were instructed to give Henry Ellis a full public apology after admitting that Mr Poole had received an award to APPEASE him. The BAB also admitted that Mr Poole could only substanciate his history from 1968.

The Controversy (Why such a controversy)

Two years ago I received a circular, viarepparttar 132886 British Aikido Board, inviting me to Mr Jack Poole's celebratory seminar of "47 years in Aikido". At that time this would have placed Mr Poole asrepparttar 132887 first ever for Aikido inrepparttar 132888 UK in 1952. This is a very serious statement and offensive to those like myself and others who took part inrepparttar 132889 birth of British Aikido, and its subsequent promotion. So whyrepparttar 132890 controversy? Mr Poole was an immediate beginner in my Dojo at Slough, Berks, in 1968. One does not have to be a nuclear scientist to calculate that 1968 from 2000 is 32 years (not 47 years) Howeverrepparttar 132891 British Aikido Board in its wisdom refused to answer my subsequent complaint, against Mr Pooles claim, and atrepparttar 132892 National Seminar 2000 awarded him a bronze samurai statue to celebrate his "40 plus years of Aikido".

The article that follows details these events and has been built up asrepparttar 132893 events unfolded.

Yours in Budo Sensi Henry Ellis

Forrepparttar 132894 history of British Aikido, read Sensei Ellis's article "Positive Aikido" in "Fighting Arts International".

The Final Analysis

Onrepparttar 132895 29th February 2000 Sensei Ellis sent an official letter of complaint torepparttar 132896 British Aikido Board,repparttar 132897 letter was addressed torepparttar 132898 British Aikido Board secretary Mrs S Timms, subsequently Mrs Timms arranged a meeting at "The Hut" with Sensei's Foster, Ellis, Eastman, and Mrs Timms herself to discussrepparttar 132899 matters detailed inrepparttar 132900 letter. It was agreed without doubt that no one had ever heard of Mr Poole prior to him being a beginner in Sensei Ellis's dojo in 1968.

Atrepparttar 132901 British Aikido Board meeting held onrepparttar 132902 23rd September 2000,repparttar 132903 British Aikido Board executive denied having receivedrepparttar 132904 "official complaint" whenrepparttar 132905 matter was raised by Sensei Derek Eastman. Ifrepparttar 132906 British Aikido Board executive did not receiverepparttar 132907 letter, why? It was as a result of this letter thatrepparttar 132908 above meeting took place, so I will askrepparttar 132909 question again, why was this important official letter that directly affectsrepparttar 132910 history of British Aikido not placed beforerepparttar 132911 whole ofrepparttar 132912 executive committee?

In briefrepparttar 132913 evidence against Mr Poole that was offered torepparttar 132914 British Aikido Board:

Sensei Ellis has not one photo of Mr Poole as a beginner in 1968 but several.

Both these photes clearly show Mr Poole as a beginner and were taken in 1968

A video taken in 1968, clearly showing Mr Poole as a beginner. Witnesses to these dates: > Chiba Sensei > Ellis Sensei > Eastman Sensei > Goodwin Sensei > Staverou Sensei Students from that time. When Mr Poole was asked by a senior member ofrepparttar 132915 British Aikido Board "Jack, when and where did you actually start your Aikido", Mr Poole's reply was "errgh, I can't really remember when I started".

Onrepparttar 132916 strength of that brief statementrepparttar 132917 British Aikido Board awarded Mr Poole with a fine samurai statue to celebrate our new leader.

Once again I repeat thatrepparttar 132918 only reason forrepparttar 132919 controversy article being placed on our Internet site is not malicious but simply to protectrepparttar 132920 true history of Aikido inrepparttar 132921 UK.

As of today’s date, 13th October 2000, we have not yet received any advice from a lawyer as to any threatened action. We intend to keeprepparttar 132922 article on our website and if Mrs Timms and Mr Poole wish to contestrepparttar 132923 truth then we patiently await your legal response to change hard facts into fiction.

Jack Poole And his forthcoming "Celebration of 47 years of Aikido" By Henry Ellis Sensei The Controversy

Recently, I received a letter fromrepparttar 132924 British Aikido Board, enclosed wererepparttar 132925 usual documents of a previous general meeting, amongstrepparttar 132926 papers was a A4 size photo of Mr. Poole, inviting everyone torepparttar 132927 above celebration, including me. The content ofrepparttar 132928 poster was of great concern to many others and me who shared inrepparttar 132929 birth of Aikido in Britain. If you have not read my story in "Fighting Arts International " No 93, and Aikido Today Magazine No 36, they are to be found on this web page.

Why all this concern?

As I have stated above,repparttar 132930 history of Aikido inrepparttar 132931 UK is very well documented. Kenshiro Abbe Sensei introduced Aikido in 1955, his first student was Ken Williams Sensei, (see Aikido Today Magazine #43). From that early group of selected students,repparttar 132932 only ones to survive are Williams sensei, Haydn Foster sensei, and myself Henry (Harry) Ellis. Williams sensei was maderepparttar 132933 National coach for Aikido inrepparttar 132934 UK, and I wasrepparttar 132935 assistant National coach.

During those great early years, we traveled all overrepparttar 132936 British Isles, also to France and Belgium.

If we are to believe Mr. Poole’s claim to 47 years of Aikido, then this would place him back inrepparttar 132937 era of 1952/3, this is two years beforerepparttar 132938 arrival of Kenshiro Abbe sensei torepparttar 132939 UK. None ofrepparttar 132940 early teachers had ever heard of Mr. Poole, that is until Mr. Poole came to join my "beginners class" in 1967/8 at my dojo in Slough, Berkshire.

Take a look atrepparttar 132941 photos in both magazines, you will see a man with a bald head and long beard, that is unmistakably Mr. Poole. Is it not conceivable that as I was a 3rd dan at that time I would have noticed that this "beginner" had some 15 years previous training, andrepparttar 132942 fact that Mr Poole was with my beginners for some three years, would he not have told me.

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