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The founding father of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and patriarch of the Gracie family, Helio Gracie, died in early 2009 at the age of 95. His influence in martial arts as well as the sport of mixed martial arts is mind boggling. The Gracie family name will forever be synonymous with Brazilian sports, jiu-jitsu, MMA and the UFC–not only due to Helios own accomplishments but the legacy he created both by training others and through his family.

Helio Gracie began his training in mixed martial arts early, and by his teenage years was already teaching judo. While he had no problem mastering the theoretical aspects of judo, he found that many of its techniques were less effective for a practitioner with a smaller build. Along with his brother Carlos, Gracie began to work out his own fighting system by adapting many of judo’s techniques and making them more a product of leverage rather than brute strength. This led to the creation of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ), frequently called Gracie Jiu Jitsu in his honor.

Gracie also had a professional fighting career of his own, taking on champions from other fighting disciplines in an early version of modern MMA. These bouts were arduous, unregulated affairs with arbitrary rules and no time limits. By his own recollection, Gracie fought 15 times against the top opponents of his time. He began his career in’32 by submitting professional boxer Antonio Portugal in just 32 seconds. Later that year, he fought American catch wrestler Frank Ebert to a draw after the ringside doctor ordered the bout stopped after an ungodly fourteen ten minute rounds.

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Looking for certain items to enhance your paintball game experience is going to be a great thing to do. However, one item that you might want to consider knowing what all features it comes with is going to be your paintball pod packs. When you know the features to look for though you can select the best one available for the amount of money that you want to spend on this item.

One thing to look at is how comfortable the pack is going to be. The comfort of the pack is going to be something that should be taken into consideration since you need to wear it for long periods of time without tiring from wearing it. So you need to ensure that it is going to be comfortable enough for you to wear.

Another question to ask is how many of the cartridges is the pack going to hold for you. By knowing that you can determine how many reloads you have available in a hurry without having to reload the pods totally.

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The Portland Trailblazers have needed a big inside presence ever since starting center Greg Oden and backup Joel Pryzbilla went down with season ending injuries. They finally found one on Tuesday as they acquired veteran Marcus Camby from the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers received forward Travis Outlaw and guard Steve Blake. Camby is expected to make his debut in a Blazers’ uniform on Friday when Portland hosts the Boston Celtics.

The transaction also served to answer the nagging question about Portland’s point guard situation. Steve Blake and Andre Miller have shared time running the offense, but Blazers’ management apparently felt that Miller was a better fit with superstar shooting guard Brandon Roy. Ironically, until Miller picked up a lot of the offense slack lately with Roy on the shelf with a hamstring injury the presumption was that he’d be the one heading elsewhere as the NBA trade deadline approached.

All three players involved are in the final year of their current contract, meaning that barring anything unforeseen Camby’s career in Portland will probably last only 23 games plus the playoffs. Outlaw and Blake may or may not fit into the Clippers longterm plans.

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Vince Lombardi once said “Winning isn’t everything, its the only thing”. For most of the mainstream sports media, that couldn’t be more true. Countless hours on sports talk radio are spent deriding NBA players like Charles Barkley and NFL players like Dan Marino for never winning a championship. Simply stated, no one remembers the runner up and the mainstream sports media helps reinforce this ‘frontrunner’ mentality.

The mainstream sports media also likes to depict boxing as a repository of sleaze, but the reality is that more so than other sports ‘the sweet science’ cares about ‘how the game is played’. Boxing pundits place great emphasis on the competitive quality of a fight–great fights like the Morales-Barrera trilogy, Hagler-Hearns or Hagler-Leonard are considered such for the heart and resolve shown by the fighters, not because of who won. The 2004 fight between current ‘pound for pound’ king Manny Pacquaio and Juan Manuel Marquez is a perfect example–despite breathtaking action from start to finish the fight was ultimately ruled a draw.

At a certain point in a fighters’ career, they can even be criticized for having an undefeated record. While exceptions are made for the best of the best–Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Rocky Marciano come to mind–having a ‘zero’ in the loss column often reflects poorly on a fighter’s willingness to fight high level competition. Even for the best fighters, an undefeated record alone does little to guarantee a place in boxing history. Certainly, that is of much less significance that the manner in which these victories were earned.

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Most people would be thrilled to have the chance to take an unplanned vacation – to just take off on a spur-of-the-moment getaway. However, in the past, it seemed difficult to do so due to high prices when booking at the last minute. But, recently there have been some changes in the travel industry, that now allow individuals to obtain advantage deals on last minute vacations. Here are some tips to keep in mind when you’re buying tickets for a low-cost, last-minute vacation:

1. The Internet is your friend when it comes to finding sources that list inexpensive vacations which can be booked late. For example, you can find a number of good and reputable discount travel sites online that give great packages for tours of Europe, Caribbean getaways, Hawaiian trips, and much more. And you can expect to find a variety of bargain vacation packages available for a trip that you plan to take in the very near future. Users can check availability and prices on a wide range of vacation packages. If you are the kind of person who doesn’t want to spend a lot of money to get out of town fast, these sites are the perfect choice for you. It’s possible to save up to 30% or more when you book your vacation on these sites rather than trying to make all the travel arrangements yourself.

2. If you will be traveling in the off-season, you can expect to find bargains on last minute vacations as well. As much as 10% or more can be saved when you travel in the off-season as compared with the peak season, when the identical vacation plans can be quite expensive. Have a hankering to visit Paris, London, Spain, Athens, Barcelona, or Frankfurt? You can with the excellent European packages that are available. And there are some excellent discounts available for those who decide to go to Mexico or Hawaii in the summer, or to Europe in the winter.

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Despite a subpar game from quarterback Tim Tebow and a determined effort from the host Mississippi State Bulldogs, the Florida Gators remained undefeated by scrapping out a 29-19 victory. Florida led by only 3 points at halftime before pulling away in the fourth quarter. The usually efficient and accurate Tebow had two touchdowns returned for interceptions and passed for only 127 yards with no touchdowns. The usually accommodating Tebow left the stadium without speaking to reporters, clearly upset with his performance.

College football betting enthusiasts who took the +22′ with Mississippi State as a home underdog enjoyed an easy pointspread cover. The Bulldogs improved their ATS record to 4-3 with the cover, while Florida evened their college football pointspread record to 3-3. The 48 combined points scored just managed to stay UNDER the posted total of 50. Florida has gone UNDER in five of six lined games this season while Mississippi State has gone UNDER in 4 of their seven games.

While Tebow wasn’t talking, head coach Urban Meyer accepted much of the blame for his team’s substandard performance:

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