the Ticats offered him an extension that would have compensated

The weeks leading into the sixth annual International have been a shifting sea of new picks and revised drafts. The current patch, 6.88, might be one of the most evenly balanced in Dota 2 history, with few singular heroes shaping the draft like in the past years.Avoiding another tournament dominated by deathball-strats is a boon for spectators, and no one wants to relive 2012, the year of Naga Siren. That lack of direction can be tumultuous though, with teams and picks moving rapidly in and out of favor, leaving very few constants for spectators to grasp onto. There are still many variables in the draft, but weve corroborated some of our best thoughts on the landscape of play going into the biggest event in Dota 2.The changing faces of supportsEvery support players pool has likely widened in the last few months, with new heroes rotating into the mix and a wide variety becoming the norm. Standard picks like Vengeful Spirit, Earth Spirit and Lion still see play, but supports have become much more adaptable to the situation at hand.Riki offers a four-role option that has all but replaced Bounty Hunters role in the game. An aggressive four-player can wreak havoc on the mid lane with the cloaked Rikimaru, or turn to something like Elder Titan, whose passive and multi-faceted spirit ability add a flexible force to any draft. Shadow Demon has seen a re-entry into the meta, thanks to the usefulness of its purge ultimate and the illusion-spawning Disruption skill. Disruptor will likely be around, since teams tend to like his ability to control teamfights and his overall skill set remains relatively useful throughout the entire match.With the four-role playing a more tempo-dependent role in the early to mid-game, the picks for these roles have been of utmost importance. Expect to see some experimentation and variety in the support picks, not just from Wings Gaming, but across the board.Drow 101Even a year ago, a Drow composition was a pocket strategy, set aside as cheeses reserved for teams that managed to sneak the right heroes through the draft. By nature, Drow Ranger is a specialized carry; her strength is in her ability to push at specific times, and in bolstering her teams ranged heroes and creeps.Many balance shifts have opened up that strategy, though; Beastmasters buffs mean Visage isnt the only one who can spawn creeps for Drow to empower, and timed pushes have become much more standard. Every team has its own take on the Drow strategy, able to employ it with only a few picks instead of the prerequisite three or four picks of the past.To Talon or not to TalonSince the items inception, Iron Talon fundamentally changed the way three-role players approached the offlane. Matchups could be offset by simply resorting to jungling with Iron Talon, clearing the nearby camp or even retreating into the teams own woods to find farm. It freed up many overlooked picks that could otherwise struggle in the offlane, while highlighting the power of several heroes that made exceptional use of the item.As more changes have rolled out, though, offlaners havent been as reliant on Talon. Its still an option for the three-role who cant find the space to get their first key item, but many picks like Tidehunter, Faceless Void, Doom and Dark Seer have been getting by without resorting to it. The item offers some security in offlane farm, with a significant trade-off: opening up a lot of room for the opponents safe-lane carry to farm up the items they need.New freedoms for coresThe carry role has also been substantially opened up, due to many different factors. Supports roaming more, trilanes and early pushes becoming more frequent, and a number of early items freeing up risky core picks. Terrorblade has seen a revitalization, and though he wont be as prevalent as he was during qualifiers, hes still a much stronger pick early on.Teams have been looking to new carries, like Huskar. Oracle being a more reliable pick early in the draft means fourth or fifth-pick Huskar has become easier to draft, and captains have a much easier time avoiding counterpicks to the berzerker. Timbersaw has seen a few nerfs, but his Reactive Armor buffs still make him a formidable force in the mid lane. Tinker will likely see a resurgence as well, with several explosive mid laners finding huge playmaking opportunities in Tinkers global presence and burst potential.Other cores are also bucking trends. The prevalence of Timbersaw brought about several Sand King core pick-ups because of the scorpions ability to pressure Timbersaw with his venomous passive ability. Evil Geniuses recently drafted both a mid Oracle and a mid Ancient Apparition. While the overall viability of either is still questionable, the mid lane has been frequently offering an outlet for mid laners to show how deep their pool is.The International metaOf course, the amount of games at The International tends to breed its own meta every year. Strategies rise and fall in a matter of days, and with teams allowed so many matches to test each other and tear down pre-established strategies, it can be an impossible task at times to predict the ways the meta will form.Naturally, teams will lean towards safe, reliable picks. But that might change between the group days and the main stage; one hero might be extremely popular in the groups, but by the time teams head to KeyArena, everyone has worked out a solution and moved on. Iman Marshall Jersey . Soukalova missed only one target and completed the 15-kilometre course in 40 minutes, 32.6 seconds for both victories in this seasons individual discipline. Darya Domracheva of Belarus was second, 34. Justin Tucker Youth 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.cheapravensshoponline.com/Youth-Joe-Flacco-Ravens-Jersey/ . LUCIE, Fla. Miles Boykin Womens Jersey . The veteran safety was a starter for the Bengals from 2008-2012. He totaled 41 tackles and three interceptions while starting all but four of the 13 games he played last season. Trace McSorley Womens Jersey .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again.After the first two weeks of the regular season in the CFL, parity seems to be the word to best describe what has unfolded. The Saskatchewan Roughriders are the only 2-0 team, and the Tiger-Cats are the only 0-2 team but could easily have been in the .500 club if not for a dropped screen pass in the second-to-last play of Week 1 versus the Argos. The leagues offences got off to a fast start in Week 1 with the four opening games producing a total of 277 points, or an average of 69.3 points/game. That average was the third highest scoring first week in the leagues history. In Week 2 the defensive coordinators decided enough was enough, and shaved a hundred points off the top and dropped the total count to 177 points or 44.25/game, although a monsoon in Guelph also contributed. There were a few other interesting developments over the first two weeks that are worth noting. The first that comes to mind is the new wave of receivers that seems to be emerging. With Geroy Simon missing both games to start the season due to injury, the positions all-time leader and senior statesman is still looking for his first catch as a Saskatchewan Roughrider. Nik Lewis, who has known nothing but 1,000-yard seasons in his nine years in the CFL, currently ranks 16th amongst CFL pass catchers. The Alouettes Jamel Richardson, who is entering his tenth season, finds himself out of the top 20 after the first two weeks of the CFL season. Cliche time - "Its not where you start but where you finish." Im sure that all three veterans will start to take their games up a notch and climb back up the list. In fact Simon (age 37) said prior to the Riders game against Calgary that he probably could have played in the contest and will be ready to go this week if the coach and training staff give him the green light. And as long as they stay healthy, Lewis (31) and Richardson (31) will have their big games, and when the dust settles will be past the 1,000-yard mark. However, football fans could be witnessing the beginning of a changing of the guard at the receiver position. It may not be completed this year or even next, but there are some talented young receivers who are quickly making names for themselves. Calgarys Joe West is a big target with strong hands who can also run by people, as witnessed in Calgarys first passing play of Week 2 vs. Saskatchewan when he caught a 64-yard deep ball. He would add a touchdown in that contest, his third of the season after two weeks. Nick Moore of the BC Lions had a monster game in Week 2 in his clubs home opener, pulling in six catches for 107 yards. Moore, who is actually lining up in Simons old position, currently ranks fourth among CFL receivers after two weeks. There are also a couple of young Canadian receivers making some noise early and will be interesting to watch, including the Bombers Cory Watson who is just outside of the top 10 and the Eskimos Nate Coehorn, who is only two spots back of Watson. Also of note after the first two weeks was the first on-field incident that forced the leagues head office to hand out the first fine of the 2013 season. In cased you missed it Saskatchewans Dwight Anderson in Week 1 in Edmonton made what the officials believed was a "throat thrashing" gesture. Anderson aggressively disagreed with the call on the field and proceeded to get a second objectionable conduct penalty, and eventually the fine was added to the punishment. What was not reported was the way thaat head coach Corey Chamblin handled his players lack of composure.dddddddddddd Following the game the team levied its own fine, and asked that Dwight Anderson do some volunteer work in the community. Chamblin explained his philosophy on the punishment when he said, "I think honestly that a players time is more important to them than their money, so when it comes to fines, I think they will better get the message if I take their time not their money." However Chamblin wasnt done just yet. His philosophy in cases like the Anderson case is to try and help the player first as a person and second as a football player. Chamblin said, "every one of us can improve ourselves, and I want to help Dwight improve as a person first, then the rest will take care of itself." As the third part of Andersons punishment Chamblin made the veteran defensive back read a book. Yes, in fact he said that they would both read a book written by Jon Gordon called, "The Energy Bus," and then discuss it together. The book is essentially about how we approach life and work, and how to do it in a positive and forward thinking way. It will be interesting to see how Dwight Anderson responds to what is a refreshingly unique and genuine approach by Corey Chamblin. And finally, speaking of discipline, the Ticats Chris Williams continues to be a topic of discussion, even thought the returner/receiver is sitting out the season over a contract dispute. Lindsey Lamar, the five-foot-nine speedster out of South Florida, is the main reason that Williams name has come up as much as it has in the first two weeks. Lamar is making Tiger-Cat fans forget about Williams in a hurry, as he already has registered a kick return touchdown, and despite some ball handling issues in the monsoon game against Edmonton in Guelph - which produced enough rain to drown a duck - Lamar in about a month in the Hammer has become one of the those guys that gets you up out of your seat every time he touches the ball. I also have to respectfully disagree with my colleague at TSN, Milt Stegall, who suggested that the Ticats have somehow disrespected Williams in a recent panel hit? For the record, it was Williams and his first agent that made the mistake of signing the first contract. Also, while actual numbers have not been made public, it is rumoured that once Williams received NFL interest the Ticats offered him an extension that would have compensated him handsomely, by CFL standards. If he didnt want to extend, because he wanted to give the NFL a shot after this season, Im sure Tiger-Cats owner Bob Young would have been fine with negotiating better money in the 2013 season to ensure he would honour the last year on his deal. Williams is making a mistake or getting bad advice or both. A football players window to play is very small at the best of times. If the tiny returner is afraid of getting hurt by playing out his contract in Hamilton, he should be reminded that you can get hurt in a light strip workout in the off-season, or lifting weights in a gym. Football players have to work on improving every day, because you can bet that the guy they are competing with in camp is improving, and sitting out a year will not help Chris Williams improve his game. The CFL gave Williams a chance when no one knew who he was. If there is any one that has been disrespected here, it is the Canadian Football League and the Hamilton organization, by Chris Williams. ' ' '