Off Topic » seeking celebrity endorsers

The St. Louis Blues continue to reign atop the TSN.ca NHL Power Rankings, ahead of the Boston Bruins and San Jose Sharks. The Colorado Avalanche, 7-2 in their past nine games, have climbed into the Top Five, and the Minnesota Wild are into the top 10 with one regulation loss in the past 11 games. Getting healthy on the blueline, the Columbus Blue Jackets climb from 16 to 12. Heading the other way, the Pittsburgh Penguins arent as effective with a depleted roster, and have fallen from five to nine, while the Dallas Stars dip from 13 to 18. Across Canada, the Montreal Canadiens are the top-ranked team, up from 14 to 13 with the return of Carey Price and the Toronto Maple Leafs stay at 17 after a 2-2 stretch on the road. The Vancouver Canucks slide from 23 to 25 as they face an uphill fight for a playoff spot, particularly now that Ryan Kesler is injured. The Winnipeg Jets hold at 19, the Ottawa Senators and Calgary Flames are both up one spot, to 23 and 26, respectively, and the Edmonton Oilers are down one, to 27, just surpassed by the Flames. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Air Max 720 Günstig Kaufen .com) - Guard Greivis Vasquez and forward Patrick Patterson, two key pieces to the Toronto Raptors run to an Atlantic Division title in 2013-14, were both given qualifying offers by the team on Saturday. Air Max 97 Herren Günstig . A 19-game winner with the New York Yankees in both 2006 and 2007, Wang spent most of this year at Triple-A for the Yankees and Blue Jays. The 33-year-old right-hander was 1-2 with a 7. http://www.shopairmaxschweiz.com/. And on Sunday against the Houston Astros they were pleased to see his work finally pay off with his first win since May 24. Nike Air Max 90 Essential Günstig . Or, for that matter, the aged. Nike Air Max 98 Schweiz . The closer wasnt available. The road trip, a disaster to that point.OAKLAND, Calif. - Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry was driving in a car with his wife, Ayesha, over the summer when they put on a song by a popular rapper that everybody had been telling them to play.Been Steph Curry with the shot, Drake called out in the song 0 to 100.The stunned couple looked at each other, smiled and broke out in laughter.It was pretty cool, Curry said.Sure, fans voted him into the All-Star Game as a starter, media selected him second-team All-NBA and a major car insurance company created a fictional twin for a popular commercial series last season. But the shoutout from a renowned recording artist might have been the moment Curry realized he had truly made it big.As his stardom continues to rise, Curry is still surprised by the celebrity treatment — even though nobody else is.Coaches, players and executives have taken notice of the growth in Currys game by strategizing everything they do around him. Marketers in the NBA league office and sponsors across the country have, too, putting his boyish face on national television and social media advertisements to promote their brands.And with the Warriors (23-4) atop the NBA standings, Currys case for MVP is starting to echo around the league as loud as the chants do nightly at rowdy Oracle Arena.Another chance to showcase his skills comes Thursday night, when Curry and the Warriors visit Chris Paul and the rival Los Angeles Clippers on Christmas for what might be the best game on the biggest day of the NBA regular season.Theres big moments throughout the course of the season that you enjoy, Curry said, and you have fun showing what you can do.This is one of them.Paul, the lead man in those commercials, has been considered among the best point guards for years. Curry, long labeled just a shooter, has added to his repertoire — and stayed healthy — each of the past three seasons to enter the debate alongside Tony Parker, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Mike Conley and others.While the qualifying criteria might be a matter of preference, this much is indisputable: nobody is running the show the way Curry is for the Warriors now.In a game dominated by big men and played by some of the worlds greatest athletes, the 6-foot-3, 190-pound Curry controls the flow without physically overpowering defenders. His shooting stroke can seem unstoppable at times, and when he gets going, nobody can seem to slow him down.His range is unlimited. Like, literally, when he crosses half court — 30, 35 footers are like layups, Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said before Curry had 34 points, nine assists and seven rebounds in a 114-109 win over the Thunder last week.Clevelands LeBron James and reigning NBA MVP Kevin Durant are among those who already have called Curry the best shooter of their generation. In the next breath, they also credit Curry for improving his all-around game.The process began when Curry returned for his senior season at tiny Davidson Coollege.dddddddddddd. He has gone from a shooting guard who dazzled during the NCAA tournament to a polished professional point guard who can dribble and distribute with the best of them.Even before Currys evolution, first-year Warriors coach Steve Kerr saw the potential. As general manager of the Phoenix Suns, Kerr tried to orchestrate a draft-night trade in 2009 to acquire Curry from Golden State.We were watching Steve Nash every night in Phoenix as a 6-1 point guard who could shoot and pass, and Steph looked like another version of Steve, Kerr said. Theyre different. Stephs more offensive-minded. Steve was more of a playmaker first. But the skillset is very similar, just the incredible hand-eye co-ordination and the ability to beat you with the pass, the dribble and the shot is a pretty rare combination.Nearly three years since the Warriors sent combo guard Monta Ellis to Milwaukee for centre Andrew Bogut, Curry has blossomed with Klay Thompson to form arguably the NBAs best backcourt.Curry is averaging 23.4 points, 7.7 assists, 5.0 rebounds and two steals this season. Hes also becoming a pest for Golden States smothering defence after being challenged by Kerr to guard his position — a major shift from the past few years under former coach Mark Jackson, who usually used Thompson to defend elite point guards.Hes awesome to play alongside with, he knows when to pass and take the big shots, said Thompson, who teamed with Curry to help the U.S. win gold at the FIBA World Cup in Spain this summer. He should definitely be mentioned in the MVP talks with the way he has been playing.Getting to that level often requires attention away from the court, and Curry is starting to get his share of it.He left shoe giant Nike for a lucrative deal with Under Armour in 2013. He moved into the top five of the NBAs most-sold jerseys at the end of last season. And in November, Sports Illustrated named Curry one of the top 100 sports figures to follow on Twitter.Henry Schafer, executive vice-president of The Q Scores Company, said Currys popularity stacks up with the NBAs most notable names.Q Scores measure awareness and likability, assigning an overall value that provides a gauge for marketers who are seeking celebrity endorsers. In the latest figures taken this year, Curry had a 53 per cent awareness among sports fans and a 26 Q Score, Schafer said.Only Durant and San Antonios Tim Duncan had a higher Q Score (29) for an NBA player. James had the highest awareness at 82 per cent among sports fans with a 25 Q Score.Curry also had a 21 per cent awareness rating and a 19 Q Score among the general population, Schafer said. The average general Q Score is 15 for sports personalities.What that signals is as his awareness grows in and out of the sport, Schafer said, he looks like he has the potential to become more of an athlete thats transcending basketball.___Antonio Gonzalez can be reached at: www.twitter.com/agonzalezAP ' ' '