Tourneys offer sun, plant seeds - Christmas Flowers USA

Sunny skies and sandy beaches await Xavier’s men’s basketball team in this week’s Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu, but the destination is just the icing on the exempt tournament.

It’s primarily a business trip filled with resume-building opportunities on the hard court.

The No. 8 Musketeers play three games in four days, starting Thursday with Long Beach State and continuing Friday against Auburn or Hawaii. XU meets one of four possible foes – Clemson, Kansas State, the University of Texas at El Paso or Southern Illinois – on Sunday, christmas flowers usa blogs Day.

Xavier has played in regular-season tournaments seven times since 2002 and every year since 2006. That’s when an NCAA rules change allowed programs to compete annually in exempt tourneys as long as they didn’t play in the same event more than once in a four-year frame.

Tournaments have increased since the rule change, and the influx of participating teams has reaped the benefits. Not only can teams face opponents and styles they otherwise wouldn’t, but many brackets unfold entirely on neutral courts in vacation destinations.

The chance to prep for conference tournaments and the NCAA Tournament by playing games in short order is a bonus, and so is the way an exempt event counts on a team’s schedule.

Whether a team plays in a three- or four-game event, all its exempt tournament games count as one regular-season contest – which allows it to further diversify its schedule and present a larger body of work for postseason consideration.

From his perspective on the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee, Xavier athletic director Mike Bobinski believes exempt events help in teams’ evaluations for Selection Sunday.

“The more evidence we have, the more comparison and evaluation opportunities that we have with different teams, the better job we can do when it comes to selection time,” Bobinski said.

“I think they add value to our process and I think they are good for the game. Having competition out of your traditional group and traditional regions is kind of a fun thing. It shakes the game up a little bit.”

XU might not otherwise have faced Long Beach State without the Diamond Head Classic. Distance, travel considerations, players’ school commitments and scheduling availability from Xavier’s perspective would have had to align with the West Coast program’s needs for a series to work.

Because exempt tournaments can only include one team per conference, XU is the lone Atlantic 10 member in the Diamond Head Classic. The rest of the field includes the Atlantic Coast Conference (Clemson), Big 12 (Kansas State), Big West (Long Beach State), Conference USA (UTEP), Missouri Valley Conference (Southern Illinois), Southeastern Conference (Auburn) and Western Athletic Conference (Hawaii).

While the different types of competition in such events have immense value, the financial incentives generally do not. Costs can be considerable despite the assistance of event sponsors.

ESPN senior director of event management Clint Overby said his company tries to offset teams’ expenses in their five exempt tournaments: the Old Spice Classic, Puerto Rico Tip-Off, Diamond Head Classic, 76 Classic and Charleston Classic.

“Teams get a stipend for airfare and we cover hotels on site for their specific travel party,” Overby said.

“The Hawaii stipend is more because of the distance and multiple legs (on planes), and we’re taking that into consideration.”

As a private institution, Xavier is not required to share its athletic finances. Bobinski said he appreciates the funds tournaments have given Xavier to defray costs, and he considers participation a worthy endeavor despite the financial obligations.

Food alone costs tens of thousands of dollars.

“It’s an investment on our part. From a competitive standpoint, it’s one that we feel has a return and has value to us,” Bobinski said.

Of course, XU isn’t required to play in exempt tournaments. It, like other Division I teams, could travel another NCAA-approved route by adding two more non-conference games to its schedule.

That’s not a likely scenario for Xavier as long as it’s offered good tournament opportunities. The program has already locked up its next three: the Puerto Rico Tip-Off in 2012, the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas in 2013, and the Old Spice Classic in Florida in 2014.

Xavier has become a part of ESPN’s rotation because of its basketball success, competitiveness and good amount of traveling fans, Overby said. Those are characteristics the company tends to look for in all its tournaments.

While ESPN events add another perk – televised games on its family of networks – a tournament’s RPI benefits can be even greater, regardless of host. XU has defeated teams like Memphis, Missouri, Villanova and Virginia Tech in exempt tourneys.

“We’ve built parts of our NCAA Tournament resume in these events,” Xavier director of basketball administration Mario Mercurio said.

“What I’ll say to event organizers is, ‘I want a great field.’ I want to count on Top 100 RPI games, teams that are going to be in the NCAA Tournament, Top 25 teams.”

For Xavier, accepting a Diamond Head Classic invitation was a slam dunk from a competition standpoint. The tournament’s timing was another story. Administrators had to mull the pros and cons of playing over christmas flowers usa for the first time.

“We understand for our team, for our staff and for our fans, to be on the road at that time of the year requires a sacrifice in some ways. We really wrestled with it,” Bobinski said.

But players will have chances to learn about the Hawaiian culture in a state they may not have visited on their own.

One reason coach Chris Mack said he likes exempt tournaments is because players are exposed to new places.

This tourney marks freshman Justin Martin’s first trip to Hawaii.

“Everybody wants to vacation in Hawaii,” Martin said.

“Even though it’s not a vacation, I do get to say I’ve been there. I’m definitely looking forward to it.”

Freshman Dez Wells and sophomore walk-on Landen Amos won’t make the trip because of the four-game suspensions they received from the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout fight, but Mark Lyons will. His two-game suspension ends after Long Beach State.

Trim Your Tree With Style - Christmas Flowers USA

A  christmas flowers usa tree is often the focal point of a home during the holiday season. But unless you decorate professionally, it's often not that easy to give your tree that designer look that you see in magazines or department stores.

We asked designers to offer their advice on how to create that perfect tree.

Pick a color scheme. Select a scheme that will coordinate with your home, says Rita Freling of Wisteria Flowers & Gifts in Rochester. Find a color palette that complements your existing decor, she says. It could be gold and bronze or silvery blues.

For her own tree, Freling selected a red theme, as it gives her neutral decor a pop of color. Plus, the color red makes her happy.

Lights and more lights. Don't skimp on the lights, advises Jennifer Ralph of Wisteria. Mini lights are cheap and you should generously disperse the strands of lights throughout the tree. Weave the strands in and out of the tree in a zigzag pattern to ensure the tree is well lit, she says.

Go with a theme. Try selecting a theme to make your tree decorations more uniform, says Rachel Clark of Shades of Ooh and Ah in Pittsford, N.Y. Do you have a lot of ornaments handed down from Grandma? Try a vintage theme. Do you like nature? Try a woodland theme. You can even create a tree just for your children's ornaments, Clark says

Go bold. Big, oversized ornaments add a dramatic look to a tree, Ralph says. What you want to do is place the large ornaments in the center of the tree closer to the tree trunk and layer the smaller ones outside.

Splurge on ribbons. Invest in rich ribbons or scarves, Freling says. Drape them throughout the tree for a dramatic look.

Try adding a touch of nature. The natural look is all the rage, and you can add some of the outdoors, such as red berries, to your indoor tree, Freling says.

Look for a big topper. After you dress your tree, it's time to focus on the top of your special designer tree. A big bow ribbon topper is very popular right now, Ralph says. It may also be difficult to create if you're not used to the art of bow-making, so it may be the one item that you outsource to a professional florist, Ralph suggests christmas flowers usa blogs.

Sheep trade remains buoyant with supplies edging ahead of 2010 figure - Christmas Flowers USA

Thankfully, sheep prices are ensuring that farmers are having more success at raising money than the Irish Labour Party are enjoying in their attempts to fundraise in the USA.

Seemingly, the disciples of James Connolly netted a mere €100 over the past nine months from their efforts Stateside.

Lamb quotes in the main have remained firm with just one plant showing an increase from this day last week. Significant improvements in British lamb prices recently are helping the situation here, with very few lambs now being bought at less than €5/kg.

Moyvalley Meats retain top spot with their all-in quote of 500c/kg. The aforementioned increase brings the base quote from Kildare Chilling up to 484c/kg plus their 6c/kg and 5c/kg bonuses.

Both Kepaks remain on 485c/kg plus the bonus, while Dawn Ballyhaunis and the two ICM plants are quoting 480c/kg plus 6c/kg christmas flowers usa blogs .

The difference between this lower quote and the top price that I was hearing of yesterday morning was as much as 34c/kg, as factories were doing deals at between 510-520c/kg.

On a 23kg carcase this difference equates to €8/lamb. That could be what you are losing out by if you are a soft seller and accept whatever price is offered.

One or two plants are quoting for the lighter types at the same level as the base for the heavier lambs.

IFA's James Murphy said that prices have moved on with farmers successfully holding out for and getting up to 520c/kg.

He added that with less British lamb on the French market due to the very strong domestic trade there at the moment, Irish returns from France had risen to a range of 547-557c/kg including VAT, and there was still scope for further upward movement.

Kildare have upped their ewe quote by 5c/kg to move further ahead on 285c/kg. Kepak Hacketstown stay on 275c/kg, with 270c/kg being quoted by the ICM plants.

As with the lambs, the plants are freely paying well in excess of what they are quoting for the ewes, with 300-330c/kg frequently paid and an odd report suggesting even a little more at times.

An Bord Bia reported that the sheep trade had shown little change last week, with demand in domestic and export markets steady.

Quotes for lambs for much of the week averaged €4.85-4.90/kg. The cull ewe trade remained unchanged with quotes making up to €2.80/kg as good manufacturing demand helped to maintain trade. Sheep supplies to date are running marginally ahead of corresponding 2010 levels.

In Britain, trade continued to be driven by a lack of supply. By the weekend, live market prices across Britain were the equivalent of €5.48/kg for lambs.

In France, trade has picked up in advance of  christmas flowers usa  , with Irish grade 1 lamb reported to be making €5.47-5.57/kg including VAT by the end of the week.