Die Macht » Geoff would tell you that the m

ROME -- In terms of salaries, Atalanta ranks 15th in Serie A. On the field, however, its been a different story for the provincial club, which has relied on homegrown talent to become the best team in the Italian league over the last seven rounds.After gaining 19 out of a possible 21 points since Sept. 26, Atalanta has rocketed up the standings to fifth place to make qualifying for Europe a distinct possibility.The Bergamo squad has won four straight and achieved three consecutive clean sheets in which it has outscored the opposition 7-0.Were on a fantastic streak but the most important thing has been the way weve been playing and that the squad and players have been improving continuously, Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini said.Gasperinis job was at risk when Atalanta lost four of its five opening matches, but club president Antonio Percassis faith in the coach has proved decisive.Atalanta features nine homegrown players on its first team -- the most in Serie A -- and regularly uses them.Players like 22-year-old defenders Mattia Caldara and Andrea Conti, 21-year-old striker Andrea Petagna -- all members of Italys under-21 squad -- and 22-year-old midfielder Roberto Gagliardini, who was given his first call up to Italys senior national team this month after only nine Serie A appearances, are in the team.Then theres 19-year-old Ivory Coast midfielder Franck Kessie, who first spent time on the youth squad after arriving in January 2015. He leads the team with four goals this season.Its a matter of pride for us and for the club, Gagliardini said of the widespread use of homegrown players.Added Caldara: Were friends before were teammates.The youth movement was on full display in Atalantas last match, a 3-0 win at Sassuolo in which Caldara and Conti scored and Gagliardini provided the assist for the opening goal by Alejandro Papu Gomez.The victory over Sassuolo was significant because it gave Atalanta bragging rights as the leagues top provincial squad.Sassuolo set a club record by finishing sixth last season to qualify for the Europa League, an achievement Atalanta would like to emulate.In its 109-year history, Atalanta has spent 56 seasons in Serie A -- more than any other club which has never won the top division.Its only major trophy was the 1963 Italian Cup, besides six Serie B titles. Atalanta also reached the Cup Winners Cup semifinals in 1988 while competing in Serie B -- one of the best performances by a non-first division club in a major UEFA competition.The club has also had its troubles, getting docked six points in 2011-12 for a widespread betting and match-fixing scandal that ended the career of club captain Cristiano Doni, who was arrested.Atalanta was also docked two points the following season but it managed to avoid relegation from Serie A on both occasions.With a population of 120,000, Bergamo is a mid-sized city that is considered part of the wider Milan metropolitan area, which made a 2-1 win over Inter Milan last month especially sweet.Gasperini, in his first season at Atalanta, was hardly given a chance at Inter, where he was fired after five winless matches in September 2011.Bergamo attracts many Milan residents for its airport that is home to low-cost airlines and the club is also a relatively low-cost affair.Atalanta, which pays its players a total of 24 million euros ($26.5 million) per season, is level on points with fourth-place Lazio, which pays its players more than twice as much.In July, Atalanta sold Marten de Roon to Middlesbrough for 14 million euros ($15 million), a year after paying Heerenveen 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million) for the Dutch midfielder. That helped Atalanta earn a 6 million euro ($6.5 million) profit in the offseason transfer market.Were enjoying the moment and it provides us with extra motivation to continue along this path, Gasperini said.Having helped launch the careers of players like Roberto Donadoni, Christian Vieri and Filippo Inzaghi -- plus current AC Milan standouts Riccardo Montolivo and Giacomo Bonaventura -- Atalanta has long been a starting spot for players who later achieved greatness.And with coaches like Marcello Lippi, Cesare Prandelli and Antonio Conte making stops in Bergamo, its also been on the road to managerial success.The clubs current fortune will be tested against Roma on Sunday and in games against Juventus and Milan -- the top three teams in the standings -- before the holiday break.Weve got a Tour de Force awaiting us until Christmas but weve got enthusiasm, Gasperini said. So lets see where it takes us.---Andrew Dampf on Twitter: www.twitter.com/asdampfKawhi Leonard Clippers Jersey . -- Patrick Reed got an early start in golf. Custom Los Angeles Clippers Jerseys ., and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask., took sixth spot on Saturday in pairs at the NHK Trophy ISU Grand Prix figure skating competition. https://www.clipperslockerroom.com/Blake-Griffin-City-Edition-Jersey/ . It was Kerbers third final of the year after losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia in Monterrey in April and to Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic in Tokyo two weeks ago. The 10th-ranked German improved her record in finals to 3-5. Wesley Johnson Jersey . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona. Rodney McGruder Clippers Jersey .Y. -- Paul Byron and Matt Stajan scored as the Calgary Flames started a five-game road trip with a 2-1 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon. Canadian coaching has lost one of its leaders, and the sport of track and field one of its most eloquent voices. Geoff Gowan died in Halifax on Thursday night at the age of 83 after a lengthy struggle with Parkinsons disease. Gowan was a member of both the Order of Canada and Canadas Sports Hall of Fame, and to track and field fans was an articulate broadcaster who "could turn a phrase as easily as any Olympian clears a hurdle," said longtime CBC producer Terry Ludwick. "He taught Canadians how to watch track and field," said Ludwick, now a broadcasting executive with the CBC. "He could sum up victory and defeat in such human terms, but with technical expertise that could be understood by a schoolboy or schoolgirl. And he had such a great sense of humour and great appreciation for the athletes that he covered. His articulation was such that its almost difficult to watch track and field now without hearing a British voice." The native of Ravenglass, England, travelled the globe covering track and field, covering countless Olympics and world championships. Ludwick remembers being in the broadcast boost with Gowan for the high jump at one particular meet. "We showed three or four replays for each competitor. One particular athlete went over and they werent successful and the bar went down. And we showed three or four replays, and towards the last one Geoff said And no matter how many times we show this replay, the bar will not stay up," Ludwick recalled, with a laugh. Gowan also dedicated much of his life to coaching development, and was technical director and president of the Coaching Association of Canada from 1972 to 96. In his 25 years with the national organization, he was instrumental in developing the National Coaching Certification Program, considered to be among the best coaching education programs in the world, and the program that has helped developed more than a million Canadian coaches. "Geoff was an outstanding leader in Canadian sport, and influenced thousands of athletes, coaches, and colleagues in sport management and the media. He has been a friend, role model, and mentor to myself and many others in Canadian sport, and will be deeply missed," CAC chief executive officer John Bales said in a statement. A lasting tribute to Gowans leadership is the annual Geoff Gowan Award, which recognizes lifetime contribution to coaching development. Many of Canadas top coaches have won the award, including Jack Donahue, Doug Clement, Al Morrow, Donald Dion, Charles Cardinal, Andy Higgins, Tim Frick, Allison McNeill, Lyle Sanderson, Dru Marshall and Keith Russell. "He was a really gracious human being," Ludwick said. "As a coach, he understood that in everyone there was a champion that could be coaxed out in whatever walk of life they were." Longtime CBC broadcaster Steve Armitage remembered Gowan as a tireless worker who could put in gruelling 13 and 14-hour days without showing the slightest bit of fatigue. Gowan worked alongside the late Don Wittman covering track and field for 26 years, making for what Armitage called "one of the great combinations in Canadian broadcasting history.&quuot; "He and Don (who died of cancer in 2008) really prided themselves in never having an argument," Armitage said.dddddddddddd "Geoff was so good. He was, in his delivery and in his vocabulary, almost Churchillian," Armitage added. "He would say things and he would say it in such a manner that after you heard it you would just go Wow. How did he come up with that? And his wasnt the shotgun, machine-gun approach to play-by-play. He would use his words sparingly and let the action tell the story." Longtime CBC sportscaster Mark Lee was similarly impressed with Gowans spine-tingling delivery. "His voice crackled with authority when he called track and field," Lee said. "His choice of words was so poetic, and his English accent gave him that distinguished quality that really separated him from the rest of the broadcasters. He was such a scholarly man when it came to track and field. . . but his ability to use his knowledge and distill it into 10 seconds of sterling broadcast quality with a delivery that came right out of Madison Avenue -- he was a really remarkable person that way." Lee remembers being Gowans partner in the booth for one of Donovan Baileys world championship 100-metre victories -- Donovan won the 100 metres at both the 1995 world championships and 96 Olympics. "During the replay, right from the blocks when the gun went off, Geoff counted off One. . . two. . . three. . . four. . . five. . . six. . .seven. . . eight. . . nine. . . 10, and I started leaning into the monitor to watch this," Lee recalled. "He got up to 44 and Donovan crossed the finish line and Geoff said, 44 steps: the first 10 with the explosion of a race engine and the next 15 accelerating leanly and smoothly, with the gait of a gazelle, and then relaxing through the last 10, or whatever. "But he counted every stride to the finish line. And at the end he said 44 strides to victory. It was so simple." Gowan could switch storytelling gears with ease, calling a field event or long-distance race with similar expertise. "It was remarkable to watch an endurance event like a mens 5,000 metres," Lee said. "He would get right inside an athletes head. The cameras would show you these grimacing close-ups and Geoff would tell you that the mind was willing but the body was failing in this case. Or he could tell you in a 400 metres that with 100 metres to go the lactic acid was coursing through a runners quads and his legs were beginning to feel heavy and rubber, and now it was just survival to get to the finish line without tying up and his body crippling him. "It was just a remarkable description of the human body at its best." "This was live too. He would choose these very descriptive passages right off the top of his head in a live broadcast," Lee added. "There are very very few people in this world who can do that." Gowan was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame as a builder in 2002. He also received an honorary doctorate in civil law from Acadia University for his service to sport in Canada. Details on funeral arrangements have not been released. ' ' '