Hawthorn winger Isaac Smith came desperately close to living out every AFL footballers dream at the MCG on Friday night.Instead, he endured a nightmare scenario as his potentially match-winning set shot after the final siren sailed wide to the right, handing Geelong a stunning two-point win and a preliminary final berth.What can you do about it? Hes been a great player for us, coach Alastair Clarkson said of Smiths miss from 40m out on a slight angle.I can remember him kicking a 65m goal in a grand final against Freo and being pretty happy with that one.He misses this one, hes disappointed and were all disappointed.But hes been a ripper for us. So keep your chin up, mate, and lets get into next week.The breathtaking scenes after the siren provided a fitting end to a typically hard-fought, close encounter between the fierce rivals that played out in front of a bumper crowd of 87,533 fans.The Cats led by seven points at the first break and the Hawks by the same margin at halftime before Chris Scotts side edged back in front by two points at three-quarter time.The Hawks looked set to win their seventh match of the season by a margin of 10 points or less as they held the Cats at bay in the last quarter until a late surge saw Josh Caddy goal to put his side in front with just over four minutes to play.The loss means Hawthorn will need to take the long road to a historic fourth premiership flag in a row, starting with a semi-final against the Western Bulldogs next weekend.Clarkson, however, was philosophical about the loss.If youre going to lose a final, this is the one to lose, he said.All the rest of them dont give you any second chance. We went down this path last year and well have to go down the path again.We had our chances throughout the course of the night and so did the Cats. It comes down to the last kick, so it could quite easily have been us victorious and them licking their wounds.It cuts a bit deep, but weve got to move on pretty quickly.James Sicily should be fit to take on the Dogs after pulling out of the side on Friday night due to illness. Ryan Burton is more doubtful after he missed the second half with a badly corked calf. Discount Under Armour Shoes . The formidable trio of Canadian receivers -- individually known as Chris Getzlaf, Rob Bagg and Andy Fantuz -- will share the field at Mosaic Stadium one more time on Sunday. Clearance Under Armour Shoes Store . Oaklands loss to Seattle clinched the ALs best record for the Red Sox with one day to spare in the regular season. "I think everybody was kind of watching," catcher David Ross said. "Demp (Ryan Dempster) came out before he went to the bullpen and was just yelling that they lost. http://www.cheapunderarmour.us/ . A lawyer for MLB, Matthew Menchel, confirmed Wednesday the league dropped its case against Biogenesis of America, its owner Anthony Bosch and several other individuals. The lawsuit had accused Biogenesis and Bosch of conspiring with players to violate their contracts by providing them with banned performance-enhancing substances. Cheap Under Armour Basketball Shoes . And when it opened, every player was at his stall. Thats a sure sign that a team is in a slump and is searching for answers. "Its embarrassing to be at home and play the way we did," said defenceman Josh Gorges. Under Armour Shoes On Sale . -- The Sacramento Kings are set to become the first major professional sports franchise to accept Bitcoin virtual currency for ticket and merchandise purchases. MINNEAPOLIS -- At the top of the Vikings shiny, new $1.1 billion football palace, there is a ring of glass separating the seating bowl from the roof that the team and the stadium designers call the clear story.At night, when U.S. Bank Stadium is lit up, the clear story gives the visual impression that the roof is floating. And on sunny mornings, the large windows allow sunlight to flow in from the east, bathing the seats on the other side of the stadium in a yellow glow.The clear story is one of the many calling cards for architects of the stadium -- and one that almost didnt make the cut: With the cost of the project rising, Mortenson Construction told the Vikings that eliminating that particular feature would save the team $800,000.At the time we were over a perceived budget. They said, `Well, wed like to accept that, said John Hutchings, sports principal-in-charge at HKS Sports and Entertainment.We said, `Over our dead body. ... It was a decision that we fought hard to keep. We didnt win all of them, but that was one that was pretty important for the overall look of the stadium.The discussion was one of the countless debates that come with designing, approving and building a stadium of this kind of size and scope.In the end, HKS won that tussle. Vikings owner Mark Wilf pointed to that clear story as a sign of the additional investment the team put into the project to try to achieve the world class designation that the franchise has used to describe it from the stadiums infancy.The first official event is Wednesday, an international soccer exhibition that has sold more than 55,000 tickets.When you weigh those millions of dollars versus the span of a building like this, we wanted to make sure that in five or 10 years this building wouldnt be instantly obsolete. We want this building to last for decades and generations to come, Wilf said.Things like letting in that light, hundreds of decisions like that, our whole team really made sure to implement that vision that the fan experience were to be maintained.There were other points of contention. Some designers preferred to have a scoreboard hanging over the field like the famous giant boards at the home of the Dallas Cowboys.The Vikings wanted to have video boards above the lower bowl in both end zones so that fans didnt have to crane their necks upward to see replays.And the huge glass doors on the west side of the stadium that open to allow fresh air inside the fixed-roof facility weree initially proposed to go from the plaza cement up to the very top of the stadium, some 240 feet high.ddddddddddddWe got the numbers back and they said, `No way can we do that! a smiling Hutchings said. They said, `What would it take to have the biggest ones in the world? We said, well they need to be 100 feet tall.And there they stand now, five doors ranging from 75 feet to 95 feet tall and 55 feet wide.It never became personal, Vikings chief operating officer Kevin Warren said.We had some very tough and tense disagreements. But we always moved forward. At the end of the day, we knew we would get this done and build an incredible building that one day would revolutionize how professional sports franchises handle their buildings and how fans get a chance to watch their teams.In the end, an architectural marvel was born. Sixty percent of the roof is made of a translucent material called ETFE that allows the sun to pour in and create the feel of an outdoor venue.The cramped concourses and scarce bathrooms of the Metrodome are a distant memory, replaced by the open-feel, amenity-loaded stadium that features a giant glass wall looking toward the downtown Minneapolis skyline.The seats are the closest to the field in the NFL and a one-of-a-kind retractable section can be moved to allow baseball to be played indoors.When they showed us this design, we were just blown away, Wilf said.The Vikings first game will be an exhibition against the San Diego Chargers on Aug. 28, with the real curtain raiser coming on Sept. 18 in a Sunday night game against NFC North rival Green Bay.And then, of course, the big show is not far off: The Super Bowl will be held at the stadium on Feb. 4, 2018.More than 200,000 people visited the stadium for an open house that was held last weekend.Initially, the Vikings pledged $477 million toward the project, with the rest coming in public funding. By the end of it, the team contributed an extra $125 million to add the bells and whistles it wanted.This project had its share of pushing and pulling in that respect. But look at this place, said John Wood, senior vice president of Mortenson Construction.When you compare it to some of the NFL facilities being built right now or being planned right now, its a bargain.---Online:AP NFL website: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys cheap jerseys Cheap Jersyes Cheap Basketball Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys cheap jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '