Cupich shared a photo of Francis

[wzh123]

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis now has a blue Chicago Cubs hat to go with his traditional white skull cap.Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich presented Francis with the hat and what looks like a signed baseball at the Vatican on Tuesday, nearly two weeks after the Cubs won their first World Series since 1908.Cupich shared a photo of Francis holding the items on Twitter . He included the message, News of the Cubs win reached all the way to the Vatican! Cupich says the pope can now celebrate with us and he asks for our prayers!Cupich is set to be made a cardinal by Francis later this week. David Sharpe Raiders Jersey . Thats not a comment on the suspension that banished the Portland Winterhawks general manager and coach from his Western Hockey League teams bench for most of the 2012-13 season. Eddie Vanderdoes Youth Jersey . -- Aldon Smith believes he is on the path to being sober for good. http://www.footballraidersmall.com/Youth-Eddie-Vanderdoes-Elite-Jersey/ . The home side created most of the chances but struggled to break down Braunschweigs resilient defence, resulting in the Bundesligas 1,000th scoreless draw. Marshawn Lynch Youth Jersey . Its an influence in football and a big part of the game. Obi Melifonwu Womens Jersey . As the crowd erupted, Davis knocked the ball off the glass and back into his hands. With 1:14 to go in overtime, Davis sixth block also became his 17th rebound. That, along with his 32 points -- which tied a career high -- proved too much for Denver to overcome, and the Pelicans held on for their third straight victory, 111-107 on Sunday night. RIO DE JANEIRO -- South Koreas chance at an Olympic soccer medal gone, forward Son Heung-min dropped to his knees, put his forehead on the grass and wept.Anguish over the end of a chance at Olympic glory? Without doubt.But with the loss to Honduras, Son and his teammates had also missed out on what has been a powerful added incentive since the days when South Korea was a military dictatorship: Men who step onto the medal podium are exempted from the approximately two years of military service that nearly all young, able bodied South Korean men, from pop stars to lawmakers sons, have to perform in the face of North Korean threats of war.I couldnt stop crying because I was so sorry for letting my teammates down, said Son, 24, who plays with the English Premier League club Tottenham and who acknowledged ahead of the game that a military exemption was on his mind. I couldnt even look at their faces.Since the early 1970s, South Korean officials have linked the exemptions to medals, an attempt originally by military strongmen to associate Olympic achievement with national pride and regime loyalty. But there are now growing calls to scrap what had once been regarded as a deserved perk for heroic athletic accomplishment.Theres widespread resentment over mandatory military service in general amid a terrible job market and the failure of South Koreas military to eliminate bullying and abuse in the barracks. And full-time athletes already get unfair special treatment, critics believe, even when they dont win medals. Athletes, for instance, many of whom are rich and famous, can spend their mandatory service playing for military- or police-run sports teams.Regular South Koreans, meanwhile, often see their lives thrown into turmoil in their youths because they have to interrupt their educations or careers, a major disadvantage in South Koreas ultra-competitive society. The discontent about preferential treatment has been bubbling to the surface for some time.For instance, even amid the excitement in South Korea over the country winning its first-ever Olympic soccer medal, at the London Games, there were bitter jokes about reserve defender Kim Ki-hee, who, after failing to log a single minute in previous matches, qualified for military exemption by playing the last five minutes of the bronze medal match against Japan.The taxes we pay are already spent on trainingg these athletes, and its strange that we additionally reward them with military exemptions when they actually do well, said Kim Min-seok, 38, an office worker in Seoul.dddddddddddd We should overcome and change this nationalistic approach to sports and the system for developing elite athletes, not further promote it.Until the 1980s, South Korea compensated performers from a large number of competitions, including world championships and even the World University Games. Since then, the exemptions have been narrowed to winners of Olympic medals and ......................................... Game golds.But there are still exceptions.Laws were temporarily changed to grant exemptions to South Koreas national mens soccer team, which finished a surprising fourth in the 2002 World Cup, and to national baseball team players who finished third in the 2006 World Baseball Classic.More than 80 male athletes are currently being exempted from military service, save for four weeks of military training, according to South Koreas Military Manpower Administration.Seung Yun Lee, a professor at Seouls Konkuk University, said South Korea should recognize changing public sentiments and declining Olympic popularity and shift its focus from grooming a small number of elite athletes to strengthening sports facilities and programs for regular people.Ha Taekwon, a former South Korean Olympic badminton champion, defends military exemptions for young Olympic medalists who, unlike others, only have a small window of prime performance.Because Olympic medal winners also receive lifelong government payments of up to 1 million won ($900) a month, military exemptions mean much more to athletes in less popular sports than they do to highly compensated soccer and baseball players, for instance, Ha said.It was the biggest thing going through my mind, Ha said of the possibility of a military exemption in the lead-up to his bronze medal win in badminton doubles at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.After the pressure (of military service) was lifted, I found myself playing more loosely and aggressively, said Ha, who won a doubles gold at the 2004 Athens Games.---Kim reported from Seoul.---Follow Foster Klug at www.twitter.com/apklug . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/foster-klug . Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '