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North America doesnt possess the best track record at the League of Legends World Championship. Although the region had an optimistic start in 2011s season 1 -- significantly, where no South Korean or Chinese teams competed -- since then its been a long list of close misses, unlucky bracket draws, and teams underperforming at the crucial stages of the campaign.This year, there will be no excuses if NA cant bring a team to the semifinals for the first time since that first Worlds. Team SoloMid, the reigning champion of the region, enters with the best form ever of any North American club coming into the granddaddy of all League competitions. The NA League of Legends Championship Series is also sending Cloud9 and Counter Logic Gaming, who was the first NA team to make a major Riot Games tournament final earlier this year in Shanghai, China at the Mid-Season Invitational.Back in 2015, these three teams had a bewildering combined record of 0-10 in the second week of the group stages. North America left Worlds with a chip the size of a boulder on its shoulder while the rest of the world scoffed. In 2016, NA has a chance to set things right.Heres a chronicle of the near-misses NA has experienced at Worlds.Season 1 (2011)Team SoloMid: 3rd Epik Gamer: 4th Counter Logic Gaming: 5thSure, these results look good on paper. Wow, three NA teams in the top five? What a powerhouse! But the real picture of this initial Worlds is a bare-bones tournament in the games infancy before the top Asian talent took hold in the game. And North America, with three out of the eight teams in the tournament, didnt even make the final.The only real takeaway from 2011 is proof of TSMs Yiliang Doublelift Pengs longevity throughout the years. Out of the 15 players for the North American teams at the inaugural World Championship, only Doublelift has stood the test of time to make it back this year. The only other player from the inaugural 15 still in the NA LCS is Dignitas Alex Xpecial Chu.Season 2 (2012)Team SoloMid: 5th-8th CLG Prime: 9th-10th Dignitas: 11th-12thThis Worlds was where North Americas reputation changed from being a respected contender who could mix it up with the best in the world to an afterthought on the international stage. North America only managed a single victory throughout the entire 12-team tournament.While NA has had lukewarm and even embarrassing turns at the World Championships -- 0-10 in 2015 wasnt pretty -- this was easily the worst performance for NA at the annual event. This was still a time where TSM was seen as a threat to make deep runs on the international stage, and the lackluster results from all three teams sent the region to the back of the line.Season 3 (2013)Cloud9: 5th-8th Team SoloMid: 11th-12th Team Vulcun: 11th-12th2013 was a slight upgrade over 2012. The big story from the newly-founded NA LCS was the all-American juggernaut rookie organization of Cloud9. The club ripped through the domestic league in the summer split after qualifying from the minor leagues, and the boys in blue and white seemed primed to bring some respect back to a region that fell on its face the previous Worlds.C9 was directly seeded into the quarterfinals where it met Europes Fnatic. Although the third game of the best-of-three series was a blowout for the Europeans, Cloud9 still performed admirably compared to NA performances from the previous year.For the other two NA teams, there isnt much to say. TSM was in the process of closing the door on an old era, and it would be founder and mid laner Andy Reginald Dinhs last games as starter before handing the future of the team to a wunderkind from Denmark by the name of S?ren Bjergsen Bjerg.Vulcun, the third wheel, put up a scrappy performance that outshined TSMs. Unfortunately, Vulcun never came close to making Worlds again and eventually disbanded.Season 4 (2014)Team SoloMid: 5th-8th Cloud9: 5th-8th place LMQ: 12th-13th placeLMQ, a team with five Chinese starters, held its own in the group stages although it did not advance; Team SoloMid and Cloud9 cleared the group stages with flying colors. In the bracket, the two remaining NA teams had the honor of facing the two best teams of the tournament, Samsung White and Samsung Blue, in the first round. While both fell to the South Korean twin teams, TSM exited the tournament as one of only two squads to take a win from the eventual champions Samsung White, and C9s explosive macro play against a team with more firepower is still remembered to this day.All in all, this was a pretty great tournament for North America.And that in itself shows how little North Americans have had to celebrate at the World Championship the past four years.Season 5 (2015)Cloud9: 9th-11th Counter Logic Gaming: 12th-13th Team SoloMid: 14th-16thThe first week of last years World Championship was the best of times for North America. C9 shocked the world by winning all three of its week one matches in a difficult group, CLG were in a good position in its group, and TSM even picked up a victory in the perceived Group of Death. The quick turret pushing strategies of the NA teams were working, and the other teams were slow to adjust to it.The second week of last years World Championship was the worst of times for North America. Opponents adapted to CLGs tactics. TSM was swallowed whole by Origen, KT Rolster, and a half-dead LGD Gaming. C9, who was 3-0 in week one, lost four matches in week two to send North America out of the tournament without reaching the bracket stage.It was the first time ever that North America wasnt represented in the bracket stage of a World Championship. The darkest moment in the history of NA as a region. Before the World Championship even came to an end in Germany, Bjergsen was the last remaining starter on his team and Doublelift had been ousted from CLG.As cliche as this is going to sound -- stop reading now if you hate corny overused lines -- theres a proverb that might be true for North America coming into the 2016 World Championship on home soil:Its always darkest before the dawn. Cheap KD Shoes Free Shipping . Ronaldo produced a spectacular individual performance on Tuesday, scoring all three goals and guiding Portugal into the next years World Cup in Brazil with a 3-2 victory in Sweden. The Real Madrid forward has scored 66 goals in 2013, but the last three may be the boost he needs to upstage Messi after FIFA unexpectedly extended the voting period for the Ballon dOr to Nov. 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RIO DE JANEIRO -- The daily Olympic briefing was already well underway when the first candidate for question of the day came from an Australian journalist.Is the IOC concerned, he asked, that one of the enduring images from these games may well be one if its senior members opening the door naked to a police raid?A loaded question, sure. About the only positive thing the International Olympic Committee could take from Wednesday mornings bust of Irelands Patrick Hickey at a beachfront hotel in Rio was that it was for ticket scalping and not for hosting an orgy with Brazilian hookers.Hard to blame the reporter for trying, though. This isnt exactly an Olympics where answers are easily forthcoming.Hes innocent until proven guilty, IOC spokesman Mark Adams eventually offered.Welcome to the 11 a.m. follies, where two spokesmen sit bravely in front of a pack of journalists ravenous for responses to the problems that seem to crop up in these games with startling regularity.Like the Five OClock Follies that journalists mocked in Vietnam, its often a lesson in the theater of the absurd.The only constant -- aside from the daily appearances of Adams and Rio 2016 spokesman Mario Andrada together at a podium -- is that theres always plenty of fodder to discuss.These games are turning into a textbook case in crisis management.One day its about windows on a media bus being shattered or a fire burning through the mountain bike course. The next its diving and water polo pools that have mysteriously turned green.Every day, it seems, its about the thousands of empty seats that continue to plague these games.And on Wednesday, the added bonus of an elite IOC official being filmed scurrying for the bathroom as police arrive to take him into custody for allegedly scalping some 800 Olympic tickets in a scheme that netted $3 million in profit.Less than a thousand tickets of the six million that are sold, Adams said. Lets wait to see what the allegations involving Mr. Hickey really are.Waiting is often the only way to get straight answers out of Adams and Andrada, who seem to subscribe to the theory that the Olympics last only 17 days and if they wait long enough all the journalists will have left Rio, taking their pesky questions with them.dddddddddddd.It took days to get much out of them about the diving and water polo pools turning a deep shade of green, which they finally attributed to hydrogen peroxide accidentally being pumped into the water.Before that, Andrada offered up the money quote of the games when asked why the water wasnt blue.Chemistry is not an exact science, he said, which had to come as news to chemists everywhere.Andrada looks beleaguered by having to explain each morning what is inexplicable about these Olympics. Hickeys arrest may not have pleased him, but at least it took attention away from the issues hes had to deal with every day on behalf of the organizers.Chief among those issues this week were Brazilian fans, who havent been filling enough seats and often boo inappropriately when they do.Booing is not the proper way to cheer, Andrada said.The week before, he was explaining some of the logistical problems still facing Rio organizers, chief among them some issues with transporting IOC members promptly between their luxury beachfront hotels and different venues.Part of the problem, Andrada said, was that some of the 50,000 volunteers werent feeling good about donating their time to IOC members making up to $900 a day in per diem.If we have a tough day, he said, next morning some of them dont show up.Not showing up is also being blamed for the thousands of empty seats in Olympic arenas and stadiums. The official count offered Wednesday was 53,828 tickets sold for track and field the night before, though the stadium didnt appear even half full.Was that because the tickets were being scalped instead of being used? No, said Adams, promising to return the next day with some real numbers to back his claim up.Thank you all much, Adams said. Same time tomorrow.Take in the show while you can. Like the Rio Olympics, time is running out on the 11 a.m. follies.----Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg ' ' '