LEIPZIG, Germany -- Love or hate, it seems theres nothing in between.Leipzigs rapid ascent through the ranks of German soccer is stoking heated debate on the roles of tradition, pride and commercialism in the nations favorite sport.Founded in 2009, Leipzig leads the Bundesliga by three points from powerhouse Bayern Munich after a record 13-game unbeaten start including eight wins from its last eight games.Success is bringing increased attention -- and wrath. Leipzigs team bus has been pelted with stones, had paint thrown at it by masked assailants, its players have been mocked and taunted, and a severed bulls head was thrown during a cup match against Saxony rival Dynamo Dresden earlier this season.Fans of rival clubs object to the clubs steep investment-enabled rise thanks to energy drinks manufacturer Red Bull and its co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz. The 72-year-old Austrian billionaire made it all possible by buying a local fifth-tier team, SSV Markranstaedt, rebranding it with the companys livery under a new name, and financing its steady promotion through the lower leagues.Not even Mateschitz could have believed, however, that seven years later Leipzig would already be leading Germanys top flight. Nobody at the club imagined such a remarkable start to the season after finishing runner-up in the second division last season.Absolutely not. Because we were coming from the second league its also surprising for us, Leipzig coach Ralph Hasenhuettl told the Associated Press at the teams ultra-modern training center on Tuesday.With survival already assured barring a catastrophic collapse, Leipzig can dream of emulating Kaiserslauterns 1998 feat of winning the Bundesliga as a promoted team.But sport director Ralf Rangnick is keen to keep expectations in check.We have to be careful we dont get involved in the relegation zone and Im sure this will not happen this season, Rangnick told AP. Our focus is on the next day, the next training session, the next game that we have to play. All the other things dont make sense.Rangnick added: We have no pressure at all this season. The only pressure is the pressure we impose on ourselves.With Red Bull at the helm, Leipzig spent 50 million euros on player transfers last summer -- only Bayern and Borussia Dortmund spent more -- while it paid out a second-division record 26 million euros the summer before, and 23 million the year before that. Leipzigs training complex was completed for some 33 million euros in 2015.Through sponsorship and advertisements, Red Bulls presence is ubiquitous. The club mascot, a red bull, frequently joins players for goal celebrations.Some in Germany see the club only as a vehicle to promote Red Bull and consider it an artificial club compared to the traditional Bundesliga teams.Aki Watzke said a couple of weeks ago that we are only performing cans, Rangnick said, referring to criticism from the Dortmund chief executive. He later added: The amount of cans we sell is completely unimportant. Its got nothing to do with what we do.Rangnick said it was normal for the club to be facing opposition, and not only because of its financial backing.Every club has their own supporters and when a new club like ours comes, they see the club as an opponent, as an enemy. From that very moment they are against that club, he said. Were probably the youngest club in Germany. Of course teams dont like us.Rangnick said young players were key to the clubs success, and he joked that superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were too old for Leipzig.There were seven new arrivals last summer, including highly rated 19-year-old Scotland winger Oliver Burke, while only one -- 24-year-old Greek defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos -- was older than 22. The 21-year-old Guinea midfielder Naby Keita, who arrived from the sister club Red Bull Salzburg, has gone on to become a key player.Before we sign a player, we meet with the player, we get a personal impression of the player. For the style of football that we play, we need team players, said Rangnick, who disapproves of players with attention-seeking tattoos or elaborate hairstyles. We need players who are not only interested in celebrating by themselves after scoring a goal. At least celebrate with the guy who gave the assist.Leipzigs game is high intensity, restricting opponents space and attacking in numbers to win the ball before breaking quickly, often leaving defenders outnumbered and trailing in the wake of speedy forwards Timo Werner, Emil Forsberg and Yussuf Poulsen.None of them seem affected by the amount of vitriol directed at the club.Its not as big as everyone thinks it is. Everybody thinks its a big situation with us because the media likes to write about it. Thats why everyone thinks its a big deal. For us players its not. We dont feel it that much, Danish forward Poulsen told AP.Of course there may be protests sometimes but if Schalke goes to Dortmund there may be some banners in the stands and maybe angry fans shouting at the bus and everything. Its part of the game. I dont think its so much worse for us than any other away team, the 22-year-old added.While opponents love to hate, locals have embraced the club and many see in it a welcome boost for football in the former East Germany, where traditional clubs like Hallescher FC and Magdeburg fared poorly following reunification.Leipzig is the first side based on former East German territory to play in the Bundesliga since Energie Cottbus relegation in 2009.In Leipzig we have a founding city of the German football federation and we have the tradition with VfB (Leipzig) as the first German champions (in 1903), Saxony football federation president Hermann Winkler said.RB has put this all together with money and outstanding youth development as well as a great concept. All Saxon teams will benefit from that in the future, Winkler said.Local supporters are proving enthusiastic. Up to 3,000 were expected to meet players at a club-organized Christmas market beside the training complex on Wednesday.Leipzigs 43,000-capacity stadium, formerly the Zentralstadion, rebranded the Red Bull Arena in 2010 after it had been modernized for the 2006 World Cup, remains the largest stadium in the former East Germany and its regularly sold-out for home games.The attendance figures for RB show Leipzig wants to see football, former East Germany striker Joachim Streich said, while his international teammate, goalkeeper Juergen Croy said, Its wonderful for football in the east and a signal for other clubs.Another former East German international, defender Klaus Urbanczyk, said, Of course not everyone has to approve what happens in the neighborhood. But there shouldnt be as much hate as the Leipzigers have had to put up with.Leipzigs youth leaves the club vulnerable to accusations of a lack of history or tradition but Rangnick says its part of football life.Everybody gets older, every hour, every day. We get older and we are writing our own story right now and that story will automatically -- in 10, 20, 30 years -- turn into history. We cannot blame ourselves for only being seven years old, Rangnick said.Leipzig next plays Hasenhuettls former side Ingolstadt and then Hertha Berlin before a potential top-of-the-table clash at Bayern going into the Christmas break.If you ask me now if I want to win the title I would say yes, but whether its realistic is another story, Rangnick said. I dont think its realistic this season but I also dont want to say that its completely impossible.And what an ending that would be. The Bundesliga season ends on May 20 -- on Mateschitz 73rd birthday.In a normal world Bayern Munich will win the title. But in an un-normal world then someone else can win the title and if someone else can win the title, we wouldnt say no, Rangnick said.---This story has been corrected to show that Leipzig will face Bayern Munich later this month, not Borussia Dortmund. Doug Flutie Youth Jersey . Brett Kulak and Jackson Houck of the Vancouver Giants were each charged with assault causing bodily harm on Aug. 18, according to the B.C. court services. Dan Fouts Chargers Jersey . Michell Burger, a woman who lives on an estate next to Pistorius gated community, said she and her husband were awoken by the screams in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 14 last year, when Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp by shooting four times through a door in his bathroom. http://www.prochargersteamstore.com/Youth-LaDainian-Tomlinson-Elite-Jersey/ . Wall made the comment in a speech to a Regina business crowd that included Lesnar. 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LINCOLN, Neb. -- A day after Nebraskas volleyball season nearly came to an end at the hands of Big Ten rival Penn State, the Huskers looked like they were putting on a clinic against Washington.All the drama, huge points, and subsequent relief that marked the Huskers five-set escape on Friday was processed into confidence. It helped them to a 3-0 domination of the Huskies on Saturday.Its a muscle, or toughness, that you develop when you go through something like that, Nebraska coach John Cook said of his Huskers rallying from down two sets and two match points to the Nittany Lions in the regional semifinals. You just get stronger.I told them that before [Saturdays] match, You guys have another level, you just dont know it. And its going to come out tonight. Did it ever. Nebraska won 25-16, 25-10, 25-21 over the Pac-12 regular-season champions, beating Washington in the regional final for the second year in a row. The Huskers hit .437, and they held the Huskies to .088 -- and its hard to pick which one of those stats is more impressive. Washington is a very good team, but you couldnt tell by watching how much Nebraska controlled everything.So this was the match with which the Huskers seniors said goodbye to the sold-out (as always) Devaney Center and hello to another final four.Nebraska, the No. 1 overall seed, is going to the national semifinals for the second year in a row and 13th time total. The defending national champions will be seeking the programs fifth NCAA title, and theyre trying to do one of the few things the Huskers havent done in this sport: win back-to-back championships.Washington was a program the Huskers knew well, but their national semifinal opponent is even more familiar: former conference mate and No. 4 seed Texas, which made its 12th final four with a sweep of Creighton in the Austin regional final.Texas and Nebraska battled in the Big 12 until the Huskers moved to the Big Ten in 2011. They met in the NCAA final last year, won in a sweep by Nebraska. Nebraska also swept Texas at the start of this season, in the VERT Challenge in Eugene, Oregon, in August. Nebraska leads the series with Texas 32-21.While regional host schools Nebraska and Texas advanced after surviving five-set matches in Fridays semifinals, Wisconsin did not. The No. 3 Badgers lost a 2-0 lead to sixth-seeded Stanford in Saturdays final in MMadison, Wisconsin, and fell 15-9 in the fifth set.dddddddddddd The loss ended the great college career of Wisconsin setter Lauren Carlini, who led the Badgers to the final four as a freshman.Stanford is the only school that has more national semifinal appearances than Nebraska -- the Cardinal now have 20, with six NCAA titles.Stanford will face No. 2 seed Minnesota, which had the least drama of any of the top seeds in advancing to the final four. The Gophers swept No. 10 seed UCLA in Saturdays final after beating No. 15 Missouri 3-1 in the semifinals. Minnesota is in the final four for the fifth time in program history and for the second season in a row. The Gophers lost to Texas in the national semifinals last year.Nebraskas Kadie Rolfzen had 10 kills and seven digs Saturday to go along with her 14 kills and 18 digs on Friday, and she was named the Lincoln regionals most outstanding player. A first-team All-American last year, she is one of four Huskers seniors, along with her twin sister, Amber.In Fridays victory, Amber had a kill and then teamed with junior setter Kelly Hunter for a block on the two match points that Nebraska saved against Penn State. Saturday, Amber had five kills and four block assists.We knew we had that fight in us from [Friday], Kadie Rolfzen said. It was something I felt throughout the whole day. The result didnt surprise me. ... We were really excited, and we were just playing loose.The Rolfzen sisters are natives of Nebraska and have been committed to the program since they were 14. But two transfers from the Lone Star State did a lot in this regional, too, for the Huskers.Briana Holman, who is from DeSoto, Texas, played two seasons at LSU, then transferred to Nebraska last year and had to sit out while the Huskers won the NCAA title. She had 17 kills and four block-assists against Penn State.Andie Malloy, whos from Allen, Texas, played one season at Iowa State, then two at Baylor before spending her senior season at Nebraska.Even though I was only here for a year, I got to experience the best fans in college volleyball, said Malloy, who had a team-high 15 kills Saturday. The atmosphere that has been built here with this program is surreal, and its been fun to be a part of. ' ' '