Frust » not any good, that will tell us another thing. If we can

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Rio de Janeiros Olympic golf course took three years to build as the project was slowed down by environmental lawsuits, Brazilian bureaucracy and stop-and-start funding by a billionaire real estate developer.Four months after golfs surprising popularity at the Olympics, an even larger test remains: What to do with an acclaimed course in a country where few play the game, and in a city that cant pay to maintain it.You know that its not going to be easy, Paulo Pacheco, head of the Brazilian Golf Confederation, told The Associated Press. Its challenging. Its not easy to do. Its very hard. I think its the only opportunity we have to improve golf in Brazil.Everything feels unfinished around the course, except the course itself, which threatens to become a white elephant.Billed as the first public championship-level course in the country, the layout is hidden behind several luxury apartment towers known as Riserva Golf, which wont be completed until 2018. Cinderblock walls and fencing obstruct the view from the street, and no signs mark the entrance to the course in the western Rio suburb of Barra da Tijuca.Once through the rutted parking lot and inside the clubhouse, theres no pro shop, few furnishings, no local club professional and no restaurant.And few players.Only four middle-age men were on the course one morning this week, though the early rain showers didnt help. Even in good weather, attendance has been sparse in a city of 6 million that has only 1,500 golfers.Brazil has about 20,000 players. compared to 25 million in the United States, and the game is played almost exclusively by the wealthy.Another problem: Who will pay to keep the course running? Out-going Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes says the city cant pay. He has said repeatedly he would not have pushed to build the course were in not for the Olympics.Its not a popular sport in Brazil, Paes said last year. But there are some things you need to do when you deliver the Olympics.Last week, a state court froze Paes assets as a public prosecutor investigates whether he improperly waived an environmental tax for the course builder. The builders assets were also frozen.The state of Rio de Janeiro has declared a financial calamity and is several months behind in paying teachers and public employees. And the country itself is in the deepest recession in decades, with unemployment at 12 percent.Pacheco, who has been managing the course, was vague in explaining how it will stay afloat. He said he would be leaving the job in a few weeks, and that negotiations were taking place with a new management company that could take over Jan. 1. But nothings been signed with just two weeks to go.Pacheco said employees of the present management company were being partially paid and were still working as both sides work out a pay settlement. Some employees complained several weeks ago about not being paid.Neil Cleverly, the Briton who helped build the layout and had been managing maintenance, is no longer working at the course since his visa expired. Pacheco said it would be six months before the course was fully operating, and estimated the cost to maintain the layout at between $75,000-100,000 monthly.World golf officials are concerned.As has been the case since the very beginning of this project, getting an accurate picture of the current situation on the ground, and the best parties responsible for the short- and long-term success of the Olympic Golf Course, has been difficult, said Ty Votaw, vice president of the International Golf Federation.Pacheco acknowledged that local golf officials have been slow in getting organized. He said a new website and Rio tourist agencies would soon be promoting the course, which will charge $80 green fees after Jan. 1 for Brazilians and foreigners.The IGF is worried, he said. Its the legacy you have to give back to the Olympics.In a deal with the city, billionaire developer Pasquale Mauro spent about $20 million to build the course in exchange for permission to construct multi-million-dollar apartments on some of Rios most desirable real estate.Its not just any course. From a wetland area -- formerly part of a nature reserve -- American golf architect Gil Hanse carved out a links-style layout with undulating fairways that bump up against scrubland brimming with wildflowers.Local animal life includes small alligators, nesting owls, and a large rodent called a capybara that leaves tracks through the courses abundant bunkers.Players raved about the course during the Olympics.Gil did a good job taking nothing and turning it into a great golf course without having time to make any changes or adjustments, American Rickie Fowler said. Theres a lot of fun characteristics.Marcos Dias, one for four players alone on the course one day this week, said it could be a milestone in developing young Brazilian talent.There was no place to practice. Now I have everything to improve my game, Dias said. In the United States you have a real good scenario to develop your game. Its like here with soccer. Wherever you go here you find a soccer field. But for golf, its really rare to have a course like this to play. Vapormax Plus Sale Ireland . The players spoke Jan. 13 during a Major League Baseball Players Association conference call after Rodriguez sued the union and Major League Baseball to overturn an arbitrators decision suspending him for the 2014 season and post-season. Cheap Air Foamposite . Canada is now down to its 22-player limit, although but players wont be registered until Christmas Day. Changes could still be made as a result of a suspension or injury. http://www.outletvapormaxireland.com/vapormax-flyknit-wholesale-china.html . The Vancouver coach and an announced sellout crowd of 18,910 watched in dismay as the Canucks lost 7-4 to the New York Islanders on Monday night by squandering a 3-0 lead in the third period. Vapormax Off White Fake . Rinne played two periods in his first game since left hip surgery in early May. Gabriel Bourque scored 3:07 into the second period and Austin Watson tallied 5:15 later for Nashville. Cheap Vapormax Flyknit Ireland . What general manager Dave Nonis called "short and productive" negotiations ended with Kessel signing a US$64-million, eight-year contract on Tuesday. DALLAS -- Owner Mark Cuban defiantly disagrees with those who have declared the Dallas Mavericks season a lost cause and have suggested that tanking is in the franchises best interest.Haters gonna hate. We think that you always compete, Cuban said after finishing his pregame StairMaster routine Sunday night. If youre competing when the league is better, like it is this year, if you dont do well, youll be in a position to get a good pick. Which, remember, even if you have the worst record in the NBA, theres a 75 percent chance youre not going to get the top pick.The injury-ravaged Mavericks snapped an eight-game losing streak with Sundays 91-81 win win over the?New Orleans Pelicans but still have the leagues worst record (3-13). It was the teams longest losing streak during Cubans ownership tenure, which dates to January 2000.However, Cuban refuses to acknowledge that this is a rebuilding season for the Mavs, pointing out that Dallas is 5? games out of the Western Conferences eighth seed with the vast majority of the schedule remaining.Cuban, whose team has made the playoffs in all but one full season under his watch, is also adamant that accepting losing in an attempt to get the top pick in the draft is a poor franchise-building strategy.There are so many teams that became four years away from four years away because guys just learned how to lose, Cuban said. They stopped caring about any individual game and just got used to it, and you dont want guys developing those bad habits. We have so many young guys on this team, we want the games to mean something. Not to be, OK, who are we going to pull in the fourth quarter so we can lose this game? Thats not how teams develop good habits.The only way you overcome that is to have the ultimate superstar carry you through, and its tough to draft the ultimate superstar. I dont see any Shaqs or LeBrons or Tim Duncans in this draft, so I dont think thats the right way to do it. You just ignore the haters, let them bitch, and go about your business.Cuban did admit that there is a distinct possibiliity that the Mavs, who also rank last in the league in point differential, could try as hard as possible to win and still end up with a top pick.dddddddddddd That might even be probable if Dirk Nowitzki, who continues to struggle with soreness in his right Achilles tendon and missed his 11th game of the season Sunday, cant get fully healthy and return to form.If the Mavs dont improve significantly, Cuban didnt rule out making future-minded trades before the deadline in February. But hes nowhere close to making that kind of determination in late November.Well play it by ear, Cuban said. The one thing you dont do is panic. The one thing you dont do is make any rushed judgments. You see what you have -- right? -- and thats exactly what well do, and well make determinations from there. If we just cant get healthy, that will tell us one thing. If we can and were just not any good, that will tell us another thing. If we can and we start rolling along and we think we can get a lot better, then that tells what we do there. You just dont know. The crazy thing you dont do is panic.Cuban laughed when he said that the Mavs would tank if they knew there were a few transcendent players in the draft. Yet he indicated that he was not as high on this draft class, which has been hyped as one of the best in years.This is not a race-to-the-bottom year, Cuban said. So we get every chance to be as good as we can be. The team that has the worst record has a 75 percent chance that they wont get the No. 1 pick. Thats not good odds. Youll get a top-three pick ... but theres no good reason to tank unless you think that theres three difference-makers. Not just All-Stars, but difference-makers.?Well see what happens across the course of the season to see if anybody emerges like that, but Im not panicking, not rushing to judgment, not pulling the plug -- pick a euphemism.Saad Yousuf of 103.3 FM ESPN in Dallas contributed to this report. ' ' '