title: Constantine I of Greece

text: The British then offered Cyprus to the Greek Kingdom to join the war, but Constantine rejected this offer as well. Venizelos permitted Entente forces to disembark in Thessaloniki (establishing so the Macedonian front) in aid of Serbia and in preparation for a common campaign over the King's objections. This action of Venizelos, which violated the country's neutrality, enraged the King who dismissed him for second time.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: At the same time, Germany offered the protection and security of the Greek population of Turkey during and after the war, in exchange for Greece to remain neutral. Constantine was accused also by his Venizelist opponents for secret discussions and correspondence with the Central Powers.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: In March 1916, in an effort to increase his prestige, Constantine declared the official annexation of Northern Epirus, which was controlled by the Greeks since 1914, but the Greek forces were driven from the area by the Italians and French during the next year.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: In June 1916, Constantine, General Metaxas (the future dictator) and Prime Minister Skouloudis allowed Fort Rupel and parts of eastern Macedonia to be occupied, without opposition, by the Germans and Bulgarians, as a counter balance to the Allied forces in Thessaloniki. This caused popular anger, especially in Greek Macedonia which now was facing the Bulgarian danger. The leadership of the Allied armies in Thessaloniki was worried also about a possible attack by the army of Constantine in their back.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: In July 1916, arsonists set fire to the forest surrounding the summer palace at Tatoi. Although injured in the escape, the king and his family managed to flee to safety. The flames spread quickly in the dry summer heat, and sixteen people were killed. Royal rumors connected the incident with actions by French agents, especially De Roquefeuil, who was in Athens since 1915, but it was never proven. A hunting of Venizelists followed in Athens.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: In August 1916, a military coup broke out in Thessaloniki by Venizelist officers. There, Venizelos established a provisional revolutionary government, which created its own army and declared war on the Central Powers. With Allied support, the revolutionary government of Venizelos gained control of half the country – significantly, most of the "New Lands" won during the Balkan Wars. This cemented the "National Schism", a division of Greek society between Venizelists and anti-Venizelist monarchists, which was to have repercussions in Greek politics until past World War II. Venizelos made a public call to the King to dismiss his "bad advisors", to join the war as King of all Greeks and stop being a politician. The royal governments of Constantine in Athens continued to negotiate with the Allies a possible entry in the war.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: During November/December 1916, the British and French landed units at Athens claiming the surrender of war materiel equivalent to what was lost at Fort Rupel as a guarantee of Greece's neutrality. After days of tension, finally they met resistance by paramilitary (Epistratoi) and pro-royalist forces (during the Noemvriana events), that were commanded by officers Metaxas and Dousmanis. After an armed confrontation, the Allies evacuated the capital and recognized officially the government of Venizelos in Thessaloniki. Constantine so became the most hated person for the Allies after his best man Kaiser Wilhelm.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: Early in 1917, the Venizelist Government of National Defence (based in Thessaloniki) took control of Thessaly.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: After the fall of the monarchy in Russia, Constantine lost his last supporter inside the Entente opposed to his removal from the throne. In the face of Venizelist and Anglo-French pressure, King Constantine finally left the country for Switzerland on 11 June 1917; his second-born son Alexander became king in his place. The Allied Powers were opposed to Constantine's first born son George becoming king, as he had served in the German army before the war and like his father was thought to be a Germanophile.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: King Alexander died on 25 October 1920, after a freak accident: he was strolling with his dogs in the royal menagerie, when they attacked a monkey. Rushing to save the poor animal, the king was bitten by the monkey and what seemed like a minor injury turned to sepsis. He died a few days later. The following month Venizelos suffered a surprising defeat in a general election.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: Greece had at this point been at war for eight continuous years: World War I had come and gone, but yet no sign of an enduring peace was near, as the country was already at war against the Kemalist forces in Asia Minor. Young men had been fighting and dying for years, lands lay fallow for lack of hands to cultivate them, and the country, morally exhausted, was at the brink of economic and political unravelling.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: The pro-royalist parties had promised peace and prosperity under the victorious Field Marshal of the Balkan Wars, he who knew of the soldier's plight because he had fought next to him and shared his ration.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: Following a plebiscite in which nearly 99% of votes were cast in favor of his return, Constantine returned as king on 19 December 1920. This caused great dissatisfaction not only to the newly liberated populations in Asia Minor, but also to the British and even more the French, who opposed the return of Constantine.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: The new government decided to continue the war. The inherited, ongoing campaign began with initial successes in western Anatolia against the Turks. The Greeks initially met with disorganized opposition.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: In March 1921, despite his health problems, Constantine was landed in Anatolia to boost the Army's morale and command personally the Battle of Kütahya-Eskişehir.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: However, an ill-conceived plan to capture Kemal's new capital of Ankara, located deep in barren Anatolia, where there was no significant Greek population, succeeded only in its initial stages. The overextended and ill-supplied Greek Army was routed and driven from Anatolia back to the coast in August 1922. Following an army revolt by Venizelist officers, considering him as key responsible for the defeat, Constantine abdicated the throne again on 27 September 1922 and was succeeded by his eldest son, George II.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: He spent the last four months of his life in exile in Italy and died at 1:30 am on 11 January 1923 at Palermo, Sicily of heart failure. His wife, Sophie of Prussia, was never allowed back to Greece and was later interred beside her husband in the Russian Church in Florence.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: After his restoration on the Greek throne, George II organized the repatriation of the remains of members of his family who died in exile. An important religious ceremony that brought together, for six days in November 1936, all members of the royal family still alive. Constantine's body was buried at the royal burial ground at Tatoi Palace, where he remains.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: As Crown Prince of Greece, Constantine married Princess Sophia of Prussia, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria and sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II, on 27 October 1889 in Athens. They had six children. All three of their sons ascended the Greek throne. Their eldest daughter Helen married Crown Prince Carol of Romania; their second daughter married the 4th Duke of Aosta; whilst their youngest child, Princess Katherine, married a British commoner.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: Constantine remained an idol for his supporters (much like Venizelos for his own supporters), and generally for the conservative Right, for years after his death. However, nowadays the legacy of Venizelos is more appreciated.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: In the popular culture, the slogan of the royalists ""psomí, elia ke Kotso Vasiliá"" ("bread, olives and King Constantine") still survives. It was a popular phrase during the naval blockade of southern Greece by the Allied fleet (1916/17), which caused hunger to the population.


title: Constantine I of Greece

text: From birth, Constantine was styled "His Royal Highness The Crown Prince ("Diadochos") of Greece" until his accession to the throne. On the day of his baptism, his father issued a Royal Decree granting him the additional title of Duke of Sparta; however, this title was used only outside of Greece.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Aberdeen Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Aberdeen, Scotland. They compete in the Scottish Premiership and have never been relegated from the top division of the Scottish football league system since they were promoted in 1905. Aberdeen have won four Scottish league titles, seven Scottish Cups and six Scottish League Cups. They are also the only Scottish team to have won two European trophies, having won the European Cup Winners' Cup and the European Super Cup in 1983.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Formed in 1903 as a result of the amalgamation of three clubs from Aberdeen, they rarely challenged for honours until the post war decade, when they won each of the major Scottish trophies under manager Dave Halliday. This level of success was surpassed in the 1980s, when, under the management of Sir Alex Ferguson, they won three league titles, four Scottish Cups and a Scottish League Cup, alongside the two European trophies. Aberdeen were the last club outside the Old Firm to win a league title, in 1984–85, and also the last Scottish team to win a European trophy. The team has enjoyed less success since this golden era, though a 19-year wait for a major trophy was ended by winning the 2013–14 Scottish League Cup, followed up by multiple second-place finishes behind Celtic in the league during the 2010s.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Aberdeen have played at Pittodrie Stadium since their inception. The ground currently has a capacity of and was the first all-seated and all-covered stadium in the United Kingdom. Pittodrie was also the first football stadium to feature a dug-out, an invention of player and coach Donald Colman.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: The club's colours have been primarily red and white since 1939; before this, they played in black and gold vertical stripes. In modern times, Aberdeen have almost exclusively played with all-red strips with white detailing. Aberdeen attract support from the city and surrounding areas, as they have no geographically close rivals. Lacking a local competitor, Aberdeen have instead developed rivalries with more distant opponents such as Dundee United (collectively known as the "New Firm" in the 1980s) and Rangers.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: The current Aberdeen F.C. was formed following the merger of three clubs based in the city—Aberdeen, Victoria United and Orion—in 1903. The new club played its first match on 15 August 1903: a 1–1 draw with Stenhousemuir. That first season produced a win in the Aberdeenshire Cup, but only a third-place finish in the Northern League. The club applied for membership of the Scottish League for the following season, and were elected to the Second Division.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: In 1904, the club were managed by Jimmy Philip. At the end of its first season, despite having finished seventh out of twelve teams, Aberdeen were elected to the new, expanded First Division. They have remained in the top tier of Scottish football ever since. From 1906, the club made steady progress, with a Scottish Cup semi-final appearance in 1908 and another in 1911. In that season of 1910–11, Aberdeen recorded their first victories over the Old Firm of Celtic and Rangers, and led the league for a time, but finished the season in second place.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Wartime affected the club as much as any other; despite spending cuts and other economies, by 1917 the situation became untenable. Aberdeen dropped out of competitive football, along with Dundee and Raith Rovers. Senior football returned on 16 August 1919, and Aberdeen resumed with a fixture against Albion Rovers. Philip was still in charge, and continued to oversee a team capable of isolated good results, but never quite able to sustain a challenge long enough to win a trophy. In 1923, Aberdeen were drawn against Peterhead in the Scottish Cup, and posted their record score—a 13–0 victory. Philip retired a year later, and was replaced as manager by Paddy Travers. He presided over the team's first Scottish Cup final in 1937.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Travers' "trainer"—first team coach in modern parlance—was former player Donald Colman. Colman conceived the dug-out, a covered area set slightly below the level of the playing surface to better aid his observations. Everton visited Pittodrie soon after its introduction, and exported the idea to the English leagues, from where it spread throughout the football-playing world. Travers left to become manager of Clyde in 1939.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Travers was replaced by former Yeovil Town manager Dave Halliday, one of more than a hundred applicants for the role, and the club moved from their black and gold strip to red and white. Halliday had barely begun his work when World War II halted competitive football in the United Kingdom. For these six years, the club was temporarily taken over by then-directors Charles B Forbes and George Anderson while Halliday served in the war.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Halliday's place in the Aberdeen Hall of Fame was secured after the war when he became the first manager to bring national trophies to Pittodrie. Aberdeen won the Southern League Cup in the 1945–46 season, defeating Rangers 3–2 at Hampden. They then reached the 1947 Scottish Cup final, defeating Hibernian 2–1 with George Hamilton, signed from Halliday's former club Queen of the South, scoring to gain the club's first major trophy. From this early success, Halliday's side reached two more Scottish Cup finals, in 1953 and 1954, though they lost both. Halliday's team were not to be denied, however, and the following season, 1954–55, Aberdeen won their first Scottish League title. Though league winners, the club did not participate in the first European Cup competition—Scotland's place was awarded to Hibernian, who took part by special invitation.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Halliday and Hamilton left at the end of that championship-winning season, and Halliday was replaced by Davie Shaw. Aberdeen won the League Cup under his guidance, beating St Mirren in 1955–56, and reached another Scottish Cup final in 1959. However, Shaw stepped aside for another former favourite player, Tommy Pearson, in 1959. Pearson's time in charge coincided with a high turnover of players, and yielded no trophies. He retired in 1965, making way for Eddie Turnbull.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Turnbull led Aberdeen to the 1967 Scottish Cup final, where the side was ultimately defeated by Celtic. Despite this loss, Aberdeen qualified for the European Cup Winner's Cup in the following season thanks to their appearance in this final, the first time the club had competed in European competition. Their first tie was a 14–1 aggregate victory over KR Reykjavik, although they lost the second round tie with Standard Liège 3–2 on aggregate. Two years later, Derek "Cup-tie" McKay recorded the only four goals of his Aberdeen career to help his team to the 1969–70 Scottish Cup, scoring the winning goals in the quarter- and semi final, and two in the final itself. As Scottish Cup holders, Aberdeen once again qualified for the same competition, but were eliminated in the first round following a 4–4 aggregate tie with Honvéd. This tie, level after extra time and also level on away goals, was decided by the first penalty shoot-out in UEFA competition history, Honvéd winning the shootout 5–4 in Budapest.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: The Aberdeen side of the 1970s regularly challenged for domestic honours. However, they rarely won trophies, with the exception of the Drybrough Cup in 1971 under Jimmy Bonthrone and the League Cup in 1976, under Ally MacLeod. During this decade, Aberdeen had five managers: Eddie Turnbull, Jimmy Bonthrone, Ally MacLeod, Billy McNeill and Alex Ferguson. They reached two more national cup finals—the Scottish Cup in 1978 under Billy McNeill and the League Cup in the following season under the new manager Alex Ferguson.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Under Ferguson's guidance, the club won three league championships, four Scottish Cups, one League Cup, the European Cup Winner's Cup, the European Super Cup and a Drybrough Cup—all in the space of seven years. Players such as Jim Leighton, Willie Miller, Alex McLeish and Gordon Strachan became the backbone of the team. Aberdeen's second League title was won in 1979–80, and this initial success was built upon, with Scottish Cup wins in three successive seasons from 1982 to 1984, and two more league titles in 1983–84 and 1984–85.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: During the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1983, Aberdeen beat FC Sion, Dinamo Tirana and Lech Poznań to face the German Cup winners Bayern Munich. This game was won 3–2 at Pittodrie after a goalless draw in Germany, John Hewitt with the winning goal. They then faced now-defunct Belgian club Waterschei in the semi-final. Aberdeen beat them 5–1 at home, and lost for the first time in the tournament, 1–0 away, resulting in an aggregate victory which sent Aberdeen to the final. On 11 May 1983, Aberdeen beat Real Madrid 2–1 after extra time to win the cup and become only the third Scottish side to win a European trophy. The club released a song, "European Song", to coincide with the appearance in the final. This was followed up with the capture of the European Super Cup in December, when Hamburger SV were beaten over two legs.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Aberdeen reached the semi-finals of the 1983–84 European Cup Winners' Cup, before losing to Porto 2–0 on aggregate. In the first round of the 1984–85 European Champion Club's Cup Aberdeen lost to East Berlin side BFC Dynamo in a penalty shoot-out 4–5, following a 3–3 on aggregate in regular times. Today, both clubs enjoy friendly relations.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: After Ferguson moved south of the border to manage Manchester United in November 1986, Aberdeen struggled to compete with Celtic and a resurgent Rangers.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Aberdeen signed new co-managers in 1989, pairing Alex Smith and Jocky Scott. A number of foreign players were signed, including Dutch internationals Theo Snelders and Hans Gillhaus. In the 1989–90 season, the club won both the Scottish Cup and the Scottish League Cup. In 1991, they lost the last game of the season, and the league title, to Rangers. Former player Willie Miller took over in 1992 and presided over two seasons where Aberdeen came close to winning the title. However, the club ended the 1994–95 season second-bottom, and had to rely on a play-off victory over Dunfermline Athletic to retain their Premier Division status. Miller was sacked in February 1995, and replaced by Roy Aitken. Despite a Scottish League Cup success in 1995, the club continued to struggle. Alex Miller and Paul Hegarty had spells in charge in the late 1990s, but with the financial burden of a new stand putting the club into debt for the first time in its history, the directors turned to Stewart Milne, a local businessman whose firm had built the stand, hiring him as the club's chairman.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Aberdeen's first and only foreign manager, Ebbe Skovdahl, was appointed in 1999 and his time in charge coincided with some of the heaviest defeats in the club's history. The low point of the club's history came in the 1999–2000 season, where they finished bottom of the table. As the Scottish Premier League (SPL) was being expanded to twelve teams, Aberdeen were due to take part in a three team play-off with the teams that finished second and third in the First Division. The play-off never happened though, as one of those clubs (Falkirk) did not meet SPL stadium requirements, and Aberdeen retained their top flight status. This was followed by an early-season defeat to Irish club Bohemians on the away goals rule in the next season's UEFA Cup.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Steve Paterson was appointed to replace Skovdahl following his resignation in 2002, but lasted only two seasons. Paterson's tenure with Aberdeen was marred by his addiction to alcohol. In March 2003 he failed to attend a home game against Dundee due to being too hungover after a night of drinking prior to the match.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Jimmy Calderwood took over in 2004 and Aberdeen posted more consistent results than in previous seasons. In the 2006–07 season, the club finished in third place in the league and entered the final qualifying round for the 2007–08 UEFA Cup. Aberdeen defeated Dnipro on the away goals rule to progress (the first time Aberdeen had won on away goals in European football for 40 years). They went on to beat F.C. Copenhagen 4–0, which was the biggest margin of victory and one of Pittodrie's biggest crowds since the 1980s. This set up a meeting with German giants Bayern Munich, which they lost 7–3 on aggregate after a 2–2 draw which saw Aberdeen lead twice in the first leg. Calderwood was sacked by Aberdeen on 24 May 2009, hours after he took the club to a fourth-place finish and back into Europe. Poor domestic cup performances were thought to be the reason for Calderwood's dismissal.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Mark McGhee of Motherwell was appointed as Calderwood's replacement in June 2009. McGhee controversially dismissed Aberdeen legend and goalkeeping coach Jim Leighton in August 2009 and replaced him with Colin Meldrum. Aberdeen suffered a 9–0 defeat to Celtic on 6 November 2010, their heaviest ever defeat. McGhee and his assistants were eventually sacked in December of that year.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Aberdeen approached Craig Brown, who was working without a contract at Motherwell, to replace McGhee. Brown initially rebuffed an offer, but after further discussions with the club Brown resigned as manager at Motherwell to be announced as the next manager at Aberdeen two days later. The first act of the new management team of Brown and Archie Knox was to re-instate Leighton. Aberdeen failed to produce better results under Craig Brown's tenure, and in March 2013 he announced his retirement to take up a non-executive director role on the club's board.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Derek McInnes was announced as the successor to Craig Brown in March 2013. In McInnes' first season as manager, Aberdeen won the 2013–14 Scottish League Cup after defeating Inverness 4–2 on penalties, their first trophy in 19 years. Aberdeen finished third in the Scottish Premiership, and began the next season by coming through the early rounds of the Europa League, beating Dutch club FC Groningen before eventually being eliminated by Spanish side Real Sociedad. The club ended the season in second place—their best league position since 1993–94—in 2015, 2016, and 2017. In recent seasons' Europa League competitions, they were defeated in the third qualifying round four times: In 2015–16 by FC Kairat, in 2016–17 by NK Maribor, in 2017–18 by Apollon Limassol, and in 2019–20 by HNK Rijeka.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Aberdeen were league runners-up once more in 2016–17 and reached both cup finals, but were beaten 3–0 by Celtic in the League Cup and 2–1 by the same opponents in the Scottish Cup, echoing the outcome in 1992–93 when Aberdeen had finished second to Rangers in all competitions. They were again second the following season, earning a first league win against Celtic away from home for fourteen years in the final game of the season. This qualified them for the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League, where they were defeated after extra time by Premier League side Burnley in the second qualifying round.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: In November 2019, Major League Soccer side Atlanta United FC acquired a less than 10 percent stake in Aberdeen for £2 million (US$2.57 million) as part of a strategic alliance between the two clubs. As part of this deal, vice-chairman Dave Cormack became chairman of the club, replacing Stewart Milne. Atlanta United president Darren Eales also took a seat on Aberdeen's board of directors. McInnes left the post of manager in March 2021 after almost 8 years in charge, and was replaced by Atlanta United 2 manager and former Aberdeen player Stephen Glass. Glass was dismissed in February 2021, and replaced by St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: For the first season of the club's existence, the team played in a predominantly white strip. This is variously reported as all-white, or as white shirts with blue shorts and socks. This colour scheme was the direct descendant of the colours worn by the precursor Aberdeen club, but lasted only one season before being replaced.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: For the 1904–05 season, Aberdeen adopted a black and gold striped shirt, which led to the team being nicknamed "the Wasps". This strip, with only minor variations, was worn until just before the start of the Second World War. The blue shorts lasted until 1911, and then were replaced with white ones. Socks were black with gold trim, either as stripes or as a solid bar at the turndown.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: In March 1939, Aberdeen changed the black and gold colours to red and white, reflecting the silver and red colours of the official City of Aberdeen arms. The first red strips were worn with white shorts, with either red or white socks from 1939 until the 1965–66 season. In 1966, Aberdeen adopted red shorts, making the official kit all-red, similar to that of Liverpool, who made a similar change at around the same time. This arrangement has continued to the present day, with several variations in design, in common with most senior clubs as the replica shirt market has expanded. In the late 1970s an Admiral strip featured five vertical white stripes on the left side of the shirt and shorts, and the early 1980s shirts—as worn at the 1983 European Cup Winners Cup final—featured white vertical pinstripes. Later design changes included significant amounts of blue, and a one-season reversion to white shorts, although the all-red scheme returned in 1997.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Shirt sponsorship began in 1987, and the initial shirt sponsor was JVC. Since then, with the club making fewer appearances on the international stage, shirt sponsors have tended to be local to Aberdeen—they have included one of the local commercial radio stations, Northsound, as well as several Aberdeen-based oil service companies. , the current shirt sponsor is Saltire Energy.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Away colours have tended to be either white—often with black shorts—or a combination of yellow and black, referring back to the black and gold strips of the pre-war era, although for a time in the 1970s, Aberdeen sported an all-blue change strip with white socks. For the 2007–08 season, the change strip was all-white, with a third kit of yellow and black halves available if needed for European games, or in the event of a clash involving both red and white.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: The club did not have an official crest before 1972, but several variations on the letters AFC had from time to time featured on the shirt, usually in some kind of cursive font. In November 1972, the club unveiled an official crest or logo, designed by Aberdonian graphic designer Donald Addison. The design represented a capital letter "A" as the side view of a football goal, with a ball forming the crossbar of the letter. This ball was crosshatched in such a way as to depict it as being inside the net, signifying the scoring of a goal. The logo was completed by the letters "FC" in smaller type at a level with the ball element. This badge was used on the shirts from around 1978, with no significant alterations until the mid-1980s when the words "Aberdeen Football Club" were added in a circular border, and the date of the club's founding, 1903, was added under the goal element. The current version of the crest, which retains these elements in a unified design, was introduced at the start of the 1997–98 season. Two stars signifying the winning of the two European trophies in 1983 were introduced over the badge in the 2005–06 season.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Aberdeen have played throughout their existence at Pittodrie Stadium, the name of which comes from the Pictish for "place of manure". The ground was first used by the original Aberdeen F.C. in 1899, in a 7–1 win over Dumbarton; when they merged with two other teams in 1903, the new club took over the old Aberdeen ground. On 15 August 1903, 8,000 spectators turned up to watch the new Aberdeen draw 1–1 against Stenhousemuir, the first game played at Pittodrie by its amalgamated tenants. The club initially rented the ground, but subsequently bought it in 1920. The stadium currently seats . The record attendance is 45,061, during a Scottish Cup match between Aberdeen and Hearts on 13 March 1954.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: The stadium consists of four stands: the Main Stand, which also houses the club offices and players facilities; the Merkland Road Family Stand; the South Stand, which is opposite the main stand and holds the largest number of spectators; and the Richard Donald stand to the east, which was completed in 1993, contains hospitality suites, and is named after former chairman Dick Donald. A quarter of the South Stand is used to accommodate travelling supporters. In 1978, Pittodrie became the first all covered, all-seater stadium in Britain.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Aberdeen train at Cormack Park, which was opened on 31 October 2019 by former manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who described the development as "up there with the best" that he had seen. As well as being a training centre for the first team, the complex is also home to the Bobby Clark Football Academy and the AFC Community Trust, as well as acting as a community sports hub. The training facilities are named after chairman Dave Cormack, due to the significant financial investment he made to realise the completion of the project.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: The complex is made up of a training pavilion, groundsman’s accommodation, three full-sized training pitches, two floodlit 3G pitches and two grass pitches. There is also flexible outdoor and indoor space that can be used for sporting or recreational purposes. All the pitches are named after club legends, chosen by the fans via an online poll.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Prior to the opening of Cormack Park, the first team trained in a variety of locations around the city, including the local Gordon Barracks, beach, Seaton Park, Aberdeen Sports Village and Countesswells, the playing fields of Robert Gordon's College.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Since 2009, Aberdeen have been examining a move to a new stadium. Plans for a new stadium began when the club indicated that further development of Pittodrie Stadium was not possible due to the age of the ground and the restrictions from surrounding land. Aberdeen City Council approved an initial project in May 2009, to be situated near Loirston Loch in the south of the city, subject to planning permission. In August 2010, a planning application for the new stadium was submitted to the council, which was approved the following February.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: The move was delayed by a year in May 2012 due to problems with land ownership, and suffered a serious setback the following August, when the council rejected a joint application by Aberdeen and Cove Rangers to build a community sports centre at nearby Calder Park. Aberdeen announced in November 2014 new plans to instead build training facilities at Balgownie, on land owned by the University of Aberdeen, but the project was ultimately scrapped in the following July.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Plans to develop a new stadium and training facilities near Westhill, close to the newly developed Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, were announced in May 2016. The new stadium is expected to have a similar capacity to Pittodrie Stadium. Although the project overcame legal challenges from local residents, progress stalled due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland. Alternative designs at the city's beachfront close to Pittodrie were released in August 2021.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Aberdeen's supporters, known as the Red Army, are listed in the team squad list as wearing the number 12 shirt. In 1999, a group of supporters founded the Red Ultras group with the express aim of improving the atmosphere at Pittodrie. However, it was decided that this particular group was to disband at the beginning of 2010. Organised chants and choreography still take place in 'centre block' of the top tier of the Richard Donald Stand and Aberdeen fans still do choreographies at home and away games.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Aberdeen are the only full-time team in the third largest city in Scotland, a city which is relatively remote, geographically, from other large population centres, and as a result have a large catchment area of potential supporters. The average attendance in the 2018–19 Scottish Premiership was 14,924.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: In the 1980s, a minority of the club's supporters had a reputation as one of Britain's most prominent casuals groups, the Aberdeen Soccer Casuals. The rise of the Aberdeen Casuals coincided with the most successful period in the club's history, and has been chronicled in more than one published account. Whilst numbers have steadily declined with the introduction of Football Banning Orders preventing hooligans from travelling to games, the Aberdeen Casuals still appear at big fixtures often away from home and in the UEFA Europa League. There were clashes at both fixtures against FC Groningen in 2014, as well as 13 arrests after violent clashes with Dundee United fans at a game in December 2015.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Aberdeen have rarely played in the same division as their geographically closest neighbours (Cove Rangers, Peterhead, Brechin City, Montrose, Arbroath, Elgin City, and Forfar Athletic), so rivalries have tended to come from further afield. Cove Rangers from the same city entered the professional leagues for the first time in 2019, although the Aberdeen derby is yet to occur in a league meeting.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: In the early 1980s, owing to the success both domestically and in Europe of Aberdeen and Dundee United, the pair were known as the New Firm. However, Dundee United have their city neighbours Dundee as close rivals, and the antagonism was not always reciprocated to the same degree.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: The same situation applies to Aberdeen's rivalry with Rangers, in that Rangers have their own much older and well-known Old Firm rivalry with Celtic. Aberdeen's rivalry with Rangers arose after a number of incidents in matches between the two clubs in the 1980s, namely Willie Johnston's stamp on John McMaster's neck in the Scottish League Cup and Neil Simpson's tackle on Ian Durrant in 1988, as well as Aberdeen's dominance in Scottish football throughout the decade. There are still often violent clashes between both sets of supporters within and outwith the stadium to this day.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Aberdeen developed a minor rivalry with Inverness Caledonian Thistle since Inverness were first promoted to the SPL in 2004. It is known as the North derby due to the fact that Aberdeen and Inverness are the two largest settlements in the north of Scotland.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Aberdeen's re-emerged as one of the top teams in Scotland during the 2010s, which increased the rivalry with Celtic both competitively and between supporters. There have been minor incidents at games, mainly relating to political disturbances by Celtic supporters at games between the clubs, including the disruption of minute's silences and the display of banners showing support for the 1981 Irish hunger strike.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Aberdeen are known as "The Dons", a name that has been in use since at least 1913. The origin of this nickname is unclear. One theory is that it derives from the word "" meaning "teacher", given Aberdeen's history as a university town. It may also be a reference to the nearby River Don, or a contraction of "Aberdonians". Before the popular adoption of "The Dons", the team were variously known as "The Wasps" or "The Black and Golds", both names a reference to the yellow and black striped shirts of the time. As with many teams that play in red, Aberdeen may also be called "The Reds", and are referred to by some supporters as "The Dandy Dons" or "The Dandies".


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Rival clubs occasionally refer to Aberdeen as "The Sheep" and their supporters as "The Sheep Shaggers". The term was eventually accepted by the club's supporters, and fans began chanting "the sheep are " at games. The song was originally sung by away fans poking fun at an Aberdeen fan set on fire on a train while wearing a homemade sheep costume. This in turn led to specialised merchandise being sold by the club and local businesses.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Chants and songs include "The Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen" and "Stand Free", the latter of which is set to the tune of "Lord of the Dance".


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: Aberdeen inaugurated a Hall of Fame as part of the club's centenary celebrations in 2003. Six players were inducted following the initial dinner in March 2004, and a further six were included in November 2004. Ex-manager Alex Ferguson was inducted at a re-launch event in November 2015.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: All players are from Scotland unless otherwise stated. Competitive, professional matches only, up to the end of the 2021–22 season.


title: Aberdeen F.C.

text: "List of full-time managers, as of 9 October 2022. Only competitive matches are counted. Caretaker managers are not listed."


title: I Saw the Devil

text: I Saw the Devil () is a 2010 South Korean action thriller film directed by Kim Jee-woon and written by Park Hoon-jung. Starring Lee Byung-hun and Choi Min-sik, the film follows NIS agent Kim Soo-hyun (Lee), who embarks on a quest of revenge when his fiancée is brutally murdered by the psychopathic serial killer Jang Kyung-chul (Choi). "I Saw the Devil" made its premiere in the United States at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and had a limited U.S theatrical release.


title: I Saw the Devil

text: "I Saw the Devil" was Choi Min-sik's first major role since the changes to the Korean screen quota system.


title: I Saw the Devil

text: One night, a school-bus driver named Jang Kyung-chul encounters a pregnant woman named Jang Joo-yun and offers to fix her flat tire. After beating her unconscious, Kyung-chul dismembers Joo-yun at his home, and while doing so, Joo-yun's ring falls. Kyung-chul ignores it and scatters the body parts into a local stream. When a boy discovers one of Joo-yun's ears, the police arrive en masse to conduct a search, led by Section Chief Oh and Squad Chief Jang, Joo-yun's devastated father. The victim's fiancé, Kim Soo-hyun, an NIA officer is also present and vows to take revenge against the murderer.


title: I Saw the Devil

text: Soo-hyun learns of the four suspects from Squad Chief Jang and proceeds to privately torture and interrogate two of them. Upon searching the home of Kyung-chul, the third suspect, Soo-hyun finds Joo-yun's engagement ring, proving that Kyung-chul was the perpetrator. A short time later, Kyung-chul brings a schoolgirl home and assaults her. Soo-hyun beats him unconscious. Rather than killing Kyung-chul and being done with it, Soo-hyun decides to shove a GPS tracker down his throat, allowing him to see Kyung-chul's location in real time and to listen to his conversations.


title: I Saw the Devil

text: Waking up injured, Kyung-chul walks along the road and is offered a ride by a taxi already containing one passenger. Upon getting in, and correctly guessing that the driver and passenger are in fact two bandits intending to rob and murder him, one being Soo-hyun's unvisited fourth suspect, he strikes out preemptively and kills them both. Afterward, he finds the body of the real taxi-driver in the trunk. Kyung-chul throws out all three bodies, and drives to a small town where he sexually assaults a nurse. Soo-hyun arrives to subdue him and slashes his Achilles tendon before releasing him once more.


title: I Saw the Devil

text: Kyung-chul visits the home of his friend Tae-joo, a murderer and cannibal. After explaining his situation to Tae-joo, the latter remarks that whoever is after him must be the relative of one of his victims. Kyung-chul consequently deduces Soo-hyun's identity after recalling Joo-yun's engagement ring, which Soo-hyun had put on before attacking him previously. Soo-hyun arrives and incapacitates both murderers along with Tae-joo's girlfriend Se-jung. The next day, Tae-joo and Se-jung, still unconscious, are arrested by the police and sent to the hospital.


title: I Saw the Devil

text: Soo-hyun's trusted subordinate arranges for Soo-hyun and Kyung-chul to evade the police and receive treatment for their wounds at a separate facility. The barely conscious Kyung-chul hears Soo-hyun and the subordinate talking about the transmitter. Soo-hyun releases Kyung-chul again, but the latter outsmarts Soo-hyun, slashing the throat of a pharmacist while stealing laxatives which he uses to remove the transmitter, then plants it on a driver at a truck stop that he viciously beats. Soo-hyun enters Tae-joo's hospital room to question him, and learns too late that Kyung-chul is going after Squad Chief Jang and his other daughter Jang Se-yun. Enraged, Soo-hyun breaks Tae-joo's jaw.


title: I Saw the Devil

text: Kyung-chul arrives at the house of Jang, and proceeds to brutally assault him with a dumb-bell, then kill Jang Se-yun. Shortly after, Kyung-chul attempts to avoid Soo-hyun's revenge by surrendering to the police. However, Soo-hyun drives by and kidnaps Kyung-chul right in front of the police's eyes. Taking him to the earlier warehouse, Soo-hyun tortures him, places him under the makeshift guillotine, and leaves him holding a rope between his teeth to keep the blade from falling.


title: I Saw the Devil

text: Though he mocks Soo-hyun, Kyung-chul begins to panic when he learns that his son and elderly parents, whom he had abandoned some time ago, have arrived and are trying to visit him. As his family opens the door despite his muffled protests, it triggers another mechanism set up by Soo-hyun that drops the blade and brutally beheads Kyung-chul in front of his family. With Kyung-chul finally dead, Soo-hyun, who was listening through the transmitter some distance away, has an emotional breakdown as he realizes his "revenge" didn't solve anything, got innocent people killed, and will ultimately never make him feel better.


title: I Saw the Devil

text: The Korea Media Rating Board forced Kim to recut the film for its theatrical release, objecting to its violent content. The film received a "Restricted" rating twice, preventing any sort of release in theatres or on home video and promotions as well. Seven cuts were made with the total runtime of removed material between eighty and ninety seconds.


title: I Saw the Devil

text: "I Saw the Devil" was released in South Korea on August 12, 2010. The film premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival on 21 January 2011. It also received screenings at several other international film festivals, including the Fantasporto Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Sitges Film Festival, San Sebastian Film Festival and the London Korean Film Festival.


title: I Saw the Devil

text: North American distribution rights were acquired by Magnet Releasing which released it on a limited basis on March 4, 2011. Optimum Releasing distributed the film in the United Kingdom.


title: I Saw the Devil

text: The review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 81%, with a weighted average of 7.13 out of 10, based on 83 reviews from critics. The website's "Critics Consensus" says the film is "Never flinching during its descent into depravity, [...] a pulverizing thriller that will give bloody satisfaction to audiences who like their revenge served with fiery rage." On Metacritic the film received "Generally favorable reviews," with a weighted average of 67 out of 100, based on 19 reviews.


title: I Saw the Devil

text: Jeannette Catsoulis of "The New York Times" wrote, "From an unexpectedly moving first act to a hilariously disgusting sojourn with Kyung-chul’s cannibal pal, Mr. Kim and his cinematographer, Lee Mogae, retain complete control of the film’s fluctuating tones and impressive set pieces." Mark Olson of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote, "There is all the violent mayhem, for certain, but the thing that sets "I Saw the Devil" apart is its undercurrent of real emotion and how unrelentingly sad it can be." Rob Nelson from "Variety" magazine stated, "Repugnant content, grislier than the ugliest torture porn, ought to have made the film unwatchable, but it doesn't, simply because Kim's picture is so beautifully filmed, carefully structured and viscerally engaging." Bloody Disgusting's Brad Miska gave it a rating of four-and-a-half out of five, writing: "I could talk for hours about "I Saw the Devil", but nothing I can say will ever do it justice. The film is an experience; it's something that will have you emotionally invested in the characters, while also covering your eyes at the extreme violence," whereas "Empire" rated the film four out of five, stating, "This gleefully black horror-thriller is a very classy follow-up to "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" for Kim Jee-Woon." Phelim O'Neil from "The Guardian" wrote, "There's no shortage of Korean revenge-thrillers, but this, along with the recent "The Man from Nowhere", proves there is plenty of life left in the genre" and gave it a four star rating out five.


title: I Saw the Devil

text: Not all critics were favorable towards the film's brutality; Mark Jenkins of "The Washington Post" wrote, "Director Kim Jee-woon is a born filmmaker, even if this script (written by Park Hoon Jung and adapted by Kim) is unworthy of his efforts" and rated it two out of five stars. Elizabeth Kerr of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote that, "On any number of levels, "Devil" is troublesome at best, offensive at worst."


title: I Saw the Devil

text: In 2014, "Rolling Stone" magazine put "I Saw the Devil" in the top 20 of "the scariest movies you've never seen." In 2019, Jim Vorel of "Paste" named it the best horror film of 2010, writing of its ultimate conclusion: "It's one of the great, empty victories of horror cinema in the 2010s, and should be seen by a larger audience."


title: I Saw the Devil

text: The film was released on DVD as a three-disc set, which contains both the Korean theatrical version and international version, in South Korea on 29 March 2011. The DVD and Blu-ray for the US and Canadian markets were released on May 10, 2011.


title: Cordyceps

text: Cordyceps is a genus of ascomycete fungi (sac fungi) that includes about 600 species. Most "Cordyceps" species are endoparasitoids, parasitic mainly on insects and other arthropods (they are thus entomopathogenic fungi); a few are parasitic on other fungi. The generic name "Cordyceps" is derived from the Greek word κορδύλη "kordýlē", meaning "club", and the Greek word κεφαλή "cephali", meaning "head".


title: Cordyceps

text: The genus has a worldwide distribution and most of the approximately 600 species that have been described are from Asia (notably Nepal, China, Japan, Bhutan, Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand). "Cordyceps" species are particularly abundant and diverse in humid temperate and tropical jungles.


title: Cordyceps

text: "Cordyceps" subgen. "Epichloe" was at one time a subgenus, but is now regarded as a separate genus, "Epichloë".


title: Cordyceps

text: "C. sinensis" was shown in 2007 by nuclear DNA sampling to be unrelated to most of the rest of the members of the genus, and as a result it was renamed "Ophiocordyceps sinensis" and placed in a new family, the Ophiocordycipitaceae, as was ""Cordyceps unilateralis"".


title: Cordyceps

text: "Cordyceps" and "Metacordyceps" spp. are now thought to be the teleomorphs of a number of anamorphic, entomopathogenic fungus "genera" such as: "Beauveria" ("Cordyceps bassiana"), "Lecanicillium, Metarhizium" and "Nomuraea".


title: Cordyceps

text: When a "Cordyceps" fungus attacks a host, the mycelium invades and eventually replaces the host tissue, while the elongated fruit body (ascocarp) may be cylindrical, branched, or of complex shape. The ascocarp bears many small, flask-shaped perithecia containing asci. These, in turn, contain thread-like ascospores, which usually break into fragments and are presumably infective.


title: Cordyceps

text: Polysaccharide components and cordycepin are under basic research and have been isolated from "C. militaris".


title: Cordyceps

text: Cordyceps are used in traditional Chinese medicine, but there is currently no scientific evidence that their use has any clinical effect on human diseases.


title: Cordyceps

text: The "Cordyceps" fungus is depicted as a core plot element in the video games "The Last of Us" (2013), "" (2014), and "The Last of Us Part II" (2020), in which a mutated form of the fungus infects humans and causes the collapse of civilization. In the video game "", "Cordyceps" infected bugs are enemies that can be encountered. "Cordyceps" also serve as a major plot point in the story.


title: Cordyceps

text: In the novel "The Girl with All the Gifts" (2014) and its film adaptation (2016), a mutation of "Ophiocordyceps unilateralis" is responsible for an infection which infects humans and causes the collapse of civilization.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: Syracuse ( ; ; ) is a historic city on the Italian island of Sicily, the capital of the Italian province of Syracuse. The city is notable for its rich Greek and Roman history, culture, amphitheatres, architecture, and as the birthplace of the pre-eminent mathematician and engineer Archimedes. This 2,700-year-old city played a key role in ancient times, when it was one of the major powers of the Mediterranean world. Syracuse is located in the southeast corner of the island of Sicily, next to the Gulf of Syracuse beside the Ionian Sea. It is situated in a drastic rise of land with depths being close to the city offshore although the city itself is generally not so hilly in comparison.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: The city was founded by Ancient Greek Corinthians and Teneans and became a very powerful city-state. Syracuse was allied with Sparta and Corinth and exerted influence over the entirety of Magna Graecia, of which it was the most important city. Described by Cicero as "the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all", it equaled Athens in size during the fifth century BC. It later became part of the Roman Republic and the Byzantine Empire. Under Emperor Constans II, it served as the capital of the Byzantine Empire (663–669). Palermo later overtook it in importance, as the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily. Eventually the kingdom would be united with the Kingdom of Naples to form the Two Sicilies until the Italian unification of 1860.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: In the modern day, the city is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site along with the Necropolis of Pantalica. In the central area, the city itself has a population of around 125,000 people. Syracuse is mentioned in the Bible in the Acts of the Apostles book at 28:12 as Paul stayed there. The patron saint of the city is Saint Lucy; she was born in Syracuse and her feast day, Saint Lucy's Day, is celebrated on 13 December.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: Syracuse and its surrounding area have been inhabited since ancient times, as shown by the findings in the villages of Stentinello, Ognina, Plemmirio, Matrensa, Cozzo Pantano and "Thapsos", which already had a relationship with Mycenaean Greece.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: Syracuse was founded in 734 or 733 BC by Greek settlers from Corinth and Tenea, led by the "oecist" (colonizer) Archias. There are many attested variants of the name of the city including "Syrakousai", "Syrakosai" and "Syrakō". The most acceptable theory is that the Phoenicians called it Sour-ha-Koussim, which means "Stone of the seagulls" from which would come the name of Syracuse. A possible origin of the city's name was given by Vibius Sequester citing first Stephanus Byzantius in that there was a Syracusian marsh () called "Syrako" and secondly Marcian's "Periegesis" wherein Archias gave the city the name of a nearby marsh; hence one gets "Syrako" (and thereby "Syrakousai" and other variants) for the name of Syracuse, a name also attested by Epicharmus. The settlement of Syracuse was a planned event, as a strong central leader, Arkhias the aristocrat, laid out how property would be divided up for the settlers, as well as plans for how the streets of the settlement should be arranged, and how wide they should be. The nucleus of the ancient city was the small island of Ortygia. The settlers found the land fertile and the native tribes to be reasonably well-disposed to their presence. The city grew and prospered, and for some time stood as the most powerful Greek city anywhere in the Mediterranean. Colonies were founded at Akrai (664 BC), Kasmenai (643 BC), Akrillai (7th century BC), Helorus (7th century BC) and Kamarina (598 BC).


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: The descendants of the first colonists, called "Gamoroi", held power until they were expelled by the lower class of the city assisted by Cyllyrians, identified as enslaved natives similar in status to the helots of Sparta. The former, however, returned to power in 485 BC, thanks to the help of Gelo, ruler of Gela. Gelo himself became the despot of the city, and moved many inhabitants of Gela, Kamarina and Megara to Syracuse, building the new quarters of Tyche and Neapolis outside the walls. His program of new constructions included a new theatre, designed by Damocopos, which gave the city a flourishing cultural life: this in turn attracted personalities as Aeschylus, Ario of Methymna and Eumelos of Corinth. The enlarged power of Syracuse made unavoidable the clash against the Carthaginians, who ruled western Sicily. In the Battle of Himera, Gelo, who had allied with Theron of Agrigento, decisively defeated the African force led by Hamilcar. A temple dedicated to Athena (on the site of today's Cathedral), was erected in the city to commemorate the event.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: Syracuse grew considerably during this time. Its walls encircled in the fifth century, but as early as the 470s BC the inhabitants started building outside the walls. The complete population of its territory approximately numbered 250,000 in 415 BC and the population size of the city itself was probably similar to Athens.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: Gelo was succeeded by his brother Hiero, who fought against the Etruscans at Cumae in 474 BC. His rule was eulogized by poets like Simonides of Ceos, Bacchylides and Pindar, who visited his court. A democratic regime was introduced by Thrasybulos (467 BC). The city continued to expand in Sicily, fighting against the rebellious Siculi, and on the Tyrrhenian Sea, making expeditions up to Corsica and Elba. In the late 5th century BC, Syracuse found itself at war with Athens, which sought more resources to fight the Peloponnesian War. The Syracusans enlisted the aid of a general from Sparta, Athens' foe in the war, to defeat the Athenians, destroy their ships, and leave them to starve on the island (see Sicilian Expedition). In 401 BC, Syracuse contributed a force of 300 hoplites and a general to Cyrus the Younger's Army of the Ten Thousand.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: Then in the early 4th century BC, the tyrant Dionysius the Elder was again at war against Carthage and, although losing Gela and Camarina, kept that power from capturing the whole of Sicily. After the end of the conflict Dionysius built a massive fortress on Ortygia and 22 km-long walls around all of Syracuse. Another period of expansion saw the destruction of Naxos, Catania and Lentini; then Syracuse entered again in war against Carthage (397 BC). After various changes of fortune, the Carthaginians managed to besiege Syracuse itself, but were eventually pushed back by a pestilence. A treaty in 392 BC allowed Syracuse to enlarge further its possessions, founding the cities of Adranon, Tyndarion and Tauromenos, and conquering Rhegion on the continent. In the Adriatic, to facilitate trade, Dionysius the Elder founded Ancona, Adria and Issa. Apart from his battle deeds, Dionysius was famous as a patron of art, and Plato himself visited Syracuse several times, where Dionysius, offended by Plato's daring to disagree with the king, imprisoned the philosopher and sold him into slavery.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: His successor was Dionysius the Younger, who was however expelled by Dion in 356 BC. But the latter's despotic rule led in turn to his expulsion, and Dionysius reclaimed his throne in 347 BC. Dionysius was besieged in Syracuse by the Syracusan general Hicetas in 344 BC. The following year the Corinthian Timoleon installed a democratic regime in the city after he exiled Dionysius and defeated Hicetas. The long series of internal struggles had weakened Syracuse's power on the island, and Timoleon tried to remedy this, defeating the Carthaginians in the Battle of the Crimissus (339 BC).


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: After Timoleon's death the struggle among the city's parties restarted and ended with the rise of another tyrant, Agathocles, who seized power with a coup in 317 BC. He resumed the war against Carthage, with alternate fortunes. He was besieged in Syracuse by the Carthaginians in 311 BC, but he escaped from the city with a small fleet. He scored a moral success, bringing the war to the Carthaginians' native African soil, inflicting heavy losses to the enemy. The defenders of Syracuse destroyed the Carthaginian army which besieged them. However, Agathocles was eventually defeated in Africa as well. The war ended with another treaty of peace which did not prevent the Carthaginians from interfering in the politics of Syracuse after the death of Agathocles (289 BC). They laid siege to Syracuse for the fourth and last time in 278 BC. They retreated at the arrival of king Pyrrhus of Epirus, whom Syracuse had asked for help. After a brief period under the rule of Epirus, Hiero II seized power in 275 BC.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: Hiero inaugurated a period of 50 years of peace and prosperity, in which Syracuse became one of the most renowned capitals of Antiquity. He issued the so-called "Lex Hieronica", which was later adopted by the Romans for their administration of Sicily; he also had the theatre enlarged and a new immense altar, the "Hiero's Ara", built. Under his rule lived the most famous Syracusan, the mathematician and natural philosopher Archimedes. Among his many inventions were various military engines including the claw of Archimedes, later used to resist the Roman siege of 214–212 BC. Literary figures included Theocritus and others.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: Hiero's successor, the young Hieronymus (ruled from 215 BC), broke the alliance with the Romans after their defeat at the Battle of Cannae and accepted Carthage's support. The Romans, led by consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus, besieged the city in 214 BC. The city held out for three years, but fell in 212 BC. The successes of the Syracusians in repelling the Roman siege had made them overconfident. In 212 BC, the Romans received information that the city's inhabitants were to participate in the annual festival to their goddess Artemis. A small party of Roman soldiers approached the city under the cover of night and managed to scale the walls to get into the outer city and with reinforcements soon took control, killing Archimedes in the process, but the main fortress remained firm. After an eight-month siege and with parleys in progress, an Iberian captain named Moeriscus is believed to have let the Romans in near the Fountains of Arethusa. On the agreed signal, during a diversionary attack, he opened the gate. After setting guards on the houses of the pro-Roman faction, Marcellus gave Syracuse to plunder.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: Though declining slowly through the years, Syracuse maintained the status of capital of the Roman government of Sicily and seat of the praetor. It remained an important port for trade between the Eastern and the Western parts of the Empire. Christianity spread in the city through the efforts of Paul of Tarsus and Saint Marziano, the first bishop of the city, who made it one of the main centres of proselytism in the West. In the age of Christian persecutions massive catacombs were carved, whose size is second only to those of Rome.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: After a period of Vandal rule, 469–477, Syracuse and the island was recovered for Roman rule under Odoacer, 476–491 and Theodoric the Great, 491–526, by Belisarius for the Byzantine Empire (31 December 535). From 663 to 668 Syracuse was the seat of the Greek-speaking Emperor Constans II, as well as a capital of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire and metropolis of the whole Sicilian Church. Constans II was assassinated when his plans to permanently replace the Byzantine capital of Constantinople with Syracuse became suspected.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: The city was besieged by the Aghlabids for almost a year in 827–828, but Byzantine reinforcements prevented its fall. It remained the center of Byzantine resistance to the gradual Muslim conquest of Sicily until it fell to the Aghlabids after another siege on 20/21 May 878. During the two centuries of Muslim rule, the capital of the Emirate of Sicily was moved from Syracuse to Palermo. The cathedral was converted into a mosque and the quarter on the Ortygia island was gradually rebuilt along Islamic styles. The city, nevertheless, maintained important trade relationships, and housed a relatively flourishing cultural and artistic life: several Arab poets, including Ibn Hamdis, the most important Sicilian Arab poet of the 12th century, flourished in the city.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: In 1038, the Byzantine general George Maniakes reconquered the city, sending the relics of St. Lucy to Constantinople. The eponymous castle on the cape of Ortygia bears his name, although it was built under the Hohenstaufen rule. In 1085 the Normans entered Syracuse, one of the last Arab strongholds, after a summer-long siege by Roger I of Sicily and his son Jordan of Hauteville, who was given the city as count. New quarters were built, and the cathedral was restored, as well as other churches.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: In 1194, Emperor Henry VI occupied the Sicilian kingdom, including Syracuse. After a short period of Genoese rule (1205–1220) under the notorious admiral and pirate Alamanno da Costa, which favoured a rise of trades, royal authority was re-asserted in the city by Frederick II. He began the construction of the Castello Maniace, the Bishops' Palace and the Bellomo Palace. Frederick's death brought a period of unrest and feudal anarchy. In the War of the Sicilian Vespers between the Angevin and Aragonese dynasties for control of Sicily, Syracuse sided with the Aragonese and expelled the Angevins in 1298, receiving from the Spanish sovereigns great privileges in reward. The preeminence of baronial families is also shown by the construction of the palaces of Abela, Chiaramonte, Nava, Montalto.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: The city was struck by two ruinous earthquakes in 1542 and 1693, and a plague in 1729. The 17th century destruction changed the appearance of Syracuse forever, as well as the entire Val di Noto, whose cities were rebuilt along the typical lines of Sicilian Baroque, considered one of the most typical expressions of the architecture of Southern Italy. The spread of cholera in 1837 led to a revolt against the Bourbon government. The punishment was the move of the province capital seat to Noto, but the unrest had not been totally choked, as the Siracusani took part in the Sicilian revolution of 1848.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: After the Unification of Italy of 1865, Syracuse regained its status of provincial capital. In the late 19th century, the walls (including Porta Ligny) were demolished and a bridge connecting the mainland to Ortygia island was built. In the following year a railway link was constructed.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: Both Allied and German bombings in 1943 caused heavy destruction during World War II. "Operation Husky", the codename for the Allied invasion of Sicily, was launched on the night between 9–10 July 1943 with British forces attacking the southeast of the island. The plan was for the British 5th Infantry Division, part of General Sir Bernard Montgomery's Eighth Army, to capture Syracuse on the first day of the invasion. This part of the operation went completely according to plan, and British forces captured Syracuse on the first night of the operation. The port was then used as a base for the British Royal Navy. To the west of the city is a Commonwealth War Graves cemetery where about 1,000 men are buried. After the end of the war the northern quarters of Syracuse experienced a heavy, often chaotic, expansion, favoured by the quick process of industrialization.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: Syracuse today has about 125,000 inhabitants and numerous attractions for the visitor interested in historical sites (such as the Ear of Dionysius). A process of recovering and restoring the historical centre has been ongoing since the 1990s. Nearby places of note include Catania, Noto, Modica and Ragusa.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: Syracuse experiences a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification "Csa") with mild, wet winters and warm to hot, dry summers. Snow is infrequent; the last heavy snowfall in the city occurred in December 2014. Frosts are very rare, with the last one also happening in December 2014 when the temperature dropped to the all-time record low of 0 °C.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: A temperature of was registered in Syracuse by the Sicilian Agrometeorological Information Service (SAIS) on 11 August 2021, if recognized by the World Meteorological Organization, this would be the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe. Guido Guidi, lieutenant colonel of the Italian Meteorological Service, however, says the highest temperature registered in the organizations' stations during the heatwave was , at Naval Air Station Sigonella. Guidi underlines that the reported data by SAIS "is produced directly by the stations and is not subject to any control and validation procedure, neither automatic nor manual. It can therefore report errors due to sensor malfunctions as well as maintenance interventions".


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: In 2016, there were 122,051 people residing in Syracuse, located in the province of Syracuse, Sicily, of whom 48.7% were male and 51.3% were female. Minors (children ages 18 and younger) totalled 18.9 percent of the population compared to pensioners who number 16.9 percent. This compares with the Italian average of 18.1 percent (minors) and 19.9 percent (pensioners). The average age of Syracuse resident is 40 compared to the Italian average of 42. In the five years between 2002 and 2007, the population of Syracuse declined by 0.5 percent, while Italy as a whole grew by 3.6 percent. The reason for decline is a population flight to the suburbs, and northern Italy. The current birth rate of Syracuse is 9.75 births per 1,000 inhabitants compared to the Italian average of 9.45 births.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: , 97.9% of the population was of Italian descent. The largest immigrant group came from other European nations (particularly those from Poland, and the United Kingdom): 0.6%, North Africa (mostly Tunisian): 0.5%, and South Asia: 0.4%.


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: Since 2005, the entire city of Syracuse, along with the Necropolis of Pantalica which falls within the province of Syracuse, has been listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. This programme aims to catalogue, name, and conserve sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity. The deciding committee which evaluates potential candidates described their reasons for choosing Syracuse because "monuments and archeological sites situated in Syracuse are the finest example of outstanding architectural creation spanning several cultural aspects; Greek, Roman and Baroque", following on that Ancient Syracuse was "directly linked to events, ideas and literary works of outstanding universal significance".


title: Syracuse, Sicily

text: Syracuse is home to association football club A.S.D. Città di Siracusa, the latest reincarnation of several clubs dating back to 1924. The common feature is the azure shirts, hence the nickname "Azzurri". Siracusa play at the Stadio Nicola De Simone with an approximate capacity between 5,000 and 6,000.


title: Cole Tucker

text: Cole Bryson Tucker (born July 3, 1996) is an American professional baseball shortstop and outfielder in the Colorado Rockies organization. He made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2019, and played with them through 2022.


title: Cole Tucker

text: Tucker attended Mountain Pointe High School in Phoenix, Arizona, where he played for the school's baseball team. He played for the United States national baseball team in the 2013 18U Baseball World Cup. He committed to play college baseball at the University of Arizona.


title: Cole Tucker

text: The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Tucker in the first round, with the 24th overall selection, of the 2014 Major League Baseball draft. He signed on June 12, 2014 for a signing bonus worth $1,800,000, and spent 2014 with the Gulf Coast League Pirates, where he batted .267 with a .724 OPS. He had been committed to play college baseball for the Arizona Wildcats. Tucker spent 2015 with the West Virginia Power where he posted a .293 batting average along with 25 stolen bases and 13 doubles. Tucker returned to the Power in 2016, and was later promoted to the Bradenton Marauders, where he batted a combined .242 with two home runs and 27 runs batted in (RBIs) between both teams. In 2017, he began the season with Bradenton, and was promoted to the Altoona Curve in July. In 110 total games, Tucker posted a .275 batting average, six home runs, 50 RBIs, and 47 stolen bases in the 2017 campaign.


title: Cole Tucker

text: MLB.com ranked Tucker as Pittsburgh's fifth best prospect going into the 2018 season. The Pirates added him to their 40-man roster after the season. He opened the 2019 season with the Indianapolis Indians. On April 20, he was called up to the major league roster. He made his major league debut that afternoon versus the San Francisco Giants. During that game Tucker got his first major league hit in his third at bat, hitting a two-run home run off Derek Holland over the center field wall at PNC Park to give the Pirates a 3–1 lead. The home run became the game-winning hit after the game was called due to rain. In June, the Pirates optioned Tucker to Indianapolis.


title: Cole Tucker

text: In 2020, the Pirates played Tucker as an outfielder, as he slashed .211/.266/.361. The Pirates optioned Tucker to Indianapolis to start the 2021 season. He played in 13 games for the Pirates in May and July, and another 30 games after he was recalled in August. In 2021, he batted .222/.298/.342 in 43 games.


title: Cole Tucker

text: In 2022, Tucker appeared in 18 games for the Pirates, playing second base, shortstop and right field. He batted .175 before being optioned to Indianapolis on May 12. The Pirates designated Tucker for assignment on May 30.


title: Cole Tucker

text: On June 5, 2022, the Arizona Diamondbacks claimed Tucker off of waivers and optioned him to the Reno Aces of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. On July 8, Tucker was outrighted by the Diamondbacks. He elected free agency after the 2022 season.


title: Cole Tucker

text: Tucker grew up as a fan of the Arizona Diamondbacks. His father is African-American and his mother is European-American. His brother Carson was selected by the Cleveland Guardians in the first round of the 2020 Major League Baseball draft.


title: Jim Hanks

text: James Mefford Hanks (born June 15, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has played numerous minor roles in film and guest appearances on television, and often does voice substitution work for his older brother Tom Hanks (most notably Sheriff Woody for "Toy Story"-related talking toys and video games). He has produced, directed, and filmed several short films. Hanks made his film debut in "Buford's Beach Bunnies" (1993).


title: Jim Hanks

text: James Mefford Hanks was born in Shasta County, California on June 15, 1961. He is the son of Janet Marylyn ("née" Frager) and itinerant cook Amos Mefford Hanks. Hanks is also the youngest brother of fellow actor Tom Hanks and entomologist Larry Hanks, but they were not raised together. After their parents divorced, Jim went to Red Bluff, California with his mother while older siblings Tom, Larry, and Sandra remained with their father. After college, he lived in Sacramento working as a waiter. The agent who employed his actress wife Karen Praxel as a receptionist encouraged him to get into acting. After he took acting lessons, he moved to Los Angeles in 1992 and began his career with roles in B-movies and commercial voice-overs.


title: Jim Hanks

text: He got his first lead role as Jeeter Buford in "Buford's Beach Bunnies" (1993). Wishing to earn the role based on his own abilities, he auditioned as "Jim Matthews" (just his first and a modification of his middle name). While producers noted his "resemblance to Tom Hanks", he won the role based on his own comedic and acting skills and his relationship to his brother was not revealed until paperwork was completed.


title: Jim Hanks

text: In 1995, "A Current Affair" revealed that Tom had created the mannerisms for the character of Forrest Gump based on the simpleton mannerisms earlier created by Jim for the role of Jeeter, including Forrest's "now-famous jerky run". His physical resemblance to his brother allowed him to act as body double for him in scenes in "Forrest Gump". Due to his vocal similarity, and with his brother Tom's personal recommendation, he often substitutes for Tom in the role of Sheriff Woody in various "Toy Story" video games and spin-offs.


title: Jim Hanks

text: Hanks began to provide the voice of Geoffrey the Giraffe in the Toys "R" Us commercials in 2001 and is the voice of Rudy from the Red Robin Gourmet Burgers commercials.


title: Jim Hanks

text: He guest-starred in an episode of "Scrubs", appearing as a "Dr. Turner" partnered with a doctor called "Hooch" (in reference to his brother's film "Turner & Hooch").


title: Jim Hanks

text: In the 1998 film adaptation of O. Henry's "The Ransom of Red Chief", Hanks played the role of the mailman who was the town gossip.


title: Jim Hanks

text: He has appeared on stage, including playing "Lennie Small" in Theatrical Arts International's production of John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men".


title: Jim Hanks

text: In November 2016, Hanks guest-starred in a web series called "Gary CK Needs Work", a parody of the FX show "Louie".


title: Jim Hanks

text: Hanks married actress Karen Praxel on May 25, 1986, together they have one son. The family resides in Venice, California.


title: Jim Hanks

text: He works with Los Angeles-based "Feet First Films", a production company that provides actor demos as well as production support for short films.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Errick Miron (born Errick Lynne Williams Jr.; May 21, 1977) is an American former football running back who played 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and one season in the Canadian Football League (CFL).


title: Ricky Williams

text: After playing baseball and football at Patrick Henry High School in San Diego, California, Williams played college football for the Texas Longhorns, where he was a two-time unanimous All-American and won the 1998 Heisman Trophy. He broke the NCAA Division I-A records for career rushing yards and all-purpose yards during his senior season. He played minor league baseball in the Philadelphia Phillies farm system for four seasons during college. In 2015, Williams was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Williams was drafted by the New Orleans Saints fifth overall in the 1999 NFL Draft after a blockbuster trade and spent three seasons with the team before he was traded to the Miami Dolphins in 2002. He played for the Dolphins for two seasons, leading the league in rushing in 2002, and retired for the first time from football in 2004. Due to a suspension from the NFL, he played for the Toronto Argonauts in 2006. Williams re-joined the Dolphins in 2007 and played with them until 2010, and spent the 2011 season with the Baltimore Ravens. He earned first-team All-Pro honors and a Pro Bowl selection with the Dolphins in 2002.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Williams was born (with his twin sister Cassie) to Sandy and Errick Williams. Growing up middle class, his parents were divorced by 1983 and Williams, at the age of three, began taking care of his younger sister Nisey by putting her to bed. His father later had three children through another marriage. Williams is the second cousin of Major League Baseball player Cecil Fielder. Williams was sent by his mother to counseling for anger problems as a youth. He took a test as a six-year-old that revealed he had the intelligence of someone twice his age, and earned honor roll recognition in high school. Williams once said, "I was always very bright, but not necessarily a hard worker. I think I was in eighth grade when I became really focused as a student and started getting good grades." He was named to the "San Diego Union-Tribune" All-Academic team. He had a brown belt in Taekwondo by age 12, and he started growing dreadlocks when he was 15.


title: Ricky Williams

text: At San Diego's Patrick Henry High School, Williams primarily played baseball and football in addition to running track. Williams also wrestled, notably losing a match to future NCAA champion and three-time Super Bowl champion Stephen Neal. During his junior year, he was named all-league in baseball as an outfielder and third baseman, and as a senior, he was named all-state.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Entering high school at and , Williams added an additional of weight before his junior season. He played outside linebacker and strong safety in addition to his primary position of running back. During his high school career, he rushed for a total of 4,129 yards and 55 touchdowns, and in his senior season he had 2,099 yards and 25 touchdowns, totals which earned him the "San Diego Union-Tribunes" 1994 Player of the Year award. Among his senior year performances were a 200-yard effort in a loss, a 248-yard (on 24 carries) and three-touchdown game, a 215-yard (21 carries) and two-touchdown showing, and a 143-yard (18 carries) and two-touchdown game. Against a top-ranked school, he had 129 yards on 24 carries and one touchdown, and Williams totaled 47 of the 69 yards Patrick Henry accumulated during the game-winning drive. Williams helped Patrick Henry to its first Eastern League title in 11 years with a win against San Diego High School; Williams had 115 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter of the game but suffered an Achilles tendon rupture early in the second quarter. Following two weeks of rest, Williams suited up for the first round of the CIF-San Diego Section Division 1 playoffs and, playing through pain from the injury, posted 94 yards on 25 carries in a 15–14 win. In the second round, Williams ran for 110 yards in a 21–17 victory, propelling Patrick Henry into the championship game. However, in the title game Patrick Henry lost 13–0 and Williams was held to a season-low 46 yards, with his team amassing just 62 yards of total offense.


title: Ricky Williams

text: The Scouting Evaluation Association rated Williams as the best high school running back in the state of California as a senior, while "Super Prep" labeled him as the second-best running back in California behind Sirr Parker and 14th-best in the country overall.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Williams attended the University of Texas, where he played for the Texas Longhorns football team from 1995 to 1998. The Philadelphia Phillies, as part of his minor league baseball contract, paid for his scholarship to college.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Entering his freshman season, Williams was slated to begin as the starting fullback on the team. With Priest Holmes out for the 1995 season with an injury, Williams and Shon Mitchell started the season opener on the field together. Williams set a school record for rushing yards by a true freshman in the first game of the season against Hawaii with 95 yards. During the regular season, he rushed for a total of 990 yards on 166 attempts and eight touchdowns, breaking Earl Campbell's school record for rushing yards by a freshman. He had 62 yards in the 1995 Sugar Bowl against Virginia Tech. He was named Southwest Conference Freshman of the Year after the season.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Before his sophomore year in 1996, "The Sporting News" ranked Williams, who was sometimes known as the "Texas Tornado," as the best fullback in college football. He led Texas in rushing with 1,272 yards and had over 100 yards rushing in seven games during the season. Against Penn State in the 1997 Fiesta Bowl, he rushed for 48 yards and tied a bowl record for catches in a game with nine receptions.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Williams moved to running back for his junior year in 1997, and "Bob Griese's Football Magazine" considered him as the second-best candidate for the Heisman Trophy going into the season. He scored five touchdowns in a game against Rice, setting school and Big 12 Conference records. During a game against Kansas, he broke the school record for career touchdowns with 43. Williams finished the season with 1,893 rushing yards on 279 attempts and 25 rushing touchdowns. He set single-season school records for rushing yards, carries, and rushing touchdowns in a season, as well as all-purpose yards with 2,043. He had the highest rushing yards per game in Division I-A with 172.0, and he earned fifth place for Heisman balloting with 135 points. He won the Doak Walker Award in December 1997, and was a unanimous All-America selection.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Williams returned to Texas for his senior season, opting to forgo the 1998 NFL Draft, in which he was projected to be drafted between the fourth and seventh picks. Texas provided him with a $2.8 million insurance policy for returning, in the event that he became injured and was picked lower in the draft as a result. In the first game of the season, against New Mexico State, he broke his own school record for rushing touchdowns in a game with six. In the next game against UCLA, he broke Earl Campbell's career school rushing record with 4,530 total yards. He scored six touchdowns again in a game with Rice, in addition to gaining 318 yards. He also became Texas's all-time leading scorer during the game, with 344 career points, and set a school record for all-purpose yards in a game with 350. Against Iowa State, he rushed for 350 yards and five touchdowns, breaking the single-game school record for rushing yards. In the game, Williams broke the record for career total touchdowns with 67. He helped beat longtime rival Oklahoma by rushing for 166 yards and two scores. In a game against Baylor, in which he rushed for 259 yards, Williams broke the NCAA Division I-A record for career points scored with 428.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Williams broke the NCAA Division I-A career rushing record held by Tony Dorsett on November 27, 1998, in a game against Texas A&M, on a 60-yard touchdown run. The game was briefly paused while Williams received the game ball and was honored by a group of dignitaries, including Dorsett. He finished the game racking up 259 yards on a career-high 44 carries, and also broke the Division I-A career all-purpose yards record with 7,206 yards. The record-breaking touchdown was later named the Compaq College Football Play of the Year, and the football used during the play was sent to the College Football Hall of Fame. Williams led Division I-A in rushing for the 1998 season with 193.0 yards per game. Williams won his second straight Doak Walker Award, the Walter Camp Award, the Maxwell Award, the Associated Press College Football Player of the Year, the "Sporting News" College Football Player of the Year, the Best College Football Player ESPY Award, and the Big 12 Conference Offensive Player of the Year awards after the 1998 season. He was a unanimous All-America selection for the second straight season. He received the 64th Heisman Trophy, becoming the second Texas Longhorn to win this honor, joining Earl Campbell. Williams received 2,355 points in the Heisman ballot. In the 1999 Cotton Bowl Classic, he set a bowl record with 248 all-purpose yards. After the season, he played in the Hula Bowl all-star game.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Williams broke or tied 21 NCAA Division I-A records, 24 Big 12 Conference records, and 46 Texas Longhorns school records in his career. The University of Wisconsin's Ron Dayne broke Williams' record for career rushing yards one year later in 1999. Texas retired his No. 34 jersey in May 1999. Along with Earl Campbell, Williams has a statue on the grounds of Darrell K. Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium, on the University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas, to commemorate their Heisman Trophy wins.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Williams was drafted in the eighth round of the 1995 Major League Baseball June amateur draft out of high school by the Philadelphia Phillies. He signed a contract with the team with a $50,000 signing bonus. During his collegiate career, he played four seasons in the Phillies' farm system, never playing beyond Class A. An outfielder, Williams played in 170 games and finished his career with a .211 batting average, four home runs, and 46 stolen bases.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Williams played for the Martinsville Phillies, a rookie league team in the Appalachian League affiliated with the Philadelphia Phillies, for 36 games in 1995. He had a batting average of .239 with 11 runs batted in (RBIs) with the team. In 1996 and 1997, he played with the Piedmont Boll Weevils, the Phillies' Class A affiliate in the South Atlantic League. He hit .188 with 30 runs scored and 20 RBIs in 84 games with the team in 1996, and he hit .206 with 12 runs scored and six RBIs in 1997. During his third year, he was teammates with Phillies' eventual starting shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who declared Williams the fastest man he had ever seen. Williams played for the Batavia Muckdogs, the Phillies' Class A Short Season affiliate of the New York–Penn League, in 1998. He played in 12 games for Batavia, hitting .288, before cutting his season short to return to Texas for his senior year of football.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Williams was selected in the 1998 Rule 5 draft by the Montreal Expos on December 14, 1998, who then traded his rights to the Texas Rangers. The Rangers were owned by Tom Hicks, who was a Texas Longhorns booster. Williams was placed on the Rangers' 40-man major league roster, but he wrote a letter in March 1999 to the team stating he would not report for spring training so he could prepare for the NFL Draft. The Rangers subsequently placed him on their restricted list, and he never played for the team.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Williams attended the NFL Scouting Combine 20 pounds overweight and declined to participate in workouts. He held a private workout for NFL teams at the University of California, San Diego, in April 1999. He weighed in a 224 pounds at the workout, lower than the 244 pounds he weighed at the Combine. The Cleveland Browns held the first pick in the 1999 NFL Draft, and after Williams's workout, their coach Chris Palmer said Williams was a finalist for the pick along with quarterbacks Tim Couch and Akili Smith. The team selected Couch, and the Philadelphia Eagles, with the second pick in the draft, despite calls from the mayor of the city and fans to select Williams, picked Donovan McNabb.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Williams was selected as the fifth pick overall in the 1999 NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints. Head coach Mike Ditka traded all of the Saints' remaining 1999 draft picks (the second round pick had already been traded to the Rams to get Eddie Kennison) to the Washington Redskins to get Williams, as well as first- and third-round picks the following year. This was the first time one player was the only draft pick of an NFL team.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Williams and Ditka posed for the cover of "ESPN The Magazine" as a bride and a groom with the heading "For Better or for Worse." Rapper Master P's organization No Limit Sports negotiated his seven-year, $11.1 million contract, which was largely incentive-laden; he received an $8.84 million signing bonus with salary incentives potentially worth up to $68.4 million should he hit all of his incentives, with most of them requiring higher than top-level production to attain. The contract was criticized by legions of people, both sports agents and writers, who realized that Williams's position entitled him to much more in guaranteed money. In the 2020 BET docuseries "No Limit Chronicles", Williams emphasized that he personally pushed for the terms of the contract, stating that the signing bonus was his "reward for what [he] did in college, but everything else [he does he] should have [had] to earn." After spraining his ankle in the preseason and battling injuries throughout his rookie year, he made only one incentive and earned only $125,000, the league minimum, prompting further criticism of No Limit Sports and his agent Leland Hardy. Williams said, "I think maybe Master P underestimated how white professional sports were." Williams later fired No Limit Sports and made Leigh Steinberg his agent. Ditka was later fired for the team's poor performance.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Williams spent three seasons (1999–2001) with the Saints. He made his NFL debut with ten carries for 40 yards in a 19-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers. As a rookie, he had 884 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in 12 games. In 2000, he rushed for 1,000 yards and scored nine total touchdowns in 10 games. He missed the team's last six regular-season games and first playoff game due to an injury suffered in a game against the Panthers. The Saints finished the 2000 regular season with a 10–6 record and won the franchise's first-ever playoff game against the St. Louis Rams. The next season was a successful one for Williams. One notable performance for Williams was in Week 4 in a 28-15 victory over the Minnesota Vikings, where he rushed for 136 rushing yards and a touchdown to earn NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. His 411 rushing yards, two rushing touchdowns, 22 receptions, and 157 receiving yards in the month of October earned him NFC Offensive Player of the month. Overall, Williams rushed for 1,245 yards, finishing eighth in the NFL. He caught 60 passes for 511 yards in his last season with the Saints.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Williams was traded to the Miami Dolphins on March 8, 2002, for four draft picks, including two first-round picks. In 2002, his first season with the Dolphins, he had a stellar season with ten games with at least 100 rushing yards. In Week 12, against the San Diego Chargers, he had 143 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns to earn AFC Offensive Player of the Week. He followed that up with 228 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns against the Buffalo Bills. In the following game, against the Chicago Bears, he had 216 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns to earn another AFC Offensive Player of the Week honor. Overall, he was the NFL's leading rusher with 1,853 yards, a first-team All-Pro and a Pro Bowler.


title: Ricky Williams

text: In the 2003 season, Williams had 1,372 rushing yards, nine rushing touchdowns, 50 receptions, 351 receiving yards, and one receiving touchdown.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Williams was noted for his dreadlocks hair style, but he shaved them off during a trip to Australia. His shyness made Williams appear somewhat of an oddball. "Ricky's just a different guy", former Saints receiver Joe Horn explained. "People he wanted to deal with, he did. And people he wanted to have nothing to do with, he didn't. No one could understand that. I don't think guys in the locker room could grasp that he wanted to be to himself – you know, quiet. If you didn't understand him and didn't know what he was about, it always kept people in suspense." Besides keeping to himself, Williams was known for conducting post-game interviews with his helmet on (complete with tinted visor) and avoiding eye contact. Williams was later diagnosed with social anxiety disorder.


title: Ricky Williams

text: It was announced on May 14, 2004, that Williams tested positive for marijuana in December 2003 and faced a $650,000 fine and a four-game suspension for violating the NFL's substance-abuse policy. He previously tested positive for marijuana shortly after he joined the Dolphins. Shortly before training camp was to begin in July 2004, Williams publicly disclosed his intent to retire from professional football.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Rumored to have failed a third drug test before announcing his retirement, Williams made his retirement official on August 2, 2004. Williams was ineligible to play for the 2004 season, and studied Ayurveda, the ancient Indian system of holistic medicine, at the California College of Ayurveda that autumn in Grass Valley, California. The Dolphins finished the 2004 season with a 4–12 record.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Williams maintains that he does not regret the retirement decision. He thinks that it was the "most positive thing" he has ever done in his life, allowing him time to find himself.


title: Ricky Williams

text: Williams officially returned to the Dolphins on July 24, 2005, paid back a percentage of his signing bonus and completed his four-game suspension for a failed drug test. At his return press conference, Williams expressed his apologies for leaving the team two days before the start of training camp, which had contributed to the Dolphins' having their worst season in years. Williams finished with six touchdowns and a 4.4 yards per carry average on 168 carries and 743 yards during 2005. While he shared time with Ronnie Brown, he did run for 172 yards in Week 16 against the Tennessee Titans, and 108 yards in Week 17 against the New England Patriots.


title: Ricky Williams

text: On February 20, 2006, the National Football League announced that Williams had violated the NFL drug policy for the fourth time. His mother reportedly said she did not think it was another marijuana violation, and that he may have been in India when he was supposed to be tested. On April 25, 2006, Williams was suspended for the entire 2006 season. It has been suggested that the substance may have been an herb related to his interest in holistic medicine.


title: Ricky Williams

text: With Williams suspended for the entire 2006 NFL season, the CFL's Toronto Argonauts decided to put Williams on the negotiation list for the 2006 season.


title: Ricky Williams

text: This guaranteed that the team would become the rightful CFL organization to negotiate with Williams if his NFL contract were to be terminated at any time. The Dolphins allowed Williams to play for the Argonauts on the condition that he would return to them in 2007.


title: Ricky Williams

text: On May 28, 2006, Williams became the highest-paid running back in the CFL when he signed a one-year Can$340,000 contract with the Argonauts. He chose to wear the #27 on his jersey.


title: Ricky Williams

text: The signing drew the ire of former Argonauts quarterback Joe Theismann. On May 30, 2006, Theismann was interviewed by Toronto radio station The Fan 590 whereupon he criticized the Argonauts for signing the suspended Williams. Theismann claimed he was disgraced to be associated with a team that would knowingly sign "an addict" such as Williams. The CFL had no substance abuse policy in place, nor did it prohibit its teams from signing players suspended from other leagues, despite Williams being under contract with the Dolphins for the 2006 season.


title: Ricky Williams

text: The Argonauts' ownership responded to Theismann's criticism, noting that Theismann's son, Joe, pleaded guilty in 2002 to a felony charge of possessing drug paraphernalia. He received a 10-year suspended prison term, was placed on five years of probation and fined. "It's really a delicate subject for him to attack someone if he has that in his own family", Argo co-owner David Cynamon said. "If I was his son and he's calling [Williams] a drug addict and he should quit and he's a loser, I'd be shattered. This thing is really bothersome."


title: Ricky Williams

text: Williams made his official CFL debut on June 17, 2006, in a home game against the Tiger-Cats at the Rogers Centre. In that game, he rushed for 97 yards on 18 carries, with his longest carry for 35 yards in the fourth quarter. Williams caught two passes for 24 yards as the Argonauts defeated the Tiger-Cats by a score of 27–17.