SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Theo Epstein is rising to a new reality.For the last few years Ive had a semi-recurring dream, maybe five or six times, where Ive woken up, wow, we just won the World Series with the Cubs. Thats unbelievable, he recalled Monday night.And then about 10 seconds later I realize it was just a dream, and then the rest of the day stinks, right? Its a pretty great feeling and then back to reality. The last five days or whatever its been, Ive been waking up with the same realization and then it takes a couple seconds. Wow! It really happened!Days after the team he designed ended a long championship drought, Epstein was voted The Sporting News Major League Baseball Executive of the Year for revitalizing the Chicago Cubs.Balloting by 56 big league executives took place before the postseason. The Cubs led the majors with 103 wins during the regular season, then beat Cleveland in a seven-game World Series last week for their first title since 1908.During the parade I kept telling my wife we need to go home to change some diapers and do some laundry, because this is not real life, he said. Weve got to get our feet back on the ground.Epstein was presented with the award at the start of the annual general managers meeting. He received 13 votes, followed by Clevelands Chris Antonetti (nine), the New York Yankees Brian Cashman (eight), Texas Jon Daniels (seven), Clevelands Mike Chernoff and Washingtons Mike Rizzo (three each), and Baltimores Dan Duquette and the Cubs Jed Hoyer (two apiece).Now 42, Epstein was the youngest general manager in major league history when Boston hired him at age 28 in November 2002. He helped the Red Sox win the 2004 World Series, their first title since 1918, and a second championship in 2007.Winning at 42 vs. 30, I have a greater appreciation for how hard it is and how many people have to contribute and how lucky you have to get along the way, too, he said.Epstein left Boston after the 2011 season to become president of baseball operations with the Cubs, who lost 91 games that year. As he rebuilt the team, the Cubs dropped 101 games in 2012, 96 the following year and 89 in 2014. They won 97 games last year to gain a wild card, returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2008 only to get swept by the New York Mets in the NL Championship Series.This year, Chicago defeated San Francisco in the Division Series, overcame a 2-1 deficit against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Championship Series and then became the first team to rally from a 3-1 World Series deficit since the 1985 Kansas City Royals.Chicagos 10th-inning rally in Game 7 was sparked by Albert Almora Jr., the first player drafted under Epsteins regime, taken sixth overall in 2012. Third baseman Kris Bryant was drafted in 2013 and outfielder Kyle Schwarber in 2014, and the Cubs traded for pitcher Jake Arrieta (from Baltimore), first baseman Anthony Rizzo (San Diego) and shortstop Addison Russell (Oakland).Jon Lester was signed as a free agent after the 2014 season and fellow pitcher John Lackey, all-purpose player Ben Zobrist and outfielders Dexter Fowler and Jason Heyward were signed last offseason.Chicago gave Epstein a new five-year contract in September. Now the challenge is to win two in a row and match the 1907-08 Cubs.It does make you hungry just to validate it. When you can win two, I think it means even more, he said. Wed love to be the type of organization that national baseball fans think of when you think of October baseball.Aroldis Chapman, Fowler, Jason Hammel and Travis Wood have become free agents. Epstein already has been thinking about roster alterations.The mix has to change a little bit, he said. If you look to just bring back every single component and try to recreate the past, its going to change by definition. Group dynamics change. Human beings change. And so maybe its better to change it in some small ways on your terms and some intent behind it rather than just let it come back exactly the same and be stale. ... Well make some smaller changes, but I do have a feeling this nucleus is going to stay intact a lot longer than what we did in Boston.Founded in 1886, TSN ended its print edition in 2012 but remains available online. Carlos Gomez Jersey . -- Gus Malzahn finally had his day in Fayetteville. Matt Duffy Jersey . Louis Blues absence from top spot in the TSN. http://www.officialraysgearshop.com/Rays-Christian-Arroyo-Kids-Jersey/ . -- Jacksonville wide receiver Cecil Shorts will likely be a game-time decision whether hell play Sunday in the Jaguars home game against the San Diego Chargers. Mallex Smith Jersey . Scott Kazmir allowed four hits in seven shutout innings, Michael Brantley hit a two-run homer in a three-run first inning and the Indians maintained their hold on an AL wild-card spot with a 4-1 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday night. Tampa Bay Rays Jerseys .Y. -- Canadas Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse have another World Cup gold medal after winning the two-women bobsled race on Saturday in Lake Placid, N. It was only a matter of time before American Ninja Warrior tapped into college rivalries, which is exactly what the franchise did with the spin-off Team Ninja Warrior: College Madness. ?The series, which premieres on Tuesday on the Esquire Network, will run for five episodes and be a team-based obstacle course competition featuring undergraduate and graduate students racing head-to-head.Whereas American Ninja Warrior is strictly individuals, Team Ninja Warrior pits teams of three (two men, one woman) against each other in a race of speed and agility. There are upper-body tests on the course, but the Team Ninja Warrior courses are about who can finish the fastest, rather than if an athlete can finish at all. This makes for a completely different environment for athletes and viewers alike.College Madness is a new twist on a previously successful formula for Esquire, which spawned Team Ninja Warrior last year. As Ninja Warrior becomes more popular, it wouldnt be a stretch for college students to be familiar with it, but that certainly wasnt the case for all of the women competing on the forthcoming show.It wasnt on my radar, contestant Melissa Hill said in a recent phone interview. Hill, 22, who is originally from Sorrento, Florida, is a University of Florida graduate student and competitive climber. Hill joined Floridas team at the behest of her teammates and fellow climbers, Dane Brooks and Garrison Kalvin.My first thought was ... No way would we ever get on this show, Hill said with a laugh. She applied with Brooks and Kalvin, and the rest is history.Ninja Warrior, however, was most definitely on the radar of Emma Beserra, 19, a power lifter and TCU student. My whole family watches it, she said over the phone.Originally from The Woodlands, Texas, Beserra was a competitive cheerleader throughout high school, and in college she started to lift and do other forms of fitness. Shes been on TV before as well, having run the BattleFrog College Championship, which aired on ESPNU and ESPN2. At TCU, Beserra works at the rec center, and unlike Hill she did not know her teammates well prior to the show.We didnt meet them until we got to school, and we had to fly out [to Los Angeles] the next week, Beserra noted.Though not thought of as a traditional background sport for ninjas, cheer has strong representation in this first episode of College Madness. University of Georgia studeent Victoria Case,19, is a former cheerleader for the Bulldogs, as is fellow UGA competitor Doug Legg.dddddddddddd She also played softball and rode horses when she was younger. The fashion merchandising major and Georgia native also noted that she is a die-hard [Bulldogs] sports fan.Hill, who is studying ecology, started climbing just after matriculating at the University of Florida. She grew up playing golf but doesnt consider herself a traditional sports fan. Im sports indifferent, she said. After realizing that she didnt want to play golf in college, Hill had a hole in her life that she ended up filling with climbing.Fun was something I had been missing in golf, because I was burnt out on it, Hill said.As with climbing, pole vaulting has a reputation within the ninja community for spawning successful competitors, especially women. ANW superstar Jessie Graff pole vaulted at Georgia Tech and the University of Nebraska. Fellow ninja Meagan Martin was a pole vaulter at Vanderbilt. Cassie Craig, who is an up-and-coming female ninja, was also a pole vaulter.?Haley Houston,19, a sophomore at the University of Houston, hopes to join that legacy. The Austin, Texas, native is studying kinesiology and wants to be a physical therapist. She started pole vaulting in middle school, which is relatively rare, as not many middle schools have pole vaulting programs, and she still vaults at Houston. Coincidentally, she also participated in cheerleading.Houston watched American Ninja Warrior previously but did not have plans to try to get on one of the shows.It was an accident, she said in a phone interview.Houston was inadvertently recruited by her teammate and ninja enthusiast Zach Tamayo while working at the campus recreation center. He told Houston about how he needed a woman to compete on his team, and she volunteered. It was as simple as that. Houston was familiar with the kinds of obstacles on the show and figured she could do well.Obstacles, however, can be harder than they appear. This is really, really hard, Houston added.And that they are. The show promises to bring the same level of intensity to the competition as ANW, with a dash of that old college try!Team Ninja Warrior: College Madness premieres on Esquire Network on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET Wholesale NFL Jerseys China NFL Jerseys White China Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys From China Cheap Authentic Jerseys Cheap Jerseys 2019 Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Throwback Cheap Jerseys 2019 China Jerseys China NFL Gear Youth NFL Jerseys Wholesale Youth NFL Jerseys China Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Womens Jerseys ' ' '