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MEXICO CITY -- Dressed in their classic silver and black uniforms, the Raiders players huddle before kickoff. After words of encouragement and a prayer, the teenagers finish with head butts, shoulder slaps and a battle cry: Uno, dos, tres... vamos!This is, after all, south of the border, where football has a century-old tradition, rivals soccer in popularity and millions of kids like the Raiders de Arboleda play futbol americano -- American football -- every weekend.The NFL returns to Mexico after an 11-year absence when the Texans face the Raiders in a regular season game on Nov. 21 in sold-out Azteca Stadium. For the Mexican Raiders and others across the country, football is part of Mexican sports tradition as much as soccer, boxing and lucha libre.Football gives you the chance to take your passion to the field, to hit people and not get fined, said Raiders quarterback Gabriel Anaya, 16. Maybe thats why its so popular.The NFL has around 25 million fans in Mexico, the biggest number outside of the U.S., and its base is still growing, said Arturo Olive, director of the NFL office in Mexico. The league sponsors 6,500 teams in youth programs in 27 of 32 Mexican states, and estimates 2.5 million kids play flag football in elementary schools.Eight years ago, we played in only six states and had 120 teams, Olive said. The growth has been exponential.In a country steeped in soccer culture, and one that has hosted two FIFA World Cups, the love affair with football might be surprising. But Mexico has two popular college leagues with 36 teams, a six-team professional league, and up to 10 NFL games are on basic cable each week.The local soccer league has nine games each week, and not all of them are on TV.Fans can even watch the Thursday and Monday night games at the movie theater. Soccer gets the big-screen treatment only for World Cup matches.I also used to play soccer, Anaya said, but preferred this sport.Football was introduced in the country in 1896 by Mexican students returning home from U.S. colleges. They brought back an oval shaped ball, said Alejandro Morales, a local football historian and founder of Mexicos football hall of fame. He said the first official match was played that year in the city of Jalapa in the Gulf state of Veracruz, where the students and their friends faced a team of American sailors from a U.S. ship anchored in the nearby port.Soon after, several teams were created in Veracruz and eventually the sport spread to Mexico City and local colleges. UNAM, the national state university with over 200,000 students, started playing in the 1920*s, and by the 50s, most of the Mexican colleges where playing the game that, at the time, rivaled soccer in popularity. UNAMs famed Estadio Olimpico, site of the 1968 Summer Olympics, was used mainly for football in the first decade after its inauguration in 1950.Back then, football used to share the spotlight with soccer, Morales said. Eventually that faded, because football was not seen as a business. It was played in college and they just wanted to help the students, while soccer was run by professionals.Although football fell behind soccer, it remained hugely popular. The NFL noticed and on Aug. 5th, 1978, the Philadelphia Eagles played the New Orleans Saints in a preseason game in Mexico City. Some 30,000 fans packed the home of the Cruz Azul soccer team to watch the Saints 14-7 win in the first NFL game south of the border, and only the second played outside of the U.S. or Canada.The NFL returned 16 years later, when the Houston Oilers played the Dallas Cowboys in Azteca Stadium in the first of six preseason American Bowls hosted by Mexico. The last was in 2001, when the Raiders played the Cowboys in the same venue.The first regular season game was played in 2005, when the Arizona Cardinals played the San Francisco 49ers in front of 103,467 fans in Azteca Stadium, then an NFL record. Since 2007, the league has held games annually in Great Britain -- including three each season since 2014 -- but never returned to Mexico, until now.We were ready when the opportunity presented itself, said Olive, who has run the NFL Mexico office since 2008. Now we have a commitment to be successful with a game of this magnitude.Azteca Stadium, built in 1966 and home to the popular soccer club America, underwent several renovations to meet NFL standards, including new locker rooms exclusive for the football teams, new ramps and improved communication systems. The size decreased from 100,000 to 84,000 to improve seating, and all tickets were sold out in less than two hours, Olive said.Most fans will be rooting for the Raiders, the fifth most-popular team in Mexico behind the Steelers, Cowboys, Patriots and 49ers, according to the NFL.Among them will be Anaya and his friends from the Raiders team in Arboleda, a suburb north of this sprawling metropolis.A lot of players on the team have been playing here since they were little kids and are Raider fans, Anaya said, so they are very excited about the game.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Nike Air Max Norge . U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield in Manhattan agreed that lawyers on both sides could make their formal requests by Nov. 8. A hearing is scheduled for a day earlier. Jordan Siev, a lawyer for Rodriguez, wrote in a joint letter to the judge from lawyers on both sides that MLB lawyers planned to ask that the lawsuit be dismissed. Nike Air Max Billig Online . Wilson hit Schenn from behind during Tuesday nights game in Philadelphia, earning a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct. He has a phone hearing with the department of player safety, which limits any potential suspension to five or fewer games. http://www.norgeairmax.com/ . Howard Ganz, an MLB lawyer, said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos that Rodriguezs claims do not come "remotely close" to what is needed to overturn an arbitration decision in federal court. Nike Air Max Nettbutikk . -- Stanford squashed Oregons national championship hopes again, schooling the Ducks in power football. Nike Air Max Sko Tilbud . -- Bobby Ryan helped the U. CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Kemba Walker had no nice way to describe the Charlotte Hornets 97-87 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.That was pretty ugly, Walker said, before quickly adding that the Hornets will take the wins any way they can get them.Walker scored 18 points, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist added 14 and the Hornets got their third win in the last four games Thursday night to remain in first place in the Southeast Division.The Mavericks slowed the tempo of the game, but the Hornets didnt get frustrated and never trailed.At the end of the day, it shows toughness, Walker said. It shows that we can withstand games. They really slowed it down tonight. But we really stayed with the game and won. ... Thats what you have to do on some nights.Walker was just 7 of 19 from the field and Charlotte again struggled from the foul line at home.However, the Hornets got a big boost from their bench, which combined for 46 points on 25 shots, led by Jeremy Lamb, who had 12 points.That was a hard game to play, Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. It wasnt a conventional tempo for a NBA game to be played. It was slower. They really execute and they really changed their defenses. The tempo of a NBA game usually lets you get into a rhythm. But there was no way they would let us get into a rhythm. Bottom line is thats a game that good teams win.Harrison Barnes scored 17 points and Justin Anderson added 15 for the Mavericks (3-15), who have lost 10 of their last 11 games.The Hornets led by two when Walker drained a long 3-pointer to beat the shot clock with 3:51 to give his team the spark it needed. Lamb followed with a driving layup that resulted in a three-point play to push the lead to 86-78.The Mavs would battle back behind Barnes to cut the lead to three, but Lamb hit two free throws and Walker buried a 3-pointer from the right wing with 41 seconds left to put the game out of reach.TIP-INSMavericks: Deron Williams did not play down the stretch in the fourth quarter because he was on a minutes restriction on the second night of a bback-to-back.dddddddddddd ... Dwight Powell fouled out with 1:18 left.Hornets: Nic Batum, who received a $120 million contract this offseason, has struggled some with turnovers this season. He entered averaging 2.3 per game and had three in the first half. ... The Hornets were 22 of 31 from the foul line and shot 28 percent from 3-point range.GIANTS WRESTLINGFor the most part it was a subdued, lackluster game until the middle of the fourth quarter, when Mavericks center Salah Mejri grabbed the ball after it went out of bounds and cradled it in his arms until Charlottes Roy Hibbert inexplicably attempted to rip it out. In a bizarre sight, the two 7-footers started wrestling for the ball well after the whistle had blown ending the play. They finally tumbled to the floor together, sending long arms and legs flying in every direction. Several players were seen trying to keep themselves from laughing at the spectacle after the play, which resulted in Hibbert getting a technical foul.STRUGGLING FROM 3Dallas Wesley Matthews was upset with himself after the game for making just 1 of 11 3-point shots.If I shoot halfway decent, you give me those looks, and its a different game, Matthews said.ECLECTIC SITUATIONMavericks coach Rick Carlisle said his team is in an eclectic situation right now.Weve got to get these guys healthy, Carlisle said. Weve got to do it the right way. In the meantime, other guys are getting valuable experience. Were playing some guys in some different positions and finding out some different things. We just have to keep up the fight. If we do that, things will come around.DEFENSE WINSThe Hornets improved to 8-0 in games in which theyve limited their opponent to fewer than 100 points.UP NEXTMavericks: Dallas returns home to host the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night.Hornets: Charlotte concludes a three-game homestand on Saturday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves. ' ' '