Word: top
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Beach-volleyball stars themselves were the ones who pulled their sport up from the tide line. Back in the 1970s, tournaments, such as they were, could offer top players no more than a free pair of swim trunks, dinner in a local restaurant and perhaps a date with the winner of the accompanying bikini contest. But in 1983 a group of players who believed in the game's potential formed the Association of Volleyball Professionals to fight for bigger purses and better promotions. The group, which numbers 250 members, went on strike during the 1984 World Championships in California...
This year Nike, which Knight has invigorated by decentralizing decision making and encouraging innovation, has gained a second wind with dozens of new models in 24 footwear categories. Nowadays any top contender in the industry must constantly upgrade its products (almost all of which are designed in the U.S. but made in Asia) just to stay in the race. Though industry analysts estimate that 80% of all sneakers are used for nothing more taxing than taking out the garbage, consumers want the illusion of having a competitive edge...
...technology. L.A. Gear has become a major contender by selling shoes mostly for show, not sport. Adorned with bright-neon trim, buckles and rhinestones and worn by svelte blonds in the company's TV commercials, L.A. Gear's shoes suggest sex and Southern California. One of the brand's top sellers is Street Brats ($60), with contrasting-color laces, marbleized leather and tongues that stick straight up. L.A. Gear was started in 1979 by Robert Greenberg, 49, a hairdresser turned entrepreneur who keeps his finger on the pulse of California shopping culture. Says he: "I'm a mallaholic. I need...
...convincing Stalin that the Western powers would never resist Hitler's increasingly aggressive expansion eastward. Stalin had several times proposed a treaty with the Western powers to check Hitler's ambitions, but he had been ignored. With the treachery characteristic of him -- he had purged dozens of his top army officers on false charges of conspiring with the Germans to overthrow him -- he began exploring the possibility of signing an alliance with those same Germans. To Hitler, who had been ranting about "the struggle against Bolshevism" for nearly 20 years, it seemed like an offer he couldn't refuse...
Rumors, possibly false, suddenly spread in May 1938 that German troops were concentrating on the Czech frontier. Bene ordered a partial mobilization, the British expressed "grave concern," and the French warned Berlin that they were ready to fight. One of Hitler's top generals thereupon announced that it had all been a mistake, that there had been no German troop movements. By appearing to stand firm for the first time, the Allies seemed to have made Hitler back down. But this apparent victory had two important results: the Allies were appalled at how near to war they had come...