The playoffs, play-offs, postseason and/or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be either a single game, a series of games, or a tournament, may use a single-elimination system or one of several other different playoff formats. Playoff, in regard to international fixtures, is to qualify or progress to the next round of a competition or tournament. In team sports in the U. S. and Canada, the vast distances and consequent burdens on cross-country travel have led to regional divisions of teams. During the regular season, teams play more games in their division than outside it, but the league's best teams might not play against each other in the regular season. Therefore, in the postseason a playoff series is organized. Any group-winning team is eligible to participate, as playoffs became more popular they were expanded to include second- or lower-placed teams – the term "wild card" refers to these teams.

In England and Scotland, playoffs are used in association football to decide promotion for lower-finishing teams, rather than to decide a champion in the way they are used in North America. In the EFL Championship, teams finishing 3rd to 6th after the regular season compete to decide the final promotion spot to the Premier League. Evidence of playoffs in professional football dates to at least 1919, when the "New York Pro Championship" was held in Western New York; the Buffalo and Rochester metropolitan areas each played a championship game, the winners of which would advance to the "New York Pro Championship" on Thanksgiving weekend. The top New York teams were absorbed into the NFL upon its founding in 1920, but the league did not adopt the New York league's playoff format, opting for a championship based on regular season record for its first twelve seasons. Technically, a vote of league owners was all, required to win a title, but the owners had a gentlemen's agreement to pledge votes based on a score.

When two teams tied at the top of the standings in 1932, an impromptu playoff game was scheduled to settle the tie. The National Football League divided its teams into divisions in 1933 and began holding a single playoff championship game between division winners. In 1950 the NFL absorbed three teams from the rival All-America Football Conference, the former "Divisions" were now called "Conferences", echoing the college use of that term. In 1967, the NFL expanded and created four divisions under the two conferences, which led to the institution of a larger playoff tournament. After the AFL-NFL merger brought the American Football League into the NFL, the NFL began to use three divisions and a single wild card team in each conference for its playoffs, in order to produce eight contenders out of six divisions. In 2002 the NFL added its 32nd team, the Houston Texans, reshuffled its divisional alignment; the league went from 6 division winners and 6 wild card spots to 8 division winners and only 4 wild card qualifiers.

The winners of each division automatically earn a playoff spot and a home game in their first rounds, the two top non-division winners from each conference will make the playoffs as wild-card teams. The top two teams with the best records in the regular season get a first round bye, each of the bottom two division winners plays one of the two wild-card teams; each winner of a wild-card game plays one of the two bye teams. The winners of these two games go to the conference championships, the winners of those conference championship games face each other in the Super Bowl; the College Football Playoff National Championship is a post-season college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, which began play in the 2014 college football season. The game serves as the final of the College Football Playoff, a bracket tournament between the top four teams in the country as determined by a selection committee, established as a successor to the Bowl Championship Series and its similar BCS National Championship Game.

Unlike the BCS championship, the participating teams in the College Football Playoff National Championship are determined by two semi-final bowls—hosted by two of the consortium's six member bowls yearly—and the top two teams as determined by the selection committee do not automatically advance to the game in lieu of other bowls. The game is played at a neutral site, determined through bids by prospective host cities; when announcing it was soliciting bids for the 2016 and 2017 title games, playoff organizers said that the bids must propose host stadiums with a capacity of at least 65,000 spectators, cities cannot host both a semi-final game and the title game in the same year. The winner of the game is awarded a new championship trophy instead of the "crystal football", given by the American Football Coaches Association since 1986; the new College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy is sponsored by Dr Pepper, which paid an estimated $35 million for the sponsorship rights through 2020.

The 26.5-inch high, 35-p

Tsukumogami Kashimasu is a Japanese novel written by Megumi Hatakenaka and published in 2007. A sequel, titled Tsukumogami, Asobō yo, was published in 2013. An anime television series adaptation premiered from July to October 2018. Crunchyroll is streaming the series under the title. Okō and Seiji run the Izumo-ya lending shop in the Fukagawa district of Edo. Several of the items they lend have become tsukumogami. Seiji is clever and, with the help of the tsukumogami, has a reputation for being able to solve mysteries and other difficult problems. One of those mysteries is the whereabouts of Satarō, a man, once interested in Okō despite being engaged to another woman. Seiji Voiced by: Junya Enoki Okō's younger brother Okō Voiced by: Mikako Komatsu Seiji's older sister Satarō Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai heir to the Iida-ya shop Notetsu Voiced by: Tōru Nara a bat-shaped netsuke tsukumogami Tsukuyomi Voiced by: Yutaka Nakano a full moon kakemono tsukumogami Goi Voiced by: Daisuke Hirakawa a kiseru tsukumogami Ohime Voiced by: Satomi Akesaka a princess doll tsukumogami Usagi Voiced by: Yuka Iguchi a comb tsukumogami Narrator Voiced by: Aionsuke Kataoka The novel is written by Megumi Hatakenaka, Kadokawa Shoten published it on September 25, 2007.

A second edition was published on June 23, 2010. Hatakenaka published a sequel, titled Tsukumogami, Asobō yo, on March 26, 2013, the second edition was published on April 23, 2016. NHK announced an anime television series adaptation on October 23, 2017; the series is directed by Masahiko Murata and written by Kento Shimoyama, with animation by studio Telecom Animation Film. Miho Yano and Hiromi Yoshinuma are designing the characters based on the original designs by Lily Hoshino. Natsue Muramoto serves as the series' art director, Ryoko Oka provides color design, Yūko Kamahara is the director of photography, Yasunori Ebina serves as sound director. Music for the series is composed by Gō Satō. "Miyavi vs. Kavka Shishido performed the opening theme song, Mai Kuraki performed the ending theme song. TMS Entertainment is producing the anime. Anime Limited acquired the series for distribution in Ireland; the series premiered on NHK General TV from July 22 to October 14, 2018. Official novel website at Kadokawa Shoten Official anime website

The Portrait of Georg Fugger is a 1474 oil on panel Gothic-style portrait painting by Giovanni Bellini, now in the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, United States. It is one of the first works in oil by an Italian artist, it can be securely dated due to an inscription on its reverse reading "Jeorg Fugger a di XX di Zugno MCCCCLXXIIII". He was the head of the Nuremberg branch of the German Fugger bank, involved in the Fondaco dei Tedeschi in Venice, he wears a garland and his individual features are shown in detail, although the work lacks the psychological elements introduced to Venice in 1475 by Antonello da Messina. A copy after the work is in a private collection in Milan, it was recorded in the collection of Johannes, Count of Fugger-Oberkirchberg at Schloss Oberkirchberg in Ulm. It was sold by Walter Schnackenberg on 10 December 1926 to the art dealer Franz Kleinberger and Co. who sold it on to count Alessandro Contini-Bonacossi for $40,000 on 17 May 1928. It passed to his heirs and passed from Lorenzo Papi of Florence to its present owner in 1969

BLIZZARD! The Storm That Changed America is a 2000 Children's history book by Jim Murphy, it is about the Blizzard of 1888 that hit the north-east of North America, concentrates on New York City. Booklist called Blizzard "an example of stellar nonfiction." and the School Library Journal wrote "The narrative is a readable and seamless blend of history and adventure adapted from extensive first-person accounts and primary news sources... The text is exciting without being melodramatic.. Authentic photographs and maps that demonstrate the course of the storm, all done in the same sepia tone as the text illustrate the book. Overall, a superb piece of writing and history." In a star review Kirkus Reviews wrote "Murphy’s ability to pull in details that lend context allows him to tell this story of a place in time through the lens of a single, dramatic episode that will engage readers. This is skillfully done: humorous, jaw-dropping, thought-provoking, chilling." In a review of an audio version of the book Publishers Weekly wrote "Murphy's well-rounded information about the various circumstances that worsened the effects of the storm make the tale both more fascinating and more tragic.

Mali's steady delivery is well suited to the material. To build urgency in the narrative, he creates cogent transitions from one event to another and from personal events to broader historical segments. With all of these connections, individual chapters stand alone, providing access for browsers and those searching for nonfiction read-alouds. Sepia-colored illustrations reinforce the historical setting.." and Voice of Youth Advocates wrote "this first annual Sibert Award honor book will appeal to both teens and adults interested in weather extremes and history."In a review for The New York Times, Mary Russell wrote "Murphy's gift for dealing with disasters.. is that he manages to make them both larger than we'd thought and smaller, more human than we'd imagined." 2001 Jefferson Cup Award - winner 2001 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People 2001 Robert F. Sibert Medal - honor 2010 Margaret Edwards Award - one of five titles contributing to Murphy receiving the award. Library holdings of Blizzard

Brand New School is a creative design and production studio specializing in commercials, interactive media, branding consultation and design, music videos. The company has offices in New York and Los Angeles; the studio has created content for many global brands, including Coca-Cola, Google, Gillette and Starbucks, among others. The company has been recognized by AICP, Art Directors Club, D&AD, Cannes Lions, AIGA. After spending time as an Art Director at Fuel/Razorfish, Jonathan Notaro broke out on his own and founded the studio in Los Angeles in 2000; the company expanded to New York shortly thereafter. Since its founding, Brand New School has created animated content, live action films, interactive and experiential media, as well as branding and design services for brands all over the world; the studio has created launch campaigns for products such as the Gillette Fusion ProShield razors, the OnePlus 3T smartphone, several Google devices. Interactive and out-of-home work includes a display for Oreo in New York's Times Square and a touchscreen display in the lobby of GE headquarters in Fairfield, CT.

The studio headed up the re-branding for Cartoon Network in 2010. Brand New School has a diverse roster of directors. Chris Dooley has created content for McDonald's, British Airways, ESPN, his music videos for the Selena Gomez tracks "A Year Without Rain" and "Naturally" have racked up over 200 million views each on Vevo. Ben Go has worked on campaigns for Honda and Kellogg's. Robert Bisi's work has been recognized by Cannes Lions, he has created projects for Toyota, eBay and Old Navy. Brumby Boylston's short film "Cruising Electric" was accepted by the Sundance Film Festival, he has created campaigns for Taco Bell and Syfy Network. In addition to leading the company, Jonathan Notaro is an accomplished director in his own right, working on projects for Apple, Jack Daniel's, Ford, receiving praise from the Art Directors Club, D&AD, Cannes Lions, the Clios, the Type Directors Club. Brand New School

The Fender Performer was an electric bass guitar released in 1985 and discontinued in 1987, assembled in the United States and Japan. A Fender Performer electric guitar was available; the Fender Performer Bass was a uniquely styled bass guitar, designed by John Page, renowned for its slender neck. The Japanese Performer Standard has an alder body, with a bolt-on 34" 24-fret micro-tilt adjustable maple neck and a 2-octave rosewood fingerboard, as opposed to the United States-made Performer Elite, which sports an ebony fretboard. Controls are: Pickup Selector Switch and TBX Circuit Control; the latter provided the same tonal range as the Jazz Bass between 0 and 5, with the range 5-10 providing brighter sound – oriented towards solo playing and suiting the sharp attack needed for a slap bass playing style. Both basses were available in Burgundy Mist, Gun Metal Blue, Candy Green and Tobacco Sunburst. All finishes were metallic except for the sunburst. Both versions featured a number of minor features underlying the'high end' design, including rubber inserts around the volume and tone controls, a'micro-tilt' adjustable neck, tuners with enclosed worms, a high-quality enclosed jack socket, a new and contemporary Fender logo, sculpted pickups marked with an Fender logo, felt washers to prevent the strap buttons marking the body.

Individual intonation adjustment for each string was standard. The Performer Bass was available in two versions and Elite, with the latter having rear-routed controls and sporting three specially designed single coil pickups, 5-way switching and an ebony fretboard. Unlike the Japanese-made Performer Standard, which featured a 3-ply white pickguard, dual single coils, 3-way toggle switch and a rosewood fretboard, the more expensive Performer Elite was manufactured in the United States, retailing at $949; the moderately priced Standard retailed at $499. A 5-string prototype of this bass was made in 1987; the Fender Performer Elite Bass was designed by John Page to be an Elite version of the Fender Jazz Bass. The Performer Standard was manufactured by FujiGen in Japan in 1986, at a time when Fender was just completing moving United States production from Fullerton to Corona. Shortly after the launch of these instruments, CBS sold Fender to a group of employees led by Bill Schultz and production of the Performers ceased.

It is rumored that only a few hundred were made and that some were ordered to be destroyed because of a copyright dispute concerning the neck. Because no manufacturing assets were transferred in the sale – forcing the new owners to contract the manufacture of instruments – it is more that the new Fender Musical Instruments Corporation chose to focus on proven lines. Once ignored by Fender enthusiasts, the Performer has grown in popularity and second-hand values; as of 2010, in recent eBay auctions these instruments have commanded prices as much as US$1,000 and higher. Contemporary Jazz and Performer Basses owner's manual