FRANKFURT, Germany -- If Mats Hummels, Bayern Munichs experienced defender and World Cup winner, is to be believed, Bundesliga newcomer Leipzig could be a title contender.Bayern has won the last four championships and Leipzig is the promoted team playing in its debut Bundesliga season, but after 10 rounds, Leipzig is undefeated, even on points with Bayern and behind only on goal difference. The two teams are four points clear of the nearest competition, and Leipzig has earned more points away from home than Bayern.Leipzig is riding a five-match winning streak going into Fridays match against Bayer Leverkusen.If we drop points, Leipzig will be a candidate for the title, Hummels said recently. Everything Ive seen from Leipzig has been convincing. They play very attacking football, they defend as a team very well and they have the individual class you need.Hummels said Leipzig reminds him of Borussia Dortmund, which won Bundesliga titles under coach Juergen Klopp in 2011 and 2012 when the Germany central defender still played there.Leipzig coach Ralph Hasenhuettl doesnt really believe that his team can emulate the Kaiserslauterns run in 1998, when it swept to the title in its promotion season.In football, nothing is impossible, he said recently in a newspaper interview. You saw what happened in England with the championship for Leicester City. But It would be a miracle in Germany. I am not even thinking about it.Hasenhuettl said he still could not really tell where his team stood.Right now, I dont see a limit for us, and I dont know where it should be, he said. We are basically playing with a second-division squad, a team that finished second in the second division last season.Hasenhuettl left Bundesliga rival Ingolstadt before the season to replace Ralf Rangnick, who became the clubs sports director. Rangnick was the architect of Hoffenheims sensational run in 2008, when it led the championship halfway into its rookie season.Incidentally, Hoffenheim is also still undefeated and helped Leipzig pull even with Bayern by holding the champion to a draw before the international break.Leipzig is a project created by the Austrian energy-drink maker Red Bull and its billionaire founder Dietrich Mateschitz, who bought and rebranded a local fifth-tier club in 2009. The booming former East German city had a stadium rebuilt for the World Cup in 2006 but had no team in the major leagues.Rival fans strongly object to Leipzigs links to Red Bull and consider it a test-tube team. The team bus has been stoned and Leipzig players are routinely the subject of derogatory chants, and Earlier this month, a severed bulls head was thrown near the pitch during a match.Hummels is not the only one in Bayern to consider Leipzig a serious rival.Uli Hoeness, who is set to become Bayerns president again after serving a prison term for tax evasion, said in a recent television interview that he found Leipzig very strong.Of course, they have the advantage of being able to lie on the couch during the week while we have to play the Champions League, and if I know Mr. Mateschitz, hell lay out a couple of million more if necessary at Christmas, Hoeness said.Hasenhuettl responded by noting that Bayern was thinking about us.It seems that what weve played so far has been impressive, Hasenhuettl said.The two teams meet on Dec. 21 in the final round before the Christmas break.Leipzig uses a high-pressing style to win the ball and then attacks quickly, often leaving opponents outnumbered in defense.Central midfielder Naby Keita, who arrived from the sister club Red Bull Salzburg, is among Leipzigs key players, as are speedy forwards Timo Werner, Yussuf Poulsen and Emil Forsberg.NFL Jerseys China . 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"The car balance is decent, but I think we can still improve," Vettel said.NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Two men who helped integrate college basketball came back to Vanderbilt University this week to share provocative views on the pace of change, take up matters they rarely dared to address as students, and describe the racism they encountered on their journey -- indignities they once endured in silence on the Southern campus.The return of Perry Wallace and Godfrey Dillard, part of a candid conversation unfolding this year at Vanderbilt, marks the latest milestone in the schools long, sometimes painful history with race relations.It had been 50 years since Wallace and Dillard huddled together in the locker room at halftime of a freshman game in Starkville, Mississippi, holding hands and trembling after rival fans spat, yelled slurs and threw things at them on the court.Like many Southern universities a half-century ago, Vanderbilt had few black students and faculty members. Those who did enroll were excluded from fraternities, sororities, clubs and religious organizations, and often faced segregation at hotels and restaurants when traveling away from campus.Today, as campuses across the nation see a resurgence of activism and try to come to terms with institutional racism, the wide lawns and stately buildings at Vanderbilt could not be called a hotbed of protest. But the school has more black faculty members and students, who say theyre sometimes the only faces of color in a class but have more people to talk to about their experiences.In recent years, university officials have made clear that diverse opinions are part of Vanderbilts fabric -- a point they made once again by inviting Wallace and Dillard back to campus.Wallace, the first black basketball player in the Southeastern Conference, had been back to his alma mater occasionally. But Vanderbilt had never invited Dillard to return, in part because his time at the elite private school ended early in his junior year.Both men say Dillards activism led to his demotion from the basketball team. As campuses nationwide roiled with unrest, Wallace, who grew up in Nashville, said his teammate from Detroit didnt know how to be a slave. Dillard, who was president of the Afro-American Student Association, pushed for more black professors and students and for better pay for campus workers.Things began to thaw for Wallace and Dillard at Vanderbilt after Strong Inside, a 2014 book by Andrew Maraniss, brought their story back to the forefront. It became required reading for incoming freshmen. An art exhibit on race, sports and Vanderbilt opened last week.This week, Wallace and Dillard joined Maraniss for the James Lawson lecture, named for a black civil rights icon with his own Vanderbilt story. Lawson was expelled from Vanderbilts divinity school inn 1960 for teaching the art of nonviolent protest.dddddddddddd He later was welcomed back as a distinguished professor and alumnus.Meeting with mostly minority students during a Tuesday luncheon at the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center, Wallace called it a shame that current black students still have some of the same concerns he and Dillard did.Devastated by his demotion, Dillard went home to Detroit. He finished college at Eastern Michigan University, earned a law degree from the University of Michigan, and went on to become a civil rights lawyer. When his turn came to speak, he struggled for composure.This is the first time in 50 years that this school has invited me back, he told the students. Ive been invisible for a long time.Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos extolled Vanderbilts pioneering role in integrating SEC basketball but said things could have been handled better.We always want to be more inclusive, more diverse, to ask hard questions, Zeppos said. But we cant go forward without understanding our history.Athletic Director David Williams, who is black and also from Detroit, pushed to invite Dillard back. He noted that Zeppos recently pushed a pay increase through for university staff but said more progress is needed.During the Lawson lecture, attended by the entire freshman class, Wallace, an American University law professor, encouraged subversive thinking, advising the students to steal away to a place where they could form their own opinions.Dillard, who successfully defended race-based admissions at the University of Michigan in a case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, called the diverse assortment of students faces in Langford Auditorium a beautiful sight. Fewer than two dozen black students were enrolled when he was at Vanderbilt. Now, about 13 percent of faculty and 17 percent of undergraduate students are minorities.If it wasnt for their sacrifices, I wouldnt have it as easy here and couldnt focus on academics and feel comfortable on campus, said Tuzo Mwarumba, a black freshman from Stillwater, Oklahoma. Things are definitely improving, and Im glad Vanderbilt has taken the time to focus on inclusion. And Im grateful that they recognize that theres work here still to be done.The shared experience of being a minority student at Vanderbilt and the need to not go it alone bridged a 50-year divide. That became clear at the luncheon, when Dillard thanked Wallace for making sure he was invited back.Nobody wants to go to war alone, Dillard said. You always want to have one person with you -- so if you dont make it, at least the other person can tell what happened. ' ' '