Sports Then and Now

Football season is here, and that means one thing: tailgate parties. Yes, it’s time to get your finest football friends together and prep for the big game in style. What could be better than grilling and chilling outside on a weekend, getting psyched to watch the big dogs rumble? Just remember to plan ahead. There’s a little prep work you’ll need to do in order to keep things fun and safe, but it’s nothing too tricky.

Food

Feasting before the day’s events is absolutely essential. Who wants to eat a $7 hotdog inside the stadium? Tailgating is the best way to get your football food fix—grilling your own grub is cheap and delicious.

Brats, burgers, chips, salsa, and other heavy-hitters should be the centerpiece of the tailgate meal. They’ll keep you full and provide the powerful energy you’ll need to keep up with the thousands of amped up fans going wild in the stadium.

Drink

Be careful here. While beers are often a key element of the tailgate party, alcohol also ruins more parties than anything else does. Think about who’s coming to your party. Anyone who drinks too much or might decide to drive after they’ve had an unsafe amount? Then leave the alcohol home. You can still have a great time without drinking.

Remember also to check labels when shopping for beer. The craft beers people drink nowadays are often much stronger than the Buds and Millers many of us grew up on. Just one or two imperial stouts or IPAs could make you unfit for the road. And it should go without saying that you need to leave hard liquor at home.   Read the rest of this entry →

Sports betting is without question a driving force in the popularity of sports worldwide. This is not to say that sports would not be thriving without a betting market–but it certainly helps. Betting on sports allows individuals with a higher level of knowledge (or at least, they believe they have some higher level of knowledge) to earn money for their research and play their convictions and instincts against the bookmakers. Oftentimes, the real sharps in Las Vegas know exactly what type of line they are looking for, and understand how the bookmakers work better than the traditional sports fan. Sports betting is not without it’s scandals and scandalous personality, such as disgraced ex-NBA referee Tim Donaghy, but the existence of cheats and match fixers has not persuaded people from continuing to bet on games in all sorts of avenues, from casino sports books, to online sportsbooks such as Betser betting. Gambling can help bring you closer to other sports fans, and some of the most knowledge sports fans as well.

How Can I Use Gambling as Networking?

Well, if you’re exceptionally good–you should create a blog and post your picks and you will gain notoriety for your ability to correcting pick lines and games worthy of betting. One great example of gambling as networking is Haralobos Voulgaris, one of the most prolific NBA bettors in history, who has parlayed his betting acumen into a recurring guest role on the popular Bill Simmons podcast, as well as a healthy social media following. He is now regarded as a sports personality, which stemmed from his success in gambling.

It is possible for regular joes to do this same thing, and network in the same way. Perhaps you’ll never be interviewed by Bill Simmons, but by tracking and editorializing your gambles, you can build a following–if you are right more than you’re wrong. Everyone is looking for the edge, and with a little SEO and some good picks, these people will end up on your website, or your social media, or your whatever, the fact is, they will know who you are. Media outlets may contact you for comments, larger betting syndicates may want to hire you to be their expert on site. Basically, if you succeed in your bets, you can succeed elsewhere as well. And elsewhere might just be more sustainable and less stressful! Read the rest of this entry →

Injuries are an inherent risk of sports. Players can take all of the precautions possible; eat well, take care of their bodies, and stretch sufficiently before all activity, but when it comes game time, some injuries you just can’t prevent. Here are six common injuries that can sideline a player for the whole season:

ACL Tear

The knee is arguably the human body part most susceptible to injury in sport, and every year, ACL tears bench players for the rest of the season. Knee injuries are by far the most common injury in the NFL, accounting for almost 20 percent of all total injuries. For ACL tears, surgery and a good deal of physical therapy is almost always required before a player can return to the field, and many times the athlete is never able to reach the same levels as before their injury. Sometimes, however, ACL tears can actually be treated without surgery.

High Ankle Sprain

While knee injuries are usually fairly severe, not all ankle injuries are season-ending. The high ankle sprain can be, however, and is one of the most common season-ending injuries behind knee injuries.

Torn UCL Muscle

In baseball, the far and away most common injury is a torn UCL muscle in the throwing elbow. This injury is becoming more prevalent amongst pitchers, who are putting more stress on their elbow, throwing hard than ever before. To repair the torn UCL muscle, players must undergo “Tommy John” surgery, with rehab lasting at least a calendar year. The upside to this surgery is that many players come back throwing harder than they used to. Read the rest of this entry →

Going off-road is a feeling unlike any other. You have to have the skill and technique to maneuver without damaging you or the other passengers. It is a thrill ride of adrenaline rush and has been picked up by many enthusiasts. Jeep climbing as a sport in the dunes and deserts is a phenomenon that has surprised many. But how did this sport get its start?

The Jeep: Military Beginnings
The Jeep has always been an off-road vehicle. Starting as a military vehicle, this vehicle saw major use during the Second World War. The original jeeps were designed by a company called Bantam before the design was picked up by Ford in order to produce the number of vehicles that the army needed. The army continued to push for more terrain defying designs, even going so far as to develop one that could go underwater. Militarized jeeps were even used in Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

The Jeep Comes to the Homefront
Willys produced the first civilian Jeep in 1945, and it was the first manufacturer to own the rights to the Jeep name. Since then, the vehicle style has gone through a variety of different owners and manufacturers. In the 1970’s through into the 1980’s, the Jeep name brand was losing money. Finally the Chrysler Company ended up with the Jeep in 1987 and a renamed brand of that company still owns the Jeep today.
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Image via Flickr by Steven Pisano

So you love sports and everything about them and have decided that you want to invest in buying a sports team — but chances are you’re not sure how to go about it. The first step is to start exploring your options so that you can see what’s out there. It might not be possible to get your hands on a major league team just yet, but you might be able to gain access to the finer things that come with owning a share. Alternatively, you might want to cut your teeth on the lower levels and learn from the ground up. However you go about it, here are three tips to help you on your way.

Buying a Share of a Team

Buying shares of a sports team is the same as buying shares of a corporation: The more you buy, the more perks you get. If you’re only buying a small amount, you’re just a stockholder and have no real perks apart from silent ownership and a return on investment. Some teams offer a noncontrolling share option that allows you to fork over a lot of money and get access to skyboxes, season tickets, catering, and more, but each team is different in how it handles shareholders. If you want to have a say in how the team gets run, you might find that buying a share isn’t the way to go and that it’s time to look at smaller leagues. Read the rest of this entry →

When you hear the word archer, some of the names you think about are Robin Hood, Legolas and the Green Arrow. However, credit for making archery cool in the U.S. goes to a different archer.

After the 2012 release of “The Hunger Games” showed audiences the heroics of Katniss Everdeen, portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence, the popularity of archery in the United States soared. Children dressed up as little archers for Halloween. Young adults started reading again, starting with the book series for the movie.

It wasn’t just that Katniss Everdeen was an archer – archers have been portrayed in movies before. Robin Hood is a legendary thief, Legolas is a somewhat magical elf and the Green Arrow is a superhero.

What made Katniss so cool is how ordinary she was outside of her skill with a bow and arrow. She was just a regular teenager from the poorest district in her country, and out of nowhere, she won an annual, deadly competition. Katniss gave archery a new coolness it hadn’t quite experienced before.

The influence of “The Hunger Games” has reached near and far throughout the country, making archery something of a phenomenon. Read the rest of this entry →