The Sports Archives – Top Five Sporting Scandals!

Holyfield-Tyson: Ear biting

The two had been fighting dirty, with both parties complaining that the other had engaged in illegal moves and head butting. In the third round, Mike Tyson sank his teeth into Evander Holyfield’s ear and ripped out a one inch chunk, spitting it onto the ring. The incident prompted violent altercations in the arena. The boxer lost his license, and was fined $3 million. The fight was part of a comeback from a rape conviction and imprisonment (where he served just half of his sentence).

Tiger Woods : Sex & LiesTiger Woods

In 2009 a sex scandal broke, followed by Tiger Woods crashing his car into a fire hydrant, with a scratched face. The car window had been smashed by a golf club – the golfer claimed his wife had rescued him from his Cadillac; conjecture is that she had smashed the window in revenge for his numerous infidelities. The scandal lost him many endorsements and resulted in his divorce from his wife.

Nancy Kerrigan: Attack

Tonya Harding‘s husband conspired with two other men to break her rival’s leg, thus eliminating her from the competition. The attacker caught Ms. Kerrigan outside a training rink and hit her with a police baton. She was forced to pull out of the championship, but the plan backfired when the men ended up in prison and Harding was dismissed from the USFSA skating organization. Tonya always maintained her innocence. She has since been hit with scandals including a sex tape, drunk driving and domestic violence against her then boyfriend.

Ben Cousins : Drug Shame

Ben Cousins’ career has been dogged by substance abuse, both illegal and prescription. Commentators have speculated that he got away with it for so long through both luck and managing when he took drugs. In 2007, his team sacked him after years of drug abuse became a problem they could no longer ignore – especially after several attempts at rehab. In 2012 he appeared in court, charged with possessing meth-amphetamines.

Donald Trump : Vodka-gateDonald Trump

The aging entrepreneur’s Trump Vodka was a business failure. It also caused a scandal when an underage girl (aged 17) was serving vodka at his launch party – completely nude. Despite the fact that she was painted with the same Trump Vodka designs as the other hostesses, he tried to claim that she was a publicity seeking party crasher. They also said ‘all precautions’ were taken to ensure the girl’s age – except checking her ID, it seems.

Citations:

By Helen Gallagher, writer for Catwalk Golf

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The Sports Archives – Baseball Attendance May Increase Despite Economic Woes

Grab a hot dog, a nice cold beer, and listen to a stirring round of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” It’s baseball season once again, which means it’s time to buy your season tickets.

Now that the weather is warming up, people are rushing out to buy their game tickets in hopes that this year, their team will go to the World Series. Unfortunately for team owners, thanks to tough economic times, many fans may be holding back on spending while they’re at the game.

Beer, Jerseys, and Tickets Get Expensive Fast

These days, most people are having to cut back on recreational spending. Dr. Joe Serra, a cosmetic dentist and Detroit Tigers fan, plans on heading to the baseball park this season; however, his family will be sticking to a budget.

“The challenge is keeping it under two or three hundred dollars because food is expensive,” he said. “We have to go with a plan. Other than the tickets, the concessions are the biggest expense.”

Baseball games have always been notorious for being expensive and quite long; the latter of which provides ample time for standing in food lines or shopping for memorabilia.

Dr. Serra tries to go on family trips to see the Detroit Tigers with his wife and two teenage kids as often as money permits; and this year, he and his family think they may be able to go to more games, as long as they stick to their plan.

“Our teenagers will eat from start to finish, so we tell them what they can get,” he says. “We don’t really buy souvenirs; it’s cheaper to go somewhere else prior to the game if we feel like it. We try to limit ourselves and we tell our kids, ‘you can have popcorn, pop, and hot dogs, and then you can’t eat for nine innings.'”

Baseball Games Can Be Pricey

These days, tickets and concessions vary greatly from city to city. Beer prices range from $4.00 to $7.25 a cup or bottle; hot dogs are $1.00 to $5.25 a dog; and ticket prices per person range anywhere from $15.74 to $53.38 for a typical seat. As Dr. Serra and many consumers like him have come to understand, these costs can add up quickly; however, this will not stop Dr. Serra from taking his family out to a game.

“The weight of the economy in the past few years has kept us from going to games because things have been tight all around,” he said. “But this year, it seems like things are getting a little better. It seems like people are getting tired of not doing anything because of the economy, so they are getting out a bit more.”

Many speculate that baseball attendance will pick up this year; however, overall spending may be down, as fans try to be more frugal while they’re watching the game. In the end, although it may be time to play ball; it doesn’t yet appear to be time for reckless spending.

Shanna Laub writes for Off-Topic Media. Photo by Ken Lund. Special thanks to Dr. Joseph Serra for taking the time to speak to us. Dr. Serra can be reached at his Michigan cosmetic dentist office at:

The Michigan Center for Advanced Dentistry
42010 Grand River Ave.
Novi, MI 48375
248-380-9330

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The Sports Archives – 5 Of The Greatest Formula 1 Drivers

Formula 1 racing may be the most fast-paced and highly entertaining sport on the planet. In the many decades of professional competition, dozens of drivers have possessed skills and nerves that have allowed them to be considered among the greatest F1 drivers of all time.

After thoroughly searching the history books and combing the planet for the best F1 drivers of all time, here are our top five.

Michael Schumacher

Any list of F1 greats that does not include Michael Schumacher should be dismissed immediately. The 43-year-old German legend has been lapping the field since he burst onto the scene in the early 1990s, and he is very much a force to be reckoned with today.

A mind-boggling 91 wins in 290 F1 starts sounds too good to be true, but Schumacher has blended a natural driving acumen with a complete fearlessness en route to a dominating career. A few minor instances have irked those that don’t happen to be fans of his, but Schumacher’s 20-year reign is not yet over, and this racing legend deserves his place at the top of this list.

Juan Manuel Fangio

Born in the summer of 1911, Juan Manuel Fangio essentially grew up alongside the automobile. It has been said that Fangio came from a racing family, but his ancestors were riding on the backs of horses instead of inside of bullet-shaped cars. Fangio participated in the inaugural season of F1 in 1950 at the age of 39.

He led the blossoming sport through the 50s, attaining an incredible 24 wins in 51 career starts, and took 2nd or 3rd place another 11 times. Many consider the Argentinian-born Fangio to be the father of F1 racing, and experts often ponder the possibilities of him having been able to enter F1 racing as a 20-year-old.

Alain Prost

Curly-haired Frenchman Alain Prost was a winning machine during his 13-year career. Prost was the poster boy for F1 racing in the magical 1980s, as F1 began to gain attention in all corners of the globe. The third slot is a perfect place on this list for Prost, who won 51 races in his career, which ranks ahead of everyone on the planet other than Fangio and Schumacher.

Often referred to as “The Professor” due to his calm, calculated and tactical driving style, Prost was a fan favorite on the F1 circuit.

Ayrton Senna

Up until his tragic and seemingly avoidable death at a track in Imola, Italy in 1994, Ayrton Senna was carving out an incredible F1 racing career. Well on his way to eclipsing the win totals of the others on this list, Senna had accumulated 41 wins in 162 starts when he passed away at the age of 34.

An arch rival of the aforementioned Alain Prost, the two constantly pushed each other toward greatness in the second half of the 1980s. Senna employed a gutsy, all-out style that was both admired and feared by many of his competitors.

Jim Clark

Another racing legend in the making that died far too young was Englishman Jim Clark. Born in 1936, Clark made 72 stars for Team Lotus in the 1960s and won a highly impressive 25 races. Clark could drive anything with wheels to a victory and proved so by winning the Indianapolis 500 in 1965.

A mechanical mind allowed Clark to tune his engines to his preferred calibration personally, and his expertise showed on F1 courses all over the world. Sadly, Clark was killed in an accident at a German track in 1968.

Jim Jones writes for breakdowncover.org and covers a number of motoring related topics.

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The Sports Archives – How to Perform Better at Sports

Michael Jordan

Will you be the next
Michael Jordan?

If you want to be better at sports, you need to know that there are no real secrets. Success in sports as in life lies in two things, hard work and determination. There are simply no shortcuts to being good at anything. You need to put in the hours before you can be excellent at anything. Do you honestly believe that Michael Jordan was born that way? Of course not. He worked to be the greatest basketball player of all time.

If you want to do better at sports – no matter what game you are playing – then here are some tips that you can use. Of course, there is no guarantee that you will be the next Michael Jordan but who knows?

Feed your body well

And by feed I mean you should consume food that will provide you with the nutrients that your body needs for it to perform at a high level. Do not use sports as an excuse for you to binge eat though. Do not overeat, especially right before a game. Wise men have always told us to eat in moderation. However, you are allowed to eat several small meals a day. In fact, this is encouraged because doing so can boost your metabolism. And no matter what some experts say about carbohydrates, it is still the best source of energy for the body.

Drink plenty of water

Don’t forget to drink plenty of water. Don’t fall into the hype that all those energy drinks are propagating. The most important liquid that your body needs is water. Everything else come secondary and are not really essential. When we are active, we lose a lot of water. This is why we need to replace the lost water by drinking enough water before, during and after competition. When are bodies are dehydrated we can become prone to cramping and other negative conditions that may affect our performance. If water is not supplied by your team then make sure that always have a bottle of water with you every time you compete.

Try a different workout

The problem with some athletes is that they are afraid to deviate from the things they have gotten used to. It is a good thing that many coaches nowadays are starting to recognize the value of different forms of methods to further improve the performance of their players. Many coaches nowadays, for example, are using eastern forms of exercise routines such as yoga and even Tai Chi to condition their players. If you are playing sports casually, then you can also try these exercises on your own. One beneficial exercise that you can try is rebounding. Just go get yourself a good rebounder such as a Needak rebounder.

Preparation lead to victory

Do not come to a game unprepared. Know exactly what you are going up against. Study your opponent’s strengths and their weaknesses. In a match between a well matched team or competitor, it all boils down to mental preparedness. The team or competitor that is more ready will certainly win. Preparation occurs days, weeks, months, or in some instances, years even before the day of the competition. And it is what separates plain winners from champions.

Keep in mind that in life as well as in sports, you have to work hard to emerge as a winner.

Written by Allen, staff writer at Needakusa.com.

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The Sports Archives – Unusual Sporting Superstitions!

Superstitions by definition are unusual. Who knows why we do them and where they originate, but they exist. I for one can’t see a magpie without asking him how his wife and kids are, which if you think about is ridiculous. I don’t even know if it’s a guy. There are few places where superstition is as prevalent as the world of professional sports. While some quirks are fairly well-known and not that kooky, think Tiger Woods always wearing red during round four, others are a little more out there.

Jason Giambi

He might be a big hitter, but he is prone to the odd dip in form, even when he was at his best. He had an unusual method for combating such problems. His solution was a golden thong. Can you imagine Jason in a pair of gold bikini bottoms? He would slip them on about his big old frame under his uniform and put himself firmly in slump breaking mode. Did they work? His teammates would apparently borrow them fairly regularly to sort out their own issues, so I would have to say yes.

Bjorn Borg

When it came to preparation for Wimbledon the super-swede would wear the same t-shirt and stop shaving. He did this every year to pretty good effect, winning the title five times on the bounce. The beard thing isn’t that unusual if truth be told with numerous sporty types opting not to shave through hot streaks or playoffs across all manner of sports.

Kevin Rhomberg

Baseball players it seems are massively superstitious and in the case of Rhomberg it was to his own detriment. If touched by someone he had to touch them back. And I mean had to. This led to difficulty in his short-lived baseball career. Members of opposing teams would touch him and then run away. This sent poor Kev into quite a flap. So much so that in a game between the Indians and Yankees proceedings had to be brought to a stop for the umpires to ask and insist that the Yankees’ players stop touching Kevin. One story stated that during training a teammate touched him with a ball then threw it out the ground. Kevin spent two hours finding it.

Sergio Goycochea

Serge was an Argentine goalkeeper in the world of football. In football goalkeepers are generally considered the more odd personalities in the dressing room and this fellow is certainly a contributing factor to that philosophy. During the build-up to a penalty kick Sergio would break the tension by breaking the seal on his bladder. Yup, in a stadium full of tens of thousands and on national TV he’d relieve himself on the field. It worked too, his record for keeping out spot kicks was considerably better than average, even saving four in one game.

These four unusual superstitions are literally the tip of a very large iceberg. We haven’t discussed UFC‘s Lyoto Machida‘s requirement to drink his own urine, Michael Jordan‘s wearing of his college shorts beneath his Chicago Bulls kit or Mark Fidrych‘s eccentricities around his relationships with baseballs. It’s a weird old world.

Danny Wells always has to eat a pork pie at 10:15am when spending the day researching unusual gift ideas for online shopping site Find Me A Gift.

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The Sports Archives – Improving Your Golf in the Gym

If you want to get better at golf then there are various options available to you – the most obvious of which is to practice and perhaps to get lessons to help improve your technique and make it more perfect. However at the same time you can also supplement these activities with other methods to improve your golfing ability. For instance, as in any other sport, it is possible to improve yourself at golf by simply going to the gym – but you have to do this right if you want to see the best results. Here we will look at how you can go about doing this.

What NOT to Do

First of all, before you get started in the gym and get carried away, it’s very important to note that there is certainly such thing as too much of a good thing when it comes to building muscle for the gym. If you are planning on hitting the weights hard and training intensely while downing lots of protein shake, then all you are going to do is to make yourself slow and cumbersome. This will then mean that when you go to hit the ball you are sluggish and get in your own way. Here muscular power does not exactly correlate with distance on your pitch which has a lot more to do with technique – the ideal build for a golfer is lean and strong yes, but not gigantic and bulky.

Staying Lean

With that in mind it’s a good idea to do some CV to keep yourself lean and to prevent yourself from getting too huge (either from muscle or fat). CV stands for ‘cardiovascular’ and this means any kind of exercise that leaves you out of breath and lasts for more than five minutes each time. In other words treadmill, rowing or bicycle. Doing this will also help you to improve your endurance so that you last longer when you go running without tiring out or without your technique beginning to get sloppy.

Key Muscle Groups

That said there is still merit to building your muscles for golf as long as you don’t go over the top and as long as you train the right ones. Here you are aiming to train precisely those muscles that are used in swinging a golf club which are the lats, the traps, the triceps, the shoulders and the core. By building these stronger you will be able to generate more power on your swing. Conversely you don’t particularly want to train the biceps and pecs – although it’s important to train them a little bit to avoid a muscular imbalance, training them too much will only cause them to pull against your joints in the opposite direction when you are swinging.

To train these muscles there are various exercises you can do such as shoulder presses, lateral raises and triceps extensions. If you are the member of a gym, then consider the cable crossover machine your friend. This is the machine with two pillars that have weights and cables attached where you can swap the handles and attachments as you see fit. One very basic movement you can do here is to set the pulley to the lowest position, attach the ‘club’ handle to the cable, and then practice actually swinging it as though you were playing golf. As this is the precise same movement you will find that you actually end up training the very same muscles that you need for that technique. One tip though: practice with it on a light setting as otherwise you can end up losing your technique and thus developing bad habits when you’re playing for real.

Mike is a professional golfer and likes to spread his knowledge by providing golf driver reviews. Through his blog, he is willing to explain the use of longest hitting drivers.

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The Sports Archives – The Life Of A Rodeo Clown

The world of the rodeo is a thrilling and dangerous place. For the riders, riding a bucking bronco or bringing down a hot-headed bull can, if mis-timed, can cause serious injury or worse. Imagine if your job was to distract a bull away from a rider. Imagine the life of a rodeo clown.

The term ‘rodeo clown’ has fallen out of usage over the last 20 years,

Flint Rasmussen in 2007

Flint Rasmussen in 2007

mainly because it doesn’t adequately reflect the importance of the job. They are known broadly as a bullfighter, and the official term is Rodeo Protection Athlete. If a rider has been thrown from a bull, or steer, the bullfighter must draw attention away from the rider as he scrambles to safety.

It’s not common for a rodeo bullfighter to suffer injuries during the course of these acts. As they throw themselves into the eye line of an angry bull, there is also the possibility of a fatality. To do such a job, these men must have keen athleticism, with agility and speed a priority. These skills alone will not be enough, as the athlete will also need to have knowledge of how a bull ticks. He must be able to understand the bull’s body language to be able to predetermine its next move.

Rodeo clowns today

Although Rodeo Protection Athletes no longer take on the rodeo clown persona as much as they used to, there are still some rodeo clowns out there. A rodeo clown has a bit more diversity to the job, as he not only provides a distraction for the bull, but entertainment for the crowds too. More often, the rodeo clown takes on the role of a mascot, designed to keep up the audience’s good humor. For many modern rodeos, they will hire a clown, which has a different job to the rodeo bullfighter.

They may also have rodeo barrelmen; a barrelman has is an all-rounder that can step in to do the comic role as well as providing assistance to the bullfighter. He’s called the barrelman because of the big foam barrel that he wears. This extra padding isn’t tightly fitted, and allows the barrelman to jump in and out of it easily. The rodeo teams tend to work in small groups, usually no more than three, to monitor the event closely.

While the job of the rodeo clown has changed and diversified over the years, it is still a key part of the rodeo experience.

Citations:

Rocky Horrors has an outstanding line of alternative clothing, jewellery and footwear including New Rock cowboy boots.

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The Sports Archives – Is The London Olympic Stadium Effectively Built For One Million Visitors?

Going For Gold

It is a matter of great pride for any country and more so for the particular city to host the Olympics. Winning the bid to host the 2012 Olympics was indeed a great moment for the United Kingdom as this made London the first city to host this great sporting event three times. Various aspects of the Games have polarized opinion across the country for various reasons, including cost as well as current and future sustainability of the site.

Forward Planning

Extensive planning and massive construction activities gained momentum soon after the result of the bidding was announced in July 2005. Around the time of the bid award, it was widely accepted that London was not yet equipped from an infrastructural perspective to effectively host such a large scale event. Within the bid however were highly ambitious plans involving innovative architecture which would deliver a massive “wow factor” to the 2012 Games.

The London Olympic stadium is the centerpiece of the Olympic Park complex which has been built in Stratford, East London. Innovations in architecture, such as texlon and ETFE foil, have played a large part in taking the stadium from vision to reality. It is estimated that during the three weeks in which the Olympic Games are held, there will be up to one million visitors to the stadium. This is a colossal number of people in such a short time frame and has raised strong questions, even now with the Games in such close proximity, as to whether the site is equipped to deal with so many visitors.

The stadium has been built with sustainability in mind, using various environmentally friendly products and compounds, such as the revolutionary ETFE foil, to build a mind blowing building fit for purpose, both during the Games and in future years.

Will It Work?

It is without question that the expected number of visitors was a key consideration in terms of the build and design of the stadium and indeed the entire Olympic Park, which has been demonstrated in the urgency seen in upgrading transport links as well as local amenities throughout the London borough of Stratford.

While questions will remain over the coming years over the long term legacy of London’s Olympic Stadium, there can be little doubt still held in anyone’s mind that the building is and will be effective in delivering a safe and breathtaking experience to all of its expected visitors this summer.

Vector Foiltec is one of the leading design and construction companies in the world, and are renowned for inventing the Texlon and ETFE.

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The Sports Archives – New NFL Blitz – The New Mania for NFL Fanatics

Are you a die-hard NFL fanatic? For sure, just as how much you loved the real game that’s NFL Blitzgoing on in the huge field, you will surely get glued to NFL Blitz. Every football lover must love it. The famous NFL Blitz game is now upgraded. What you will love about the newly upgraded and released NFL Blitz is that this is action packed. This game can be obtained for Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. You will surely love this game even more if you have enjoyed the previous NFL Blitz versions.

Features of the New NFL Blitz

The new features of the NFL Blitz will definitely excite the many football game lovers. The clock stops after each play and every quarter has two minutes and this means that you will have a longer play time. Also, you will be able to enjoy the Blitz Gauntlet.  You will have the chance to fight with the different NFL teams out there in the Blitz Coliseum. Moreover, if you love to play online then you can go for the Blitz Battle. You can even make yourself a name through the ranking feature on the National battle board and be part of the Blitz Hall of Fame.

However, a disappointing thing that has happened with the newest version of the game is the omission of the late hits. The newest version of the NFL Blitz doesn’t include the late hits in the game. But, you will still enjoy the rest of the game-play as it features pure Blitz. You will be able to play with the excellent players in all of the 31 NFL stadiums. Also, you will get more excited with Blitz store which is also a new feature. If you choose to play online, then you will be able to get Blitz Bucks. These Blitz Bucks can be used for buying items in the Blitz store so that you can make customizations of your Blitz Elite team and also your Blitz Battle team. You may get banners and logos and make 50+ upgrades, power ups as well as visual enhancements.

The Verdict on the New NFL Blitz

If you have loved football and gaming all your life then the NFL Blitz is the kind of game for you. You may play with your circle of friends and go for a head to head competition. If you want, then you can go online and compete with different opponents playing from other parts of the world. Playing with your friends and going online offers just the same excitement and fun and you will be enjoying this game for hours. For any football fanatic, this game is a must. The new NFL Blitz is available for Xbox Live and PlayStation Network and the cost of this game is only $14.99. You will have lots of action for such an affordable cost. Surely, you and your friends will enjoy more bonding hours through this game. Get the new NFL Blitz, take hold of the controls and have fun playing football!

The author is a freelance writer who writes about fax services on-line. He also does fax comparisons.

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The Sports Archives – Slazenger Panther – Featherweight Champion of the World

Slazenger began life in the days when wooden racquets ruled the tennis world. Today they are legendary among professionals and amateur sportsmen alike, and not only in the game of tennis.

Past glories in the company’s history include Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe with their host of grand slam championships, and cricketing greats W.G. Grace, Don Bradman, Len Hutton and Gary Sobers, whose names have all been synonymous with the famous brand.

But how many people know or remember that Slazenger provided the World cup football in 1966, an honor more usually associated with Adidas and Nike?

The company produced several footballs for the tournament in yellow, white and amber but it was the orange Challenge 25 that was selected for the final between England and West Germany.

The 25 model has now become one of the most iconic balls in the history of the sport. In fact, in 2010, Slazenger Heritage released a limited edition replica of the original ball, with just 1,966 available for the lucky price of £19.66.

Football boots too were part of the company’s past, with the Panther being heralded as the ‘Featherweight Champion of the World’ as far back as 1968.

Lightweight cleats in the Panther led to it being called the forerunner of the Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly, which was designed to allow players to be quicker on their feet.

A promotional poster from the time shows a plain black, low-cut football boot hovering above a feather, advertising the ‘Supremely Lightweight, Supremely Hard-Wearing Panther, proudly presented by Slazenger.’

The name is still found today on a variety of their products, including cricket bats and hockey sticks.

Another ad campaign from 1970 features the Challenge 5-Star and 4-Star boot, and the Zapata, ‘which all score full marks for lightweight power and strength.’

Slazenger have a history going back over 100 years, and are still one of the leading global sports companies in the world, specializing not only in tennis and cricket, but golf and hockey too, catering for everyone from grass-roots beginners to championship-winning pros.

Their initial success began with the manufacture of tennis balls, and as official suppliers to Wimbledon they continue the longest unbroken sporting sponsorship in history, thanks to their deal with the All England Club set to run to at least 2015.

Slazenger products currently on the market include tennis racquets and cricket balls, cricket and hockey leg guards, golf bags, hockey sticks and helmets.

Gear-Zone is one of the UK’s leading online retailers of outdoor clothing and sports equipment, ranging from rucksacks to football boots.

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