Sports

Jordan Spieth earns his age in millions this year: $22 for 22

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Via: CNN

’22 sittin’ on $22 mil’ is a popular Drake lyric. And now young, yet certainly not ‘up and coming’, but seriously established 22 year old golfer Jordan Spieth has now imitated that art with his life, earning no less than $22 million in winnings on the PGA tour this year.

Jordan Spieth. (Via Golf State of Mind)

Now once again firmly entrenched as the top-ranked golfer in the world, Spieth hit that record breaking winnings number of $22 million with a whopping $10 million dollar pay day earned yesterday, when he clinched a victory at the Tour’s FedEx Cup Finale. The four tournament series, the closest analogue professional golf has to a playoff, concluded yesterday at a course in Atlanta; with Spieth turning in a scorecard four strokes better than his closest competitor, Australian Jason Day.

But of course, once the scores were in the books, attention turned to Spieth’s now record-breaking earnings for 2015. He broke the previous earnings record, Tiger Woods’ $21.9 million in 2007, and astonishingly, earned $3,523 PER SHOT this season.

Spieth is also incredibly hard to root against. When asked what he planned to do with the money, he answered “For me it’s important to give it back to not only the people who need it, but also to our team who made it possible.”

A full one day old, the new NFL season sparks controversy

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Via: Source

It has been a tumultuous few years for the NFL. Not that any of their recent PR afflictions have hurt ratings, or the bottom line much or at all, there certainly has been no shortage of embarrassments for the largest American sport.

Last year, prominent players like Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice were suspended for lengthy amounts of time for violent indiscretions, and despite an amazing 2014 season and Super Bowl, literally the only thing talked about in relation to the NFL for the past 7 or so months was Deflategate; the-tongue-in-cheek term that the public and media had come to refer to the ball-deflating scandal that engulfed Tom Brady, and the rest of the NFL this offseason.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was less than pleased at the headphone situation last night. (Via: CBS Sports)

So, when actual football kicked off last night, I’m sure it was quite a relief to the NFL PR department and everyone else with more than a rooting interest in the sport. Or, at least it should have been.

Indeed, less than one full day into the new season, the league, even more ironic; the Patriots, are involved in a new controversy. This one centers around malfunctioning headphones. As most even casual NFL fans know, play calls are communicated to the players on the field via electronic headsets, which are inside the helmets for some players, and visibly worn by coaches on the sideline. Coaches also communicate with one another via these same helmets. Well, during the game last night it became apparent that the Steelers headphones were not working, and the coaches and players were hearing the Patriot’s radio broadcast of all things, instead of the vital information they were seeking to communicate. The implications of this are obvious, and pretty devastating. If one team can communicate on the fly, and the other is forced to use hand signals, or even forced to run a player from the sideline and back to the huddle every play, there is an obvious advantage on one side.

And of course, because its the Patriots, the most successful, and controversial NFL team of the past decade; other players have chimed in with their complaints as well. Jack Del Rio, ex-coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars has claimed he experienced similar issues while playing at the Patriot’s stadium, as has linebacker Karlos Dansby, ex-linebacker for the Arizona Cardinals.

In the opinion of this writer, only one thing can be said for certain about all this; football is BACK, baby!

Super exclusive Yeezy Boost drops on Saturday

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The third in an on-going edition of super limited edition footwear designed by none other than the man himself, Kanye West, the brand new Yeezy Boost finally drops on Saturday.

The first two shoes sold out day-of, and its anticipated this one will go even faster. Despite criticism that the shoes ‘look like Uggs’ from some members of the sneakerhead community, the shoes are still selling for far beyond their $200 retail price on the after market.

Seriously on-trend, and boasting unique materials and construction techniques, the Yeezy series may not be for everyone, but it has absolutely captured the collective imagine of the street-fashion forward set. Also, it’s not only sneakerheads that are hoping for some luck on Saturday, as Adidas itself has placed a ton of emphasis on this relationship with Kanye, and the Yeezy series he designed, to recapture some of the market share that Nike has been dominating for close to a decade now. More recently, even newer brands like Under Armour have emerged as competitors to the legendary 3 Stripes brand as well, so creative partnerships and promotions such as this one have become a go-to marketing strategy for Adidas. So for the new Yeezy Boost, a huge emphasis was placed on athletic capability, in addition to its uniquely streetwear-focused style. Check out the video below for more details.

Because the Yeezy shoes themselves are so limited, Adidas hopes that not only will they generate serious demand in the aftermarket, and thus, serious buzz for the brand in entirety; but they also hope that this will lead people to buy other Adidas footwear as well. And if this article that surfaced on SneakerNews today is any indication, that plan may already be working.

SO THIS IS A THING NOW: Robbie Maddison surfs massive wave on dirt bike

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You read that headline correctly folks, a man has officially surfed (a truly massive) wave ON A DIRTBIKE. The sheer physics of riding a dirtbike across water are making us a bit uncomfortable at the moment, and the fact that this feat was accomplished at all definitely qualifies as stranger than fiction.

Indeed, legendary Motocrosser Robbie Maddison accomplished the seriously unbelievable recently in Tahiti, a globally renowned spot known best for their massively beautiful waves, which break perfectly to create some of the best surfing known to man.

Maddison, who first made a name for himself doing a backflip across the Tower Bridge in London, among other absurd stunts, has truly outdone himself this time. Two years of efforts led to the moment below, and if nothing else, it is mind blowing in a ‘what am I looking at’ type of way, perhaps more so than anything else we’ve seen recently. Check it out below.

FINALLY a real-life hoverboard is set to debut

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As one astute comedian recently observed on Twitter, “They should go back and remake Back to the Future except instead of having hoverboards in 2015, everyone’s just offended by everything.”

That iconic movie sees Marty McFly travel ahead to 2015 (or was that Back to the Future 2?), where he uses, amongst other awesome things we don’t have yet, a hoverboard. But it appears that fact has finally caught up to fiction, and a real-life hoverboard will be arriving soon. Developing by Lexus, not too much is known about the device as of this writing. But, a new teaser video dropped online ahead of the products August 5th launch, which we have here for you below.

Colin Cowherd latest controversial figure to leave ESPN

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Via: Source

It’s been an up and down year for the Worldwide Leader in Sports, as a number of trends, and industry movements, seem to have created a tough set of circumstances for the now close to 40 year old company. And the latest symptom of these interesting and evolving times at ESPN is the departure of Colin Cowherd, the controversial but popular radio host who helps anchor their national morning lineup.

Radio host Colin Cowherd formerly of ESPN

Joining the likes of Bill Simmons and Keith Olbermann amongst the recently departed ESPN ranks, Cowherd finally was let go last week after a series of controversial remarks about Dominican people, which he did not apologize for. He was set to leave to company a week later after contract negotiations failed to produce a new deal between Cowherd and the company anyway, but the entire situation comes as somewhat of a surprise to fans of his 12 year run at the company.

But what do all these departures mean for ESPN? The company has undoubtedly led the way in cable sports coverage for the past few decades, a market area which has become increasingly valuable as almost everything beyond live sports is consumed along viewers own schedules; on demand, or via streaming online. Cable cutting is proving to be an issue for ESPN as people rely less and less on traditional cable packages, and more competition means more landing places for on-air ESPN personalities, even if in these cases, they only made Cowherd an offer to stay, and not the other two journalists.

Open Championship weekend preview; from the oddsmakers themselves

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‘Follow the money’ is about as good a piece of advice as any to follow when you are trying to figure something out. Trying to figure out what, you ask? Trying to figure out ANYTHING, really. If you want a logical explanation for why something is the way that it is, simply follow the trail of who’s making money off of it the best that you can.

And in that line of thought, we present to you our annual Open Championship weekend preview, as seen through the eyes of the some of the most logical sports fans out there; the gamblers. Let’s take a look at some of the odds on a few of the top contenders.

Via: theopen.com

Jordan Spieth: The 21 year old phenom actually leads the field in terms of betting odds. A number of strong performances already this year, and a reputation for being consistent and calm beyond his age have earned this golfer a solid 9/2 odds rating to win the Open, making him the favorite heading into the weekend.

But, according to oddsmakers, there are a number of other strong contenders as well.

Dustin Johnson: Johnson forced Spieth into a playoff hole at the U.S. Open, the last major tournament leading up to the current Open Championship. This shows that he’s in excellent form, feeling confident, and ready to contend for the title at major tournaments. He sits at 11/1 odds to bring home the championship trophy.

Another contender is Justin Rose, who already has a number of top three finishes this year, including at the Zurich Classic in April. He sits at 18/1 odds currently, while other well known golfers like Adam Scott and Tiger Woods sit at more than 20 to 1 odds to come out on top.

Either way, the challenging links golf found at the legendary St. Andrews courses in Scotland is unlike anything stateside, and is always worth a viewing for sports fans of all sorts. Who do you think will come out on top this year?

New GoPro Hero4 Session; How small is too small?

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Go Pro’s are awesome cameras. People who are more accustomed to higher-end camera equipment generally complain about the sound recording quality, but other than that? What is there not to love about the sturdy and portable cameras?

And with the advent of the all new GoPro Hero4 Session edition, a good thing becomes even better. The new Hero4 Session is even smaller (about 1.5 x 1.5 inches) than its predecessors, and comes in a unique cube shape, different than the rectangular ones it follows. Other advantages include it being completely waterproof (other GoPro cameras require a plastic case to keep out water), and the fact that it’s so small and light allows for side mounting (on a helmet, motorcycle, or variety of other surfaces), which is not advised with older, larger GoPro models. However, like all GoPro cameras, there are a few logistical issues.

The new camera takes 4 seconds to turn on and start recording, so if your buddy is about to launch off a sketchy rope swing and you’re on camera duty, be sure to have your camera rolling well ahead of time. Also, to watch playback as you film, you either need to connect it to your smartphone via the GoPro app, or to a separate GoPro remote. But who has time to watch the replay when you’re out doing adventurous, awe-inspiring activities, anyway? For our money, GoPro cameras are amongst the most versatile, and fun to use on the market, nonetheless. For the whole review, check the video below.

The Joker holds off a furious Federer in amazing Wimbledon conclusion

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WEEKEND RECAP

(Via: Source)

It was a championship match between two of the greats of the sport in recent years, and Sunday’s Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Championship match certainly did not disappoint.

Two absolutely legendary players were the last two standing at this point; Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. This match was interesting though, for more reasons than appeared at the surface.

Federer represents an incredibly interesting point in the history of tennis. He was younger than Sampras and Agassi, and thus, in the vacuum left by the departure of those two men, absolutely cleaned up in terms of championships for a number of years. He has accumulated no less than 17 Grand Slam titles, making him one of the most decorated and legendary players in the history of the sport. He also was ranked #1 for a record 302 weeks. Indeed, the man was INCREDIBLY dominant. And still to this day, remains one of the most graceful, and enjoyable to watch players on the tour.

However, while Federer was younger than one generation of legendary players, he was slightly older than the next. The likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadaal, and to a less extent, players like Andy Murray, have eroded away at Federer’s once incredibly dominant position. He remains far more of a contender than for instance, Tiger Woods does at the moment (if we’re okay with comparing the different country club sports), but he’s always represented a slightly older generation in the eyes of many than the one that is currently experiencing tennis domination. And that trend has been showing in Federer’s win and loss columns for a number of years now.

What are your thoughts? Is it not fair to compare Federer flat out to his younger counterparts? Or is fair for the comparison to be made? Either way, the Wimbledon final yesterday morning certainly did not disappoint. And we at least, hope Federer keeps on trucking for years to come.