The soccer season is in full-swing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a crack at playing fantasy football. It doesn’t matter if you’re already competing in a season-long game, or just don’t have the time to commit to a game every single week; if you like premier league fantasy football, you’ll love, and should definitely check out 11kicks.com The game’s format means that you pick an entirely new Premier League fantasy team every week from all the Premier League stars that are available. No more budgets and no more salary caps. The only restriction in building your ultimate weekly fantasy team: you can only pick a maximum of 2 players from any Premier League club. Simple and straightforward.
La Liga Fan?
If you like Spanish football, 11Kicks also has a La Liga fantasy football game, where you can pick stars such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for your La Liga fantasy team.
The 11Kicks game has increased the strategic element of fantasy football. It’s all about scoring as many points with your team as possible, so make sure to take a good look at the fixtures for the week to see who is playing who, and who you’ll pick for the week.
One reason we loved the game so much is because it really gives every player a chance of winning. And we also came away with some money! 11Kicks is set-up in a way which means you only play against 10 others in a mini-competition. The first 3 win cash – great odds of winning something! If the thought of winning money for picking a fantasy football team isn’t enticing enough, there’s nothing better than winning money by beating your friends. 11Kicks has that nailed too. It’s very easy to open up private competitions and invite your friends to join in the fun.
There are 3 different entry levels you can compete at, depending on how much you want to wager…and how much you want to win. Entry fees starting at £5 (potential winnings £40) en go towards £25 for winning £200.
The game is highly interactive, and the real-time point scoring will leave you glued to the screen as you watch the points roll in.
Other things worth knowing:
The Premier League Statistics Center gives you updated fantasy stats for the all teams and players in the Premier League.
Live chat/IM so that you can communicate with those you are competing against over the weekend.
Facebook/Twitter Connect makes it easy to sign-up, join competitions and invite your friends.
iPhone App/Android App means you can be updated wherever you are
Fantasy Football blog provides some great football analysis in the run up to each weekend.
11Kicks is an ideal game for every type of football fan, from armchair to expert. See for yourself and play some fantasy football!
So the old saying goes: America loves an underdog. That’s bull. The truth is, we may root for the underdog in many situations. Many situations, that is, when we’re not rooting for the home team, our favorite team, or the team we’ve placed a gentleman’s, emotional, or monetary bet upon. The truth is, we may root for an underdog, but we place little credence upon their chances, rarely become spectators for the respective match, and we only love the idea of their victory. When the underdog wins, we act as if we love them, but the cynical truth is: we love the “story” of an underdog much more than the underdog themselves.
As we approach final four weekend of the NCAA tournament, only one #1 seed (Duke) is left on the docket. TV ratings are down and CBS is thankful for the red carpet the selection committee laid down for the blue devils. While there are no “true” underdogs left (two #5 seeds and a #2 seed) regardless who they are rooting for, Duke will be the focus of the majority of final four viewers. So if the presence of Duke is necessary for TV ratings, then you can probably bet more people will be rooting for them to lose than for them to win (unless their bracket is on the line). Perhaps it’s not a love of underdogs, but rather a distaste of favorites (unless it is our own) that America loves.
As much as sports writers enjoy talking about “the next George Mason” or Cinderella team that goes deep into the tournament; this year all but proves March madness TV ratings are directly tied into the relative success of America’s brackets and pools. When the overall #1 seed Kansas was defeated by #9 Northern Iowa, you could almost hear the collective groans. All over the country, brackets were instantly busted, and as a result, interest in the tournament along with it.
Luckily, for true basketball fans, this tournament has been one of the best in recent memory. Nearly every game has come down to the final seconds; we’ve seen overtimes, classic battles, and nail-biting buzzer beaters. The issue is: with every upset (as interesting as they are to talk, read, and write about) viewers are lost. Northern Iowa’s victory was the clearest “underdog” story of this years tourney, but nobody really cared what happened to them next. And while few people have accurately predicted the outcome to this point, you still get the sense that just about any of the four remaining teams could win it. To me, that’s reason enough to watch (even if my girlfriend’s bracket beat the pants off mine). Unfortunately, I’d be in the minority.
Sure, America loves a good underdog story. Those David vs. Goliath moments. Overcoming great odds to come out victorious. It gives us the sense that anything is possible. It’s a good feeling. But that’s all after the fact. Beforehand it’s all just wishful thinking. Gamblers call it a suckers bet. We don’t watch the underdog take on the super power; We revel in it later. Nobody believed in David until after Goliath fell.
No, America doesn’t love an underdog. We love dynasties. We love world records. We love perfection. But even more than all those things: we love seeing them fall. Do you think more people watch the Yankees in the world series to see them win or to hope they lose? When the Giants beat the undefeated Patriots in Superbowl XLII, did sports writers talk more about the Giant’s win or the Patriot’s loss? Would the USA Gold metal in hockey in the 1980 Olympics be as memorable if they hadn’t beaten the USSR? The truth is: without the superpower, evil empire, or dynasty, there is no underdog. And it’s not the underdog that America loves, it’s a love of who they’ve defeated and more importantly: what that’s accomplished.
The 2010 Vancouver Paralympics finished up this week, and among it was a sport for the walking disabled so fierce and competitive, calling these athletes “disabled” does them (and the sport) a serious injustice. Sledge hockey, as it is called, is hockey in just about every single aspect of the game. The only difference: instead of being played on two feet, it’s played in a seated position on a “sled” with 2 blades.
While the sleds are generally similar in design with 2 blades secured directly underneath the seated passenger, each sled is slightly different depending on the athlete’s relative disability. For some, the sled is longer to accommodate legs. For others, who may have lost some or all of their legs, the sled is shorter and perhaps even more manageable. A player moves by using one or both of the two sticks in hand using them to push off the ice for acceleration, stopping, turning, or balance. And while the modified sticks are mostly used as the mechanism for motion, both are functional as hockey sticks as well making for some creative puck handling, passing and shooting.
While the rules are identical to hockey, in watching the game you’ll get the feeling of a completely different sport altogether. Still, like hockey, it’s a full contact event, and these athletes don’t pull back a single bit on checks. Goals, too, are equally spectacular and as a true team sport, sledge hockey relies on sound teamwork and congruency for success.
As you might suspect, each player is (in their own way) a story of resiliency. Take Alexi Salamone, for example. At birth, his legs were amputated due to a deformation caused by a proximity to a nuclear disaster at Chernobyl just a year earlier. Orphaned, he was adopted by a couple in Buffalo, NY and brought up in the US. Just this week, Alex scored the winning goal for the US in their gold-medal victory at this year’s Vancouver Paralympics.
Sledge hockey is a brutal yet beautiful sport. Much like a Murderball (or Wheelchair Rugby) on ice, it is not to be played nor watched by the fragile. It makes for a terrific spectator sport, and like Murderball, deserves the recognition of the masses. I, for one, hope that it some day gets that attention.
The own goal is every soccer player’s worst nightmare. In a sport where a single goal is often the difference between a win, loss, or draw, it certainly has the ability to deflate your team quite a bit.
What makes this particular instance so amazing (or rather embarrassing) is that it came on a play where scoring on himself was probably the last thing on his mind: a goal kick…
As windy as it must have been, I bet he couldn’t do this again if he tried:
It’s a good bet that after Sven Kramer called that reporter “stupid” for asking him to identify himself on camera, she walked away thinking “Someday, something’ll bring that kid down a peg or two…”. You gotta wonder where she was when the Dutch speed skater lost his definitive gold medal and a world record, less than a week later, on a technicality. If only Karma always worked so quickly. Ok, to be fair it was his coach’s mistake, but on the up side he probably won’t have any more issues with press recognition. Sure, Sven was a little bit of a jerk, and got a really hefty Karmic kick for it, but there have definitely been far worse offenders, who’ve also paid a steeper price. Maybe not in the Netherlands, but in the U.S it’s not uncommon for famous athletes to get their cosmic payback. Over the years there have been a number of sports giants who came crashing down when karma came around to bite them in the Astroturf.
10. Tiger Woods
Beginning with another athlete who is still lingering in the headlines Tiger Woods is a man who knows about paying for it. And we’re talking karma, not hookers. Well, maybe a little of both. For a guy who got $40 million in commercial endorsements at 21; a guy who raked in somewhere in the vicinity of $769,440,709 between 1996 and 2007, he still couldn’t buy happiness. He strayed out side his marriage, and the dozen or so classy dames he did it with just couldn’t wait to talk about it to anybody with a camera. It was cringe-worthy when the guy from 40-year-old Virgin who got busted cause he came home with the condom still on; well thanks to Karma that basically happened to Tiger on national TV. Weeks of sex rehab, millions of dollars in lost endorsements and several public apologies later Tiger’s career still remains up in the air. But if his past shows us anything it’s that peaks and valleys are the way of the Woods. So if history is indicative of his future, we’ll find him back on top soon enough.
9. Tiki Barber
Barber was an outstanding running back never missed an opportunity to run his mouth against is own team. He was drafted to the New York Giants in 1997, but didn’t become remarkable until the early 2000’s. In 2000 the Giants signed him to a 6 year contract that came with a 7 million dollar signing bonus. Barber’s public comments began during the Strahan negotiation in 2002, and by 2005 he was insulting Coach Tom Coughlin’s coaching strategies in the media. Soon after, he announced his retirement from football stating Coughlin’s coaching as a motivating factor but finishing hard with multiple career highs that season. Shortly after retiring he took a parting shot at Eli Manning’s calling his leadership “comical”. Despite claiming to have made peace with never winning a Super Bowl ring, Barber had to have felt the sting of Karma when the Giants won the Super Bowl the year after he left the team.
8. Terell Owens
With the god given talent to make amazing plays on the field but without the god given sense to keep his mouth shut, Terell Owens was always the man who said too much. Arrogant and offensive, Owens spouted off repeatedly to media outlets like a cracked out version of Cuba Gooding Jr’s character in Jerry McGuire. He publicly insulted his Eagles teammates, demanded public recognition for his individual accomplishments, and proudly sported Cowboy fan gear in public. His behavior infuriated fans, teammates and management, leading to his suspension and release from the Eagles in 2006. He was quickly signed by Dallas, but apparently the grass was not as green in Texas as TO had hoped. Six months after joining the team he was hospitalized for a depression fueled hydrocodone over dose. Fortunately, Owens recovered in time for karma to help him to suffer a humiliating loss in his first game against his former team. Though he managed to show some promise throughout his 3 year contract, when his ego once again turned him on fellow teammates, his career as a Cowboy ended soon after. Buffalo took him on for a year but as of today the future of TO’s football career is still undecided.
7. Isaiah Thomas
One of the “bad boys” of basketball in the late eighties, he took the nickname a little too seriously and paid the price. A #2 draft pick Isaiah Thomas had a bright future early on, showing both talent for the game and strength of will. He won multiple championships and was voted MVP in the NBA Finals in 1990, but four years later an injured Achilles tendon ended his playing career. He remained on the basketball circuit as an owner, a commentator, and a coach. During his most famous coaching gig with the NY Knicks, he once again ran into trouble, only this time his Achilles heel turned out to be a pretty face. In 2007 a New York court awarded 1.6 Million dollars to a woman who claimed that she had been sexually harassed by Thomas repeatedly while he was coaching the Knicks. Of course, it wasn’t his money she was given, it was Madison Square Garden’s. Two tumultuous years later in the wake of public brawls and losing streaks, Karma showed up and Thomas was replaced as coach of the Knicks. Following a prescription drug overdose in 2008, Isaiah Thomas accepted a head coach position for Florida International University in 2009. This Hall of Famer now coaches at a public research university whose basketball team has appeared only once in a NCAA championship, 15 years ago.
6. The Boys of Steroids
This collective spot is for all the boys we loved before, the all American boys who beefed up and roided out turning our favorite pastime into a courtroom drama. Names like Jose Conseco, Mark McGuire, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez were at one point regarded for their athletic prowess and their astounding records. Now they are clouded in talk of asterisks and performance enhancing drugs. Steroids were first banned form baseball in 1992, but I Can’t Believe It’s Not Legally Steroids, androstenedione, still made it into pro baseball lockers until after the turn of the century. In 2005 Karma got up to bat by way of Jose Conseco’s kiss-and-tell autobiography that named some serious names. The fallout of these and other accusations continues in the media and on the floor of congress even to this day. With the world at their feet and immortality at their finger tips, the drug that built them up came back to tear them down. The saddest part is that we’ll never know what greatness these men could have known with only the power of will, heart and practice.
5. Pete Rose
Sometimes fame and glory just aren’t enough for one man, sometimes he just needs to gamble it all. That’s what Pete Rose did. This player turned manager held astronomical life time stats, 17 All-Star appearances, 3 World Series Rings 2 golden gloves and an MVP award. But when Karma stepped in, the Hall of Fame bound great went from VIP to PNG that’s persona non grata, in record time. In 1989 allegations of illegal gambling came to light, casting a shadow on the ball player’s reputation and getting him added to the list of people Permanently Banned from Baseball. In 1991 Uncle Sam decided to kick the man while he was down slapping him with community service, fines and jail time for filing false income taxes. In 2004 via autobiography, as all sports confessions should come to be, he finally admitted to having placed bets on the Cincinnati Reds as a player and a manger. Rose remains banned from baseball and barred from induction into the Hall of Fame.
4. Tanya Harding
The only woman to be honored on this list Tonya Harding holds a special place in history. This ice crisis queen fought her way through loose skates and unsnapped costumes to reach the 1994 figure skating championships but refused to rely on talent to get her a win. In the hopes of eliminating the competition she and ex-husband Jeff Gallooley orchestrated a handicapping scheme that involved an attempt to physically handicap Nancy Kerrigan. Amidst lawsuits and controversy she made it to the 94 Olympics, danced with Karma, and finished 8th while a fully recovered Nancy home took the silver medal. After being banned forever from the skating world for her involvement in the crime Harding went on to experiment with the glamorous world of porn, car accidents, alcohol, prescription drugs, and petty crimes.
3. Michael Vick
Michael Vick had the world in front of him when he was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in 2001, but his career went to the dogs in under 8 years. A two time Pro Bowl player Michael Vick was on course to break records, and was making commercial endorsement bank from brands like Nike and Coke. However, his issues, with attitude, obscenity, law suits, sexually transmitted diseases, petty crimes and drug use ultimately culminated in 2007, when a drug investigation led to the discovery of his illegal dog fighting activities. After hearing the tales of his horrific animal abuses, if people didn’t like him before they hated him now. As if anger could summon Karma, he was suspended from the team, imprisoned and forced to file for bankruptcy. When he was released from jail in 2009 he was picked up for a single year by the Philadelphia Eagles, in spite of public outrage. At present he remains the #2 quarter back behind Donavan McNabb and the former rising star will most likely ride the bench for the 2010 season.
2. OJ Simpson
Hall of famer, movie star and legendary criminal OJ Simpson has done it all. Rising to fame as a football player Juice retired in 1979 and went on to play the guy who kept getting the crap kicked out of him in the Naked Gun movies in 19888. Six years later after a shocking, but low speed, car chase, Simpson was taken into custody and charged with the double murder of his ex-wife Nichole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. At the end of a year long press-ridden cesspool of a trial the American public made his televised acquittal one of the nations most watched events in TV history. The verdict was nationally polarizing, igniting racial tensions around the country. In spite of retaining his freedom, a civil suit awarded most of his money and possessions to the victim’s families. However, many were never satisfied with the fact that he never spent a day in jail. Karma came to those who waited in 2008 when, without Johnny Cochran to save his sorry butt, OJ was sentenced to 33 years in jail for kidnapping and robbery and remains imprisoned for his crimes in Las Vegas, Nevada.
1. Mike Tyson
This big scary man with the tiny little voice and the tenuous grasp of the English language has gone from legend to walking punch line. Tyson debuted as a boxer in 1985 and won the title of Heavyweight Champion a year later, the youngest boxer ever to hold the title. By 1988, after fighting the greatest boxers of his time, that tile became Undisputed. Soon after, he fired his trainer, and seemed to be losing his edge, favoring aggression over skill in the ring. Tyson seemed to favor aggression over skill outside of the ring as well, when during the same period his 1 year marriage to Robin Givens, which ended in 1989, was filled with accusations of abuse and mental instability. Epitomizing this period of his life and in a shocking upset he lost his title when he was knocked out by Buster Douglas in1990.
He was scheduled to fight Evander Holyfield to re-gain the title in 1991 but, something came up for Tyson. He instead spent that year in court attempting to defend himself against rape charges, and wound up going to prison in 1992. He was released in 1995 after serving only 3 years of his 10 year sentence. Tyson finally did get his chance to face Holyfield in 1996, where Holyfield won by TKO. However, this historical fight would prove to be nothing compared to their re-match. The following year when the boxers once again went head to head, Tyson shocked the world by going mouth to head and biting both of Holyfield’s ears. The match ended, and Karma showed up when Holyfield was declared the winner, while Tyson was disqualified, lost his boxing license and was fined 3 Million dollars. In1999 Tyson tried to resume fighting and despite some commercial success was never able to recapture his former glory. Though he is still widely considered among the best boxers of all time, the 21st century brought Tyson nothing but loss, retirement, bankruptcy, two more marriages and personal tragedy.
We all love sports and we all have some memories of certain events that have happened during sporting events that were completely strange, funny, or just off the wall crazy. Below are a series of videos highlighting some strange moments in sports over recent years. There have been many times like these so I cannot list them all, so feel free to add your own strange sports memories in the comments. This is a collection I am sure any sports fan will enjoy, and even if you remember some of these clips they are definitely worth seeing again.
The Greatest Pitch Ever
Edmonton Oilers’ Steve Smith Accidentally Scores on Himself while Trying to Clear the Puck
Mike Tyson Bites Evander Holyfields Ear
Homerun Off of Jose Cansecos Head (sorry for the ads, but this is the best video we could find – and we had to have it)
A Man Wearing a Straitjacket Runs on the Field in the Middle of a Game Between the LA Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks.
Men’s 2004 Marathon – Summer Olympic Games in Athens – Stranger attacks Vanderlei de Lima who had been running the first and ends up costing him gold
Jim Rome Attacked by Jim Everett (Not an actual sports moment, but sports related)
The Palace Brawl – Artest vs. Wallace Fight Turns Into Huge Brawl Involving crowd
NFL Referee Tackles Packers Nick Barnett
NFL Halftime Streaker at an NFL Game In London – Giants vs. Dolphins
Soccer (or Futbol) is certainly not the most popular sport in the US. Part of the reason might be the fact that you can watch a full 90 minutes without anything even remotely interesting happening. Nil-Nil games filled with fundamentally sound defense and over-conservative ball possession and back passing have the ability to put you to sleep faster than a badminton game played under water.
The one saving grace of soccer (as a spectator sport) is a highlight reel. And while amazing plays and fantastic goals are great and all…nothing is as entertaining as some of the bloopers. Here is a group of compilations featuring over 100 soccer bloopers that will make you laugh, cry, cringe in pain, and yell out loud. Enjoy:
Tragic Missed Opportunities – Sometimes the goal just has an invisible shield…
Fortunate Goals – These clips are exactly like the above, with one exception…the ball ends up IN the goal.
Goal Keeper Mishaps – Being a goalie in Soccer is very stressful…mostly because you’re trying not to pull one of these moves:
Referee Interference – Bad calls are one thing, but these refs flat out fail:
Soccer Dives – Soccer get’s a bad rap for being a sport for pansies…here’s why:
Hard Fouls – While the above clips are an unfortunate part of the game, so are real fouls. Soccer may not be a full contact sport, but try telling these guys that:
Last week, Forbes.com released their annual list of the biggest brands and names in sports. While there’s no real surprises on this list, the value of some of these brands is staggering. Here are the top 5 Sports Brands (not including media):
1. Nike – Value: $10.7 billion – Nike is the sports apparel giant. The [...]
Nike and (RED)™ unite forces to fund money for fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa. In a newly launched commercial leading European soccer players are trying to convince people to buy red laces.
If you want to support Nike and (RED)™ you can buy the red laces online.
See the full press release for all details…
Vintage running shoes can be found on the web. Many running shoe brands did develop new collections. Classic collections, vintage running shoes from the old days. Find out where you can buy these retro sneakers online.
Adidas Originals running shoes
Adidas originals. Look for your favorite running shoe in the Adidas Online Originals store. It has a [...]
Sporting Goods Daily is the blog from pediro.com
It provides up to date news from the Sporting Goods business. New products, new brands or new shops will be introduced to athletes and sporters.
