Athletics
Suicide Squeeze
by Josh Witten on December 18, 2012
I am an unapologetic fan of violent, contact sports. I have wonderful memories of being a participant in violent, contact sports. On the rugby teams I played for, I was usually the guy tasked with bringing both the violence and the contact to the other team. These sports are fun to play. They are fun to watch. But, predictably, that violence takes a toll on the human body.
The recent …
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Congratulations Kerri!
by Josh Witten on September 6, 2012
You know that moment when your friend does something so amazing you can’t help bragging on them? Try not one, but two, in one week. Below you’ll find video of my friend Kerri Morgan winning the bronze medal in both the 100m & 200m Women’s T52 sprints at the 2012 Paralympic Games.
Go to minute 56:50 for the Women’s 200m T52 final.
…
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Ukrainian Pit Bull Parkour
by Andrew Loewen on August 19, 2012
As the cat vaulted the sofa and spun out on the hardwood before darting into the next room the other day, I noted to a roommate that cats practice domestic parkour. The unfortunately named Pit bull TreT does the real thing outdoors. Trained by his owner Evgeny Elchaninov over the course of four years, TreT is one of only two known parkour dogs in the world.
via the Snuffington Post…
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1000 Words, 1000 Days: Day 221 – When Math Attacks The Sports Page
by Marty Schwartz on August 12, 2012
The world of sports statistics can get ugly and math-y. This presents a dilemma for a lot of fans – they love the sports, but hate the math. I’m a football fan. Most of our statistics are pretty easy to follow: a running back’s touchdown count is calculating by adding up the number of touchdowns he scored, then congratulating yourself for counting sequentially. That’s it.
But in 1971, Don R. …
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Fixing football
by Josh Witten on August 10, 2012
American football. Not proper football. We already fixed that once. We call it rugby.
Speaking of which, we were at a dinner party when the subject of my rugby career was brought up (not by me). A discussion about surviving a full contact sport without padding (don’t hit with your head and hit with forces below the physiological limits of the human body) transitioned into a discussion of how to …
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Bike Kill (for those living in the dark)
by Jay Smith on March 20, 2012
Bike Kill, a festival of “homemade bikes and unbridled hedonism”, is what appears to be an annual event in Brooklyn, NY. It’s been happening for at least the past eight years. (Here in the Albertan hinterland, news doesn’t travel so fast, apparently.) If you’re as new to the crazy DIY bikecapades as me, however, this video will just make your jaw drop. It’s a chick on a double-decker bike that …
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HIIT Me
by Malcolm Parker on February 16, 2012
The New York Times recently published this article about getting fit through twice weekly workouts of only 20 minutes. The secret is that the 20 minutes comprise 1 minute of effort at 90% of a person’s max heart rate (HR) followed by 1 minute of rest, repeated ten times. What the article neglects to mention is what that feels like.
90% of the people I see in the gym put in less than a …
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Super Apathy
by Josh Witten on February 5, 2012
Ah, Super Bowl Sunday, the day I get inundated with people announcing “I don’t care about the Super Bowl” loudly and publicly, as if this is a source of pride or a signal that you are some superior iteration of the species. Are we now defining ourselves, not by our passions, but by what were are apathetic towards? Isn’t that a hipster thing? Don’t we all hate hipsters?
Briefly, I …
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Cold FX, the #1 Placebo for Good Canadians
by Jay Smith on January 28, 2012
Here is a short narrative of nationalism as placebo effect: Canada is cold. Canadians get cold. Canadians get colds! Therefore, Canadians need Cold FX!
Claiming to kickstart a winter-battered immune system and to mitigate the effects and frequency of cold and flus, Cold FX frankly appeals to the Canadian-ness of Canadians. Legions of hockey and sports heroes vouch for it, while Cold FX itself boasts about being “proudly Canadian” and …
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A Big Cuppa ‘Duh’
by Malcolm Parker on December 15, 2011
Some scientists in England have concluded what cyclists have known since they first threw legs over bars: coffee makes it better. It’s no coincidence that the espresso machine and the bicycle are from the same era. Just ask Rapha, which has released an overpriced version of the gorgeous Rocket Giotto espresso machine, which had it’s own Giro d’Italia special edition a few years back.
According to the study quoted in Lifehacker, …
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Making Fists With Your Toes
by Malcolm Parker on December 13, 2011
I loved the X-Men back in the John Byrne and Dark Phoenix days. I liked Beast. I get to feel like Beast in the gym now because I finally bought a pair of Vibram Five-Finger shoes.
I have strange feet. I am the Omega-foot man: a St. Louis arch and toes that curl in yet curve up. My leather shoes look like The Tramp’s. Many people think that any old trainer …
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