2013年9月29日星期日

The Risks And Benefits Of Different Kinds Of Exercise

The benefits of exercise and fitness extend beyond cardiovascular health and weight loss. Exercise can help to improve your muscle tone, bone density, range of motion, pumonary health as well as reproductive health. There are many kinds of exercise such as pilates, yoga, running, golf, tennis, walking and swimming. Different kinds of exercise modalities have different benefits. Running is one of the best kinds of exercise for cardiovascular health but due to the high impact nature it can be very stressful on many joints of thebody especially the feet and knees. Runnes often develop injuries such as knee pain or tendinitis.

Swimming is the opposite in terms of being taxing on the joints but if you swim in a pool then the harsh chemicals such as clorine that a pool has can be very drying for hair, eyes and skin. If you swim in the ocean then you have to be careful about sunburn since the relfection of the rays on the water intensify the rays of the sun. If you don't know how to swim though you need to be under close supervision of a swim teacher otherwise you run the risk of drowning. Swimming in the ocean can be dangerous even for seasoned swimmers due to the risk of rip currents.

Yoga is thought to be one of the most effective exercise routines out there but due to the low amount of anatomy training that most yoga teachers have it if the poses are noe done with proper alignment and body mechanics it can leads to injuries as well, especially of the spine, shoulders and knees since many of the poses are weight bearing which can be very taxing on the joints. Using a pilates reformer, which is a workout machine that controls your movements. Since the movements are controlled and precise there is less risk of injury from this kind of exercise since your range of motion is managed by the reformer machine.

Some of the safest kinds os exercises are pilates classes since most teachers are well versed in anatomy and biomechanics and most of the poses are on a mat which means they are not weight bearing and not as taxing on the joints. Walking is ususally one of the safest kinds of exercises due it's low impact nature. Just make sure to have proper walking shoes on that support your body and physical frame.

Getting A Trampoline Is The Best Thing You Can Do For The Kids

Nowadays, adults and children alike would the nearest gadget when they are bored and have nothing to do. They would spend countless hours with their eyes stuck to it like glue, especially when they are playing a game on it. Some people would even use them to read their e-books when the real thing is not within their reach. Although these electronic advancements have provided everyone with an advantage with regard to recreation and having work done efficiently, it also has its downsides.

Children are often introduced to electronics at an extremely young age and get addicted to it quickly. Instead of running around and playing with other kids their age, they would stay indoors and spend countless hours playing with their new gadget. Because of the lack of exercise, they tend to become obese easily. In addition to that, they are unable to practice their social kids and have a tendency to be withdrawn from the public.

If you want to avoid this from happening to you or your kids, you should find them something they can play with that will help promote exercise and interaction with other people. However, you also need to see to it that they won't get bored easily. If you want to get something that will grow together with your kids, you should acquire a trampoline for them. Trampolines have been popular for a long time already, and with good reason. During the summer months, these are extremely popular.

Adults and children alike can have a load of fun on these. They can spend countless hours jumping on it, and without even realizing it, they were able to obtain the necessary daily exercise to keep them healthy. In addition to that, it can help strengthen relationships and help build new ones. Your little one won't be as shy to make new friends when they have a trampoline to use as a conversation starter. These will benefit them as well because they will be able to develop their balance at the same time. Frequent use of it also help promotes cardiovascular health.

When you have made the decision to purchase one, you also need to take some things into consideration. See to it that you obtain trampoline parts so that you will be able to immediately replace your worn or damaged parts. In addition to that, you should also acquire the necessary accessories that promote safety in order to avoid any injuries and a trip to the emergency room. Doing so will ensure you that you and your children will be able to spend countless hours on it, safely.

Some Of The Tips You've Always Wanted To Know About Woodworking

Woodworking can be a fascinating hobby. The beautiful things you can create are endless. Whether you prefer to make decorative items or item that are functional, woodworking offers something for everyone. If you are looking to get into woodworking then here are some tips to get you started in the world of woodworking.

Know your budget so you know what you can make. It is easy for your eyes to be larger than your wallet. It is very disappointing to run out of funds before your project is complete. Be sure to budget in advance to be prepared for any eventuality.

Familiarize yourself with the tools that you are going to use. This is a very important tip for the beginner, but even more advanced woodworkers can benefit from it too. Lay out the tools and make sure that you know the workings of each one. If you've got a brand new tool to you, spend the time that you need with it.

In a pinch, you can use a hacksaw blade as a makeshift compass. Often you can't find a compass when you need it in room, when you are away from your shop. You can quickly nail a hole in the middle of a hacksaw blade, then steady the pencil against the proper tooth to get the right length. Draw that circle.

Whenever you work with wood, wear a pair of safety glasses and a dust mask to keep yourself safe. When cutting or even hammering into wood, pieces can fly up into your eyes or be breathed in. This can lead to health issues which can end your enjoyment of this pursuit for good.

Whenever you work with power tools, be sure your clothing is tucked in properly. Any loose clothing or long, dangling hair or jewelry can easily become tangled in the tool, leading to injury or other disaster. Tuck everything in, pull back your hair, take off dangling jewelry and then get down to work.

If you have any pockets on the shirt you are wearing, remove everything from them before you start working with a table saw. It is very common for objects like pens and rulers to fall from your pocket and get caught in the blade, which can lead to some pretty serious injuries.

Do you find that your joint compound seems to dry out in between uses? There is a simple fix to help keep your joint compound moist. Simply pour a small amount of water on top of your joint compound before sealing it. The next time you need to use the joint compound, drain off the excess water and your joint compound will be perfectly moist.

As you can see, woodworking offers something for anyone who is interested in getting into the world of crating hand crafted items. The possibilities are endless. You can make things as simple as a small birdhouse or an elaborate dollhouse. All it takes is some wood, a few tools and creativity.

2013年9月26日星期四

maintains the exterior waterproof shoes

ugg uk are not as popular in the world, not invented by the fashion, even for war. Made from 100% sheepskin Ugg boots to keep feet dry and comfortable, they became popular during WW I and II. Used by aviators to keep your feet warm in an airplane is not pressurized Ugg boots were originally a trademark in Australia.
Alexander Mcqueen lady uggs, Christian Louboutin boots, dress shoes CK, Manolo Blahnik shoes, high heels, YSL shoes women shoes, short boots, polo, MIUMIU dress shoes, women’s, CK, Tory Burch, lady shoes, high heels, RV , BELLE sheos heels, shoes women shoes Paul Smith, Melissa shoes, ECCO women, women dress Nine West, Guess leather shoes, Steve Madden heels, dress shoes star mcc sheos rtney heels, Marc Jacobs dress women All heeled sandals, Juicy Couture woman.
The family spent a considerable amount of time shopping through all the selections of designer heels before deciding on a pair that were the choice of brand ugg boots for the previous year.What are the combined result of the nation is sweet, with sample ugg ugg are intended to implement occasional payday without having to conditions requiring great defense or Ugg boots Highkoo when the voltage is to be available to train with comfort in place to protect all pets. cleaning products should be used immediately in sheepskin, as this can cause long-standing wrong.
In 1960, Australian surfers put ugg boots outlet to warm their feet after their arrival in the waves, and people in Australia would often wear these boots in the house during the winters. Since then, uggs have provoked an outcry in the world, proving a success in countries such as heat and cold. With the warmth and comfort, provided, UGG boots continue to defend their land as one of the most popular pieces of reporting in today’s world of fashion.
After UGG has become one of the most fashion brands famous throughout the world, UGG boots are very successful in the United States and the United Kingdom, the quality of materials (natural sheepskin Australian) to provide smooth and comfort to our feet. The inside of these shoes are soft and thick fibers, which allow perspiration and keep your feet warm in extremely cold. Ugg Australia also maintains the exterior waterproof shoes.

The women such as flowers

Many girls have dreams, some people dream of to become a scientist, and some people dream of to be a statesman, some people would like to be steady over a lifetime, this is the old sayings” every one has his own dream”. And what is my dream? When I was young I dream of to be a princess, and I wait until I grow up I find my ideas are impractical, people that have given birth just right, how do I change it? I really think this idea is very funny.
When I grow up, I am still doing my princess dream princess dream that I know it will not disappear destined. When I see the beautiful pandora jewelry, my heart feels a touch of warmth, I know the feeling that I want to find the princess is in there, I look at those pretty pandora jewellery carefully, and I watch them and stroke them, a kind of joy is stirring in my heart.
I buy some pandora earrings and those beautiful pandora necklace, they are very beautiful, I love them, and I think it is because they only let me look more refresh, I really like them from my psyche. It is said that a woman is a flower; I want to say another beautiful woman need jewelry to decorate. The pandora sales jewelry is really a good choice.
In the early career, the sisters, the wonderful years only the less wonder years, these days once miss and will never comes back, so make your youth.

Discount Fashion MBT Shuguli Men’s Casual Shoes

HOUSTON – Houston Rockets centre Yao Ming suffered another setback in his comeback when a stress fracture was found in his left ankle, the NBA team said Thursday. mbt fashion shoes The fracture was discovered Thursday during a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test and there was no timetable for his return, the Rockets said on their website The seven-times NBA All-Star has been sidelined since Nov 10 with a bone bruise to his left ankle. cheap ugg boots “This is very sad,” Rockets owner Leslie Alexander told KRIV-TV in Houston. “This is a very disappointing moment in the history of the Rockets organization, for our wonderful fans, for the city of Houston and for everybody in our organization. I feel terrible for Yao.” mbt sport shoes It’s a major setback for the 30-year-old Yao, a seven-time All-Star, who sat out all of last season after fracturing a bone in his left foot that required surgery. He has played in only five games this season. airmax shoes Yao’s Rockets still have legitimate playoff aspirations. They’ve had a bad luck streak in losing both Yao and point man Aaron Brooks so far, and the team’s 10-15 record isn’t quite representative because they’ve lost quite a few close games. But this is news that tends to enervate, to say the very least. big discount It could also be the best thing for all involved, as the Rockets start to properly rebuild, and Yao takes another near-full year off to work his feet back to health. jordan shoes But a silver lining like that is just too depressing to consider right now. As it stands right now, this could be the injury that ends Yao Ming’s career. brandedsite

2013年9月25日星期三

Sports Gear: When Comfort, Fashion And Safety Go Together.

There are so many sports that people are involved in these days. No wonder sports gear becomes one of the top search items. The term “sports gear” implies a variety of sport related things – from clothing and footwear to equipment and accessories. From individual to team sports, certain kinds of sports gear are designed specifically for each sport or activity. Actually, you don’t have to be professionally in for sports to use sports gear. Many people find it comfortable and handy for traveling, gym workouts or even some of your ordinary everyday activities. Sports gear is particularly popular with teenagers; and finally, there is hardly anyone who doesn’t possess at least a pair of sneakers and a couple of T-shirts.


Sportswear

When it comes to sports gear, one of the most important items is the right clothing. The pieces of clothing are specifically designed to make every sporting event a little easier to participate in. If you are a soccer player, obviously, you will want to wear clothing that allows enough room to breathe but doesn’t interfere with your movement. Playing football means you need a jersey and some tights designed to hold all of the protective padding. In spite of a few restrictions (sports gear designs have to follow certain rules and traditions according to every particular sport), fashion reigns in this area as well, creating new functional materials and adding more style to comfort.

Footwear

Whether you enjoy your sport activity or hate it depends upon your footwear a lot. This is, probably, the most important piece of sports gear, critical in some cases. If your athletic shoes fail, you will be left barefoot or what’s worse, injured. You will need appropriate type of arch support during your activity, that’s where sneakers are the best. They should be properly fitted and be appropriate for the sport or activity and playing surface. Such factors as torsion, flexion, midsole density and heal counter are decisive while purchasing sports footwear.

Protective gear


For those participating in active sports protective gear is essential as they are most prone to injures. Shin pads, shoulder and body protectors, wrist, elbow and knee guards, helmets, ankle tapping and braces, mouth guards, gloves and so on, all are called to prove the fact that prevention is the key. For every sport there is specific and appropriate protective equipment. It should always fit a person correctly and be used according to manufacturer’s guidelines and the recommendations of the sporting body concerned. Needless to say, protective gear should be maintained properly and checked regularly.

Accessories

Jewelry and stuff like that often viewed as something absolutely out of place in sports. However, the items are in demand and sometimes can really compliment to your look if you know how to match them. Besides, stylish watch with favorite team logo or, say, a nice sporting bag can make a perfect gift for an occasion. And, of course, there are certain accessories you cannot do without if you are in for a particular sport. Imagine snowboarding without a board or playing golf without a club and a ball.

Once you determine what type of equipment, clothing, and footwear you need, you can try to find the best deal on your items. With great selection of brand names and sellers it’s easy to find something suitable, functional and stylish for each individual.

Although a good price is important, your comfort and safety are more important. Look for quality products at fair prices, not cheap prices for bad products.

Runescape Hacks - Runescape Hacks - Backdoors And Beating The System

If you want to gain a mortal edge over other RuneScape players, RuneScape Hacks are the order of the day. RuneScape is a massive multiplayer online role playing game that consists of an ample battle field where thousands of players fight it of for victory. Since there are more than 5 thousand users per server, it is no surprise that many of these use RuneScape Hacks to facilitate their playing experience.


There are plenty of RuneScape hacking tools in the market such as Autoer. Such programs allow you to directly edit your stats and pump them up to any level you want. Even if you feel like changing your mode to God mode, you can accomplish this with a good enough RuneScape hack. An armor upgrader works by upgrading your armor to the highest levels without forking out one cent.

Other auto pickers enable you to pick up dropped items. Maybe the most famous one, the autominer can help you get unlimited quantities of gold. The basic philosophy behind such auto programs is that you can leave them on while you go to school, work or even go asleep all night long to find a pleasant surprise next morning.

A recently offered RuneScape hack, the R2JK is so powerful you cannot even find it on Google. This hack is not meant for anyone, especially children trying to beat the system blindly. With this super hack you can convert any player or item into anything else, including moderator status.

You can see how such a tool can be a menacing danger, hence the very low profile it presents. Do not expect to find this tool easily since so many little players actually get to have the chance of having it in their hands.

Runescape Cheats - Runescape Cheats - Is It Ok To Cheat?

In the real physical world we look down on cheaters with utter disgust. However in the world of RuneScape, the players who get away with RuneScape cheats are often viewed as heroes. These MMORPG legends are the underground people who somehow find unknown cheats that the developers left vulnerable, many times even on purpose. It turns out that some RuneScape developers use the cheats themselves! Sometimes the secret info or passwords leak and they soon become popular.


Because they are so useful for online gamers, RuneScape cheats are very high in demand. In fact there are "gamers" who actually don't play RuneScape for the game itself but rather to find valuable cheats that they can later sell for a high price.

We have all heard of the term "Back Door", well there is always a backdoor in the system and RuneScape is no exception. Developers know this way back from the ages of Atari and the first version of Mario Bros. They also know that a certain class of player gets tired very easily and can even get annoyed at the game. That's why these backdoors and cheats are created, to soothe and satisfy the need of the player.

Many, many websites offer RuneScape cheats. It's not even funny how many sites offer these cheats and passwords. That's mainly thanks to the ultra popularity this game has achieved during its short lifespan. One way to not blatantly cheat the system but rather look for a helping hand is to look for a walkthrough rather than a cheat. Walkthroughs show you how to overcome and finish quests without breaking any rules or making any moderator unhappy.

Having said all this, we should not be afraid of using RuneScape cheats if the situation requires it. If you've been stuck on a puzzle for ages and have just tried about everything and have reached the point of maximum frustration, THEN it's time to unleash your use of RuneScape cheats.

2013年9月24日星期二

Scuba Diving Thailand - Scuba Diving In Thailand

Thailand is sandwiched between The Gulf of Thailand on its eastern coastline and the vast expanse of the Andaman Sea on its western coast. It is in these body of waters that scuba divers can explore the marine life of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean without having to cross continents.


The waters in Thailand have one of the richest and diverse marine life in the world because conditions here for coral growth is almost perfect with an average temperature of 28C all year round and fantastic underwater visibility.

Because of these almost ideal scuba diving conditions and attractions, the scuba diving industry in Thailand is thriving robustly with the proliferation of first class scuba diving facilities, services and diving schools.

When you throw in what the tourist industry has to offer in Thailand such as fantastic entertainment, a spread of accommodations, hotels and resorts for every budget and Thailand's renowned delightful cuisines, you can be assured of an enjoyable scuba diving vacation.

The Gulf of Thailand has hundreds of islands on its 1,840km (1,143 miles) long coast. The gulf is a shallow bowl shaped body of water separated from the South China Sea by a pair of underwater ridges that extend from Vietnam on one side and Malaysia to the other.

The sea bed bottom here is mostly mud mixed with sand and shells. Corals are usually found around the fringes of the gulf islands. There are several rivers in the north bringing enough sediment and freshwater to inhibit coral growth until to the south or the eastern side of the Gulf of Thailand.


The underwater scenery in the gulf is perhaps not as visually appealing as those of the Andaman Sea as it has slightly less variety of marine life. Marine parks such as the Ang Thong Marine Park include spectacularly formed limestone islands with lush rainforest covering them and many of these islands are actually uninhabited.

World famous resorts of Pattaya, Phuket and Koh Samui offer excellent scuba diving facilities as well as other reacreations and entertaiment.

The Andaman Sea was already thriving thousands of years ago with Chinese, European, Thai and Indian trading vessels plying its waters. Today, the Andaman Sea is more of a playground for dive boats and sailing yachts rather than for trading vessels.

One of the better known playgrounds for divers in the Andaman and is often rated amongst the top scuba diving destinations in the world are the Similan Islands. Divers can explore Similan, the Surin Islands and the Mergui Archipelago in liveaboard diving cruises.

Thailand's Andaman Sea stretches 870km (541 miles) from Tarutao National Park on the border of Malaysia to the Surin Islands on the border of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). It is part of the Indian Ocean and is separated from the Bay of Bengal by the Andaman-Nicobar Ridge. Quaint formations of granite outcrops can be senn in the Surin and Similan Islands.

Other island groups such as Koh Phi Phi are shaped by massive limestone and calcium carbonates since prehistoric time.

The only problem when you travel to Thailand for scuba diving is where to start your diving vacation since there are so many excellent dive spots to choose from and you will be spoilt for choice.

Mma - What To Know About Cagefighters

Cagefighters have been in existence since the time of the ancient Greeks, when unarmed combat, called pankration, was first introduced into the Olympic Games in the year 648 B.C. Pankration was known as the most extreme combat sports, and statues to honor the top pankratiasts were erected in cities as late as the Early Middle Ages. This tradition of no holds barred events, while not always taking place in an actual cage, nevertheless paved the way for the methods and techniques employed by cage fighters. These no holds barred competitions took place in the late 1800s, in arenas and music hall challenge matches throughout the world, predominately in Europe.


The first recorded major encounter between a boxer and a wrestler in modern recording took place in 1887, between John L. Sullivan, the then heavy weight world boxing champion, and William Muldoon, a Greco-Roman wrestling champion. Since then, there have been other pre WWI mixed martial arts matches, but this sport did not really gain any widespread popularity until after World War I and the restructuring of professional wrestling to include to separate styles, shoot, which included actual competition, and show, which later evolved into the modern sports entertainment professional wrestling.

Cagefighters in the modern sense began with the vale tudo tournaments in Brazil, hosted by the Gracie family, as well as the mixed martial arts matches hosted in Japan in the 1970s by Antonio Inoki. The first mixed martial arts organization, Shooto, was formed in 1985. This concept of mixed martial arts was also popularized by Bruce Lee in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and Lee has come to be known as the father of mixed martial arts.

In 1993, after Royal Gracies victory in the first Ultimate fighting championship, cagefighters found a larger, more widespread platform for their sport, despite criticism from those who deemed it too violent and brutal. UFC bouts, as well as other MMA sanctioned cage fighting bouts, are held in an octagonal caged enclosure, or The Octagon, a structure with eight sided walls of metal chain link fence coated with black vinyl and heavy foam padding around the sides. Cagefighters are required to fight in approved shorts, and no shoes, shirts, gis, or any sort of foot coverings are allowed. Fighters must also use approved light gloves that reduce the risk of a broken hand while providing better grabbing and grappling ability.

While todays cagefighter may compete in a different environment than that of the early Grecian combat fighters, the skill set needed, the methods, and the techniques have remained relatively unchanged throughout the centuries of the sports evolution.

Octagon - Ufc Fight Gear And The Octagon

UFC and MMA fights are held in a cage and eight sided chain linked reinforced, heavily padded structure called the Octagon. As the sport has grown in popularity over the years, rules and regulations, according strict regulations concerning the type of fight gear that a cage fighter can wear during a match.


The Octagons unique shape and structure have become associated with the UFC brand name and the UFCs parent company, Zuffa. The Octagon is featured regularly on television and mentioned in the national media, adding to its brand recognition, so closely associated with the MMA and UFC in fact that it has become an iconic symbol of the sport since it was first featured in UFC events in 1993.

The UFC, or Ultimate Fighting Championship, is currently recognized as the largest MMA promotion worldwide, is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada and owned by Zuffa LLC. The UFC began as a tournament to find the best fighters in the world, and was based on the Brazilian vale tudo fighting style. Originally, it was known as a no holds barred fighting contest, which eventually led to accusations of human brutality. After criticism reduced the UFCs visibility was diminished by these accusations, the organization reformed itself and adapted strict, athletic commission sanctioned rules, remarketing itself as a legitimate sporting event.

This idea of a tournament geared towards finding the best world fighter was that of Art Davie, a Southern California based advertising executive who developed this concept while researching marital arts for a client. Davie went on to become the student of Rorion Gracie, a teacher of mixed martial arts. In 1992, Gracie, Davie, and John Milnus, a film director and screen writer, in addition to being a fellow Gracie student, developed a business plan to generate the initial capital required to start WOW Promotions in order to develop their tournament into a television franchise.

Fight gear for these events is restricted to regulation gloves and fight gear that includes only approved shorts, with no shoes or any type of foot covering allowed. Shirts, gis, and long pants, including gi pants, are also not allowed. The gloves are required because they enable fighters to increase the strength of their punches, while at the same time providing greater protection against injury and breakage. In the early days, attire was unregulated, and many fighters opted for tight fitting athletic shorts or long, boxer trunks, and other wore tight wrestling suits and long pants.

Royce Gracie, multi-tournament champion, wore a jujitsu gi in all of his early UFC appearances. The regulations came after the move to take the UFC and the MMA fighting style into the mainstream.

Mma - A Brief Background On Diego Sanchez

Diego The Nightmare Sanchez was born on December 31, 1981 in Albuquerque, New Mexico and is a mixed martial artist with a background wrestling and Gaidojutsu, a system of wrestling developed for him by his long time personal trainer, Greg Jackson. Sanchez, in addition to pioneering the combat method that has made him well known in fighting circles, currently fights as a welterweight with the UFC, and made his MMA debut in 2002, fighting mostly in small shows, like the King of the Cage promotion. His UFC debut resulted from his participation in the reality show, The Ultimate Fighter, and his subsequent win against Kenny Florian. Since then, Diego Sanchez has gone on to a successful career as a mixed martial artist.


Gaidojujutsu is a fighting system that incorporates Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and kickboxing, and is popular in both UFC and PRIDE Fighting Championships. Other Gaidojutsu practitioners include Ultimate Fighters Rashad Evans and Keith Jardien, former UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre, and recently deceased naturalist Steve Irwin.

Mixed Martial Arts, or MMA, combines many different fighting techniques, including grappling and striking, and high performance standards, particularly in the often intense, and very popular MMA tournaments. The first tournaments came about as a result of the 1993 Ultimate Fighting Championship, which matched different fighting styles in a competition where the rules were minimal and the goal was to find the best fighters in the world. The success of this mixed martial arts combat style led to the development and implementation of rules designed to keep athletes safe and deflect early criticism of the sport while still holding on to the original concept of the UFC as much as possible. The modern MMA tournaments have their roots in the Vale tudo martial arts tournaments held in Brazil by the Gracie family beginning in the 1920s, and the preliminary martial arts tournaments hosted in Japan by Antonio Inoki in the early 1970s.

There are several different competition techniques, including striking techniques, like kicks, punches, and knees, and grappling techniques, like pinning holds, submission holds, clinch holds, takedowns, throws and sweeps. The permissibility and legality of certain other techniques like headbutts, spinal locks, and elbows vary according to the specific organization and sponsored competition.

The MMA continues to grow in popularity and reputation, as athletes associated with the sport have also gained reputation and renown, as well as successful careers and endorsement deals. With mainstream acceptance, worldwide acclaim, and an every growing fan base, what started as an abstract concept has become an established sport and a successful platform from which many athletic careers have been launched. The future of the MMA appears to be bright, and the popularity of the sport, and the athletes involved, like Diego Sanchez, are even more so.

2013年9月22日星期日

The caddie and his Boss

Joe Collins wasn't just a caddie; he was somewhat of a good luck charm at Augusta National.
If you believe all Augusta National members are walking lumps of dandruff who eat boiled puppies for lunch, you're not going to like this story.

It happened a couple years ago.

Brad Boss, the multimillionaire chairman emeritus of the pen company A.T. Cross Co., is a member at the National and a decent player, possibly because he never went out on the course without his favorite caddie, Joe Collins.

Joe had the kind of eyes that could see clean into tomorrow. A caddie at Augusta from the time he was 16, he was known as the best reader of greens in the entire caddyshack.

They were buddies. Sounds crazy, but over the top of a golf bag, nobody cares about your stock portfolio.
He took a practically unknown player named Jim Jamieson to a tie for fifth place at the Masters in 1972. Even when Augusta National lifted its local-caddies-only rule in 1983, Joe still got bags. Colin Montgomerie used him in 1998 and finished tied for eighth. In 2000, Tommy Aaron, then 63, rode Joe to a record as the oldest player ever to make the cut. Still stands, too.

No wonder so many guys asked for Joe -- Michael Jordan took him three times -- but Brad always got him. They were buddies. Sounds crazy, but over the top of a golf bag, nobody cares about your stock portfolio. Princes lean on peasants and peasants kid princes. Boss and Joe were together for more than 10 years. If you spend that much time, you're more than player and caddie. You're a kind of grass-stained team.

It didn't matter that Joe dropped out of school in the 10th grade and Brad was educated at the best schools in the east. Didn't matter that Joe's mom gave him up to her sister when he was only three months old and that Brad inherited Cross from his grandfather. Didn't matter that Joe walked to the course (he didn't own a car) and Brad flew there sometimes in a private jet.

They were friends.

[+] EnlargeJoe Collins' aunt
Rick Reilly/ESPN.com
Joe Collins' aunt Faye Latson, 81, raised him from the age of three months.
Joe sent Brad a card every birthday, every Christmas and Father's Day, without fail. "They'd call each other plenty," says Faye Latson, the aunt who raised him. "Seemed like Joe was always calling Mr. Boss up."

Then Joe got lung cancer. You smoke for 40 years, that might happen. Joe moved back in with his aunt. "I had to take him in," she says. "He didn't have nobody else."

He had to quit going to the National. If the cancer wasn't going to kill Joe, that might. "He was so sad," Faye says. "That man loved that golf course and all those people."

When he died at 56 on June 27, 2009, Faye arranged for a simple funeral. She couldn't afford much of a plot, but she and her daughter, Shirley Quarles, came up with enough for one in a shaggy downtown cemetery.

"But then Mr. Boss called," said Faye. "And he was asking me, could he put Joe up on the hill above the golf course? He said he wanted Joe to have a nice view of it. Lord, I thought! Joe won't be able to see nothin', but OK."

It's a golf thing.

"We were just all overwhelmed," says James Quarles, Shirley's husband. "We couldn't really believe it. We told him no, he didn't have to, but Mr. Boss wouldn't have it any other way."

Boss flew down from New England for the visitation and spoke at the funeral. In fact, he was the first to get up. He told the crowd how much he admired Joe, how he wasn't just his caddie, he was like family. Maybe that explains the Father's Day cards.

Afterward, he asked Faye if he could put something in Joe's pocket. Faye said sure. It was a gold Cross pen with Joe's name on it and a Masters logo. Gift No. 2.

In New England, all this made friends of Boss shake their heads. "It just made me smile when I heard," says Brad Faxon. "I thought, 'Man, why aren't there more people who do this stuff?'"

[+] EnlargeJoe Collins' cousin
Rick Reilly/ESPN.com
Shirley Quarles takes a moment to visit her cousin Joe Collins' grave.
Saturday of Masters week, I went with Shirley and Faye on one of their visits to Joe's grave. It's a sweet little spot Brad gave Joe. The cemetery is nearly as full of flowers as the National. It's on a steep hill with a view of the 10th green at Augusta Country Club, which is the course that abuts Augusta National.

From Joe's grave, a well hit driver could land a ball on the National. Plus, it's literally only four blocks from Faye's little house on Mount Auburn Road.

As Faye stood there saying a little silent prayer, a huge roar went up from Amen Corner. Faye loosed a big smile. "My Joe loved that golf," she said. "It's nice he's here."

Brad Boss didn't have to do any of this. He paid Joe plenty in caddie's fees. And ever since he did it, he hasn't returned my calls to talk about it.

I know people don't want to believe this, but there are all kinds of guys walking around in green jackets at the Masters every year just like Boss. I know guys who've paid their caddie's insurance bills, picked up entire surgeries and handled the rent. They do it quietly and with a smile.

After all, caddies aren't the only ones who can see.

Tiger Woods, almost there

Tiger Woods charged from behind Sunday in the final round of the Masters but it wasn't enough. Is it safe to say the old Tiger is back?
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Sure, it was a Masters Sunday when you needed a defibrillator next to the couch, but in the end, what did we wind up with?

We got a green jacket being hung on the bony shoulders of 140-pound Charl Schwartzel, and who knows if we'll ever see HIM again. He seems like a work in progress. Even his first name is unfinished.

This is the 10th different winner in the past 10 majors. It's like golf is running some kind of contest. Hey, you. You just won the Masters.

Tiger, please come back. The game misses you.

What kills you is he was right there. He had it. He did all the hard work and messed up the easy stuff. He shot his lowest Sunday round ever at the Masters, 67, and still didn't jacket. He crushed all the elephants and got stampeded by the squirrels.

He did all the hard work and messed up the easy stuff. ... He crushed all the elephants and got stampeded by the squirrels.
Sunday started with Tiger Woods 7 back. "What was the use?" you thought. He hadn't won any of his 14 majors from even 1 stroke back, much less 7. This was setting up as just another Sunday walk at a major straight back to the jet and home to that big empty house in Orlando.

It was going to be 17 months now since he'd won, the longest nuclear winter in his professional career. It was going to be 11 straight majors without winning one. Almost three years of majorless minorness.

But suddenly, things stopped making sense.

Suddenly, Woods was Arnie at Cherry Hills, 1960, charging from 7 back. He turned the front in a delicious 31 and young kids like Rory McIlroy were seeing him in the rearview mirror and driving into cabins.

He was splitting every fairway (six of the first six). He hit irons like you diagram them on the course map. (He hit eight of the first eight greens.) He made birdies at 2 and 3, a bogey at 4, but then a birdie at 7, that ear-splitting eagle at 8, and a par saved out of both straw and sand on 9.

For the first time since the 2007 Masters, Woods had a chunk of the lead.

Just then somebody hollered out "You're a legend, Tiger!" Trying, buddy. Trying.

He dropped a perfect (read: safe) shot onto the 12th, the Lindsay Lohan of golf holes -- short, drop-dead gorgeous and hellatrouble. And what does he do? Three-putts it. That's the easiest green to putt on the whole course!

He comes to the easy par-5 13th and doesn't birdie it for the first time in his past 10 tries. What are the odds? He strikes one of the most goosebump-perfect 6-irons in his life on 15 to within the length of a felled parking meter, and then blows it. It's like climbing Mount Everest and then falling while taking the picture.

He tapped in the miss for a birdie there and a share of the lead again and yet he looked like a guy whose cat just shot his dog. Had to be the most glum leader of the Masters in history.

He hits a Mozart shot at 16, and misses the putt. From there, he slumped home.

First thing he did is take his frustration out on CBS interviewer Bill Macatee.

Macatee: Do you feel like you played well enough to win?

TW: Right now, I'm 1 back. Let's see what happens.

Macatee: Do you feel like you're back in the thick of things now?

TW: I'm 1 back, let's see what happens.

You half expected the next exchange to be:

Macatee: Have you ever eaten a live turtle while skydiving?

Tw: I'm 1 back, let's see what happens.

"I should have easily shot 3 or 4 under on the back nine," he finally told a group of reporters afterward, bathed in sweat. "I was right there in the thick of it."

At this point in his comeback, he's doing everything great, except interviews and putting, which he seems to be doing with a fettucini noodle. Six 3-putts. One hundred twenty putts for the whole week. Sometimes, Steve Stricker will go TWO weeks without that many putts.

These were tiddlers he missed. The one at 15 he missed Saturday was no longer than a baby's arm. The one at 12 Sunday was just slightly longer than a roll of quarters.

If I didn't know better, I'd say all this TMZ and divorce and watching millions circle the drain is giving him a case of … (whisper this part) … the yips.

If not, then he really is close now. What the country will do when he wins -- which is going to be soon -- who knows? America will forgive anything if it comes with a big sparkly trophy.

The scoreboard will say that Tiger Woods is still trapped in the longest losing streak of his pro career. He's still handcuffed without a major since the summer of '08.

But at least on this one Sunday in Augusta, he seemed almost free.

Talking football with Archie, Peyton, Eli

Archie Manning, Eli Manning of the New York Giants and Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts
AP Photo/Ed Bailey
It's no good talking about the NFL draft unless you've talked to the first family of the NFL draft -- the Mannings of New Orleans. Dad Archie went second overall (1971) and the two sons (Peyton and Eli) went first overall (1998 and 2004). That's a bigger draft family than the Busches of St. Louis.

I corralled all three of them in one room in Vail, Colo., not long ago. It was a chance for the two brothers to give each other mountainous piles of crap while poor Archie, as usual, officiated.

They talked about growing up Manning, Super Bowl wins, the one rule the NFL needs to change, wedgies, how to cheat on concussion tests and, of course, their infamous ESPN commercial:


Q: You guys were both overall No. 1s. Are you embarrassed to be sitting here with a guy who only went second?

Peyton: Yeah, a little. Plus, Mom went fourth one year in the CFL draft.

Eli: When I was at Ole Miss, I called my dad up one time and said, "Hey, Dad, have you ever looked at your stats here? They're not very good."


Q: They must've been pretty good. They changed all the speed limits on campus to 18 to honor him.

Archie: Yeah, but after Eli made that play to beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl [in 2008], I got about 30 texts from people saying, "They're going to change the speed limit to 10 [Eli's jersey number] now."


Q: Peyton, what do you remember about the Colts taking you?

Peyton: I remember talking to Mr. Irsay [Colts owner Jim] at the combine, and saying, "Tell me what you're going to do." And he said they'd tell me in March. They were making it so dramatic, not making up their mind [between he and QB Ryan Leaf of Washington State]. And finally I was in his office one day and I said, "I would like to play for you but if you don't pick me, I will kick your ass for the next 15 years."

[Archie slaps his forehead]

Peyton: That whole first-round draft choice thing isn't very long lasting. That's what I tell these guys -- just get drafted and then be great.


Q: Who's the best athlete of the three?

Archie: Me. [laughing] I could outrun some guys in my day.

Eli: Me ... I don't know. We're always trying to prove that. I remember one time, I was 17 and Peyton was 23 maybe. He was in college. He was home and we were playing one-on-one [hoops]. And it was just basically tackle basketball. Nobody got an open layup. And whoever lost didn't talk the rest of the day. So he had to go back to college and we promised to have a rematch. So the next time he came home, we went out there for the rematch and the goal was gone. Just gone. Dad took it off the wall. Mom made him.


Q: Who's fastest?

[Archie and Eli laugh knowingly.]

Eli: Peyton has never been timed in the 40.

Peyton: Well, I always had a little hammy problem when it came time to run the 40 times. But my 40 time is not going to make or break it.

Eli: It may break it.


Karl [Eli] gave me a killer wedgie once. Got me up against a wall on a golf trip. He had all the leverage. But it wasn't an atomic wedgie.

-- Colts quarterback Peyton Manning

Q: Peyton is five years older. Did Eli ever get to kick his ass?

Peyton: Absolutely not. But he gave me a killer wedgie once. Got me up against a wall on a golf trip. He had all the leverage. But it wasn't an atomic wedgie.


Q: What about in that ESPN commercial you're all in? [Peyton and Eli roughhouse at the back of a tour of ESPN, much to Archie's disapproval.] Looked like the two of them beat each other up pretty good in that.

Archie: The director says to me, "OK, what would you do if your boys were screwing around like that?" And the boys both said, "We'd get The Look!" So he called action and I got it in one take! People come up to me all the time now and go, ''That's the exact same look my dad used to give me!"

Peyton: It was so not fair. People go, "You got to kick Eli and it looked like it hurt him." But I only got one take. I had to get 10 wet willies from Eli. And an ear infection.

Eli: I just didn't feel like I was getting it right. Not quite getting in there deep enough. So I asked for a few retakes.

Peyton: A few?

Eli: He got about five punches on my shoulder. I said, "Hey Peyton, don't punch me so hard in the shoulder. That's my throwing shoulder." And of course, the next take he just hauls back and really slugs me. After that it was serious. We just started going at it. Pictures were being knocked down along those walls. The director had to cut.


Q: Sounds like that "Saturday Night Live" you did [in 2007], Peyton, when you were strafing little kids with footballs [as part of a United Way spoof].

Peyton: We got out there and I told the director, "I don't know if I can throw the ball at those kids." It was just a Nerf ball that they'd scraped the "Nerf" word off it, but still. And he talked me into doing it. I felt better when I heard a parent of one of the actor kids saying to the director, "Hey, how come he's not throwing the ball at MY kid's face? I want him to throw the ball at my kids' face!"


Q: Eli, you can relate, right?

Archie: Oh, yeah he can. When Eli was 12 and Peyton was 17, Peyton needed somebody to throw to. Cooper had gone off to college [where he was a standout receiver at Ole Miss until a degenerative spine problem ended his career] and Peyton needed to work on his throws. It was kind of comical.

Peyton: It was so sad. I'd be throwing to a person who can't catch.

Eli: I was 12! They'd stuff me in a large T-shirt filled with padding, then stuff a bunch of pillows in there, too. And Peyton's arm had gotten too strong for the backyard, so we had to go out in the street. Our house is in an area of New Orleans where tours go by. And I'd be out there getting slammed by these rocket throws. And people would drive by and think, "What is wrong with this kid who keeps getting hit with balls on purpose?"


Q: Eli was real quiet, right?

Peyton: OK, driving him to school. His school was right on a direct line with my school, so I had to drive him. But I'd have a lot on my mind, right? I'm in high school. I've got a game that night. Test. Whatever. So about 10 times during the year, I'd pull into the school parking lot and realize Eli was still in the backseat. Just sitting there! And I'm like, "Eli, you let me drive right by your school! Why didn't you say anything?"

Eli: Well, I was in fifth grade. I had a lot on my mind, too. Girl troubles.

Peyton: Sheesh.

Eli: And the worst part was, you wouldn't even drive me back. One time, you called a cab!

Peyton: I'd call Mom.

Archie: Eli's gotten everybody back. He's a prankster. He can turn cell phones into any other language in about seven seconds. He'll do it to complete strangers too. Chinese, Japanese.

Peyton: Yeah, he'll borrow some perfect stranger's phone. "Hey, can I borrow your phone?" And he'll change it to German. All the settings are gone. Everything.

Archie: And if you're on a golf trip with him, don't go to bed first. You will wake up with Sharpie marks all over you.

Peyton: Oh, yeah, he'll write across your forehead, color in your ears.

Eli: The best is to draw on the back of their calves, because they won't know it until they're on the golf course. They're wearing shorts and people are going, "What's that?" And it's always some kind of inappropriate drawing.


Q: And yet you'll help him during the season with info on other teams, right?

Peyton: Yeah, except if we're playing each other. But we'll share tidbits about who the other one is playing. Especially if they're playing somebody in the AFC South [Indianapolis' division]. I'll give him all he wants.

Eli: Yeah, like we played Jacksonville and he gave me a few things and we beat them. But then they played the [Philadelphia] Eagles and they lose!

[+] EnlargeEli Manning
Tom Berg/Getty Images
Eli Manning and family at the '04 draft, where he was taken No. 1 by San Diego, then traded to the Giants.

Q: And yet Peyton said one of the proudest moments of his life was watching your Super Bowl.

Peyton: Yeah, Eli's big play in the Super Bowl. I watch it and I'm like, "How did he get that pass off?"

Eli: I remember after that catch, they went to replay. And I said to David [Tyree, the receiver], "Did you catch the ball?" And he goes, "Yes, yes I did." And I said, "Don't lie to me. You're a Christian man, don't lie to me." Because I need to know what the situation is going to be as soon as possible. Are we going to have a third down? Are we going to have a first down? What? Because I've asked receivers, "Did you catch it?" And they'll say, "Yes, absolutely I caught it." And then I'll look up at the replay on the scoreboard and the thing bounces three times before it even gets to him.

Peyton: But you have to watch that [Tyree] play closely, because when he thought there was no way to get out of it, he was about to shovel it to his left guard!

Eli: Well, you get desperate. You're looking for any white jersey. But when I saw the replay, I'm like, "Why is [guard Chris] Snee blocking no one five yards ahead of me?"

Peyton [sarcastically]: You should've passed it to him. Ya'll still would have won.


Q: Archie, do you remember much about Peyton's Super Bowl win [in 2007 against the Chicago Bears]?

Archie: I just remember how hard it was raining. The replay doesn't do justice to rain. I thought Prince would get electrocuted.

Q: The game is so fast and violent. As a dad, do you worry about them?

Archie: When I played, the collisions weren't as bad because the guys weren't in such great shape [like they are] now. Now, they're bigger and stronger than ever. I have two grandsons [He now has three with Peyton's twins arriving March 31]. And I ask myself sometimes: Do I really want them to play?

Q: What did you think last season in the game with the Jets, when blood was just gushing from Eli's head?

Peyton: That was overacting.

Eli: Those 12 stitches weren't overacting.


Q: What do defensive ends say to you after they sack you?

Eli: Sometimes they say, "Hey, I'm gonna see you here again in a few minutes."

Peyton: [Baltimore Raven linebacker] Ray Lewis is such a nice guy, but he has this habit of using your body to help himself up after a sack. You know, he really leans into you in order to get up. ...

Eli: Late hits bug me.

Peyton: Yeah, guys get called for late hits and they get fined --

Eli: Fifteen hundred dollars! These guys have millions! Fifteen hundred dollars? That's nothing!

Peyton: And they can write it off on their taxes! It's like, "I'm so glad that you can write off my broken rib, buddy."


Q: How do you feel about all the new research about concussions that's coming out?

Peyton: They have these new [brain] tests we have to take. Before the season, you have to look at 20 pictures and turn the paper over and then try to draw those 20 pictures. And they do it with words, too. Twenty words, you flip it over, and try to write those 20 words. Then, after a concussion, you take the same test and if you do worse than you did on the first test, you can't play. So I just try to do badly on the first test.

[Archie slaps his forehead again.]


Q: Are we going to have a season this year?

Peyton: I hope so. All I want to do is play football, and I'm running out of time. I can't afford to miss a year. [He's 35.] Eli could make it up, but not me.


Q: So what are you doing during the lockout?

Eli: Peyton and I went in before the lockout started and got everything we need. We're training every day.


Q: Archie, let's finish with you. You had this terrific college and pro career. And then you have three star sons, two of whom grow up to be Super Bowl MVPs. Does it ever just stop you in your tracks?

Archie: You know, I said to [Olivia] one night -- I was in bed, reading something about the boys in a magazine -- and I said, "Honey, we've been married 35 years now. Did you ever, in your wildest dreams, think you and I would have children that would do these amazing things?"

And she said, "Archie, very seldom are you in my wildest dreams."

The escape artist

Seve Ballesteros of Spain passed at 54, but we'll never forget his amazing artistry with a golf club.
As it turns out, there was one jam that Seve Ballesteros couldn't escape.

Ballesteros died early Saturday at 54, from complications of a cancerous brain tumor, but I'll never believe it. In 20 years covering him, I never saw a mess Seve couldn't get out of. He made birdies from parking lots, concession stands, bushes, trees, ditches, weeds you could lose an eighth-grader in, ponds, creeks, flower gardens and even women's purses. I saw him hit shots on his knees, on his tiptoes, stooped over, one-legged and one-armed. The man was 80 proof.

If you were within 100 kilometers of him, Seve was the one player you just couldn't miss. A typical morning conversation in the '80s among golf writers went like this:

Me: Looks like Seve's out of it -- 11 back.

You: True, but it's Seve.

Me: Let's go.

You couldn't miss Seve because (A) you never knew what he was going to do next, and (B) since he never hit any fairways, you'd be standing right next to him when he did it.

He could make birdie from under a Renault. He could make par from places where a lot of guys would require a chainsaw.

"Someday," Ballesteros once said, "they'll play without fairways. Just rough and green. Then I'm sure I will have a very good chance."

He made bogeys that were more thrilling than some guys' eagles. But it wasn't so much what he did with the shot but what he did afterward -- leaping, charging, punching unseen enemies in the sky.

Seve was Arnie with an accent. A conquistador in green pants. He was tan and handsome and raw. Emotion poured from his fingernails. He had so many urgent facial expressions, you'd have thought he was on trial.

You never knew what he'd say. Once he had one of his three brothers caddying for him and he hit an awful shot. He was sure he'd been given the wrong club, and he was hot.

"I am very, very angry!" he chirped at the poor guy. "But not at YOU! I do not blame YOU! No, I blame myself (long pause) for PICKING you as my caddy!"

Practically born with a club in his hand, Seve had only a 3-iron for much of his childhood, and he'd play it out of anything. He learned to escape bunkers with that 3-iron, so you can imagine what a wizard he was with a sand wedge. He could get out of a silo with one.
I'll never forget the time we asked him how he managed to four-putt the 16th at the 1988 Masters, where he finished 11th.

He shrugged and said, "I miss. I miss. I miss. I make."

Simple!

Practically born with a club in his hand, Seve had only a 3-iron for much of his childhood, and he'd play it out of anything. He learned to escape bunkers with that 3-iron, so you can imagine what a wizard he was with a sand wedge. He could get out of a silo with one.

We weren't the only ones that loved watching Seve. The greatest players in the world loved it, too.

I remember once Johnny Miller got paired with Seve when Miller was only playing part-time and Seve was still making balata-covered objects appear out of nowhere. It was a blustery day at the British Open, yet Seve shot around even par. Miller couldn't stop talking about it.

"That was one of the most amazing rounds of golf I've ever seen," he gushed. "It was a clinic! If the wind was coming right to left, Seve would carve these perfect 5-yard fades into it. If it was left to right, he'd carve gorgeous draws. The man is a master."

They loved him until they had to play against him, that is. He had such a bloodthirst for match play, it seemed to be all he could do to keep from wrestling you on the first tee.

"I look into their eyes," he once said, "shake their hand, pat their back, and wish them luck, but I am thinking, 'I am going to bury you.'"

He was an infamous gamesman. At Ryder Cups he was always followed by family members who would jingle the change in their pockets or suddenly come down with whooping cough when it was an American's turn to putt.

He'd stop at nothing to win. At the 1995 Ryder Cup, the American Tom Lehman was thumping Seve in singles and it was driving Seve mad. Lehman lagged a putt up to within six inches and then tapped in, out of turn. That happens approximately 500 times in a tournament, but Seve was suddenly irate. He called over a rules official and insisted Lehman replace his ball and mark it. After a heated debate, Lehman did exactly that.

The reason for all this?

"I wanted to use his mark as my line," Seve said.

Seve was a one-man plague of locusts on the United States. Not only did he revive European golf with his luminescent career, but he campaigned to get the Cup moved to other nations -- like Spain -- and then waged the most outrageous winning captainship there in Ryder Cup history in 1997.

He had certain greens mown -- during the rounds! -- without telling the U.S. side, so that only the European players would realize that green was twice as fast as all the others.

Any time there was a ruling to be made, he was there, barking at officials. He either had a turbo on his golf cart or jiggered the governor, because it was twice as fast as American captain Tom Kite's. Although maybe Kite's seemed slower because it was always bogged down by Michael Jordan or George Bush Sr.

Seve's glory days in golf ended the way you knew they would, con el stupido driver -- going 18 holes and hitting one or two fairways, shooting 75-75 -- 150 on Thursday and Friday with 50 putts. He had the reverse yips and it was over. The Fun Meter was on Empty.

Severiano Ballesteros was the most distinctly original player I ever had the privilege to watch, and the most heart-stopping. He didn't hit a golf ball; he crashed into it. His swing had miles too much movement, but it echoed his beautiful mind, which gave him the greatest imagination for the game in history.

Who would've believed it? Trouble finally got Seve.

2013年9月21日星期六

I couldn't have done anything better

"It was definitely the most nerve-wracking thing I have ever done," Collins said. "I can't really compare the feeling to anything else. I have played through nationals and all of that stuff, and the emotions aren't quite the same."

Kenoyer and Collins competed against each other in junior and high school golf in Fort Lauderdale. The duo renewed that rivalry in the third episode when they competed against each other in a stroke challenge event won by Collins.

"I couldn't have done anything better," Kenoyer said. "Taylor just outplayed me. She is a great player. We've been going back and forth beating each other since high school and through college. I knew that she was going to be a competitor when I came out here and she rolled one in."

Kenoyer returned home from Mexico with a different feeling than most competitors who participate in the show.

"A lot of people will go on as a last-ditch effort before they end their careers, but for me, it was a jump-start for my career," Kenoyer said. "I was just kind of starting out my first full season on tour, and I thought this would catapult my career to the next level. My college coach (Sara Lynn Sargent) had been on it."

Collins said the reality show routine took some getting used to as the contestants had to get up each day at 4:30 a.m., have microphones put on and then go through a routine that kept them in front of cameras until 10 p.m.

"You were really exhausted," Collins said. "You were sitting out in the sun all day. It was a mental thing because you knew everyone else was doing it, and it was your only option, and you just had to stay strong."

Collins, who helped coach St. Thomas Aquinas' girls' golf team this past year, enjoyed being in a team environment for the first time since college.

"It was a different approach to golf," Collins said. "It wasn't just you that you were playing for; you didn't want to disappoint your teammates. It was also tough because you also had no control when your teammates were performing."

Neither golfer was allowed to divulge the results of the show. Kenoyer said she hasn't even told her parents.

"I want people to be interested," Kenoyer said. "I want it to be exciting. I don't want to tell my family or my closest friends because I want people to be on the edge of their seats every episode. It is more fun that I know the results and nobody else does."

Golfing duo gets a 'Big Break'

Broward women tee it up south of the border as part of challenging reality show

June 16, 2013|By Gary Curreri, Special Correspondent

For Stefanie Kenoyer, it was like nothing the golfer from Lighthouse Point had ever experienced.


She and Fort Lauderdale's Taylor Collins were among the contestants on Golf Channel's "The Big Break" reality show, which was taped earlier this year but is currently airing on the network.


"It is a different pressure," said Kenoyer, who along with Collins was among 12 professional golfers involved in the 19th season of "The Big Break" from IBEROSTAR Playa Paraiso Golf and Spa Resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico.


The show began airing at 9 p.m. Mondays starting May 13. There are 12 episodes.


The contestants followed a mixed-team format featuring various golf-related skills challenges, with the ultimate winner receiving his or her "big break" — an exemption to compete on the pro tour.


"The pressure on 'The Big Break' is high because in a normal golf tournament, you have 54 holes or 72 holes to make up for your mistakes," said Kenoyer, 24, who played high school golf at Cardinal Gibbons and Westminster Academy. "On the show, you literally had one chance, and your team is counting on you. I felt more pressure (than when) I played in the U.S. Open."


Kenoyer, the lone contestant on the show to have competed in a major championship — the 2009 U.S. Women's Open — knows what it is like to play in front of large crowds and cameras, yet this was a different experience altogether.


"I still felt my hands shake and my heart beat out of my chest," said Kenoyer, who is playing full-time on the Symetra Tour with a renewed sense of confidence and passion following the experience. "I can't tell you what a positive experience (the show) has been for my career."


Collins, who turns 24 this month, had to keep her selection a secret from December to April. She told friends that she went to England to visit a friend.


"It was really difficult because I disappeared for four weeks, and no one knew where I was and I couldn't tell them," said Collins, who played at St. Thomas Aquinas High School and helped Nova SoutheasternUniversity win three National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II titles.


Collins, who set a scoring record with her 10-under 278 while winning the national championship in 2011 as a member of NSU's women's golf team, said the spotlight seemed much brighter in Mexico.


"It was a lot more stressful than what I expected," Collins said. "The first few challenges, I thought, 'Wow, this is intense.'"


Collins said having as many as 15 cameras and 50 crew members following your every shot and wearing a microphone daily during filming also was a challenge.

There will also be three live news-oriented shows

There will also be three live news-oriented shows, according to Michael Whelan, vice president of production. A preview show called Golf Today that will air before tournaments. "It's our version of theNFL Today," Whelan said. A post-game show that will bring you behind the scenes after the other networks have already cut away. And Golf Central, "our version of ESPN's Sportscenter," a nightly wrapup of golf news, notes and highlights.

Overkill? Perhaps. After all, what are we going to learn on Golf Today that we didn't know from Golf Central: What Mark McCumber had for breakfast? But Golf Channel executives are banking on golfers' insatiable appetite for golf and healthy disposable incomes.

"I've read that we have barebone production and nothing could be further from the truth," said Whelan, formerly with HBO Sports. "Every tournament we have 11 cameras and 6 tape matchines. We will have quality production and high standards. For $4.95-6.95 a month, people will expect as much."

Until I can actually get The Golf Channel, I'm not expecting anything at all.

LPGA tees off

The LPGA season got under way this week with the Chrysler Tournament of Champions in Orlando. There will be no LPGA stop in South Florida this year for the first time since 1965. That's because next week's HealthSouth Classic moved from Lake Worth to Orlando. Outgoing LPGA Commissioner Charles Mechem says one of the priorities of his last year is finding a sponsor for a new South Florida event.

Another Mechem priority: filling in the early season gaps that have created Winter Recess. After playing in Orlando the next two weeks, the LPGA has only one event the following six weeks, Feb. 16-18 in Hawaii. After that the tour resumes March 9-12 with the Ping/Welch's Championship in Tucson, Ariz.

On the course, Betsy King and Amy Alcott will continue their quest for elusive win No. 30 that would get them into the LPGA's Hall of Fame. There is talk of changing the eligibility requirements, but King and Alcott want to get in the old-fashioned way, by earning it. King has been stuck on 29 since November 1993, Alcott since March 1991.

Bump-and-run

Raymond Floyd is going to stick with the round bellies this year. He'll play the Senior Tour's Royal Caribbean Classic at Key Biscayne Feb. 3-5, close to his Indian Creek home. Last year, Floyd played the PGA Tour's AT&T National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach with his sons Robert and Raymond Jr. ... The 63rd Ione D. Jones/Doherty Cup will be held Tuesday-Saturday at Coral Ridge Country Club in Fort Lauderdale. The prestigious women's amateur event will have a format change: only 32 will advance to match play, not 64. Leslie Shannon of Fort Lauderdale, a three-time winner, is defending champion. ... Weekly tickets for the Royal Caribbean Classic are available for $25. For information call 305-365-0365.

--

Even if you are golf junkie

Even if you are golf junkie enough to want to pay $4.95-6.95 per month for this premium service, you can't. Not if you live in golf-intensive South Florida. Not even if you live in golf-intensive Orlando, where the Golf Channel and its 160 employees are based.

Not one cable system in South Florida or Orlando will offer the network when it debuts on Tuesday. According to Gene Pizzolato, senior vice president for sales and marketing, distribution is hampered by channel limits on many cable systems.

"Channel capacity is an issue," Pizzolato said. "We've gotten a lot of positive response and feedback from cable companies, but until systems are upgraded and expanded, we might have to wait to get on."

Many cable companies still have older systems that limit the number of offerings. Pizzolato said some are reluctant to pull an existing channel for a new one.

"We have the funding for staying power," Pizzolato said. "This isn't a sprint. It's doesn't matter how many people we're able to reach on Jan. 17. What I care about is where we're at in 36 months."

Asked how many households the network can reach when it debuts, Pizzolato offers a vague "several million."Cable systems in San Diego, Phoenix and parts of New Jersey will offer it. It is also available on satellite dishes and DirecTV.

"By the end of the year, we'd like to be available to 12 million homes and have 600,000 subscribers," Pizzolato said. "By the end of 1995, we expect to have a very strong presence in Florida."

Pizzolato said talks are ongoing with several local systems, and that the Golf Channel could be available in parts of Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach and Delray Beach by March.

The irony is $60 million of the network's $80 million seed money comes from six of the 11 largest cable companies in the country, including Continental Cablevision, Comcast, and Cablevision Industries. Once channel capacity increases and systems are upgraded, the network will be offered on many more systems, Pizzolato said.

In the meantime, here's what you'll be missing. Opening night will feature Golf Talk Live, a Larry-King type call-in show, with guest Arnold Palmer (a Golf Channel investor). The network plans to cover 72 tournaments from the PGA, LPGA, Nike, European PGA and Australian PGA Tours. It will also offer 2-3 hours of instruction a day, broken up into 30-minute shows.

2013年9月17日星期二

Masters Tournament Badges

Each April, the world's best come together to tee off for their location in history, at the Masters Golf Tournament. The Master's kicks off the starting of a brand new season for professional golfers. With Dogwoods and Magnolias in complete bloom, perfectly maintained greens padded with tall stately Georgia Pines provide the picturesque backdrop for the greatest and most prestigious occasion in golf.

Winning the Masters will change a golfer's lifestyle permanently. A lot of the greats have shined right here including Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Tom Watson and Tiger Woods. And some have unexplainably gone and never experienced success - specifically Greg Norman, who's played in five Master's tournaments and never won.

That is the ticket

Everybody who has a passion for golf desires the opportunity to encounter the Master's, but exactly where do you get tickets?

If you are not fortunate enough to possess season passes, the best and most safe way to guarantee quality tickets is through a trustworthy and experienced ticket broker/agency. They offer one-day ticket passes, weekend ticket passes, practice round play, VIP parties and wonderful packages that include tickets towards the events, initial class transportation, four star dining and accommodations that range from a fundamental hotel room to a 15,000 square foot home.

And what ever you do, don't throw those tickets away once the occasion is over. "Tickets are heirlooms." Eric O'Brien, long-time Masters fan says, "Going towards the Masters is a family tradition. Old tickets are passed down together with the great stories that go with them."

Method to go!

Obtaining into the Master's isn't cheap but worth every penny. Right here is some advice on methods to optimize your experience from some "old pros".

Food. Come hungry since the concession stands get an A + from customers for taste and high quality. Even though the tickets are expensive, once inside, a soft drink will be about .35 cents and those well-known sandwiches, egg salad, ham & cheese, or the house specialty pimento cheese, are still only about $1.00. Of course there are also numerous excellent restaurants in the area.

Shops. The Masters logo is recognized worldwide so don't forget visit the two "outdoor golf shops." The one in the primary gate will be the large one - every Masters souvenir you can believe of may be discovered there. In the back gate - on the back of hole five, gate 10 - is where a smaller sized shop is located. People line up to get in each shops to purchase golf shirts, sweaters, hats, seats, glasses, briefcases, screensavers, and calendars - something using the logo. A good tip is to visit these at the finish from the day, so you don't need to carry your buy around with you.

Attire & Etiquette. Spectators from the Masters dress in golf shoes/attire as a sign of respect for the game. The Masters Tournament is an international competition and the contestants are invited guests. Everybody should be treated with courtesy and respect.

Everybody is requested to display the proper customs of etiquette, decorum and behavior, and to obey all Tournament policies, signs and verbal directions of Tournament officials.

For the safety of everyone, and in maintaining with policy established at major sporting occasions, running is regarded as to be unacceptable behavior.

In fairness to spectator access and viewing, only 1 stool/seat will probably be permitted per person entering the grounds. Seats in observation stands aren't to be reserved and stools/seats aren't to be unattended for any inordinate length of time.

Cell phones, beepers and other electronic devices are strictly prohibited on the grounds at all times. Cameras are strictly prohibited on Tournament days. Anybody violating this policy will probably be subject to removal from the grounds and the permanent loss of ticket(s).

Play. Learn the spectator holes. The Masters program is set up so you are able to see several holes from several places. The Spectator Guide, which is given out at all entrances, will show you how you can find the very best holes for spectators.

Get a paring sheet - which will show you how you can spot groups on the golf program. In the event you wish to see somebody in specific, the paring sheet will help you plot out your technique to obtain a good view.

Immediate Advice In Golf Swing Resources - Insights

Are you a beginner when it comes to golf? If you feel lost in regards of where to start learning how to play or how to swing, then you are not alone by any means. That is a completely rational feeling to have, but the solution is below. Read those tips to learn how to play golf.

A helpful tip when it comes to golf is to see if you can borrow clubs from a friend or course before investing any money in equipment. This is important because it is a way to find out if golf is right for you without wasting any money at all.

If there is a chance that your tee shot can roll to the group in front of you, then refrain from taking the shot. Shots too close to other players can result in injury or anger, making a relaxing game turn quickly into a day of stress. Instead of hitting into the group in front of you, take a couple extra minutes or allow someone who hits the ball shorter to go ahead of you.

Looking up while you are hitting the ball is a terrible mistake and makes a bad shot. Don't look up to see where the ball is going until you actually hit it. Looking up moves your body and misaligns your swing which in return modifies the impact between the club and the ball.

In order to get the most out of your golf swing, avoid being over-active with your legs. The legs are important in shifting your weight and providing power, but by overdoing it you take away from the speed that is generated by whipping your wrist through the moment of impact, making excess leg speed a detractor of distance.

If you are trying to get more distance out of your shot you should point your toes out and widen your stance. Complete the back swing to put your club in the right position. Practicing these techniques will ensure that you will get more distance out of your golf shot. Try Try THESE Out for up to date recommendations.

A helpful tip when it comes to golf is to work on your putting on your own time, in the privacy of your own home. This will take the pressure off of you and allow you to hone this skill, without having to pay any additional money. You can do this by either using a simple method of hitting a ball into a cup or by using more advanced ways, such as, getting your own putting system with an automatic ball return.

As stated before, golf is commonly played by many people around the world. The rules of golf require winners to have the lowest score among players, making golf a different game than other sports. Provided that you have a ball and clubs, you can play golf. If you remember the advice from this article, then you should be able to play golf.

The Actual Value Of A Good Custom Golf Bag

The Actual Importance Of A Good Custom Golf Bag

Very few things are more important to a golfer than a great custom golf bag. First off, custom golf bags are available in many styles along with a wide variety of colors. You are able to choose a bag for style, features or choose a color to match your mood.

Many possess legs that fold out when they are placed on the floor and stand upright so the golfer doesn't have to bend down and pick it up. That is a nice feature in golf bags, particularly when the golfer tends to walk the course, as numerous do. There's lots of bending to be done whenever a golfer is trying to remove an obstacle from around his or her ball, or to get the ball out of the cup, so any way to avoid bending over is more than appreciated.

All custom golf bags have compartments exactly where the golf clubs are to become placed. Every golfer has their own way of doing this and putting clubs exactly where she or he desires them. Some golfers, although, are lazy and just stick their clubs within the compartments, grabbing whichever 1 they want whenever a particular club is required. But, some golf bags have tubes to safeguard the club grips. They are nice to possess. With the tubes, a golfer can get his or her clubs out simpler. The clubs are never tangled up, and also the grips last a great deal longer.

Another essential element in selecting a custom golf bag will be the quantity of pockets it has. Frankly, there's no such thing as too many pockets in a golf bag. First, 1 of the pockets will be used to hold the golf bag's hood. The hood is used to keep the clubs and bag from obtaining drenched when it rains. An additional pocket will be used to keep additional towels (think it or not, extra towels are important within the summer to keep the sweat off the brow and out of the eyes, along with maintaining the hands relatively dry. Then, there is the pocket utilized for keeping the additional golf tees and possibly the divot tool. Lastly, a pocket is required for the golf balls themselves, and it doesn't hurt to possess a pocket to carry an additional dozen balls in, just in case.

Some courses are so challenging it is easy to shed a lot of balls throughout 18-holes of play. This tends to make having an additional box of balls about a good factor, but there needs to be somewhere in the golf bag to help keep them, which means an additional pocket.

Envision trying to play golf without a bag. The golfer would be constantly stooping over picking up clubs, tees, balls, towels and the divot tool. Then she or he would have to walk towards the ball, drop all of the clubs and stuff, choose a club, hit the ball, and start the procedure all over again. It would be a major pain in the neck, and would make it almost impossible to finish playing a round of golf. So, custom golf bags are an essential part of the game of golf.

Deciding On The Ideal Custom Golf Accessories For your Game

Selecting The Right Custom Golf Accessories For your Game

When it comes time to purchase your very own custom golf accessories you will find that the choice can be pretty overwhelming. There are hundreds of different pieces of custom golf accessories out there in the marketplace and many different companies make them all. How on earth are you currently to select the best possible golf accessories whenever you are a relative newbie tot he game of golf?

The very best answer to this very important query is for you personally to complete your homework. Before you invest in any custom golf accessories you need to find out what all your options are. That means study. Check into the various brand names which are available to determine if they're really worth the extra cash. Some of the brands are all about hype and their custom golf accessories is no better than the equipment sold for a fraction from the cost. Discover what costly items are just about the name and which pieces of golf accessories are actually worth what they're charging you for them. This really is important to selecting the proper golf gear for you personally and your golf game.

You have to do some speaking to other people who play golf as well. Speak to those who have no bias for or against certain businesses. Ask them what they use for their golf equipment and why. What brands do they hate having a passion and which do they really like? Create everything down to ensure that you are able to attempt to come to some kind of common understanding about the various brands of golf equipment out there.

The internet is a potent tool whenever you are looking to buy some new golf accessories. You can discover a huge selection of reviews that can make all the difference when you are buying your new golf accessories. This is an excellent way to find out any from the major flaws in particular items which you know you will not have the ability to reside with whenever you are playing golf.

Shopping online for the golf equipment is excellent not just because you are able to discover so many items about every kind of golf equipment but additionally because you'll have the ability to find the best costs as well. You can get the lowest possible prices on all of your golf equipment in the event you shop online. By comparison buying you can get your golf gear for a fraction of the price you would pay at your nearby golf shop. And you can compare the prices at a huge selection of various shops all in a matter of minutes. When was the last time you could do that in person? Most likely by no means correct? Just think of all the money you will save on gas alone when buying for the golf equipment this way. And the time, you can be brushing up in your swing at the club with all that time!

2013年9月16日星期一

Details For Golf Gear Examined

Golf was first played back in 15th century Scotland. It is a game with a long history and a long way to go before you can master the game. The ins and outs of learning how to play golf could fill a book. Here's a few tips to help you get started on improving your game.

Consider planning a golfing holiday. By combining your annual vacation abroad with your favorite hobby, you are likely to have a very good time while away from home. When you play golf abroad, you will get to try out different golf courses and whether condition. You could also play golf with some new people and pick up some new techniques.

To prepare for a golf tournament, the day before you should get some light exercise, such as swimming. Get a massage or spend the evening in your massage chair relaxing. Turn in early. The next day, begin your day with stretching and a light jog or walk. Shower, focus and head out to win your tournament.

Be sure to keep your pace steady on the green. Unless you are the only one on the course, it is good etiquette to stay at a steady pace to avoid making people behind you wait or by making someone in front of you rush. If you must slow down let the group behind you play ahead. Look at You could try these out for well-rounded tips.

When you take a golf swing, remember to keep your hands and arms relaxed. The strength for your swing is not centered in the hands and arms. Your strength comes from your core muscles, your abdominals, and your back. Putting too much force in your arms can ruin your swing.

Use sneaker style golf shoes for golfing in the summer when the weather is hot and dry. They have good ventilation and are lightweight. In the winter or other damp seasons, opt for traditional leather golf shoes that can be waterproofed and will provide your feet with more protection.

If you have trouble with balls landing in bunkers, stop trying to avoid them. Just embrace the fact that you sometimes wind up in there. Look at the silver lining in the fact that bunkers are usually close to greens, and it means you're closer to the hole. If you are good at landing at bunkers, get equally good at getting out of them. It can be a counter-intuitive way to get to the green in two or three strokes, but even if your opponents are laughing at your methods, they can't laugh at your scores.

You really don't have to be President or rich or in any position of privilege to be a golfer. The wealthy and powerful enjoy the game simply because it's an enjoyable game that anyone can play. Make sure that you're using what you learned here to improve your game. Take a few strokes off and work on your swing!

Pre Wedding Activities

Planning pre-wedding activities is a little something extra that's not required, but certainly fun and entertaining for the guests. If the bride and groom keep in mind the distance some guests have traveled and keep activities relevant to that level of fatigue, they're sure to hit on some winning activities.

As you go about planning activities for the wedding, keep in mind other factors as well. Do many people have children with them? Will you provide childcare or will the children be participants in the activities? If you have several guests who are older, perhaps activities can be tailored in a ay they can participate as well.

Some of the more popular pre-wedding activities include things like a group manicure. All the women in the wedding party or ho are close to the bride (and certainly this could include men if they like manicures and want to hang out with the ladies) head to a nail salon and get their nails done. This can be relaxing for many women and provide a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of the wedding weekend. The men might choose to golf or play a game of tennis while this is going on.

Many brides and grooms choose to provide structured activities for their guests prior to the wedding. If the wedding is on a Saturday night, for example, they might choose to provide a Friday activity, especially if most guests are local to the wedding. You might have a wedding luau. Many times pre-wedding activities center around bachelor and bachelorette parties, but what about a stag party that includes all the members of the brides and grooms families? You could plan some fun (and appropriate) games and head out to a restaurant for a night of fun and games. Be sure to limit the drinking and carousing as this might not sit well with some family members.

Here is a fun activity that can be done right before the wedding. Have someone begin a gift basket. The theme of the basket is "advice for the couple" and could be started by the best man or maid of honor. They take the basket to someone else's house, perhaps an aunt or cousin and leave it on the doorstep. That person adds an item (a book on how to end spousal arguments? Or a CD of romantic music?) and brings the basket to someone else's house. This activity can begin a week or two before the wedding and everyone should know it is coming around.

The basket can also be circulated the weekend of the wedding, but this ill only work if everyone is local and if they know the basket is coming. In this case, it also might be helpful to have someone bring the basket to a house, collect the item and the take the basket to the next location, reducing the need to have each person take the basket to its next location. Once it's full, someone can be in charge of putting the basket items together, wrapping it all up to make it look nice and bringing it to the bride and groom. It can be delivered right to the wedding as a gift in and of itself.

Simple Tips On How To Be A Good Cook

Think of cooking as a relaxing hobby, instead of a boring chore that must be done every day. With good information and equipment and a little advice from a friend who is a good cook, anybody can learn to cook. You are sure to find some of that quality advice in the article that follows.

When you cook a simple meal, use fresh seasonings and herbs. Dried herbs, such as oregano and basil, can work if your dish has many complex flavors. Fresh herbs though, are optimal to use if you want a more natural taste when consuming. It is possible to have an herb garden no matter where you live. The garden will allow you to have fresh herbs available at all times.

Be sure that the butter you use when creaming it for cookies and sugar is softened, not melted. If it does melt, put the bowl in the freezer long enough for it harden a little bit, or when you are done mixing the ingredients together refrigerate the dough. Cooler dough will prevent your cookies from spreading too much.

Measure your cooking oil! Measuring amounts into a cup when cooking instead of pouring guess amounts straight from the bottle lowers the fat you put into your dish. Measuring the oil will let you closely examine how much oil you are using.

Many of the most popular fruits become brown when exposed to air: apples, bananas and pears, for example. You can use salt water and lemon to avoid browning, but for added flavor, when you have sliced the fruit, dip it in pineapple juice. Just one dip in your selected preservative is all it takes; no soaking is required.

There is a secret to thicken up your weak sauce. Mix one tablespoon of starch and two tablespoons of water. Use this solution to instantly thicken any sauce. Be sure to gradually stir in the solution, and frequently stir the sauce so that it does not become too thick.

Make your own dried tomatoes. You can do this by cutting ripe tomatoes into 1/2 inch thick slices, or by cutting Roma tomatoes in half lengthwise. You should place them on cooling rack, and salt them lightly with the cut side up. Heat your oven to 190 degrees and place the tomatoes inside for as long as ten hours. You can then freeze your tomatoes in Ziplock bags. Dried tomatoes could also be put in a jar with fresh herbs and topped up with olive oil. Keep it refrigerated and use it within two weeks.

If you are looking for ways to include more protein to your daily diet, look no further than beans and tofu. You can find these ingredients easily and incorporate them to many different recipes. Tofu is great meat alternative when baked, broiled, or pan-fried with seasonings. For a tasty bean dish, simply boil them with your favorite herbs.

You should slice meat thinly and also on the bias when cooking stir-fry dishes. It is possible that you may have a little trouble doing so in a time efficient manner. Remove the meat when it is firm but before it freezes, and cut at an angle of 45 degrees against the grain.

Fresh herbs in a meal are delicious. Bunch them together and then use a pair of scissors to snip them. This will prevent them from clumping together and they will be drier than when you chop them.

The ability to cook will always come in handy, whether you want to feed your family or romance a prospective beau. It's common across all world cultures to celebrate special occasions with food. If you take the information provided here, you will get a head start on becoming a proficient cook for any event that you want to participate in.