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Saturday, March 19, 2011

Much More To Come



I have so much going on these days but also have a few things stacked up that I need to share. I'll be getting caught up this week. Check back here for book reviews, surf session reports, philanthropic reports, and quite a bit more.

Have a great weekend!

Monday, March 7, 2011

A Special Deal From Our Sponsor - Photo Ball Marker



Our favorite sponsor - Photo Ball Marker - has come up with a special deal for the readers.

To celebrate our breaking the 1000 mark in Twitter Followers we have set your promo code to give Free Shipping in addition to $5 off this week only.

That sets the price for our Three Photo Set for people going through your ads at $20 (Our Price through Our Web Site is $24.95 + $4.95 = $29.90). It will be good through Sunday, March 13, 2011 and then go back to the normal $5 off.

To get this deal you only have to scroll down a bit and click through the ad on the side bar for Photo Ball Marker and the promo code is pre-populated.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Book Review: Derek Jeter: From The Pages Of The New York Times



Okay, let me just start this out by saying that I am the FARTHEST thing from a Derek Jeter fan. I'm even farther away from that from being a Yankees fan. This girl is a Los Angeles native that has been a Dodgers fan from the day she discovered baseball. Yes, that means I am accustomed to being in somewhat of an abusive relationship. At least my hometown has a team. I got that going for me.

At any rate, this is post is not about me, it's about the beautiful hardcover book I was sent to review. I was told:

Drawing on over 5,000 New York Times news articles and features, dozens of classic photos and the masterful design of publisher Harry N. Abrams, DEREK JETER: From the Pages of the New York Times is a fitting and attractive chronicle to one of the great players in major league history.


This book is really quite attractive and awesome for Jeter and Yankees fans. I would go so far as to call it a "must have" for that group. Even everyday baseball fans will also enjoy this narrative that chronicles his career from high school days through the 2010 season.

You can flip to nearly any page and get an interesting tidbit about this future Hall of Fame shortstop. For example, one interview piece quotes Jeter as claiming to want to play shortstop since his dad did in college. You know, because when you're young you always want to be like your dad.

This book is a great compilation of Jeter's accomplishments to date with an abundance of full-color pics and quick factoids to keep even the shortest attention spans interested.

You can get your copy here. Check it out!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Have You Tried Deal Pop?



Hey Los Angeles readers - this one's for you so pay attention if you like local sports bars:


Have you tried Deal Pop? It's one of those deal sites where you can get major discounts on food, spa services, and the like. They contacted me today to help them highlight the latest deal for the L.A. area.

The deal is for a new sports bar called The Varsity and if you go to the Deal Pop link and you can get $20 worth of food and drink for $10. Also, if you enter the code VARSITY20 then you'll get the deal for only $8. Yes, I bought one and am looking forward to checking this place out, especially since they have a dog-friendly patio!

*This is a sponsored post

The Importance of Betting in Sports



Today’s world of sport is not ruled by frenzied fanatics dressing up in team attire and cheering on their favorite athletes. Sports are not even really controlled by respective athletes either, save some up-and-coming sports not yet in the mainstream. More than anything, it is the almighty dollar the rules sport, and thus money precedes any sport’s global success and thus dictates its path.

Money comes not only from fans and sponsors but also from the betting world. Just like those Wall Street guys playing the futures and derivatives game as a separate sport while the housing market ignited and eventually went supernova, millions of gamblers from the across the globe put their “stock” in sport by way of sports-betting.

Sure, a US casino online or a place like Vegas gets the most notoriety for gambling – games like blackjack and the one-arm bandits. But holding equal ground is the world of sports-betting.

The point: the culture of money surrounding a sport, i.e. its monetary potential, is, more than anything, responsible for a sport’s rise.

Take the game of Texas Hold’em, for example. Here you have a game where the primary purpose is, already, to gamble. It’s simple enough, to be sure, and certainly nothing there to make it a “sport,” right?

Well, not so fast. Because of the insane amount of money surrounding the game, the amount of betting potential every card in every hand from every player offers, and the unabashed pursuit of the prize, poker, seemingly overnight, became an internationally recognized “sport,” with ESPN, the king of sporting news, leading the charge on their central network.

The potential for others outside of the sport to make money was one of the biggest reasons this sport exploded onto the world scene. You’ll find celebrity poker players all over the top 10 online casinos and throughout every major land-based poker room in the country. They’re stars of sport now, and the outside money is what lifted the platform to such heights.

With the potential for betting being so important to a sport’s success, other sports and games hoping to make the leap into the mainstream can take a strong and valuable lesson away from watching the rise of others.

If a sport such as surfing or mountain-biking wants to break away from their respective niche markets, regardless of how strong the niche is, and into the mainstream, the money has to be right. Not only will more fans and more sponsors need to put more money into the coffers of owners and event organizers, but the culture has to be promoted from the outside in by a wave of willing sports-betters showing that there’s a broad market with profit potential for everyone.

Exactly how other sports can get this done is up for debate. But much like horseracing or football, it wouldn’t hurt a niche sport to offer odds like spreads and over-under numbers at the gate. Making it lucrative instead of solely entertaining is the real ticket that sells in all of sport.

*This post contains 100% sponsored content