Sports From Around The World

Imagine placing two flat screen plasma TV’s side by side in your living room smack dab in front of your couch. You’ve got beer, snacks a-plenty and fresh batteries in your clicker.

One TV has an NFL game on and the other has a Major League Baseball game and they both start at the same time.

Besides this being many sports fans’ idea of hog heaven and even better than clicking back and forth between games with only one TV, it’s fun to watch the differences between these two pro sports. Watching the NFL on TV is a weekly ritual; baseball is on every night of the week, but watching the two combined is almost as rewarding as joining a Cowboy cheerleader snuggle-fest.

And that’s exactly what I did recently (not the snuggle-fest, but the two TV’s thing). Here’s what happened:

The football game started with a massive kick to the opposing team, and a line of 250-pound plus men with murder in their eyes started charging after the poor slob who caught the ball. After a few seconds he was crushed by his pursuers, becoming the bottom man in a very scary adult male pig-pile. MLB players tend to be a little mellower and less physical, but all pro players in any sport need to be strong. Football players take steroids, baseball players get caught.

Meanwhile, the MLB game started off a little less exciting. My heart rate and pulse began to slow down as I watched the catcher and pitcher play catch as the batter just stood there spitting and adjusting his crotch. I got quickly bored and turned back to the NFL game.

In a matter of a three minute span two men had been injured, with one having his ankle relocated to his armpit. A touchdown was scored, the ball changed hands twice, and a whole lot of tackling, smashing, crunching and finger-breaking happened.
Football is more of an immediate gratification, ADD-friendly game to watch.

I glanced back at the MLB game for a couple of minutes. Two strikeouts and four fly outs came and went and we were already in the second inning, with little action to show for it. A baseball game is more of a wise-old-man kind of sport, where patience and number-crunching are paramount. It reveres serenity.

Football reveres mayhem. Watching football gets me angry and all charged up. Watching baseball makes me sleepy. In fact, I usually like to watch the first two or three innings, fall asleep, and then wake up to catch the last few innings. Watching football players hit each other full force and light each other up is exciting, and dozing is out of the question. Watching one grown man with ball in glove chase another grown man to tag him in a pickle is kind of funny.

As 10,000 commercials played on the football TV, I had a few minutes to catch up on my MLB game. Finally, in the bottom of the third, a man hit the ball and dropped it in the right field gap for a single. All the baseball players, including the guy running up to first base, seemed quite pleasant. Why not be? They were playing in a nice park, on a nice warm and sunny day and no one had even broken a sweat yet. The batter reached first base and started chatting with the opposing team’s first baseman. They started smiling and having a great time with each other. My lip-reading skills are not what they used to be but I think I saw one say to the other, “Hi Johnny! How’s the wife doing? It’s been a while since we saw her. We’ve got to get together sometime soon.”

Growing restless, I turned back to the NFL game just in time to see one man standing over a writhing and groaning man on the turf. I think I saw his lips yelling, “Hey Bruno, while we were having breakfast together this morning, your wife told me to tackle you into next Tuesday, did I do a good job?”

In the very next play a running back was nailed in a bone-splitting tackle. Indeed, his bone did split, and then protruded right out of his bloody skin causing a wave of nausea to spread over the crowd.

Fascinated but horrified, I quickly turned to the baseball game and witnessed a wild pitch hit the batter on the finger. The batter yelped and had to sit the rest of the game out, his pinky was smarting.

To replace the bone-sticking-out-of-his-leg guy in the NFL game, a bulky player with flowing dreadlocks sticking out of his helmet started lumbering onto the field. He had a huge cast on his arm that looked like a big club. With the hand totally encased, forming a big bulbous weapon, he shook it as his opponents in defiance while possibly struggling to stick one particular finger up, and then reluctantly joined the huddle.

It was nearing the halftime and so many timeouts had been called that they seemed to have run out of commercials to play. So the cameras started scanning the crowd. It was a lot colder where this game was being held, and I could see people’s breath. I also saw a guy in shorts and no shirt who had painted his skin from head to toe in his NFL team’s colors. His head was shaved and also painted, and he was wearing a big pig’s nose on his face.

As I briefly scanned the crowd on the other TV, I saw lots of people in button down, short sleeve shirts, baseball caps and gloves on, waiting expectantly for that ever-elusive foul ball.

The first half started to wind down in the NFL game, and I actively awaited gratuitous shots of hot cheerleaders. I was rewarded with lots of silly pompom waving and cleavage. I then happily turned back to the MLB game but only saw three heavy-set women shoving sausage dogs and peanuts in their mouths.

At halftime I got a chance to go to the bathroom and grab another cold beer and more snacks. There is never a big break in baseball, and every time I go to the bathroom while watching baseball I always miss the big play, which of course happened this time too.

My MLB game continued to plod along when I got back, inducing the unique ball-strike-out hypnotic state that only baseball can cause. I was about to doze off when I was jarred out of my trance by the flashy touchdown dance I saw on my other TV. The guy who just scored was moonwalking across the uprights while flapping his arms like wings. He then proceeded to do a magnificent swan dive which turned into a double summersault with a twist and finally landed perfectly on the field.

I then quickly caught the replay of the big baseball play I had just missed. Someone hit a grand slam, rounded the bases and was greeted by a big, warm, bouncing-in-unison group hug.

After a while, both games ended and I had experienced a full range of emotions. Both games are great to watch and if you can get past the roller coaster ride of stimulation, watching football and baseball simultaneously is a blast. I decided to keep both plasma TV’s in front of the couch permanently

Finally, no football vs. baseball article could be complete without mentioning one of the masters of comedy and this subject, George Carlin. Here’s a quote from Carlin’s famous monologue that inspired this article:

“And finally, the objectives of the two games are completely different:

In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy’s defensive line. In baseball the object is to go home! And to be safe! - I hope I’ll be safe at home! “

Jason OConnor owns and operates NFL and MLB Game Tickets - a place to buy cheap tickets to NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA and NCAA games. Find theater and concert tickets too.

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Here are three more valuable life skills for children who study Karate.

Attraction

Doesn’t everyone want to feel appreciated, popular, and get some recognition? Children need it even more that you do. This is why a child, who has leadership, success, and social skills, will go far among his or her peers. This is one more reason why a child who studies Karate will avoid following the crowd and become a trend setter.

How can a child be so self assured? It comes with inner confidence, achievements, and enhanced athletic abilities. These are all benefits that children gain from regular participation in a Karate class.

Innovation and Creative Thinking

When teaching the children, in our North Providence martial arts studio, I often emphasize the value of the words, “martial artist.” It is the art that really
separates a martial artist from the street fighter.

Otherwise, children would only learn self-defense skills, which is a by product of Karate training, but they also have a moral code. Many life skills are learned within martial arts classes. Children in a Karate class should be encouraged to find solutions that work for them.

Therefore, the young Karate student is not a clone of his or her teacher. After the basics are accomplished, all Karate students should use techniques that work for their mind and body. Karate practitioners are not all “wired” in the same way.

As long as the basic foundations are followed, the child who practices Karate should find independent solutions, just like any other artist. I often compare this to music; and here is my comparison, “I can give you the notes, and teach you songs, but it is up to you to create your own songs.”

Time Management

Children, who practice Karate, or any other martial art, learn to be dressed on time, line up in formation, and remember to bring their equipment. This is elementary to adults, but if your child is slowing you down, Karate is a fantastic solution for the child who needs to manage time a little better.

When this same child grows into adulthood, he or she will be thankful for the lessons in time management, when going through college, working at a job, or raising his or her own children. When learning Karate, children also learn to prioritize the important things in life and establish much better control over time management. The co-worker, or college student, who is habitually late, is rarely successful, and has always left something important “on the back burner.”

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This section covers two extremely valuable life skills that many adults pay a “king’s ransom” to attain. Adults pay a life coach, business coach, or read plenty of self-improvement books, to gain this knowledge and develop these life skills. However, within a Karate class, children can be molded toward a lifetime of achievement.

Success

There are many types of success such as: The power of
influence, mental, physical, spiritual, and material
success. A child can get a strong grasp of most of these types of successes, within the structure of his or her Karate class. Each form of success is valuable in today’s world.

The power of influence is learned through social skills, and children have to work together in order to learn Karate. Children work in pairs, or groups, to accomplish a single goal. Sometimes, the highest ranking child will lead a group, while the Karate teacher (sensei) observes or corrects at certain points.

However, the influential Karate student can be observed voluntarily helping others. This is one of many positive qualities that children learn, which are valuable in their Karate training, and it applies to having influence in life.

Mental success can be academic or something as simple as learning a new martial arts technique. The child who learns to apply his or her success, gained in a martial arts class, toward life outside Karate training, has learned one of the biggest lessons a Karate teacher can give.

Spiritual success is really left up to the parents, but many advanced Karate students learn to meditate. Meditation offers the ability to clear your mind and concentrate on one single concept, object, or idea. At the very least, kids Karate students will learn to be quiet and know how to quiet their minds. This is a relief for parents who desperately need some quiet time in the evening.

Material success arrives when all of the other forms of success work in harmony. A child who has the tools for success, learned within the Karate classroom, will be able to apply them toward school, college, and business. For most of us, success, in life, will not be attained without working at it.

Leadership

As a child attains a higher rank within his or her Karate class, the ability to lead a small group of Karate students is learned. To enhance this quality, we developed a “leadership team.” These children, on the leadership team, have displayed leadership and compassion toward their fellow Karate students.

However, every child within our North Providence kids
Karate program is taught the value of leadership as it
applies to life. There is a time to lead and a time to
follow, but children have to learn to think for themselves for their own safety and success. The power of peer pressure is a heavy burden on the minds of children.

Proper conduct is not always popular with children, but the child with strong leadership skills will not follow the negative path of influence. Children have serious daily concerns about peer pressure, drugs, and bullies. Karate training, and the leadership skills that result from it, will carry your child in the right direction.

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This is the last article in this series, with the last two life skills, and three additional benefits that children receive from attending Karate classes, on a regular basis.

Self-Confidence

Many adults struggle with self esteem, so it is natural that children would also feel a lack of confidence. Also, children of parents who have self-confidence issues will copy their parent’s example.

This is one reason why the self-confidence CD we have in our Pro Shop is so popular with adults. This CD is actually a form of self-hypnosis for adults, but Karate is a much more effective self-confidence tool for active children.

So, how does a child find self-confidence through Karate practice? Self esteem is built on a foundation of daily accomplishments that each child experiences within his or her Karate class. This is a form of programming confidence into a child’s personality. As a child becomes more proficient at Karate, self-confidence is not far behind, and will carry into all of his or her activities.

Social Skills

There is such a social skill deficit with children these days. Having manners, showing courtesy, and displaying mutual respect are part of every Karate class. It is nice that we have become “technically advanced,” but we do not have to leave tradition behind. As children grow, the child who displays manners, courtesy, and respect will succeed in life.

A lack of these qualities is considered anti-social, rude, or arrogant - and rightfully so. Some adults who display these forms of behavior do “get by,” but diplomacy can carry us a long way. Therefore, social skills are positively reinforced in each Karate lesson.

Let’s cover a few bonus benefits that children receive from regular attendance to Karate classes.

Self-Defense

“A fly on the wall” would learn adequate self-defense
skills, if it hung around a Karate class long enough.
Children who continue to practice Karate will be able to take care of themselves and should develop enough awareness to stay out of trouble.

Nutrition

Any child, or adult, who practices Karate will excel athletically and will watch what they eat. Within any form of mind and body exercise, proper nutrition is contagious.

Meditation

The “Kata” or (Karate form) is meditation in motion. The adult or child Karate student learns to focus and quiet his or her mind in daily Karate practice. Steady gaze, and breath awareness meditation techniques, is taught to Karate students at our North Providence facility.

Needless to say, children who practice Karate, on a steady basis, will be very well rounded and poised for success in life. If you want to give your child a gift that lasts a lifetime, visit your local martial arts center and find a program that fits your needs.
Compare at least two martial arts schools to make an informed decision.

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Do you want to give your child everything in life you never had? Of course you do; you want to give your child all of the opportunities that you didn’t have. That’s what every responsible parent wants for his or her children. However, it’s hard to keep up with all the new and expensive toys available today.

Can you imagine giving your child a gift that has twelve valuable life skills and one more benefit - on top of those twelve skills? As you already know, it’s not the latest ipod or Xbox, but your child will be very successful in life, as a result. You may have heard all this talk about life skills before, but the explanations were vague, so let’s make the explanations and results clear.

Life Skills are the self-improvement skills that we, as adults, need in order to be more successful in life; but children and adults can acquire them in a Karate class. Adults usually visit the self-improvement section of a library, bookstore, or shop on the Internet, to reprogram their minds for success. Sometimes, adults stay with a self-improvement program, and many times - they don’t.

For children in their formative years, Karate classes have a very positive impact, and shape their lives toward a path of continuous achievement. Children will stay with a self-improvement program, such as Karate, as long as they get transportation.

Positive Thinking

Within a typical Karate class, children learn to think
about the next hurdle in life. The only hurdle to focus on is the lesson plan that their Karate instructor presents for the day. This could be as simple as learning, or reviewing, a few Karate techniques. Once this has been accomplished, any child can walk away from his or her Karate class with a very positive feeling of gratification.

It is this repetition of focusing, learning, solving, and accomplishing that contributes to the positive mind-set in all Karate practitioners of all ages. When a parent reinforces these same habits at home, the young Karate student learns that staying positive, in the face of adversity, will yield many benefits and solutions in life.

Stress Management

Children are no different than adults, and they are
subjected to more everyday stress than we were as children. This is why the Karate studio is a haven for children and a place to leave stress behind and focus on simple tasks. For children, Karate class is quality time spent living in the moment, enjoying life right now, without worrying about the past or future.

Karate classes give kids a chance to jump, kick, punch, and shout at the appropriate times. Many times, I mention to the children at our facility, in North Providence, that they should take advantage of the times when they can shout. Within the structure of a kids Karate class, there is a time to speak up, and a time to listen, in order to get the most out of each Karate lesson.

Through steady Karate practice, children learn to put
stress aside and focus on getting the most out of life. They also learn that when stress comes their way, it’s time to work on solutions rather than become depressed about them. Young karate students accept stress for what it is, and rise to the opportunity to become successful in life.

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At first glance, Martial Arts and Yoga seem like opposing forces and philosophies, but these two health maintenance systems have more in common than meets the eye. For a moment, consider the similarities between Tai Chi and Hatha Yoga. Within the warm up, you notice very similar movement, philosophy, and principles.

Why does “climb the mountain” stance look so much like
Warrior I posture? Is it coincidence, luck, or a common link? Why does Kundalini have movements that resemble punching, kicking, and martial arts foot work? Are Kung Fu forms an extension of Vinyasa? Each has been referred to as meditation in motion.

The place of origin, for most Asian martial arts, is agreed to be the Shaolin Temple. Apparently, the monks at the Shaolin temple had become very proficient at meditation, but had not developed a health maintenance system to sufficiently train their bodies.

In the sixth century A.D., Bhoddidharma, a visiting
Buddhist monk, from India, began to teach the monks at the Shaolin temple, in Hunan Province, a form of physical health maintenance, which is believed to be Yoga. It is also said that Boddidharma was a member of the Warrior caste. Therefore, he should also have had working knowledge of Kalarippayat; an indigenous Indian Martial art.

Boddidharma is said to have reached a level of meditation that was very advanced. The body can be trained to a point, but the mind should also be trained as well. This is a cornerstone to all martial arts training. How often have we heard about the three conflicts of mind, body, and spirit?

This is why each martial arts school should encourage a Yoga class. The healing aspect of Yoga is very beneficial to all martial artists - regardless of their style. Some martial arts centers have incorporated Yoga as part of the class schedule. The reason was to attract mothers, who were hanging around the waiting area, to pick up their kids.

While there is a demand for Yoga classes among women, some martial artists, both male and female, will join in to feel the healing benefits, meditate, increase flexibility, and much more. The fact is, much like martial arts, there are many styles of Yoga.

Some are very physical and demand a lot of endurance. So, there is no end to the possibilities of where the need for Yoga can fit within a martial arts studio. After all these years, it looks like Yoga and martial arts will be together again.

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Here are two more fantastic life skills your child can gain from a kids Karate class.

Goal Setting

Any child, who starts to learn Karate, arrives to class with a few goals in mind. These goals are as simple as learning a new Karate technique, advancing to the next belt rank, and impressing his or her parents. Once a short-term goal is achieved, confidence settles in, and Karate training is a succession of goals.

Therefore, overcoming obstacles, which routinely occur
within martial arts, become “second nature.” Children, who regularly accomplish goals, within their Karate class, learn to accept adversity, set-backs, and disappointments. Finding solutions “under fire” is a routine part of a Karate classes for children. This is extremely rewarding and builds a child’s self esteem to the core of his or her inner being.

Anger Management

Karate class gives children an outlet for life’s daily
stress. Children today have too much stress with unstable family units, bullies, peer pressure, and financial worries. The Karate studio serves as a bridge between academic school and the family unit. Children have a safe place to “vent” their frustrations, when they come into a Karate class.

Many physical education programs, in schools, have been scaled back - and playing out on the street is very unsafe. Karate is safe, physical, and supervised. Kicking and punching bags, or target pads, is just one way for children to get some frustration out of their systems.

Children also learn to count and yell (kia) within the
Karate class at appropriate times. The kia is the sound you often hear when a Karate practitioner demonstrates a breaking technique. The ability to vocalize is an empowering experience for children and a natural part of childhood.

Running, jumping, punching, kicking, and screaming are
normal, but children are often put on prescriptions for being active. Karate gives children a safe and structured solution for managing anger. Many parents, with children in our Karate classes at our North Providence facility, remark that their children sleep better, are more focused on homework, and are more cooperative after a Karate lesson.

If we spent our childhood years with less physical
activity, more stress, and were told to be quiet all the time, we would have anger management issues, as well. Extra energy is a part of youth, and you can easily see this in any species. Youth is full of energy, taking chances, and learning boundaries. This is why “Karate for Kids” is so valuable in developing character within our children today. There is no equal to Karate training, in structure, or in child development.

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Whether you want to believe it or not, we like to watch sports for very different reasons than you may think. In fact, the real things that cause us to like sports are in every person, whether we like sports or not. What things can we learn about human nature by simply looking at our fascination with competition? The answers may surprise you. Not only are the answers interesting in themselves, but they may just help you in other ways too.

There are some fairly straightforward and obvious explanations for why we like sports to be sure. Sports teach us about loyalty, perseverance and honor. It gives us a way to bond, it’s cathartic, and we identify with teams and players. We live vicariously through the players we watch. We have our favorite players, and there are teams we’ve grown up rooting for because our brother or dad used to love them, and now we still root for them today. Or we may follow a sport now that we used to play as a child.

But there are some deeper, more powerful and fascinating reasons too.

We’re All Just Big Children

Whether you want to believe it or not, all adults are just big children. We’re all just big kids. We just hide our true feelings and thoughts with highly developed skills (or at least most of us do). We still want to belong or be accepted by our peers, we all still want to be loved, we still feel emotional pain, and we still find ourselves giving in to immediate gratification when we know better. And yes, some of us still lie and cheat in our normal day to day lives.

We certainly hide things better and often successfully ‘act’ as if we don’t care about belonging, or love, or pain, or whatever. Deep down inside we are a little more mature and wise, but basically still just children. We may not say it out loud anymore, but we still think to ourselves sometimes, “That’s not fair!” We would rather play than work. Some may argue, depending on whether they pee standing up or sitting down, that this is especially true for men. Maybe that’s why there are more men sports fans than women.

You see, watching sports gives us a perfect, safe and secure, black and white, little microcosm of life. Following a player, team or game allows us to experience ups and downs and a whole array of emotions, just like in real life, but we aren’t actually affected.

And unlike life, sports and games are generally fair! There are rules and a crystal clear framework, or paradigm that all the participants and spectators know about. There are never any monkey wrenches thrown into a sports game, like the rules changing mid-game for instance. If rules are broken, the offender is penalized. They don’t frustratingly get away sometimes like in real life.

At the end, there is an unambiguous winner and loser. We get to pretend that the game we’re watching is life, where everything is perfectly fair, everyone plays by the rules and everything makes sense.

Children tend to think of things in much more black and white terms. It is only through living and maturing that we realize that all of life is a series of grays. But we all still long for a simpler and easier life. When things are only seen in black or white, things indeed seem simpler and easier, but life isn’t so clear-cut.

This helps explain why politicians who break their platform down into simple sound bites and into terms devoid of complexity often do better than politicians who talk about life like it really is, a complex, interrelated world of nuances.

Watching sports allows us a temporarily safe and socially acceptable way to be more like our true nature, and our true nature is frighteningly childlike. So the next time you deal with a difficult person, remember that they are just a large child, like you and everyone else, and maybe that knowledge will help you deal with them a little more easily.

What do watching a horror movie and sports have in common?

Ever wonder why so many people, including maybe you, enjoy watching horror movies so much? They provide a safe way for people to experience high levels of suspension without actually being in any real danger. Sports can be the same way. Again, watching sports allows us to enter a perfect world where the suspenseful outcome has no bearing on our real lives (unless you have a nasty sports gambling problem of course).

People love drama, suspension, and resolution, which are all elements inherent in sports. In fact, the closer the game, the more suspension there is. If we identify with a player and he wins, we are vicariously happy for the success. However, if the player’s team loses, we feel the defeat a little as well. But our lives are unaffected. And sports announcers usually only add to the drama and suspension.

A sports game is a sort of story. There is a beginning and an end. There is a protagonist (your team) and an antagonist (the other team). There is a scene and setting, the stadium at noon, and there is a plot, which is the action. Only after the games ends, and depending on if your team won or not, is it decided to be called a fairy tale ending or a tragedy.

Reptilian Brain and War

Whether you want to believe it or not, humans are a lot closer to nature and the animal world than most people like to think. We’re not just close to nature; we’re a part of it! Evolutionarily speaking, we are much closer in time to our unintelligent animal ancestors than we are to a transcended sentient species apart from nature. Our behavior is guided much more by our ‘primitive brain’ than our more recently developed neocortex, which is the seat of our intelligence. The primitive brain, or lower brain function, deals with fight or flight behavior, hunger, fear, and sex, among other things.

A common, yet erroneous concept is that the human brain is the result of billions of years of evolution. Our primitive or reptilian part of the brain is that old, but our brain’s extra large neocortex, the thing that separates us from other mammals, came about only a couple million years ago, a mere drop in the evolutionary bucket. The neocortex has not had much time to develop, and so our primitive brain plays a significant role in our lives.

Our basic flight or fight mentality is manifested in sports. We can relate, on some deeper and unconscious level, with the guy running with the football towards the end zone and being chased by a pack of angry men. We can understand what it feels like to check another player in hockey and slam him into the boards. Or we can sympathize with the NASCAR driver who gets passed by a competitor, but throws it into a higher gear and chases after him.

Our primitive desire for dominance is represented in sports. When our team wins, we experience a sort of dominance over the opposing team and their fans.

Our predatory nature is lit up when we see a linebacker following a running back through a mass of football players, waiting for the perfect moment to strike his prey with a tackle. Watching someone chase the man with the ball in basketball, soccer, or baseball affects us in similar ways.

Our tribal instincts are fulfilled by sports. We all want to belong to something; it’s a basic human need since we are such social animals. We identify with a team like our ancestors would identify with their tribe. This is especially true for the Western world’s modern man, where community has taken a back seat to independence.

Our primitive warring nature is satisfied by sports. There seems to be an innate desire for war, even in so-called ‘modern’ man. Indeed, look at the world today and how many current wars are going on, and you’ll see how far we are to real peace. Pathetically, that last statement holds true for almost any time in history, regardless of when you’re reading this. Again, this goes back to the fact that we are ruled more by our ‘primitive’, survival-driven, fight or flight brain than our reasonable and intelligent ‘modern’ brain.

Every sports game is like a tiny war between tribes, with an end and a declared victor. But there’s one important distinction; unlike war, no one has to die in sports.

One of the reasons going to a game is more exciting than watching it on TV is that there is a kind of energy created when so many people get together and root for one cause. You might even liken it to a mob mentality. We don’t have to look farther than our own stadiums where pandemonium has broken out in protest to a call or in celebration of a win. Sports strongly appeals to the gaming and struggle instincts of humans.

And since our modern lives no longer contain any real physical danger and all our basic needs are immediately taken care of, we now have a void that needs to be filled somehow, our primitive brain expects it. Sports fit the bill. It gives us the illusion of reality where there are no consequences. It gives us the illusion of battle, war, victory and defeat, without the consequences. And it gives us the illusion of being a child again, even if it’s all temporary.

You may not like sports at all, but we are all a quite childlike inside. We all yearn for some level of drama in our lives. And we are all constantly affected by our primitive brain. Watching sports is one excellent way for people to reconcile these inescapable facts.

Jason OConnor has a BA in Psychology and Philosophy and runs NFL, MLB, NHL, & NBA Tickets

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Many golf pros may disagree on various techniques for driving or putting but there in one pint that they all agree with, maintaining your balance during your swing. It is virtually impossible to have a good stroke if you do not keep your balance. It sounds simple enough to do, however in practice we see people making the mistake of gripping to hard and trying to kill the ball which results in your entire body being stiff and off balance.

When teaching a newcomer to play golf, a good golf pro will caution the novice golfer not to attempt to hit the ball too hard. The reason for this is that a focused well placed strike on the ball will result in a much better drive than merely hitting the ball as hard as you can and hitting the ball off center.

One of the most important aspects to insuring a good swing is to keep your head still. This is crucial as the less you move your head the better focus you will have on the ball. This also goes a long way to helping you keep your balance. Again, keep your head perfectly still and don’t move it while you complete your swing.

It is very important that you relax your body and your muscles to keep your balance. Your head will definitely move if you don’t relax.

One good method for developing a good swing is to practice in front of a mirror.
By doing so, you will quickly realize that you need to relax your muscles for your head to stay still while you swing. There are no two golfers with the same build, so you will have to work out some things for yourself. One thing that is not optional is to begin by keeping your head in the same position from the beginning to end of your swing. If you keep your head still, you will be able to focus on the ball, and you will turn your hands at the right time. Keeping your head still will cure many other minor problems

If you don’t follow through correctly, you will not be able to keep your balance.

By concentrating on your balance and keeping your head still, you will not swing too hard or pull your club away. It will be impossible to put too much strength into your swing. You will be relaxed and will have a smooth swing and a successful finish.

Maintaining proper balance is a prerequisite to enjoyment of golf. Unlike some sports, golf is a more long term commitment. It can take some time to begin to see a marked improvement so you must be patient. Just concentrate on relaxing and keeping your balance while keeping your head still and you will be shooting low numbers that will be the envy of your club.

Gregg Hall is a business consultant and author to many online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida. Get personalized golf balls from http://www.personalizedgolfballsplus.com

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Do you want a quick, simple and instant way to increase the amount of weight you can lift on virtually every back exercise you perform? Sound too good to be true? I speak the truth, my friend, and the reality is that if you aren’t utilizing this basic piece of gym equipment you’re missing out on some serious muscle size and strength gains. What tool am I talking about?

A pair of lifting straps!

This is such a basic and highly effective piece of equipment yet so many people neglect to use them. For those of you who are unaware, these are basically a set of thick straps made of extremely strong material that are placed around your wrists and then wrapped around the barbell, dumbbell or cable attachment. The purpose of lifting straps is to “eliminate” your grip from the equation by forming a secure connection between your wrist and the weight. If you use these straps properly you can basically hold onto the bar and perform your exercises while expending almost no energy from your forearms.

Why is this so valuable?

Picture this scenario…You’re performing a set of deadlifts (arguably the most powerful muscle-building exercise known to man) with the goal of performing 8 reps. You psych yourself up, grip the weight and clear the bar from the ground. The set is going well, but by the time you reach rep number 5, the strain on your grip is so great that you can no longer hold onto the bar. You’re forced to stop the set because your forearms reached muscular failure.

What exactly happened here?

Well, you gave yourself an amazing forearm workout! Congratulations! Unfortunately you severely limited the amount of muscle stimulation you could achieve on your back, shoulders, legs, and just about every other muscle in your body that the deadlift targets in the process. This is not a good thing!

Lifting straps completely eliminate this problem by making sure that you reach muscular failure in the major muscle groups that you are intending to target rather than on your forearms and grip. They can be used effectively for almost every back exercise or any other lift where the grip is of concern.

The main argument against lifting straps is the idea that they are a “crutch” and will negatively affect the development of grip strength and forearm size. Let’s get real here. What would you prefer, greater muscle mass and strength in your lats and upper back (and just about every other muscle group on your body) or greater ability to crack open a jar of pickles? Take your pick.

The positive effect that lifting straps will have on your overall muscle mass and strength gains will far outweigh any negative effect that they have on your forearms and grip. Besides, you can easily incorporate specific forearm movements into your routine to develop your grip strength and forearm size. If you aren’t using lifting straps already, get on it! You can find them at almost any store that sells sports or fitness equipment or you can order them online. They sell for about 10 or 15 bucks and are well worth the price!

Sean Nalewanyj is a bodybuilding expert, fitness author and writer of top-selling Internet Bodybuilding E-Book: The Truth About Building Muscle. You can learn more by visiting his website: http://www.MuscleGainTruth.com/

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