Enjoy these demonstrations of figure skating elements and moves that the International Skating Union ISU) has apparently banned from competition. Examples include a one-foot backflip, spinning your partner by their ankles, and even lying down on the ice. Here are the ISU's official rule books.
At last weekend's International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) World Cup, Indonesia’s Aries Susanti Rahayu, aka "Spiderwoman," broke the women's speed climbing record previously set in April by her competitor, China’s Song Yiling. Rahayu bested Yiling's prior record by .106 seconds which, in this game, is a lot. Speed climbing. in which climbers race to scramble a 15-meter wall, will be a new addition to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Below, more highlights from the 2019 IFSC World Cup:
Seems a pro-poker player, Mike Postle, has achieved impossible-seeming results. Other players have put hours upon hours upon hours into analyzing his baffling play. It is like watching someone play with perfect information, they claim!
While nothing definitive has been found, Stones Gambling Hall, a live poker site where the questionable Postle has spent a lot of time live streaming, has stopped using RFID chipped playing cards and hired an investigator.
Spying isn't just for governments!
CNBC:
Read the restIt’s not just that Postle is winning, it’s how he’s winning, that is drawing suspicion. Ingram, Berkey and others have spent hours reviewing hands Postle played and found several times where Postle made a fold or a call that wouldn’t seem “right” but happened to work out in his favor.
Berkey said Postle made plays no pro would ever make, and he did them often, and they worked. Poker is a game of incomplete information. Berkey said Postle played “as if he had perfect information.”
Stones Gambling Hall said it has hired an independent investigator to look into the accusations.
In a statement Stones Gambling Hall said: “We temporarily halted all broadcasts from Stones. We have also, as a result, halted the use of RFID playing cards.”
This is such a beautiful GIF. Read the rest
A gentleman was arrested in Portsmouth, England after punching a police horse during a riot following a soccer game. He apparently was angry that Portsmouth lost to Southampton. It isn't clear why he blamed the horse though. From The Telegraph:
Read the restIn the footage of the aftermath of the first match in seven years between bitter rivals Southampton and Portsmouth, the supporter then attempts to run from the horse, but his path is blocked as he ends up in the arms of a group of police officers with riot shields.
Hampshire Constabulary said a 52-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty and attempted criminal damage. He was later released but remains under investigation.
These days, my 13-year-old son and his friends are all about playing with their Tech Deck fingerboards during lunch at school. This 1999 video "Fingers of Fury!" is from 1999 yet two decades later, kids (and adults) are still fanatic about fingerboarding. From Consumer Time Capsule:
Read the restFamous fingerboarders Darin Langhorst, Damien Bernadet and Tony Pauthex showcase their skills on a variety of obstacles, such as a mini railing, a wooden box and, well, more railings and boxes.
After a two minute and thirty second compilation including all three athletes' arsenal, we're treated to a feature dubbed, "learning how to do what you want your fingers to do," featuring Darin Langhorst. In this section, Darin explains the succession of tricks that you should learn, each supported with slow motion illustrations. After covering the basics, Langhorst describes the importance of ollies: a lifting of the board, using the "g-forces" exerted by your fingers.
The NCAA is notionally an "amateur" league, but the only thing amateur about it is that the athletes (who risk their health and even their lives) are unpaid, while the universities effectively own and operate wildly profitable pro sports teams. Read the rest
This man's fear and exhilaration is palpable without understanding what he's saying. The subtitles amplify his terror. Read the rest
Ellie Pell is the first woman to win the 50k Ultra outright, blasting past runner-up Richard Ellsworth in the four-hour endurance race. Pell took home both the 1st place trophy and the "fastest lady" trophy; unfortunately for Richard, race organizers never anticipated a woman might win, so no corresponding prize exists for gents.
“It was great, but also an awkward situation,” Hardy said. “Obviously there’s a lot of great women runners, but you don’t see them winning ultras outright a lot. When it happens, they get two awards.”
“I ended up taking both awards—the overall winner and the first place female,” Pell said. “I felt bad that the first place man didn’t have one, so I tried to convince them to blot out the ‘fe’ on ‘female,’ but they said to just keep both trophies. It was pretty funny.”
Race organizers subsequently made a "fastest man" trophy for Mr. Ellsworth. For future races, they instead plan to issue trophies to the top six runners irrespective of gender.
Time are a changing. They didn’t have an award for the first place male. Guess they weren’t expecting a female overall winner #bravelikegabe @fast_women pic.twitter.com/EUGJwN8IVC
— Ellie Pell (@gazzellie) August 10, 2019
Watch the world champion of gymnastics Simone Biles stick the landing on a triple-double at yesterday's U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Kansas City. Incredible slow motion of that below. Biles won her sixth all-around title. This is two days after she made history with a double-double dismount off the balance beam. Video of that is also below. (ESPN)
Read the restSimone Biles, in extreme slow motion. pic.twitter.com/mjdYp0zwkv
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) August 12, 2019
Here are some highlights from recent World Chase Tag competitions.
“With World Chase Tag as a sport it really puts you in the moment and it almost makes you feel like a rabbit trapped in the head lights of a car,” competitor Richard Thompson, 19, told The Independent. “Will you run? Or will you freeze? This is something I’ve never felt in any other sport I’ve played and it makes things really interesting. But most of all it doesn’t feel like sport, it feels like play. That’s what I love about it.”
You're it.
On Saturday at the X Games Minneapolis, Mitchie Brusco landed the first 1260 in the history of professional skateboarding. And yep, he acts like it was nothing.
This was exactly twenty years since Tony Hawk famously landed the first 900 at the X-Games in 1999 (video below).
On Saturday night, junior featherweight boxer Tremaine Williams won two regional title belts by beating Yenifel Vicente. Check out this astonishing clip from the eighth round when Williams masterfully ducked and dodged punch after punch. And don't miss the slow-motion replay below.
Read the rest.@TevinFarmer22's head movement in slow-mo makes it THAT much better. Insane. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/lA78Jw9XIx
— DAZN USA (@DAZN_USA) July 28, 2019
The inaugural Heavy Metal Knitting World Championship were an unqualified success, with competitors from the US, Russia, Japan and beyond converging on Joensuu, Finland to thrash and knit: competitors such as Woolfumes, Bunny Bandit and 9" Needles thrashed to heavy metal music while knitting, for an audience of about 200. The winners were the five-person Japanese team Giga Body Metal. Scottish competitor Heather McLaren (a Ph.D candidate in engineering) told the AP, "When I saw there was a combination of heavy metal and knitting, I thought 'that’s my niche.'" Read the rest
Update: The manufacturer writes, "Sea Gold is NOT for use with swimming goggles. It can irritate the eyes and we would appreciate it if you update it with our Anti-Fog Spray.
For the record, I haven't experienced the irritation, even after more than a month of use.
I am an extremely dedicated swimmer, thanks to a chronic pain condition that is just barely held in check by an hour in the pool every day. I go through a couple pairs of goggles every year: generally the thing that goes first is the elastic or the ratchet for the headband, but sometimes a pair of goggles will get so fog-prone that I just can't swim with them anymore. Read the rest
Jimmy Smith (0-1-0) is listed on YouTube as the "worst" boxer of all time, but he is clearly the "best" by any standard worth applying. Read the rest
