football hightlights
Friday, April 26, 2013
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Thursday, April 18, 2013
The Super Bowl is the annual
championship game of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of
professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that
begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses
Roman numerals to identify each game, rather than the year in which it is held.
For example, Super Bowl I was played on January 15, 1967, following the 1966
regular season, while Super Bowl XLVII was played on February 3, 2013, following
the 2012 season.
The game was created as part of a
merger agreement between the NFL and its then-rival league, the American
Football League (AFL). It was agreed that the two leagues' champion teams would
play in an AFL–NFL World Championship Game until the merger was to officially
begin in 1970. After the merger, each league was redesignated as a
"conference", and the game was then played between the conference
champions. Currently, the National Football Conference (NFC) leads the series
with 25 wins to 22 wins for the American Football Conference (AFC). The day on which the Super Bowl is played,
now considered to some Americans as a national holiday called "Super Bowl
Sunday."
The Pittsburgh Steelers have won six Super
Bowls, the most of any team; the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers have
five victories each; and both the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants have
four Super Bowl championships. Thirteen other NFL franchises have won at least
one Super Bowl. Ten teams have appeared in Super Bowl games without a win. The
Minnesota Vikings were the first team to have appeared a record four times
without a win. The Buffalo Bills played in a record four Super Bowls in a row, and
lost every one. Four teams, the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville
Jaguars, and Houston Texans, have never appeared in a Super Bowl. The late
2000s and early 2010s saw an era of parity among both conferences. During the
five years from 2008 through 2012, five different teams have won the Super Bowl
and nine have played in it. In the 2007 season, the Patriots came back by
becoming the first team in NFL history to have a 16–0 record in the regular
season. They easily marched through the AFC playoffs and were heavy favorites
in Super Bowl XLII. However, they lost that game to the New York Giants 17–14,
in large part due to a play that would become known as the Helmet Catch, in
which Giants receiver David Tyree caught an Eli Manning pass by securing it
against the side of his helmet. This pass would set up the eventual
game-winning touchdown. The Giants won another title after the 2011 season,
again defeating the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI. Between the Giants' two
titles, the Steelers logged their record sixth Super Bowl title (XLIII), the
New Orleans Saints won their first (XLIV), and the Green Bay Packers won their
fourth Super Bowl (XLV) and record thirteenth NFL championship overall. The
Super Bowl is the most watched annual sporting event in the world.
Reference:
Mark, W. (2013). Good press for new
orleans around super bowl 2013 reached an audience of millions says tourism
study. nola.com. Retrieved from http://www.nola.com/superbowl/index.ssf/2013/02/good_press_for_new_orleans_aro.html
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport, the
objective being to shoot a ball through a horizontally positioned basket to
score points. A regulation basketball hoop consists of a rim 18 inches in
diameter and 10 feet high mounted to a backboard. A team can score a field goal
by shooting the ball through the basket during regular play. The National
Basketball Association (NBA) is one of the major sports leagues, of which USA
and Canada are the members.
Basketball has evolved many commonly
used techniques of shooting, passing, dribbling, and rebounding, as well as
specialized player positions and offensive and defensive structures and
techniques. Typically, the tallest members of a team will play "center,"
"power forward" or "small forward" positions, while shorter
players or those who possess the best ball handling skills and speed play
"point guard" or "shooting guard." A field goal scores two
points for the shooting team if a player is touching or closer to the basket
than the three-point line, and three points if the player is behind the
three-point line. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins,
but additional time may be issued when the game ends with a draw. The ball can
be advanced on the court by bouncing it while walking or running or throwing it
to a team mate.
It is a violation to move without
dribbling the ball, to carry it, or to hold the ball with both hands then resume
dribbling. Numerous violations are called "fouls." Disruptive
physical contact, a personal foul is penalized, and a free throw is usually
awarded to an offensive player if he is fouled while shooting the ball. A
technical foul may also be issued when certain infractions occur, most commonly
for unsportsmanlike conduct on the part of a player or coach. A technical foul
gives the opposing team a free throw, and the opposing team also retains
possession of the ball. While competitive basketball is carefully regulated,
numerous variations of basketball have developed for casual play. Competitive
basketball is primarily an indoor sport played on a carefully marked and
maintained basketball court, but less regulated variations are often played
outdoors in both inner city and remote areas.
From February 3 to March 25, the
Miami Heat were a spectacle to watch on the court, as they blew out teams and
made dramatic late-game comebacks against others. The driving force behind the
Heat's 27-game adventure was LeBron James, who's well on his way to capturing
his fourth career MVP award. According to NBA.com's stats database, James
averaged 27 points, eight assists and 8.1 rebounds per contest over the course
of the Heat's winning streak (Nathan, 2013). As James chases championship No.
2, the Heat's winning streak will serve as a preview of what fans should expect
to see from him through the months of April, May and June. At first glance,
LeBron James' performance against the Philadelphia 76ers on February 23 doesn't
look all that impressive. Although, James didn't carry the offensive load for
the Heat, as Dwyane Wade posted a game-high 33 points, leading the Heat to a
114-90 victory (Nathan, 2013). What James showed against the Sixers was that he
can have a profound impact on any given game even if he doesn't score copious
amounts of points. LeBron James recorded the 35th triple-double of his career
in the win over the Sixers, posting a line of 16 points, 11 assists and 10
rebounds. Not only that, but James was efficient on the offensive end.
Converting on seven of 12 shots, James proved once again that he's the most
unstoppable force in basketball.
References:
Matt,
M. (2013). Top 10 moments of miami heat 27 game winning streak. Retrieved from http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/eye-on-basketball/21960502/top-10-moments-of-the-miami-heat-27-game-winning-streak
Nathan,
A. (2013). Ranking lebron\. Retrieved from http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1588606-ranking-lebrons-best-games-during-heat-win-streak
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Football
Football is a team sport. It is played by two teams, eleven players to a side, who advance an oval ball over a rectangular field that is 120 yards long by 50 yards wide and has goalposts at both ends. American football evolved from early forms of rugby. Football is the most popular sport in the United States today, and the National Football League (NFL) is its most popular league. The league's championship, the Super Bowl, is among the most-watched club sporting events in the world.
The basic format of the game involves two teams, one of which is in possession of the ball. The team in possession of the ball, termed the offense, tries to advance the ball towards the end zone, the scoring area at either end of the field. The other team, termed the defense, tries to stop the offense and prevent them from advancing the ball. A game begins with a kickoff; the kicking and receiving teams are determined by a pre-game coin toss. The kickoff occurs as a player on the kicking team kicks the ball from a tee. The receiving team then catches the ball and runs towards the opposing end zone until they are tackled or step out of bounds, at which point the ball is considered dead. The point where the ball becomes dead is defined as the first line of scrimmage, and play begins from that point. Advancement of the ball occurs as a series of up to four discrete plays or downs. Teams can score points in several ways in football; a touchdown, worth six points, is the primary means of scoring. It occurs when the offense advances the ball into the defense's end zone or when the defense takes control of the ball and, on the same play, advances the ball into the offense's end zone. Following a touchdown, the scoring team attempts to score either one or two points by kicking or advancing the ball into the end zone, known as the extra point and two-point conversion. The team that has scored the most points by the end of the game wins.
Apart of psychology of football is having mental toughness and having a strong football mind. Mental toughness is a learned skill that is a necessity for athletes to master. A lot of athletes are what people like to call clutch. Meaning they can still perform great under a lot of pressure, adversity, or when most needed. That’s a psychological factor of the game of football. Psychologically athletes crack under pressure and cannot perform, one reason being because they are not mentally tough, not because lack of talent. You must be able to have excellent self-control, including attitude and emotional control as well as visual and attention control. Some athletes lose focus during the game when they need to keep their attention on the field or lose their cool emotionally on the field. For a very physically demanding sport that is visually intense and often emotionally charged, athletes need to set aside time daily as a part of their regular training regime to develop the psychological skill of mental toughness.
Coffey, D. (2012). Mental toughness - understanding football psychology. sports psychology for football. Retrieved from http://www.sportspsychologyfootball.com/mental-toughness-understanding-football-psychology/
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