Everyone's an owner
Move over Abramovich, it’s our turn to own a soccer team. Much like the publicly-held Green Bay Packers, My Football Club.com offers the chance to own and operate a real English soccer club, Ebbsfleet United. The idea behind the site and the service is that this brings fantasy sports play, a huge trend in recent years, into the real world. Co-owners vote on player acquisition, coaching staff and business ventures all through the website. It’s $70 to get a seat at the table so if your lifelong dream has been to own a sports franchise, pony up.
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The silver lining is sweaty
This is a fun story coming out of Iraq. According to this NYT article the Atlanta-based Peachtree road race didn’t just take place in Atlanta this year. Deployed soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait were permitted to enter the 10k footrace, laying out their own courses and keeping their own times. You know, it sounds like a lot of fuss for nothing but I bet this was fun. After all, I really like the idea of running 10 kilometers in a place where the temperature is 95 degrees farenheit at 6 in the morning.
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Living room/batting cage
It brings a new meaning to the word practice when you put a batting cage in your house, but that’s what Reggie Willits did. Actually to tell the story truthfully he put the house in the batting cage because the first thing the Willits family built was the batting shed and then they moved into it to save money. There’s a lot more about the story with some good quotes in this article from the New York Times and as usual, I picked up on the story from Treehugger. I should start paying them…
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Surfboards from grass
Some time ago I posted about people who made their own surfboards, skis and snowboards. In those cases, the materials were still conventional if the methods were anything but. This company, Greenlight Surfboard Supplies, offers surfboard-making supplies made from eco/sustainable materials. Corn, bamboo, and sugar cane (all grasses) provide the main building block for Greenlight board materials and so, on the off-chance that you took the last post about home-building to heart, they’re apparently a good source of materials.
Previously featured on Duenos:
- Build your own skis (and snowboards, surfboards, etc…)
- Surfing goes nuclear
Via Treehugger
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Sports Fans: How Happy Are You With Your Team?
ESPN.com recently posted a fascinating ranking of all major American sports franchises related to fan satisfaction. Using an interesting methodology that emphasized affordability, wins, team talent, and administrative competence, ESPN ranked the dynamic and high-octane Buffalo Sabres at number one.
Sadly, but unsurprisingly, my hometown Chicago Blackhawks continue to be regarded as one of the worst franchises in the sports world.
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Beautiful women doing good, a trend worth continuing
Maria Sharapova, the gorgeous and skilled young tennis stud(ette?) will be joining the ranks of UN goodwill ambassadors, focusing on the Chernobyl area. The Russian woman’‘s parents actually lived not far from the city and moved to Siberia when the nuclear reactor melted down. It was there that Sharapova was born in 1987. After signing up as an ambassador, she also donated $100,000 to relief efforts in the area.
Sharapova now joins actress Angelina Jolie as one of the UN’‘s very high profile goodwill ambassadors. As I said, I like this trend.
See previous post about Angelina Jolie.
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Surfing goes nuclear
Heather Bourbeau from Wired Magazine Online has just written a short article about the adaptation of super-tough and ultra-light foam used in nuclear warheads to the science of surfboards. Apparently the material, TufFoam, is better for the environment, lighter, and of course tougher (or is it tuffer?) and will go into surf board production next year. No word on whether snowboard companies have bit onto the new technology yet.
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More Jordan than Jordan?
From a marketing perspective and on the court, Miami Heat superstar Dwayne Wade is on track to be the ONE to take on Jordan’s throne. I’ve said it before about other promising up and comers, so don’t take my word for it, but watching Wade play you have to feel it.
Winning the NBA Finals MVP in 2006, this 3-time All Star’s basketball credentials are perfect, but what really makes you sit back and take note though is the rapidity with which he is moving far beyond Wade the basketball star to a marketing icon. In addition to gracing the cover of GQ last November, Wade is leading the Converse comeback under new Nike ownership as well as cross-branding with T-Mobile and Lincoln. Maybe he’s not making as much as Jordan did in sponsorships, but remember, he’s still 25.
Maybe it’s just my wanting to see a new king crowned in the NBA, but I think Dwayne Wade has what it takes. Check out all of Wade’s commercials
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