Everything And Nothing

All-American

"The fandemonium of a college rivalry doesn't exist anywhere else," Keenan Davis, COO of the All-American Football League, a new pro-football start-up, told Fast Company magazine. Their first two games kicked off on April 12.

Its teams are in football hubs, with headquarters in Atlanta. Teams will play in college stadiums on Saturdays.

$1,000 offered for the best football physics video

Physics Central is offering $1000 and what they're touting as the "world's smallest trophy" (depicted in the picture above) to the best homemade video explaining some aspect of the physics of football.

Videos should be uploaded to YouTube with the tag "Nanobowl," and an email with the URL sent to the Physics Central organizers. The lucky winner will get a genuine nanoscale trophy made of silicon and metal, with features more than 1000 times thinner than a human hair, visible only under high-resolution electron or scanning microscopes.

The trophy is being created by physicists in the Craighead research group at Cornell University, the organizers say. It appears that winners will have to supply their own electron microscope and magnifying display case, however.

For more information, check out Physics Central's contest page here.

[ via Wired Science blog ]

Favre names Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year

Not bad for a man who was hearing rumblings of "Isn't it about time to retire?" last year.

Congrats, Brett! (I feel some strange affinity as we were at USM together at the same time.)

Favre has started a quarterback-record 249 consecutive games, and this year surpassed Dan Marino for career touchdown passes and pass attempts. He is 450 yards away from breaking Marino's career record of 61,361 yards.

Keep your eye on the ball

The Flower Ball soccer ball, by Takashi Murakami, is designed using his signature bold flower motifs. The soccer ball is manufactured by Molten - so it can be used as a actual soccer ball or it can be enjoyed as a gorgeous, cosmic art object. Your choice.

$400

The Sippin' Seat

With spring soccer and baseball practice beginning soon, you may want to start stocking your seat...your sippin' seat, that is. No more waiting in lines for a drink. No more hassles about bringing in your own drinks. Holds three 12-oz cans or one 750 ml bottle. Keeps beverages warm or cold. Carrying handle. Also great for camping or boating.

$29.99

Tough as Pink Nails

I'm usually a red girl, but these pink Everlast boxing gloves are just calling my name for some reason. And Everlast will donate 5% from the sale of these gloves to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), which is committed to preventing breast cancer and finding a cure in our lifetime by funding clinical and genetic research worldwide. 

$29.99

Call games just like they do on ESPN

Think you can out-announce the sportscasters on ESPN? Give it a try with ESPN Play by Play, a portable audio system that comes with an ESPN microphone, integrated speakers, built-in ESPN theme music and a sound card loaded with sports sounds (like claps and crowd chants). The system includes connections for a microphone, two headsets and a digital device.

$100

Games in the Night

LED lights are addedto a regulation size soccer ball. Batteries and on-off switch included.

$24.99

Gettin' ready for some football...

The Redskins and Bengals are making their 2006 debut on NBC's Sunday Night Football. Al Michaels and John Madden make up the network's new Sunday night team. As is usual in pre-season games, they are playing mostly starters. It's generally used by coaches to evaluate who should be designated back-up players during the real season.

The commentators all spent their time dwelling on Carson Palmer's bad knee...Will he be ready to play in two weeks or not? Is he mentally ready?

Interesting tidbit: Cincinnati Bengals fans will be able to report misbehavior during games this season with a phone call. The team has set up a hot line number: (513) 381-JERK. Security officials will use the stadium’s video cameras to focus on the offenders and respond.

Important Girlie Game Stats for Bengals-Redskins:

Cutest Team Owner: Daniel Snyder

Best Uniforms: Bengals

Most Fashionable: Bengals (who have a Fashion Forum on their site even...even if it is a joke, kind of, but it's still there nonetheless) And the Bengals have the great logo and bright colors going for them too in the fashion department.

Rowdiest Team: Bengals (Five players were arrested during the off-season)

Finally Football!

It's finally football! Yeah!

And I've decided that this year I will be blogging from the female point of view. I love football. I don't understand why really - but I always have. I guess I always will. But I have many female friends who loathe it - with husbands who love it - so I'm trying to help this group.

First off, ladies, Mark Wahlberg is starring in Invincible at the end of August as a Philadelphia Eagles citizen player. Yes, it's a football movie. But...Mark Wahlberg, ladies. Get some extra points and suggest you go see the movie. Your guy will be so shocked that he won't figure out it's only because of Mark Wahlberg until halfway through (and it won't matter then anyway).

The Philadelphia Eagles have a road blog this season and a practice blog...check them out. Maybe learning some interesting tidbits about the players will help get you more interested.

Other reasons to follow football...cute guys that your man doesn't care at all if you gawk at. In fact, he's flat-out appreciative. This is from the Philadelphia Eagles Photo Gallery. I don't know who he is but he's a Keanu Reeves look-alike. But he looks better. (See...football can be fun!) ;)

Or let's talk fashion. Look at this adorable Philadelphia glitter jersey. ($59.99) For more great fashions, visit the Philadelphia Eagles Fan Shop.

The Eagles once lost a Superbowl to the Oakland Raiders, so the two teams have a history. But this Hall of Fame weekend, the focus in Canton, Ohio, is on the Hall of Fame inductees - John Madden, Troy Aikman, Rayfield Wright, Warren Moon, Harry Carson and the late Reggie White. (The NFL is blogging the Hall of Fame weekend here.)

The Raiders are not blogging, but they are putting up Web site updates during the game (and all games, I guess.) They are posting a daily video for their fans, though, which is pretty cool. They have some cute women's fashions also.

Even the referees are more fashionable these days. This year, the classic referee uniform got a makeover. The pants of the referees are now black instead of the traditional white (for the slimming effect, I'm sure.)

OK, ladies, we've had our fun, now we have to slip a real lesson in here at the end. Let's start with the basics. Football is played on a football field - a field we see all the time but most probably know nothing about.

First, those long stripes are at five-yard intervals. The shorter lines are called "hash marks." (Make sure to slip this in the conversation casually somehow during the next game. Prepare to impress.) The red section at the end of the field is called the end zone and is 10 yards - with the goal at the end of each end zone.

Mark your calendars...Sept. 7 is the official kick-off of the NFL season!