Sports & Recreation Articles

Video / Updated 08-22-2024

A lot of information is crammed into this short video to help you minimize risk and maximize gain when playing fantasy football. You get tips to follow during the entire season from when to pick your key players during the draft, when to concentrate on coaching and bye weeks, and when to use the waiver wire and online trade calculators.

Article / Updated 05-31-2024

Your fishing rod has a limit to how much weight it can lift and cast effectively. This is called the “power” of the rod. Anglers can use this chart as a guide to match up the right rod, lure weight, and line size for the right balance. Rod Power Lure Weight Line Size Ultralight 1/64–1/16 oz 1–4 lb test Light 1/16–1/4 oz 4–8 lb test Medium Light 1/4–1/2 oz 6–10 lb test Medium 1/2–1 oz 8–12 lb test Medium Heavy 1–4 oz 12–25 lb test Heavy 4–8 oz 20–40 lb test Extra Heavy 8 oz and above 25 lb test and above

Cheat Sheet / Updated 05-14-2024

Skateboarding is a form of transportation, an extreme sport, a fun activity, a full-body workout, and a fascinating subculture all rolled into one, and it’s a community that welcomes everyone. If you’ve been thinking about skateboarding and don’t know how to get started, you’ve come to the right place. Here you’ll find skateboarding tips for beginners, instructions on how to adjust your skateboard to make it easier to keep your balance, techniques for stopping in an emergency, tips for getting sponsored, and a mini-glossary that’ll have you speaking like a skateboarder before you even lace up your first pair of skate shoes. Keep it fun! Learning to skateboard requires time and effort, but it should be fun work, not the kind of work you dread doing. Keeping it fun means you’ll do it more and be more creative while building the confidence and coordination you need to excel.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 05-14-2024

Riding a bike is one of the greatest things on earth, offering low-impact recreation, affordable transportation, and life-changing freedom for folks around the world. It’s also a heckuva lot of fun! Before you can feel confident knowing where to begin there is a lot to know before buying a bicycle, and lots to know about fixing and maintaining one, too!

Article / Updated 04-12-2024

The sheer variety of golf clubs you need can be overwhelming. Once you have all the clubs you need and you hit the links, how do you know which club to use for each shot? The following table gives you a quick guide to the kinds of clubs in your bag and the shots you take with them. Club What It’s For Driver Teeing off — and very occasionally hitting from a good lie in the fairway Hybrid club Getting shots of 150+ yards airborne 2- to 9-iron Hitting toward the green, usually from 120–190 yards away — use low-numbered irons for longer shots, high-numbered irons for shorter shots Wedges Hitting short, high shots from near the green or from sand bunkers Putter Rolling the ball into the hole after it’s on the green (or occasionally from just off the green) To figure out which golf club to use for a specific shot, you need to know the average distance you hit a ball with each golf club in your set. Then, you simply choose the golf club that fits the distance you need to hit. The best way to find out is to hit about 50 balls with each club. Eliminate the longest five and the shortest five, and then figure out the middle of the remaining group. That’s your average yardage. This table shows how far the average golfer generally hits with each club when he or she makes solid contact. When you start to play this game, you probably won’t attain these yardages — but while you practice, you can get closer to these numbers. Which Club Should You Use? Club Men’s Average Distance Women’s Average Distance Driver 230 yards 200 yards 3-wood 210 yards 180 yards 2-iron 190 yards Not recommended; 4-wood or hybrid = 170 yards 3-iron 180 yards Not recommended; 5-wood or hybrid = 160 yards 4-iron 170 yards 150 yards (consider a hybrid, instead) 5-iron 160 yards 140 yards 6-iron 150 yards 130 yards 7-iron 140 yards 120 yards 8-iron 130 yards 110 yards 9-iron 120 yards 100 yards Pitching wedge 110 yards 90 yards Sand wedge 90 yards 80 yards Lob wedge 65 yards 60 yards

Article / Updated 02-22-2024

Listen to the article:Download audio March Madness is the nickname for the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) Division I basketball tournament, one of the most exciting championship events in women’s sports. Happening alongside the men’s March Madness, the tournament always begins in mid-March. And like the men’s contest, it involves 68 teams (of the approximately 350 Division I women’s teams). Thirty-two teams are automatically entered into March Madness; the remaining 34 are selected by the Division I Women’s Basketball Committee, which bases its selection on how the teams performed during the regular season. The committee also seeds the teams, meaning they rank the teams and decide where to “plant” them within the tournament bracket. These rankings are announced on Selection Sunday. Four of these 68 teams are eliminated during the opening round of the tournament, called the First Four. The basketball committee then divides the remaining 64 teams into four regions of 16 teams each, and they are ranked 1 through 16. Each team’s rank is referred to as their seed. Where the games are played At the beginning of the tournament, the games are played on campus sites. The 2023 regional rounds — Sweet 16, Elite 8, and Final Four — will be played at two sites: Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle and Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. The championship game will be at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Here is the 2024 schedule, for the women’s March Madness: Selection Sunday: March 17 (brackets, seeds, and team selections) First four: March 20-21 First round: March 22-23 Second round: March 24-25 Sweet 16: March 29-30 Elite Eight: March 31-April 1 Final Four: April 5 National Championship: April 7 You can watch games on ESPN and Sling TV. ABC will broadcast the title game. The 2023 top seeds The heavy favorite of the 2023 tournament is the top-ranked University of South Carolina, which beat Stanford for the 2022 title. The other number-one seeds, in order of best season records, are: Indiana University Stanford University University of Utah The number-two seeds are: Louisiana State University University of Maryland University of Connecticut University of Iowa There are many outstanding players in women's college basketball; here's a list of just ten who are considered some of the best today: Aliyah Boston, University of South Carolina Caitlin Clark, University of Iowa Haley Jones, Stanford University Ashley Joens, Iowa State University Elizabeth Kitley, Virginia Tech Cameron Brink, Stanford University Angel Reese, Louisiana State University Olivia Miles, University of Notre Dame Hailey Van Lith, University of Louisville Rori Harmon, University of Texas Origin of the women's NCAA March Madness tournament Although the NCAA Division I basketball tournament has been around since 1939, the women were not included until 1982. Women had a long fight with the NCAA before that, even after Title IX was passed in 1972, to realize this big change. Strangely enough, that first NCAA women’s contest in 1982 coincided with another championship tournament put on by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). (Incidentally, Rutgers beat Texas to win the AIAW championship, and Louisiana Tech beat Cheyney State to win the NCAA tournament.) Why were there two tournaments? Because up until the 1981-1982 school year, the NCAA was not interested in women’s sports championships. Those had been under the purview of the women-led AIAW, which had been governing women’s collegiate sports since 1971. Of the many ways it supported women’s sports, the AIAW played a role in the passage of Title IX in 1972, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs or activities that receive federal funding. However, in 1981, when the all-male-led-NCAA added women’s sports to its championship program for the first time, it created an uneven playing field in the battle with the AIAW for the governance of women’s collegiate sports. That fight lasted for about a year, but ultimately, the power and money of the NCAA won out. The AIAW folded in 1982. Inequities within March Madness Unfortunately, the NCAA hasn’t valued women’s sports as much as men’s sports throughout most of its existence. However, that is beginning to change, and one of the most conspicuous examples came with the 2022 NCAA women’s basketball tournament. An outcry on social media during the 2021 March Madness tournament pointed out the stark inequities between the men’s and women’s practice facilities and amenities. This led the NCAA to hire a law firm to conduct a review of gender equity related to the tournaments in general. The resulting report uncovered many examples of inequities related to spending on marketing and promotion, players’ meals and services, event staffing, and more. The report led the NCAA to try to level the field in 2022. It expanded the number of women’s teams from 64 to 68, the same as the men, and used the “March Madness” phrase for the women’s tournament for the first time. The organization also provided the same gifts to the men’s and women’s teams in 2022, staged similar fan events, and paid the game officials the same. However, there still remained a large gap between the NCAA’s spending on promotion, TV coverage, and more. In a March 11, 2022, Washington Post article, Dan Gavitt, the NCAA’s senior vice president of basketball, wouldn’t comment on the gap in spending between the men’s and women’s tournaments. However, he did say, “The work is not done. There is more to do, and we look forward to doing more after this year’s championship.”

Article / Updated 02-22-2024

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) hosts a basketball tournament every year that begins the week of March 19. The tournament includes 68 men’s teams and 68 women’s teams. (The NCAA expanded the women's field from 64 to 68 in 2022.) The men’s tournament is televised on CBS, TBS, TNT, and TruTV network affiliate stations; the women’s tournament will be available on ESPN, the ESPN app, ABC (for the title game), and Sling TV. The schedule for the 2024 men’s NCAA March Madness tournament is as follows: Selection Sunday: March 17 (brackets, seeds, and team selections) First four: March 19-20 First round: March 21-22 Second round: March 23-24 Sweet 16: March 28-29 Elite Eight: March 30-31 Final Four: April 6 National Championship: April 8 The schedule for the 2024 women’s NCAA March Madness tournament is as follows: Selection Sunday: March 17 (brackets, seeds, and team selections) First four: March 20-21 First round: March 22-23 Second round: March 24-25 Sweet 16: March 29-30 Elite Eight: March 31-April 1 Final Four: April 5 National Championship: April 7 Selection Sunday Each year on Selection Sunday, 32 teams gain automatic entry into the tournament due to winning their conference’s championships. The remaining teams rely on a selection committee to be granted entry into the tournament. This process takes place on the Sunday before the March Madness Tournament begins and, therefore, is appropriately named Selection Sunday. It is also the day when the brackets and seeds are released to the public. Brackets are the format in which the tournament runs. For example, on the day of the First Four games, there will be four brackets and eight teams playing; the four losing teams will then be removed from the tournament and the four winning teams will move to their new brackets and prepare for the next round of games. After the First Four, the regular tournament begins with 64 brackets including the winning teams that played in the First Four. The winner from each bracket will move on to the next set of brackets until eventually all teams have been “weeded” out and only two remain to play for the championship game. Seeds are essentially committee rankings. The teams in each division are ranked in descending order, with the strongest team (or team most likely to win) ranked in the number-one spot and the weakest team in that division is ranked number 16. The brackets are split up accordingly so the tournament's powerhouse teams are evenly distributed within the 64 brackets. The First Four round The First Four refers to the number of matches/brackets played — not number of teams. The First Four includes the eight lowest ranking teams in the men's division that play against each other, and the four losing teams are removed from the tournament. This part of the tournament is also known as “First Four Out” since four of the teams will lose out of the tournament before it even has really begun. The First Four Out was designed to get the 68 men's teams down to 64 so that the number of teams is the same as in the women's divisions. The brackets and dates, therefore, can be the same for both the men and women divisions. This part of the tournament applies only to the men's teams. In the First Round, those 64 teams play against each other to move on to the Second Round. Second round In the Second Round, the remaining 32 teams play in 16 brackets, and the winners of each bracket then move on to the regional semi-finals (Sweet 16 round); the losers again are removed from the tournament. Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds The regional semi-finals, also known as the Sweet Sixteen, is where the final sixteen teams are set up in matches against other teams within their regional divisions. The divisions are broken up into geographical areas and listed as follows: East West South Midwest The winners of the regional semi-finals are then moved to the regional finals where only eight teams remain, known as the Elite Eight. These eight teams play head-to-head to determine the winners, and the remaining four teams from all regions are matched up in the national semi-finals. The Final Four After regional finals, the remaining four teams from all regions are eligible to play in the national semi-finals. These remaining four teams are known as “The Final Four,” and this is where many people start watching the tournament. The final four teams then play, and the two winners from the national semi-finals move on to the national finals. Championship game The national finals or championship game is where the final two teams play to determine the winner of the current year's March Madness tournament. The NCAA has changed the format of the game several times in its history, as well as the name. In recent years the name of the tournament has been simply “NCAA Division 1 Tournament,” but the more popular March Madness title will always remain.

Article / Updated 01-03-2024

When you are approaching the end of your fantasy football season, if it has gone well, you may be in contention to make the playoffs. If that's the case, congratulations! Bragging rights are what this game is all about, and you are one step closer to achieving the ultimate prize. If not, don't feel bad. There's always next year, and most leagues include a consolation playoff so you can at least one up a few of your friends or co-workers — even if your season didn't go as planned. No matter how your season ended, you need to know how fantasy football playoffs work, so you can pursue a league championship. Credit: ©iStockphoto.com/zentilia Fantasy football playoff trophies await league winners. Fantasy football playoff rules and structure Generally, the teams with the best records will make the playoffs. In some leagues with divisions, that may not be the case. In leagues without divisions, the teams with the best records will advance to the playoffs. Leagues that include divisions will usually have two or three divisions and operate like the NFL to determine which teams make the playoffs. The team with the best record in the division will advance, even if it doesn't have one of the best overall records league-wide. In leagues with divisions, there will usually be one or two wildcard teams that will earn their positions from win/loss records among the rest of the non-division winners. Division winners always have a higher seed than wild card teams. The team with the best record will be the 1st seed in the playoffs. If your league has divisions, this team would have, coincidentally, won its division as well. Another divisional winner with the next best record will be the 2nd seed, and so on. If your league does not have divisions, the remaining seeds will be determined by overall win/loss records. In the event that two or more teams have identical win/loss records at the end of the fantasy football regular season, a tie-breaking system will determine their position. Most leagues use a standard tie-breaking system, and it goes as follows: Overall points scored Head-to-head record Division record Overall points against Coin flip Fantasy football playoff formats In a standard league, four teams will make the playoffs. In this case, the 1st seed will play the 4th seed, and the 2nd seed will play the 3rd seed. The winners of these two matchups will go on to the next week to play for the league championship; the losers will play for 3rd place. In some deeper leagues with 12 or more teams, 6 teams can make the playoffs, introducing the need for bye weeks. Bye weeks act similar to the NFL playoff bye weeks. The 1st and 2nd seeded teams will not have to play the 1st round; instead they automatically advance to the 2nd round and will play the winners of the 1st round. The consolation playoffs work similar to the regular playoffs in seeding and bracket style. In most leagues, the fantasy playoffs will begin week 13 or 14 of the NFL season. Standard leagues (four team playoffs) will use the following two weeks for the playoffs, and larger leagues with six teams may continue playing all the way through week 17. However, most leagues omit week 17 (and some even week 16) to prevent unfair play from NFL teams resting players for their real playoffs. Nobody wants to have their playoffs ruined by a resting player. For example, if Peyton Manning is on your team and has dominated the entire season, your fantasy football championship can be decided by having to scramble for a backup quarterback (QB) because Manning is resting during week 17. To best prepare for the fantasy football playoffs, be sure to read your league rules to understand how the playoffs are set up. Ask your commissioner if you have any questions such as the number of teams that can qualify, the playoff schedule, rules around wavier picks and trading, and so on. Strategies for winning fantasy football playoffs If you have made the playoffs, you will need to continue to monitor and adjust your lineup carefully if you want to win your league's championship. Weekly matchups, weather, and players on teams actually fighting for real playoff spots (or not) should be considered now more than ever. Late in the season, teams that play in the north will be playing in the cold and perhaps snow so certain positions should be chosen with caution. Games played with precipitation and/or extreme cold favor the running game, whereas games played in good weather or domes generally favor passing and kicking. Some players thrive in bad weather, though, so an in-depth knowledge of your own players will prove to be an advantage either way. You'll also want to familiarize yourself with your league's playoff rules if you haven't already. Many league's final trade deadlines are during this week, and it could be your last chance to really strengthen up your roster for a championship run. You could also try picking up free-agent players you think your opponent may want, to prevent them from filling holes in their lineup that may arise come playoff time. Finally, just continue to do what got yourself in this position. Don't overthink your decisions and just continue with the players that got you here, barring injury or other player circumstance. If you need to make starting roster adjustments, hopefully you have made good moves throughout the season and have viable bench players to replace any player that is inactive or consistently infective. Roster depth cannot be underestimated come playoff time so you should be actively trying to improve your team the entire season.

Article / Updated 10-26-2023

Listen to the article:Download audio If you're planning to convert a vehicle for your van life adventure, you'll need to put together a cooking area, complete with a stove, cookware, and other supplies. What do you need for van life cooking? One of the most important decisions you’ll need to make is which type of stovetop (or burner) you’d like to use. Stovetops come in many different styles, types, and shapes. Here are three main types that I have used over my van life journey: Single-burner portable stove with gas cartridge: For many people who just take their campers out on weekends or on short trips, a one-hob burner for warming up soup or packet meals might well be enough. I’ve always carried one of these around with me just in case my main gas bottle runs out, and it’s helped out when I’ve boiled up pasta a few times. My main gripe with the single burner is that if you want to cook a meal with multiple parts, everything ends up taking a lot longer, as each component will need a separate turn on the burner. Two-burner gas stovetop with grill: The two-burner gas stovetop with grill system is a great all-around option. This was the first type of burner I had in my van, and it allowed me the freedom to whip up Bolognese on one hob and pasta on the other. (I do eat more types of food than pasta, I promise.) The grills on these burners can sometimes be a little hit and miss, so it pays to buy a reputable model from a company like Vango. I loved cooking sausages on my grill for breakfast on wintry Saturday mornings. Three-burner stovetops: As you might have guessed by now, my personal preference is the three-burner stovetop. I need all the pan space I can get when I’m making meals, especially when the Omnia Oven (more about this below) is taking up the middle hob. Gas drop-out vents: If you’ve got any type of gas bottle in your van — propane, butane, or LPG — then you need a gas drop-out vent as an extra and crucial safety measure. Because gas is heavier than air, if there is a leak, the gas will flow out through your gas drop-out vent and away from your van. I know it might seem like a little thing to overlook, but it’s so important if anything goes wrong with your gas setup. Cooking like a pro on the road Good workers never blame their tools, which is why I’m about to reveal some of the best gear for cooking on the go. The only thing you need to be blaming from now on is how tight your pants are after all the good food you’re going to be making and eating! XL RidgeMonkey: The XL RidgeMonkey compact sandwich toaster is possibly the most versatile piece of cooking equipment I’ve ever used on my van life adventures. This little piece of genius was originally designed for fishermen to cook up their catch on a jet burner at the side of the river. Omnia Oven: If you want to go one step further and bake bread and cakes, cook chicken thighs, or make incredible stews or roast potatoes, then you need an Omnia Oven. This doughnut-shaped stovetop oven changed everything for me, especially while living in a camper van during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. The Omnia Oven works through convection. Heat is drawn up from the hob through the middle of the oven and passes up and over the food inside, providing heat all the way around the oven and creating an even bake. Nesting bowls: Mixing cakes and kneading bread can get a little messy when you’re trying to use pans and mugs. That’s why nesting bowls are such a great idea. Nesting bowls, as you might have gathered from the name, nest inside one another. Joseph Joseph makes a great set that includes a large mixing bowl, colander, sieve, smaller pouring bowl, and a set of cup measures all inside the largest bowl. The measuring cups are perfect for measuring (go figure) out baking ingredients, sushi rice, sauces, and much more. Bialetti moka pot: This stovetop espresso maker is the perfect companion at breakfast time or before a long drive. It doesn’t take up a lot of space and stows away in a cupboard or drawer easily, providing budding adventurers with an energy boost boasting sumptuous flavors at the drop of a hat. Handleless pans: You’ll have a hard time cooking without any pans, making them a bit of an essential item when it comes to stocking up your kitchen. The only problem is that they can be quite bulky, so grabbing a set of handleless pans that pack away neatly can really make cooking in a van a lot easier. I stored all my pans in a pan hammock underneath my sink. It was a good way to use space that would have otherwise been wasted and freed up a drawer for more dry ingredients. BioLite kettle set: This little piece of equipment can be used for both brewing up tea or cooking soups and stews, and is another genius space-saving utensil for tiny-home lovers. It also has an insulted handle to keep your hands scorch-free. Knife set: No matter your dietary preferences, it pays to have a trusty knife set on board for preparing food. As you know, I’m all about making life easy for myself, so having a good bread knife as well as a sharp blade for slicing everything from tomatoes and tofu to chicken and chorizo is essential, especially when you love food as much as I do. Handheld food processor: Zyliss makes a neat little manual food processor that is great for chopping up onions or making dips in your camper. It makes mincemeat (literally) of food prep and works your arm out at the same time. Just pull the hook and back like a miniature rowing machine, and you’re good to go!

Cheat Sheet / Updated 10-05-2023

If you want to follow Formula One racing, there are a few essential things you need to know, like when the races take place, who the drivers are, and what race numbers they carry with them throughout their career. It is also really useful to know what the warning flag colors mean when you see them waved at the side of the track, and how the current crop of racers compare to some of the most successful competitors of the past.