Archive for the ‘sports’ Category
Ohio coach proposes to rival coach on field
An Ohio high school softball coach threw a curve at the rival team’s coach when he dropped to one knee on the diamond and asked for her hand in marriage.
Glen Este High School varsity coach Tim Gregory and Milford High School coach Christy Foster had been dating more than two years before Wednesday’s proposal.
Gregory says “softball is really what brought us together.” Foster, of course, said yes to the proposal and called it perfect.
The ensuing game wasn’t, though. Gregory’s team won 1 to 0.
Read more: Ohio coach proposes to rival on field
Alert cop halts runaway SUV, saves marathon runners
Keith Lewis didn’t have time to think.
The Land Rover headed toward the Mariemont police officer and a pack of Flying Pig marathon runners Sunday morning.
He turned, jumped on the hood, swung his body toward the passenger side and hopped inside.
At the same time, a bystander reached through the driver’s side window and pulled the emergency brake. Lewis shifted the car, driven by a woman having a seizure, into park.
“It was instincts, just pure instincts,” said Lewis, who has been with the Mariemont department four years. “I didn’t have time to think about what was happening. My main thing was trying to stop the car before it went right through the crowd. It was just the adrenaline and trying to put in practice everything I’ve learned.”
Lewis, 37, had worked overnight.
He was less than three hours into an extra traffic detail when the sports utility vehicle came toward him at 20 miles per hour – “almost like she didn’t see me standing there.”
The SUV stopped about 100 feet from the East Street and Miami Road intersection where Lewis was standing.
The driver, who has not been identified, was taken to a local hospital.
It is unclear what happened in the minutes before the incident.
The woman started to regain consciousness and become more alert soon after medics arrived. She didn’t remember the accident – or even getting into her car, according to police.
No one was injured.
That’s a miracle, Mariemont Police Chief Richard Hines said, considering all of the commotion happened just as a large group of runners passed through the area.
“(Lewis) happened to be in the right place at the right time and did everything right,” Hines said. “It could have been a very different outcome. But it’s just one of those things where we have a happy ending, and I’m glad.”
Read more: Alert cop halts runaway SUV
Photo: Flickr user Green Marrow
World’s smallest bodybuilder [Video]
At 2 feet, 9 inches and a mere 19 pounds, Aditya “Romeo” Dev isn’t like other bodybuilders.
The 21-year-old from Punjab, India, weighs as much as the body armor worn by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, but that hasn’t stopped the little person from becoming a body builder.
Dev told “Good Morning America” today that the most he’s ever lifted is 10 pounds — about half his weight.
“From the very beginning I liked lifting the dumbbells and lifting weights,” he said through a translator. “I used to watch wrestling when I was a small kid and that’s how I got inspired.”
His hard work has paid off — three years ago the Guinness Book of World Records named him the world’s smallest body builder.
When he hit a Crunch gym in New York City, people flocked to him, picking him up for a pose and taking pictures.
And ladies, he’s available.
“I don’t have a girlfriend,” Dev said, with a shy grin.
Watch this story and see him in action: An Inside Look at the Littlest Bodybuilder
Bartender shatters cocktail record
Bartender Chris Raph is used to working busy nights at the Shout House, a dueling piano bar in downtown Minneapolis. But on Thursday night, keeping up meant proving himself the world’s fastest bartender.
Amid screaming girls and with sweat streaming down his forehead, Raph, 31, of Burnsville, shattered the Guinness World Records feat for the most drinks made in one hour before a crowd of about 300.
After hearing about such a record last summer, Raph contacted Guinness about making his own attempt. It took him months to prepare. In the meantime, a bartender in Munich, Germany, set the new world record with 389 drinks.
Raph broke the record with a citrus orange cranberry fizz for drink 390, then went on to pour a total of 662 cocktails by the end of the hour.
The Shout House auctioned off the record-breaking 390th drink for $225, with the proceeds going to charity.
Raph couldn’t just make several hundred vodka Red Bulls, since the Guinness rules state that each drink must be different. However, most of the drinks on his list were quickies made from two or three ingredients.
Raph established a breakneck pace, finishing each drink in about five seconds. Behind the bar he stockpiled 110 bottles of vodka and tequila, as well as gallons of fruit juice. Three bar-backs worked in unison to clear drinks and clean glasses.
So who got to taste all those cocktails? Only a few people. Most were dumped out so the glasses could be washed and promptly re-used.
Soldier wounded in Iraq dives into new adventure [Video]
Great story!
Matt and Tracy Keil are exploring new adventures after a sniper’s bullet left Matt without the use of his arms and legs.
Keil is an Iraq War Veteran who nearly died in Iraq. His injuries left him a quadraplegic.
With his wife Tracy’s encouragement, Matt is facing his fear of the deep.
“I was nervous because I’m not sure how my regulator is going to work if my mask is going to fill up with water. Am I going to start choking on water?” said Keil.
Tracy is a certified diver. Now, she is hoping this could open up a new world for Matt.
“Always chair, couch, bed, shower, that’s it. So this is a nice opportunity for him to spend a little bit of time out of the chair,” said Tracy.
Matt’s volunteer helpers from Craig Hospital eased him around the shallow end of the pool.
One volunteer said it’s an amazing practice in trust. “Imagine you can’t move anything and somebody puts a regulator in your mouth, a mask on your face, and says ’all right, we’re going to go underwater now,’ that’s trust.”
“Once I got comfortable it just seemed natural, it seemed fun. I was like, let’s go to the deep end right now! I’m ready, I’m ready for it,” said Keil.
“You’re floating in the water and doing something like this let’s you know even though you’re paralyzed and disabled, you can still go out and scuba dive. You can do anything,” said Keil.
Watch this story: Soldier Wounded In Iraq Dives Into New Adventure
5,000 calorie monster burger officially debuts [Video]
I know a lot of you are familiar with the story of the Fifth Third Burger.It’s a 5,000 calorie monstrosity created by the West Michigan Whitecaps that’s filled with meat, five slices of American cheese, chili, salsa, nacho cheese and Fritos. There may also be half a horse in there too.
But anyway, the burger officially made its debut this week, with the Whitecaps having an Opening Day challenge to see who could eat the whole thing by themselves. 32 brave souls attempted to do it. Only 17 managed to survive accomplish the feat.
A 16-year-old kid, Steve Landis, managed to be the first to finish. And his mom provided possibly the quote of the year for us.
“I wasn’t quite sure. Should I be proud of him or not?”Are you kidding me? Anyone who finishes a burger of this size deserves not just our admiration, but a bronze statue.
Watch video of people tackling this monster burger: I Can’t Believe I Ate The Whole Thing: The Fifth Third Burger Makes Its Official Debut
See Also: Reporter takes on 5,000 calorie burger: Burger Wins [Video]
Photo: Flickr user Josh May
Wheelchair is no obstacle in triathlon [Video]
About 1,500 athletes are in South Florida this weekend to compete in a Triathlon that will raise money for children, but for one man, it’s also about proving that his wheelchair is not his obstacle.
“This is where the fun starts,” Renzo Martinez says as he took his wheelchair through the finish line.
He was already set up in advance of the event.
“I choose to live and live to the best of my abilities,” said Martinez who has been competing all his life. His first competition was as a race car driver, until a spinal cord injury took away his ability to walk 20 years ago.
“I broke my back, so I have no sensation from my waist down,” said Martinez.
But that didn’t stop this athlete. In fact, he has a way for all of us to overcome any obstacle.
“Usually, you get your obstacle right in front of you and, usually, you get your goals ahead of you. If you look past it and look at your goals, you realize your obstacle disappears,” he said.
Martinez uses that philosophy to gear up for the Nautica South Beach Triathlon, which is a half-mile swim, a 19 mile bike ride, followed by a 4 mile run.
He is an inspiration, after winning several of the 35 marathons in which he has competed.
“Having a guy like Martinez, just makes your challenges seem so light and insignificant and it inspires you to go harder and faster and to finish,” said Michael Epstein, who is the executive producer of the Nautica South Beach Triathlon.
This is just training for Martinez’s next goal. He is raising $30,000 dollars to compete in an Iron Man Competition next year.
Read more and watch this story: Wheelchair Is No Obstacle In SOBE Triathlon
Massage therapy works well on animals too [Video]
We love massages, so why not animals? Massage is an increasingly popular therapy for our pets, including large animals like horses.
Cowboys aren’t the only ones with sore muscles after a day at the rodeo. Often animal athletes like horses need a little rub down at the end of a long day.
“So I’m going to come along on his chest area and I’m just going to squeeze like I’m squeezing an orange,” said Polly Webb, Colorado State University Equine Sports Massage Therapist. “Actually ancient Chinese and Indians used massage for their horses all the way back to 3,000, B.C.”
Webb showed a tour group at CSU’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital the basics of horse massage to increase circulation and flexibility.
“These show horses are athletes and the same things we do for people, we do for these horses,” veterinarian Lisa Carson said.
From horse massage to dogs on water treadmills, veterinarians are increasingly using physical therapy on animals because they benefit the same way humans do.
Read more and watch this story: Massage Therapy Works Well On Animals Too
Jobless gather for ‘Unemployment Olympics’
You know what you are supposed to do when life hands you lemons… these guys made some fun lemonade.
Who hasn’t secretly wished he could pin the blame on his boss? Or slam office equipment against the pavement? Dozens of unemployed people got the chance to do exactly that during the tongue-in-cheek Unemployment Olympics.
In a twist on the classic game Pin the Tail on the Donkey, participants pulled a hat over their eyes and spun around before using a pushpin to attempt to Pin the Blame on the Boss.
The Manhattan event, organized by a laid-off computer programmer, was decidedly low-tech, with most games arranged with the help of cardboard, children’s paint and chalk.
Competitors also played a game of Office-Phone Skee-Ball, hurling a black phone toward chalk goal marks on the pavement. A group of schoolchildren from nearby cheered them on.
Prizes were offered by merchants from the surrounding Lower East Side neighborhood.
Nick McGlynn was among those who lined up at Tompkins Square Park in front of a cardboard hutch labeled with bright green paint as the Unemployment Office, where participants were required to show proof they had lost their jobs. The 26-year-old, who worked with video for Gawker Media until he was let go in November, said he was thrilled to have something to do besides searching the Internet and updating his blog.
The gaiety of the event was enough to make Maria Tapia smile, a welcome relief from the anxiety that accompanied her layoff in January from a job as a finance executive’s personal assistant.
“I never knew that I wanted a job this bad until I didn’t have a job,” Tapia said.
But at least at these simple games, “people are trying to look at it in a positive way,” she said.
Read more: Jobless gather for ‘Unemployment Olympics’ in NYC
Students help injured classmate complete project and graduate [Video]
This is a a great one! If you are soft-hearted, get the tissues ready.
Last January, a Seneca Valley High School student was killed in a tragic accident on I-79 while driving to a sporting event.
But her best friend, a passenger in the vehicle, survived serious injuries and is now looking forward to a bright future.
Family, friends and teachers say it’s nothing short of a miracle to see Dana Hughes, a Seneca Valley High School senior, up and walking again. Two months ago, the teen was critically injured in an auto accident while heading to a lacrosse match.
As a senior, in order to graduate, Hughes had to complete her senior project of training and competing in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s ”Just A Short Run” marathon at North Park.
However, the accident left her not well enough to run so about 90 of her classmates got permission to complete the project for her.
“She’s like a big sister to me. All my life, she’s always been my role model, so I wanted to do something for her,” said one of Hughes’ classmates, Megan Condit.
Hughes, just out of rehab, was able to walk five miles of the marathon, and dedicated the effort to in the memory of Quail. And today she had a chance to thank all of her classmates and friends who supported her.
“Everything that I got when I was in Pittsburgh Institute, in the hospital, the prayers especially helped,” she said. “I think, God was shining over me. I know he was.”
“I never thought I’d say this, but I never thought I’d be so excited to go back to school,” added Hughes.
Read more and watch this heart-warming story: Students Help Injured Classmate Complete Project
