Getting Ready for Football Season

Getting Ready for Football Season

By Troy Lambert

It’s time for NFL football, and fans in the United States are gearing up, doing everything from ordering single game tickets to hats, jerseys, and foam fingers declaring that their team is number one.

This year, there are a few other things fans should be doing to get ready. Here is a short checklist for you.
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Is This Just Fantasy?

That’s right, training camp and pre-season is the time to pay attention to just who you want to add to your fantasy roster. Whether you are looking for bragging rights in the office or winning the fantasy pool every week and banking some skrilla, the draft is right around the corner, and you don’t want to be that guy whose starting running back is benched for the first four games of the season.

Place Your Bets

Okay, it is true that unless you live in Nevada, Oregon, Montana, or Delaware sports betting is technically illegal in the United States. Two things: that might change this October when the Supreme Court will rule on whether the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act is unconstitutional or not; and even former President Obama said he would pardon himself if he were caught betting on sports.

So go ahead and lay your wager down. According to BetNow.eu the NFL is the most gambled on sport worldwide, and if your state has a lottery, it might finally be legal for you to join the action this football season.

Get Your Healthy Snack On

No one wants to enlarge their team’s fan base by simply eating too many Cheetos and increasing the size of their own backfield, but it is hard to avoid during football season, when you really want to just sit and watch your team succeed.

So if you are going to snack (and you are, trust me), you need to choose your snack foods wisely. Reach for healthier choices like veggie trays and low-fat, low-calorie snacks rather than an extra-large stuffed crust pizza with a side of three bean nachos.

Besides the fact that even Febreeze and the best-filtered HVAC system in the world can’t fix the end results of that, and you might be watching the game alone if you keep that up.

Over to You, Gym

Most people who actually drink the beer depicted on beer commercials don’t look like the actors in the commercials. The reason? They haven’t seen the inside of a gym since high school PE class.

Unless you want to find yourself on People of Walmart when your fan jersey and your sweats can no longer keep up with your NFL expansion, you need to make time to work out during the season. It’s tough, because it’s winter and cold outside, but remember your reluctance to go to the gym when you are making fun of Miami playing in Green Bay in January

Football season is just around the corner, and it is past time to get ready to enjoy the great American pastime. (See what I did there?). So gear up, get ready, place your bets, get your snack on, and don’t forget your friend gym. It’s going to be another great season.



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Possible PASPA Repeal

Possible PASPA Repeal

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By Troy Lambert

Technically, sports betting is illegal in the United States except in four states: Nevada, Oregon, Montana, and Delaware. This is thanks to a law called the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act passed in 1992. Much like bans of other “vices”, the result has been an increase in illegal betting activity and a shadow industry that makes millions a year.
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Although gambling can be a problem, most people do it for fun. Even former President Obama joked that if he were caught betting on sports he would simply “pardon himself” something now President Trump seems to think is a good idea, although for much different reasons. By the strictest interpretation of the law football pools and other simple “bets” between friends are also illegal.

This law has also created an issue for sportsbooks online. To stay in business and not face government sanctions or fines, they have to follow these laws implicitly, and even block IP addresses and users from certain areas from creating accounts and logging in.

Thanks to a lawsuit started by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the Supreme Court will hear a case on the repeal of PASPA this October. The decision will affect other laws applying to state’s rights, but it seems fairly likely PASPA will be repealed, and pretty much every state that has a lottery will also allow sports betting in one form or another.

New State Revenue

New Jersey already has casino gambling, and has been pushing for legalized sports betting for a long time. States like Arizona, California, and others are waiting to legalize gambling.

A large part of the motivation for this is of course financial. The taxes the states could collect on the new revenue and new businesses created could be a great boon to many budgets already stretched thin.

New Methods of Betting

Online sportsbooks, just as other online gambling options would expand their businesses into states that legalize sports gambling. Some may even open physical sportsbooks or offices in those states, again increasing tax revenue and creating jobs.

Of course, the caution is that not all sportsbooks are created equally. Some are more reputable than others, collect a more reasonable vig, and have fewer transaction fees. Determining which sportsbook is the most reputable. Sites like bestonlinesportsbooks.info inform users about the structure of modern sportsbooks, what kind of betting lines are available, and even how to get started on using legal sportsbooks. Such sites avoid illegal sites and those that use questionable methods or are not secure.

The key, of course, will be research by the gambler themselves. What sites are legal in the United States, and where are they located? What is the fine print, and what do fees mean to winnings? Are my winnings taxable?

While these may seem like basic questions, they create the need for an intermediary that lists and explains the rules, legal sites, and what to be cautious of.

New Methods of Payment

Digital currency is not new. In fact, most credit and debit cards, PayPal and Square Cash are all digital methods of payment, and vary in the level of security they offer.

With the rise in popularity of bitcoin, new methods of payment and withdrawing winnings have become available. Because bitcoin is not centralized and the security and privacy offered by the block chain system, it has become much more prevalent with gamblers over the last few years.

Using bitcoin is cheaper for gamblers and for sportsbooks: transaction fees are lower, and the transfer of funds happens much faster than with conventional currency.

Political Changes

PSAPA is simply one step in several changes that will come if it is repealed. The legal precedent it sets for states could be important in several other areas as well.

This could mean that many things states might have agreed to under other Federal laws that no longer make sense at a state level can be appealed and repealed as well. Marijuana legalization is another area where this same battle may be fought.

A PASPA repeal in October may mean many things to many people and states, but especially to the gambling industry and the tax base it would create. Many states are gearing up for the likely repeal, and sports fans are waiting with anticipation to see what happens next.




See Troy at Unbound Northwest

Activity Trackers: Necessary For Progress Or A Money Making Scam?

Activity Trackers: Necessary For Progress Or A Money Making Scam?

By Lina Martinez

If you’re somebody who enjoys staying fit, or somebody who wants to, you may have considered getting an activity tracker at some point or another. There are so many different types of trackers out there. There are trackers with screens, trackers that send information to your phone, and trackers that look like stylish bracelets. However, it’s important to know whether getting one of these will help you or hinder you.

If you’re somebody who has been into fitness for a while, chances are, getting a fitness tracker could help you to improve and break out of any plateaus. They can measure your sleep, steps, heart rate, and many other useful things to give you an indication of where you can improve.

However, if you’re somebody who simply wants to get fit, a fitness tracker could hinder you. It’s easy to get too overwhelmed with all of the information when you’re just starting out. It can also be a false start for many people, who think purchasing this tracker will automatically send them off to the gym. It won’t. Instead, it’s probably best to get into a good routine first, and then get a tracker when you know it’s something you’ll keep up with.

Trackers definitely do work, but they’re best for fitness enthusiasts and athletes. Chances are, if you drop a ton of money on a tracker before you’ve even joined a gym, you won’t enjoy using it and it could even demotivate you. Want to learn more about the future of sports? Look at this infographic!


credit to Adelphi Sports Management Online

How Can You Get The Most Out Of Sports?

How Can You Get The Most Out Of Sports?

If you are a keen sports fan, but you would like to know how you can make even more out of it, then you have come to the right place. Even those who would consider themselves an avid supporter or even player of any particular sport will know that it can be hard to ensure you are making the most of it. As it happens, there are a number of things you can do in this regard, and you should make sure that you are following all necessary lines of interest if you are serious about doing so for yourself. In this post, we are going to take a look at a few of the essential tasks you can carry out to ensure that you get the most out of participating in any sport which you might personally enjoy in your life.
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Source

Understand The Science

Many avid sports lovers do not ever really go that far into the process of understanding the underlying mechanics of it. But if you are keen on making the most of it, you might find that a little education in these matters could make a world of difference. There are a number of angles you can approach it from here – for a start, you could look at the biological route, and enjoy learning about the effect on the body in that way. Or if you wanted a more specialized approach, you might even want to think about getting a Master’s Degree in Kinesiology and finding out more about the way it all works as a system. However you do it, learning about the underlying science often has a way of making it much more interesting to partake in and watch, and can dramatically change the experience of both as a result.

Practice The Sport

If you have a particular favorite sport which you tend to partake in, then simply practicing it as much as you can is bound to be one of the best ways to ensure that you are getting as much out of it as possible. This might seem obvious, but it is important to remember that practicing is different to what most people take it to be. It is not a matter of just happening to continue playing the sport, although that too is important. It’s also about ensuring that you practice actively, consciously, by setting aside a time in which to practice certain aspects of the sport and so on. This is particularly beneficial, and is well worth considering if you are serious about making the most of it.

Take On A Variety

Ultimately, however, the best way is to make sure that you get involved in a variety of sports in your daily life. That way, you can be sure that you are going to learn as much as possible about all the sports you are playing, as you will appreciate them from a variety of angles. This is worth considering if you find yourself at something of a loss.




Making Boring Sports Interesting!

Making Boring Sports Interesting!

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Have you watched some sport on the TV and thought “how can anybody watch this? It’s boring!” You might not be inclined towards sports at all, but there is a sport for everyone out there. The best sports rejuvenate, relax, and get you focused and fired up! There are plenty of sports that aren’t very sexy or cool, but it’s not about whether it’s boring to watch. If you don’t like watching it,  that’s one thing, but playing it might be a completely different story. For a relaxing sport like golf, it may be as dull as ditchwater to watch, but playing it has been shown to appeal to your Jack Nicholsons and Will Smiths of the world, believe it or not! There are some sports that are pretty cool underneath the surface, and here are three to pep up for yourself!
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Fishing

Yes, sitting for 12 to 18 hours to catch a guppy the size of your pinky might not sound like the most interesting of ways to spend a weekend, but that’s because you’re doing it wrong! Fishing is all about strategy, not just patience. You can place a line into the water and hopefully catch something, or you can combine it with something like drones! Now, fishing and drones might sound like a weird combination, but to eradicate that sense of boredom and to get a better chance of catching something, you can use a drone to fly the rod out further. Depending on where you want to fish, you will want to find the best drones for fishing based on your budget. But if money is not an issue, you can use a drone to search for fish, help with the catching of the fish, and even film your efforts! If you become such a keen fisherman (or fisher lady), then you can make your own videos and put them online and show people that fishing isn’t actually that boring!  

Snooker

The armchair sport to rule them all! Back in the 1980s, snooker was all the rage, and people like Alex Higgins drank and smoked his way through to world championship trophies. Flash forward, and the sport is considered slow and sleep-inducing. As an observer, the game can be at a snail’s pace, especially when you compare it to fast sports like rugby, football (soccer or pigskin), and anything where fists are involved. But snooker doesn’t have that cache, it’s controlled calm, and incredibly pressurizing! But the only way to get an appreciation for the game is to play it yourself, and you’ll see that it’s not like your 8-ball pool, the table is huge, and there’s a massive margin of error. Snooker is an incredibly addictive sport because of the rounds, or “frames,” played. If you were to go toe to toe with an amateur competitor, it would take you days to complete. The stamina involved in snooker isn’t about the physical, it’s the mental exhaustion that can occur. One little mistake can cost you the whole game in professional circles, and this is something that is overlooked by the casual observer. It is a massive mental challenge, and as far as the toughest mental challenge is concerned…

Chess

Much like snooker, chess isn’t the sexy sport you see on the TV. In fact, chess isn’t televised anymore. The last time it was considered to be a popular sport was back in the 1970s, when people like Bobby Fischer were the key proponents of the game. And looking at Fischer as a player, he worked out mentally and physically as if the next game was a fight. And this is the allure of chess, it’s a real fight, it’s Monopoly, Risk, and Tetris all in one! And then some! It’s a game of endless possibilities, and there will never be the same outcome. Chess is considered very off-putting for the reason that it’s too difficult and can’t be learned in one session, yet this is the rewarding nature of the game. That is what will keep you coming back, and the more you play, the more you will learn about how your own brain works. Looking at it from one perspective, if you were to play against someone, they have their own method or sequence, and once you’ve figured that out, that is how you can beat someone. It isn’t just pieces on a board, it’s a real test of lateral thinking. Even people like Arnold Schwarzenegger are big into chess, and this is because it’s something that you will never get bored of!





Co-founder of disruptive business and political site zenruption

Predicting The Winner Of The 2017 ICC Champions Trophy

Predicting The Winner Of The 2017 ICC Champions Trophy

 

By Haris Quintana
The 2017 ICC Champions Trophy is the 8th edition of the Champions Trophy, a tournament involving the top 8 teams in world cricket. To date, six teams have won the competition with India and Australia winning the Champions Trophy twice. Other winners of the Champions Trophy include the West Indies, New Zealand, Srilanka and South Africa. The 8 teams in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy have been divided into two groups. Group -A features Australia, England, New Zealand and Bangladesh while group B includes India, South Africa, Srilanka and Pakistan.

Photo courtesy of Flickr, under creative commons license

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The favorites for the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy include Australia, India, South Africa and England. New Zealand is also expected to do well in the tournament. So, who will win the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy? Predicting a winner right away is not possible but there are reasons to back some teams over the others. Australian bookmakers are heavily favoring Australia and England to win the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy with India being the outsiders. The reasons the odds heavily favor Australia and England to win the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy are obvious. Australia is the defending ODI champion and England is playing on home turf. As for the outsiders, India has always done well in ICC competitions so it’s natural to back them to perform well in this year’s Champions Trophy.

This is a huge gamble but here’s how I think the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy will pan out. Group-A will be won by Australia with England finishing as runners-up. Group B honors will be taken by South Africa and India will fill in the second spot. Australia will face India while South Africa will play England in the Semi-finals. My bet for the final? Australia vs. England for the reasons mentioned earlier i.e. defending ODI champions and the home team. Whether you agree with me or not, you can make your feelings known by betting on your favorite 2017 ICC Champions Trophy team.

In addition to predicting the winner of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, you can predict the team that’ll finish last in each group. My picks are Bangladesh and Srilanka. You can bet on each game of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy to get a chance of winning some money and increasing your wealth. Fifteen games will be played in this year’s Champions Trophy. If you bet on each match correctly, you’ll stand a chance of making some serious money. You can increase your chances of betting on each match correctly by taking a look at the ICC Champions Trophy odds listed online.

In terms of interest and TV viewership, The ICC Champions Trophy is the second biggest competition in cricket. The ICC Champions Trophy will be held for an 8th -time this year and most experts are backing Australia, England or India to win the competition. You can watch the ICC Champions Trophy on your favorite sports channel to see whether that happens or not.



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