Active Team Sports

The Active Team Sports Blog Has Moved!

Trish18 — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 14:43:00 GMT

ATTENTION! We've moved! Please update your bookmarks and feeds. The new home for the Active Team Sports Blog is http://community.active.com/blogs/teamsports

New RSS feed: http://community.active.com/blogs/teamsports/feeds/posts

Rob's Shout Out and Updates - June 2007

Trish18 — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 17:34:19 GMT

We've come full circle. I'm Rob Costlow and very happy to be back bringing you community updates and news. I've been deep into working on the new Active.com with the rest of the team. You may be wondering when the site is going to launch. I ask myself the same question. Nah, it's all good. We're currently in private beta and the new site is scheduled to go public before the end of June. In the meantime I have some great new features to share which will now be available in Phase 1. Wikis, email and RSS notifications (on all types of content), and your very own personal blog will be available. Already have a blog? No problem, importing tools will be available.

Dumb Parents Rob Kids of Fun

Trish18 — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 17:26:34 GMT

Just when you thought you had heard all the stories about parents taking kids' sports too seriously, another jerk comes along.

NBA star playing on the streets of D.C.

Trish18 — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 19:43:06 GMT

Gilbert Arenas is an NBA all-star for the Washington Wizards. This summer while his fellow pro colleagues enjoyed their vacation getting away from basketball Arenas played summer league rec ball in the rough streets of southeast D.C. The Washington Post web site has video of this inspirational story.

The Wave Turns the big 2-5!

Trish18 — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 23:21:44 GMT

Yes, the infamous crowd participating cheer, "The Wave," turned 25 on October 15. The debated (but we believe likely) creation of drum pounding Krazy George Henderson (AKA The World's Most Famous Cheerleader) during an Oakland Athletics / Yankees game back in 1981. The Washington Huskies are known to have popularized the cheer.

Check out Henderson's Web site at www.krazygeorge.com.

Think before you speak... the world is now listening... umm and watching.

Trish18 — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 23:36:00 GMT

Lamar Thomas' statements during the Miami/FIU fight on Saturday got him fired from his commentating job. The video was all over YouTube and you have to believe it's popularity lead to his firing.

read more | digg story

Little League pitch counts

Trish18 — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 23:55:51 GMT

Beginning next year pitchers in the Little League World Series will be regulated by pitch counts organized by age. It's the same rule as applies to the regulars season but now they will be enforced during the series. (This issue was a big topic of discussion at the series. Baltimore Oriole pitcher LaTroy Hawkins was asked about it and he said "I don't want to touch that one!"

The breakdown by age is as follows:

11-12....85 pitches
9-10....75 pitches
13-16...95 pitches

For many years the medical community have been calling for pitch counts because of the increases of arm injuries among young pitchers. But others have said it's the kind of pitch--not the amount that really determines injury. There also is the fact that just some young kids are built to throw alot and some aren't.

What do you think? Should Little League institute these pitch counts? Or should this be left at the discretion of the individual managers? Tell uswhat you think!

Zidane and Materazzi to meet on convict island

Trish18 — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 20:07:41 GMT

http://active.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/zidane.jpgFile this under the extremely bizarre department...

FIFA President Sepp Blatter is attempting to resolve the whole World Cup head-butting incident involving Zinedine Zidane and Marco Materazzi by bringing the two world-famous soccer players together on Robben Island in South Africa to patch up their differences before World Cup 2010.

For those not intimately acquainted with Robben Island it has been a penal colony for political prisoners and social outcasts for the past 400 years--and housed Nelson Mandela for many years. (It is now the site of a Nelson Mandela musuem.)

No word on what kind of protective headgear Materazzi will be wearing.

USA Softball Team takes Gold!

Trish18 — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 19:44:23 GMT

Jessica Mendoza did it again.

The USA Softball team avenged an earlier loss to Japan behind the slugging of Mendoza and Crystl Bustos as well as the dominant pitching of Cat Osterman to take the gold medal at the World Softball Championships in Beijing. ESPN has the whole story.

Check out our World Cup of Softball special section to get an insight into how the U.S. team prepared for this tournament over the summer.

NCAA, NBA Could Team on Amateur Reform

Trish18 — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 14:38:15 GMT

NCAA President Myles Brand left open the possibility yesterday that college sports' governing body for the first time is willing to work with both the NBA and shoe companies to improve amateur basketball, which has come under increasing criticism this year.

read more | digg story

How Adults Can Make Kids' Sports a Nightmare

Trish18 — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 14:03:43 GMT

Some adults pressure their kids in sports to the point where the kids no longer enjoy what should be fun. Adults placing unreasonable pressure on children is nothing new. The only difference is the things they expect their children to excel at. In the 17th century young boys were castrated so their singing voices wouldn't be ruined by puberty (unbelievable!).

read more | digg story

The Road to Kalamazoo

Trish18 — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 23:35:23 GMT

It's around 3:30 in the morning and we are heading West on the Ohio Turnpike and still about 3 hours from home. Isn't technology great? I am able to surf the net while driving down the highway! (actually my wife Holly is doing the typing - I'm just dictating. She tends to get cranky when I take my eyes off the road to see what site she is on)

Let me begin by explaining that we had big plans for the Championship game. Our friend Larry Brewer was scheduled to umpire in the game and we were more than ready to enjoy a day at the ballpark and cheer him on. However as you all know by now things did NOT go as planned. After several weather delays and then the final decision to postpone the game until tomorrow night at 8 pm we decided to pack it in and head home to Michigan.

For the rest of this article check out our Little League World Series.

Georgia wins the Little League World Series!

Trish18 — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 23:33:33 GMT

http://active.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/georgia.jpg It has been a very exciting and entertaining year for Little League Baseball. What a series! The Southeast team became the new world champs winning the 60th Little League World Series in a 2-1 upset over Japan.

In the third inning, Cody Walker hit a 2-run home run for the U.S. champions, Columbus Nothern Little League (Columbus, Georgia). Pitcher Kyle Carter contributed greatly to the win, stricking out 11.

For the rest of this article check out our Little League World Series.

ESPN employs five-second delay on Little League World Series

Trish18 — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 18:38:59 GMT

As some of you readers might already know last night a player on the Staten Island team issued a curse word on live TV. This was bad enough--but then his manager reportedly 'slapped' him when he heard the word. (Sorry I can't confirm this because I didn't see it.)

This has led to an official reprimand from Little League Baseball and has caused ESPN to issue a five-second delay on all future Little Leauge World Series. It's sad...but the same constraints that have been institutued because of Janet Jackson and her wardrobe have now been brought to a Little League World Series broadcast.

Check out the rest of this post on our Little League World Series special section....

Live Video from Willilamsport

Trish18 — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 18:37:30 GMT

That's right...Mikey from Active and eteamz is at the Little League World Series in Williamsport and he brought a video camera. (Uh oh.)

In this installment he discusses such important topics as being bumped out of the press box by smelly sportswriters and just where on his arm he should put a permanent LLB tattoo.

Check out the video at our Little League World Series Special Section.