Nike: BOOM

Nike has just released a series of new commercials, Nike: BOOM. These ads have a wide variety of celebrities and athletes filling them. Everyone from Rick Ross to Bo Jackson find spots in these ads, also included, Tim Tebow, Robinson Cano, and Ndamukong Suh.These are pretty sweet commercials, fast action, quick cuts, and semi-entertaining. Look for more of these to be released in the near future. Also, there is a full-length, minute-or-so long video, that sort of encompasses all these together. Look for me to post that soon.

Viva La Hova: Remastered and Expanded

Motivation co-owner Mick Boogie and good friend Terry Urban just released a REMASTERED version of their classic mixtape Viva La Hova! This mixtape came out a two years ago and was one of their biggest mixtapes ever, as it got critical acclaim and hundreds of thousands of downloads. Throughout the CD, they produced original beats and remixed, mashed-up, and created new tracks that feature both Jay-Z and Coldplay. Since Jay-Z and Coldplay just announced that they will be performing on New Years Eve 2011 together and will be integrating their songs during that performance, Mick & Terry decided to drop the remastered version of the mixtape now rather than later in the year when they were planning to do so.  It contains two new bonus songs as well as the original mixes re-mastered and without their signature drops over the songs.....click the link underneath the tracklist below to download and enjoy!

1) Intro (produced by Mick Boogie & Terry Urban)
2) One Ruler (produced by Max Tannone)
3) Public Speeding (produced by Cookin’ Soul)***
4) Know My Place (produced by The Amps)
5) Never Changing (produced by nVMe)
6) Miss Trouble (produced by Judah)
7) Back At My Place (produced by Remot)
8) Lucifer And Friends (produced by CJ Luzi)
9) A Spy’s Prayer (produced by nVMe)
10) Science Is Ignorant (produced by Gooch)
11) The Reverse Fix (produced by Mick Boogie & nVMe)
12) Hola Blanco (produced by Garbs Infinite)
13) Take The Hill (produced by nVMe)
14) Lost Part 2 (remixed by Mick Boogie)
15) Cold Success (produced by 9th Wonder)
16) What If We Cry? (produced by Remot)
17) No Love Coming Home (produced by The Kickdrums)
18) Falling In Shadows (produced by 6th Sense)
19) Life of Clocks (produced by Terry Urban)
20) X-Y-Z (produced by Hasan Insane)

Download HERE. 

Counterfeit PS3 Controllers Explode!

Not sure why anyone would buy a knock-off DualShock 3 or SIXAXIS gamepad, considering the trouble Sony's taken to make sure they don't work, but the PlayStation 3 manufacturer has another reason you might want to steer clear of counterfeit pads -- they could be tiny Li-ion bombs poised to explode. Talk about force feedback! Yes, the company that brought us exploding laptop batteries says that third-party products "which are practically identical in appearance to genuine PlayStation®3 wireless controllers" may burst into flame, and as you might expect, Sony suggests that you run out to your nearest retailer and purchase the real deal instead.

APR Rankings to Go Along With Earlier Article

Here are the up-to-date, as accurate as can be, rankings of how the majority (113 out of 120 possible) of D-I, BCS, college coaches rank as far as success OFF the field. The seven coaches left off the list are in their first seasons, so, understandably, it's hard to gather data about them since these numbers are collective from the 2003/04 season up to the 2008/09 one. Below are the top 25 and bottom 25 coaches as far as academic success rates in the NCAA. The grade is out of 1000, that being the best.

Best 25 coaches ranked by APR

1. Troy Calhoun, Air Force 985
(tie). Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern 985
3. Dabo Swinney, Clemson 982
4. Greg Schiano, Rutgers 981
5. x-Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech 980
6. Ken Niumatalolo, Navy 976
7. Randy Shannon, Miami 975
8. x-Mike London, Virginia 974
9. Chris Petersen, Boise State 973
10. x-David Cutcliffe, Duke 971
(tie). Frank Spaziani, Boston College 971
12. x-Dave Clawson, Bowling Green 969
(tie). Bob Toledo, Tulane 969
14. Bret Bielema, Wisconsin 968
(tie). Jim Harbaugh, Stanford 968
(tie). Mike Haywood, Miami, Ohio 968
(tie). Bill Lynch, Indiana 968
(tie). Joe Paterno, Penn State 968
(tie). Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee 968
20. Jim Grobe, Wake Forest 967
(tie). x-Danny Hope, Purdue 967
22. Mark Richt, Georgia 966
(tie). Bill Stewart, West Virginia 966
24. Urban Meyer, Florida 965
25. x-Jerry Kill, Northern Illinois 962
(tie). Gary Patterson, TCU 962

Worst 25 coaches ranked by APR

1. Neil Callaway, UAB 883
2. Paul Rhoads, Iowa State 889
3. Robb Akey, Idaho 908
4. Ron English, Eastern Michigan 913
5. Dave Christensen, Wyoming 916
6. Howard Schnellenberger, Florida Atlantic 918
(tie). Rickey Bustle, Louisiana-Lafayette 918
8. Bill Snyder, Kansas State 919
9. Mike Stoops, Arizona 920
10. x-Turner Gill, Kansas 921
11. x-Dennis Erickson, Arizona State 922
(tie). Stan Parrish, Ball State 922
13. x-Gene Chizik, Auburn 924
14. Mike Price, UTEP 926
(tie). Al Golden, Temple 926
(tie). Doug Martin, Kent State 926
17. x-Gary Andersen, Utah State 928
(tie). x-Lane Kiffin, USC 928
19. Steve Spurrier, South Carolina 929
20. Larry Fedora, Southern Miss 930
(tie). x-June Jones, SMU 930
(tie). Mike Sherman, Texas A&M 930
(tie). x-Houston Nutt, Ole Miss 930
24. Larry Blakeney, Troy 931
(tie). Todd Dodge, North Texas 931

Some Big Schools Not Seen on Either List:
30. Jim Tressel, Ohio State 958
37. x-Les Miles, LSU 951
37. Bo Pelini, Nebraska 951
37. Bob Stoops, Oklahoma 951
47. x-Nick Saban, Alabama 947
52. Mack Brown, Texas 943
67. Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech 938
79. x-Rich Rodriguez, Michigan 933
82. x-Brian Kelly, Notre Dame 932

x - represents numbers from coaches current and/or previous school between 03-09 (i.e. Lane Kiffin's numbers include USC and Tennessee)

Shannon leading Miami through renaissance on and off the field

Hey there, Miami Hurricanes. Everything OK? Anything you want to talk about?

From the outside looking in, Miami might appear to be a team in turmoil. After all, the Hurricanes' turnover-laden 36-24 loss to Ohio State on September 11th spawned a flurry of auxiliary headlines:

• In the locker room after that loss, the usually stoic Randy Shannon ripped into his guys, excoriating them for missing a golden opportunity.

• Starting quarterback Jacory Harris, who took full responsibility for his four interceptions (despite the fact that his receivers were to blame for three of them), revealed the day after the game that he'd received at least one racist tweet following the loss.

• In a move he insists was unrelated, Shannon instructed the Hurricanes to shut down their Twitter accounts, citing them as a distraction.

Taken together, what does it all mean?

It means the Pitt Panthers have a problem going into their upcoming game against their former Big East foes.

By Thursday's 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Heinz Field, the Hurricanes will have had twelve days to digest Shannon's philippic and mull over their mistakes in the Horseshoe. This is a disciplined, veteran, mentally tough team with a history of bouncing back from early-season setbacks. Seven days after suffering a 31-7 drubbing at Virginia Tech last year, the 'Canes spotted No. 8 Oklahoma 10 points, then came storming back. The dee stiffened, Harris threw three touchdown passes, and OU went home with a 21-20 upset loss.

The Hurricanes will arrive at The Big Ketchup Bottle desperate to get a bad taste out of their mouths, and that's the least of Pitt's problems. Former Heisman candidate Dion Lewis, who rushed for a jaw-dropping 1,799 rushing yards as a freshman in 2009, has averaged 2.9 yards per carry so far this season. That's not a slump, it's a disappearing act. On September 16th, star defensive end Greg Romeus had surgery on a herniated disk; he's out indefinitely.

The Panthers have had bigger problems off the field. Redshirt freshman tailback and kick returner Jason Douglas was suspended indefinitely after his arrest in connection with a DUI hit-and-run accident. (Riding shotgun with Douglas was starting middle linebacker Dan Mason, whom head coach Dave Wannstedt has since demoted to second-string.) Reserve offensive lineman Keith Coleman's suspension resulted from his arrest for aggravated assault.

Such malfeasance is hardly atypical for a Division I program. Indeed, Urban Meyer's Florida Gators make Wannstedt and the Panthers look like Father Flanagan and the inhabitants of Boys Town. On September 14, Gator running back Chris Rainey was arrested for aggravated stalking. By the Orlando Sentinel's count, Rainey's was the 30th arrest during Meyer's five-plus year tenure in Gainesville.

While that number can be deceptive -- not all arrests result in charges being filed -- it's still embarrassing for the Gators. As we were reminded while struggling to keep track of Tiger's mistresses, once the general public is keeping a tally, you've lost the p.r. battle.

I come not to bury the Gators, but to praise the Hurricanes, who boast one of the more remarkable statistics in all of sport. The erstwhile bad boys of college football, the heirs of a program long known as Thug U, have had one player arrested during the four-year tenure of Randy Shannon. That guy, quarterback Robert Marve, committed the dastardly act of vandalizing the side-view mirror on a parked car. He has since transferred to Purdue.

What's going on in Coral Gables? For one thing, most Hurricanes are in bed when a lot of their classmates are hitting the clubs and bars. For the last two years, Shannon has been starting practice at 7 a.m., with meetings beforehand. "Guys are not going out," he says. The Hurricanes have sacrificed their night lives.

Shannon has placed greater emphasis on recruiting character than any of his predecessors, dating back to Jimmy Johnson (for whom Shannon started at linebacker on the 'Canes' 1987 national championship team). When his assistants are on the recruiting trail, Shannon insists they go into private investigator mode. "We've got coaches doing as much background checking as we can," he says. Players are deputized, put to work evaluating high school visitors. "We tell our players, if they don't feel [a recruit] is the right type of guy for what we're trying to get done at Miami, tell us, and we'll cut him loose. And we've done that."

Job One, obviously, is to restore the program's luster, and Shannon has made steady progress toward that goal, posting five wins in 2007, seven in 2008 and nine last season.

What's remarkable about this renaissance-in-progress is what's going on off the field. Plenty of coaches pay lip service to the importance of graduating players: Shannon's Academic Progress Rate, a metric used by the NCAA to measure the success (or failure) of college teams to move athletes toward graduation, is best among all BCS coaches.

"Coach Shannon wants to win games, but he wants to win with high-character guys," says cornerback Brandon Harris. "We can be tough on the field, but off the field, we should be respectful, and we need to get an education."

Somewhere, Luther Campbell is frowning and shaking his head.

"It was great, those guys being the bad boys of college football," says running back Damien Berry of those Thug U teams of yore. "But we're making a different kind of statement."

While Jacory Harris doesn't deny the appeal and swagger of those dynastic Miami teams, "Our swagger is based on something else," he says. "It's based on confidence, knowing we're prepared, knowing what we're doing."

That swagger was absent for long stretches in the Horseshoe, but should be back in full force against Pitt. This is a deep, talented, veteran, resilient squad that will have a lot to say about who wins the ACC.

They just won't be saying it on Twitter.

Read more: Sports Illustrated

Is European Football Destroying Itself?

Real Madrid is broke.

It was broke before completing the two most expensive transfers ever in 2009, bringing in Kaka for $86 million and Cristiano Ronaldo for $123 million. And it was broke when setting the previous transfer records, buying Luis Figo for $57 million in 2000 and Zinedine Zidane for $71 million in 2001.

Real pulled off the Figo and Zidane acquisitions by selling its huge downtown training complex to the city of Madrid for $445 million. The president, Florentino Perez, used the cash to pay down $271 million in club debt and blew the rest on the players. After that, Real dug itself into a financial hole all over again -- a hole on which construction has yet to conclude.

Despite generating more than an estimated $500 million a year, which includes a TV deal worth more than $200 million annually, Real Madrid's debt is $414 million, according to the club's 2008-09 financial report.
Yet Real's spending hasn't stopped. Just this past transfer window, the club spent $114 million on new players and doled out what has been estimated to be around $126 million for buying out one coach and his staff and bringing in another.

Real's biggest rival is also broke.

Barcelona was broke before buying David Villa, Javier Mascherano and Adriano for $52 million, $28.4 million and $11.6 million, respectively, this summer. The club is so strapped for cash, in fact, that it took out a $195 million bridge loan to ensure that it could pay salaries.

Like Real, Barcelona also has a lucrative broadcasting deal, valued at more than $185 million a year, and brings in $293 million more in revenue. Yet like Real, Barcelona is in debt by $578 million.

But both teams show no signs of curbing their spending.

Read the rest of the article here: ESPN Soccernet

The Trek Support Backpack

Sure, you can just toss an external battery in your backpack to keep your gadgets powered on the go, but why stop there? Some of the "influencers" over at Quirky didn't, and have come up with this so-called Trek Support backpack as an alternative. As you can see, it packs a removable "gadget dock," which can itself be charged up and then in turn charge up to three different USB gadgets simultaneously. You'll also naturally get a dedicated laptop sleeve, plenty of pockets, and a TSA-friendly design. Of course, this is a Quirky project, which means it'll just remain a concept unless it raises the necessary funding through pre-sales. Ready to do your part to make it happen? It'll cost you $130 at the source link below.

Quirky - Trek Support

Via Engadget