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February 2015
Superbowl preview Tony Ramos Texas Female Athlete of the Month: Kendall Baisden Texas Track and Field
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Texas Sports Magazine About TSM Texas Sports Magazine is a new urban sports magazine that provides coverage of athletes we recognize that work the hardest and shine the brightest month after month. The magazine is a resourceful instrumental voice for enthusiasts, sports fans, and athletes to be distinguished above the rest. In- depth journalism on a wide range of sports, athletes and sportsman’s activities for our readers is the number one priority. Our magazine covers it all! This quality 48 –page full color monthly publication contains articles on all types of sports related issues, useful health and wellness information, sports news, cowboy pics and more. Profiles, features, news, statics and trivia included every month are high school, collegiate, and professional athletes from all over Texas. In addition, there is also information on sports products, services, and games plus our readers can enter to win some great giveaways. Readership, Circulation and Distribution In 2015, Texas Sports Magazine provides a sports monthly magazine in the free magazine market and provides a quality magazine that is both informative and entertaining. The magazine is available for FREE from selected colleges, small businesses, and churches. The short-term goal is to launch the first issue March 1, reaching 5,000 in print our first month and more than 25,000 on-line readers in Texas alone. Subscriptions are available.
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It is well known the talents of the University of Texas Longhorns Track and Field team. Kendall Baisden is a female sprinter on the team and has recently surged into Longhorn history after she competed at the McCravy Memorial in Lexington, Ky. Baisden set a meet record in the 400 meters with a time of 51.81 seconds. Her time was a meet best, and established her place amongst history with the 7th best time in Longhorn history. Her time ranks the fastest in the nation above all collegiate track and field athletes this season. The McCravy Memorial was highly anticipated as the most competitive track meet of the season. Baisden raised her level of talent and led the Longhorns to three wins at the meet. Many of the top ten track and field teams were represented in Lexington and the Longhorns displayed their ability to compete with the best. Baisden has proven the Longhorns are worthy of top ten competitions within the national collegiate field.
Kendall Baisden
The week prior to the McCravy Memorial, Baisden blazed to glory in Fayetteville, Ark. She posted a time of 23.84 seconds in the 200m, which ranked her 2nd best amongst all collegiate competitors this season. Her teammates Collins and Akinosun, followed her leadership
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in Fayetteville and posted times good enough for 3rd and 4th best in the nation. Baisden did not stop there, she placed 2nd in the 60m with a time of 7.39 seconds. She fell short to her teammate, Akinosun. However, Baisden’s time was good enough to place her in the 4th best time of all competitors this season. Even though the Razorbacks came away victorious, the Longhorns and Baisden came away with some great experience in their season opener. This past weekend Baisden competed in the IAAF World Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore. She anchored the 4x400 meter relay team that placed first in a time of 3 minutes, 30.42 seconds. In addition, she placed first in the 400-meter race just two days earlier at Oregon’s Hayward Field. She brought home two gold medals to Austin, Tx and plans to keep her January success going for the rest of the season. Baisden currently is ranked No. 7 by the USTFCCA and is the permanent holder of the No. 8 ranking of outdoor collegiate participants in track and field following the 2014 outdoor season. Kendall Baisden is only a freshman from Detroit, Mi and has many years of success ahead of her. She has won countless NCAA, USA and World medals over the past three years and helped the Longhorns achieve a second-place finishing at the outdoor NCAA championships last year. During the meet she won three events that led all Longhorns. Not only has her success been tremendous through athletics, but also she made the Big 12 Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll in the fall of 2013. Look out for Baisden to continue her success on and off the track in the upcoming months.
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This Super Bowl is an Unbelievable Joke!
One does not have to be a true football fanatic or even a casual fan to be aware of the party that has been going on in the name of Super Bowl. The marketing hype that surrounds the game raises it to a level where the viewers are carpet bombed with the news and highlights of the event in practically every section of the media and television.
The Lucky’s and the Cheaters The Seahawks were incredibly lucky just to have got to the Super Bowl, making a mockery of the sport. The mockery will be historic if they actually win. Patriots, on the other hand, have been buried under a mountain of allegations of cheating. So if they win, they ought to be handed over a trophy with a deflated football on top. That would perfectly symbolize the farce that has gone on in this year’s event. An investigation against the Patriots’ alleged attempts to cheat is under way. However, the results of the investigation really do not matter. In the eyes of the diehard football worshippers, the event has already been renamed as the DeflateGate Super Bowl. History shall not be able to erase this name.
It is too bad that Peyton Manning was injured. If Manning was healthy, the Broncos would have beaten the Colts which would have meant the Broncos would have played New England. That was the game everyone wanted to watch and the Broncos would have beaten the Pats if Manning was healthy. They may not have smashed them like they did last year but Manning would have prevailed.
Green Bay Beat Itself Multiple Times
Anyway, before we dwell upon how it came upon to be DeflateGate, let us look at the farcical return of the defending champion Seattle Seahawks to the Super Bowl. This has followed one of the most staggering
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and incredible finishes to an NFL game in the league’s entire history. Green Bay, who had been have an excellent season, literally threw it away. This was an ending that defied both logic and belief not just for Green Bay and the Seahawks, but more so for the fans.
However, the farce of the event did not end with this lucky finish for the Seahawks. It had just begun. As reports trickled in that 11 footballs impounded from the Patriots’ 45-7 win over the Colts were found to be under-inflated by as much as two pounds of air pressure each, all hell had broken loose.
As per the NFL rules, all non-kicking game balls, which are a minimum of 24 in number, with 12 provided by each of the teams, must an air pressure between 12.5 and 13.5 pounds per square inch. The Patriots and their under-the-cloud coach could be in a deep mess if the investigators find something fishy. In fact, there are some people who believe the Pats and Tom Brady have been doing this for quite some time. We all know the Pats should not have won their first Super Bowl because that was a fumble against the Raiders in the snow!
Not a Spectacular Ending NFL!
The media reported that the league officials were “distraught, angry and disappointed” at the findings. Interestingly, this also exactly describes the sentiment of millions of football lovers across the country, who have been subjected to this cruel joke of a Super Bowl.
Super Bowl XLIX Preview
There are four matchups that will ultimately decide the outcome of Super Bowl XLIX. The first matchup is Marshawn Lynch vs. the Patriots run defense. Second is Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski vs. the Seahawks secondary. Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman against the pass attack of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is the third, and finally Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and his ability to run against the
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Patriots defense.
Marshawn Lynch led the NFL this season with an average of 111 rushing yards per game, in addition to an impressive 5.13 yards per carry. The Patriots defense has appeared extremely vulnerable to the run attack during the playoffs. Against the Patriots they allowed 129 yards on 24 carries to Ravens running back Justin Forsett. No offense to Forsett, but he has been a less than stellar back most of his career. During the game the Patriots appeared to lack run support against zone read plays. Forsett broke many of the Patriots’ defenders tackles during plays that
entailed a zone read. A zone read run allows the running back options to choose the hole he wants to run through. The Patriots will have to sharpen their defensive line penetration and second-level tackling if they hope to stop a much stronger running back in Marshawn Lynch.
The ever-athletic Rob Gronkowski led all tight ends this season with 82 receptions and 1,124 yards. “Gronk” is used in several formations for the Patriots that include lining him up on the line, outside as a wide receiver or even in the slot position. Seattle will want to take notes from the Patriots Week 16 matchup against the Jets, in which Gronk was held to a season low 6 catches for 31 yards. Keys to the Jets’ defensive success including lining up in a zone “chunk” defense that made it difficult for Gronk to release from the line of scrimmage. With this technique they prevented a clean route release for the Patriots tight end and used a hard pass rush to force Brady to find other passing targets. Richard Sherman has played outstanding thus far in the postseason. He has been targeted for passes 10 times and intercepted two of them. He uses a bump n’ run style approach to force wide receivers into bad routes. Patriots wide receivers Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola and Brandon LaFell will have to execute picks and stack sets in order to separate Sherman from forcing a physical coverage presence. Stack formation consist of all three wide receivers lining up on the same side of line of scrimmage and running slant routes in order to create special separation with defensive cornerbacks. Russell Wilson led the NFL with 849 rushing yards from the quarterback position this season. His dual-threat abilities are a new breed in the NFL that requires defenses to concentrate on two factors that affect each play. The Patriots will want to view film from the Seahawks playoff game earlier in the postseason against the Panthers. Wilson was held to just 22 yards during the contest. The Panthers used a quarters defensive scheme to ensure they had enough defenders to cover receivers and spy Wilson’s scrambling abilities at the same time. They must maintain gap coverage in the Super Bowl in order to contain Wilson, and even Marshawn Lynch within zone read runs.
The Super Bowl has many story lines including “Deflategate,” but these four matchups will ultimately be the important areas to pay attention to during the game.
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The book Experience football history through the eyes of Bart Starr, Frank Gifford, Bob Griese, Jack Youngblood, and over two dozen other legendary NFL stars! The Game before the Money: Voices of the Men Who Built the NFL features interviews with 40 NFL legends from the 1930s – 1970s, providing an unprecedented look at history from their perspective. Gain firsthand knowledge of the game and its history from people like Sonny Jurgensen, Paul Hornung, Don Maynard, Carl Eller, Dan Reeves, Walt Garrison, Elvin Bethea, and Conrad Dobler! WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT THE GAME BEFORE THE MONEY “All football fans will enjoy the stories told in this entertaining and engrossing read.” – Library Journal Jackson Michael Author, The Game before the Money: Voices of the Men Who Built the NFL
“The book, The Game Before the Money, is not only a good read, but a valuable historical contribution to pro football.” Clifford Christl, Team Historian, Green Bay Packers
“A marvelous read!” – Pat Williams, host of “Inside the Game” – 96.5 WORL, Orlando, FL “Wonderful!” – Rich Kimball – ESPN Radio, 92.9 The Ticket, Bangor, Maine “Fans who remember these players will thoroughly enjoy reliving the good times with the heroes of their youth, and younger fans will get a valuable sense of how today’s game came to be.”—Wes Lukowsky, Booklist “Original and far more interesting than fiction, these stories need no garnishment. Jackson Michael humbly asks, listens, and writes. His stated goal of delivering NFL history directly from the mouths of the men who made it is achieved with all the flair of a simple dive play that busts open for a forty-yard touchdown.”—Doug English, NFL All-Pro Defensive Tackle “I loved the book and it made me nostalgic for the old days. It was a treat to read about some of my favorite players and it was nice to hear their stories directly in their own voices.” -- Hopeton Hay, 88.7 KAZI FM, Austin, TX “I recommend this book for any football library. Its significance is in the preservation of the early game of football through the players who actually played the game in their own words.” — Bob Swick, Gridiron Greats
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Demarcus “Ballislife” Ayers The 2014 Houston Cougars football team overcame the largest fourth quarter deficit in bowl history by defeating the Pittsburgh Panthers 3534 in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl. The Cougars trailed 31-6 after a Panthers touchdown with 13:58 left. Kenny Farrow plowed into the end zone to make it 31-13 with just under 11 minutes left, and Pitt answered with a field goal to make it 34-13. Houston subsequently scored three unanswered touchdowns in the last four minutes. A two-point conversion put the Cougars ahead with 59 seconds left. The thrilling finish gave the Cougars an 8-5 mark for the season. Cougar receiver Demarcus Ayers now takes us onto the field for the game’s deciding moments, and gives us a peek at what’s ahead for the Houston Cougars football program. What was the bowl game experience like for you as a student-athlete? Overall, the whole bowl experience was awesome. We went out and competed at a high level. We fought a lot of adversity, and had a lot of fun throughout the week. It was just a fun and exciting time for our program. What did the coaches tell you after the score was 31-6? They just told us to keep fighting. The game wasn’t over until it was over. After we got down, we decided that if we were going to lose, we were going to lose giving our all. We weren’t going to lose 31-6 and not put out our best effort. You scored a touchdown on a 4th and 13 play with just under 2 minutes left, to make it 34-27. Tell us about that play call. It was a play we drew up that we like to call, “66.” Normally, we like to run outside guys on fades, but we had a combination switch to where the inside guy had the fade which is the streak route. The outside guy goes underneath. If his guy comes off for me, he’s wide open. If his guy runs with him I’m one-on-one coverage. We saw that early on in the game and took advantage of it in the last few minutes. That was just a huge play on fourth down and a great throw by Greg (Ward Jr., Houston quarterback). I just went in there to go get it. You made a nice over-the-shoulder catch.
He threw me a great ball and I had gotten great separation on the defender. Being able to know where I was at, I was able to get both feet down and make a play for my team. You were on the field on the winning two-point conversion, a ball Deontay Greenberry hauled in. What was said on the sideline beforehand and what was your role on that play? We said early in the week that if we were in a situation where the game was on the line, we would go for two points. Our minds had already been made up. We had repped that play a lot throughout the bowl practices we had. That was a perfect opportunity with the momentum we had after scoring three unanswered touchdowns. That play is considered one of the most famous route concepts in the NFL right now. I run in motion before the snap, and I’m trying to get a pick for my outside receiver. I was actually the number one option on that play -- the first read. If the guys jump me, then the corner route should be wide open. Two guys ran with me and that led to Greenberry being wide open. What do you think the turning point in this game was? Continues pg13
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Kenny Farrow scored an 8-yard touchdown, running over a defender (making the score 3413 with 10:43 left). I think that brought a lot of energy to the sideline. Guys started to figure that we could really play with these guys. We just had to settle down and make plays when it was our time to make plays. We made enough plays in a short period of time to come out with the win. You have a brother in the military. Did that make playing in the Armed Forces Bowl even more special for you personally? It was a huge honor. This was actually my second time playing in kind of those circumstances. I played for the USA team, when I believe my brother was still doing a tour in Afghanistan. Every time I get a chance to play for him and kind of represent my country, I have a lot of fun doing it. Those guys do a lot for our country and with him being my brother, I just look at it as an honor. He’s a big leader and mentor in my life. I appreciate everything he does for our country and also the things he does for our family and me. He’s really helped me to be at this level that I’m playing at today, with the discipline and expectations that he set for the rest of the siblings, and just being that mentor in my life that I’ve always needed. Anything else that’s important to say about the win over Pitt and the future of this program? I feel there’s a lot of momentum in our program. The year before, we went up against a great SEC opponent, Vanderbilt (in the BBVA Compass Bowl), and we came up short. It was time to get over that hump, and I think it’s just a huge win for our program and gives a lot of momentum going into next season. Everyone’s excited about this upcoming season and playing for Coach Herman. He won the National Championship a couple of weeks ago (as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach). He and his staff bring a great opportunity for a lot of guys in this program. I just want to thank all the fans and the whole Cougar Nation for giving me a great experience my sophomore year and coming out with that bowl win.
Will Russell Wilson Gain
“Michael Jordan Status” in the NFL? Never in the history of the NFL has a quarterback of African-American descent won two Super Bowl trophies as a starter. Russell Wilson has been one of the many players in the NFL league to dominate the sport of football. Being selected by the Seahawks as the 12th pick of the third round in the 2012 NFL Draft, he remains undefeated against the league’s top elite quarterbacks including Tom Brady, Aaron Rogers, Drew Brees, Eli and Peyton Manning. Many Seahawks fans are wondering if he will take home two titles over the course of three years. The Seattle Seahawks, the defending champions of 2014 are going for the repeat against the New England Patriots, the AFC champions on February 1st, 2015. The Seahawks have never reached the Super Bowl before Wilson was drafted onto the team. This is a quarterback who has thrown 300+ yards and rushed for 100+ yards in a single game, which occurred in Week 7 of the 2014 season against the St. Louis Rams. With Russell Wilson’s hasty and canny decision-making, I believe he can lead the Seahawks to the ultimate win. If Russell Wilson and his teammates take home their second victory, Wilson’s efforts can be compared to those of Michael Jordan, the player who won multiple NBA championships back to back. A noted slight difference between Wilson and Jordan is that Wilson would be achieving supremacy in his sport at a younger age and shorter period of time in his career.
End Source: Google Images
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Will People Watch Golf without Tiger Woods Around? Tiger Woods missed the 2014 Masters Golf tournament for the first time in two decades due to a back surgery. Analysts who predicted that this would adversely impact the tournament’s bottom line, turned out to be right. Fewer people watched the tournament’s final round than in any year since the last 10 years. Over the full weekend, the tournament received its smallest television audience in over 20 years. Where is golf going to find another Tiger at? If the discouraging TV ratings at the Masters were a one-off event, it would be all right. However, the greater challenge for golf and its financial backers is that it is difficult to find anyone who can come even close to replacing the power of Tiger Woods in terms of pushing up ratings and revenues, international popularity, or mass cultural appeal. Tiger’s Impact was Huge For over 15 years, Woods has been the engine of growth for the game. By any account, he is a bigger draw for casual fans than the remaining sport put together. He has cultivated a cult personality over the years, which pulled in younger fans to the game in large numbers. At his peak, he was compared to Mohammad Ali or Michael Jordan, but not to other golfers in terms of his effect on the fans. It may be debatable who has been the greatest golfer of all times, but there is no debate on who has been the most influential. Since Woods turned pro in 1996, the fan interest in golf can be seen in terms of the growth in Masters Ratings. TV viewership would drop each time Woods fell out of contention in a tournament. A White Game The sobering fact for the economics of golf is that there is no one waiting in the wings who can attract younger players to the fame. Furthermore, other than Woods, no other non-White American golfer has earned international fame, which certainly poses a challenge when it comes to attracting the interest of a historically White game among minorities. Tiger Woods was coached to be a dominate golfer by his father in the 1980s and 90s. What is father did not teach him was personal relationships with females. If his father did, Tiger violated the rules that he was instilled with. It is quite apparent that Tiger should not have married when he did since evidently Tiger was not ready to settle down. When his wife found out, the situation blew up which cost Tiger financially. Some people believe this massive personal problem and betrayal too his wife sparked Tiger’s down fall, not his physical injuries. How hard is it to remain healthy in golf? This is not a burdensome sport on the body. The global popularity of sports such as basketball, soccer, and football is unmatched. Golf without Woods is going to find it difficult to maintain international interest in the game. Despite Woods’ nasty divorce and adultery exposures, he continued to be the one golfer who could generate special moments for the game such as a five-year old watching golf on TV. Such golden moments, which transform a game into more than just game are going to be difficult to come by without Tiger Woods around.
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Kobe Bryant and His Poor Endorsement Return It is difficult to deny that Kobe Bryant has remarkable success as one of the most
recognized shooting guards in the history of NBA. However, in terms of endorsements and overall financial impact, Bryant does not come anywhere close to other stalwarts such as Jordan. Since Jordan is considered as the financial standard against which any tremendous athlete is evaluated, it is quite obvious that Bryant will not make the kind of money that Jordan does – not in a million years.
His affair
Bryant is still playing, while Jordan is not. But Bryant’s endorsed shoes are significantly less in demand and much less recognizable than those of Jordan. One of the key reasons has been Bryant’s legal troubles of 2003 that hurt his capability to build long term, fruitful relationships with major marketing partners. His image took a serious blow in that year, following the sexual assault accusations, which eventually led McDonald’s to not renew Kobe’s three-year endorsement.
Kobe Bryant is not well liked in the league or anywhere according to multiple sources and logic but this young woman did lie and she walked away with $3 million. She was immoral but she profited from her greed and lack of character. Even people that do not care for Bryant knew he did not rape this woman and that her story was all about lining her purse strings. Bryant managed to have a private settlement with the woman who had accused him, but his endorsements with Nike and Sprite survived. However, the endorsement with Italian chocolate maker Ferrero SpA still ended. Apart from his legal troubles, several decisions that Bryant has made during the course of his career have not done any good to his persona.
Lack of charisma
Between 1998 and 2000, Bryant tried to build a career as a rap artist. His debut album called “Visions” never made it to the market following the universal mockery of his first single K.O.B.E. Sony dropped him as they quickly realized the folly of Bryant’s misstep, but he himself did not. He went on to start his own label called Heads High Entertainment, which took less than 12 months to shut up shop. He is no Shaq!
Terrible choices
In the online era, celebrities have to live with the harsh realities of having their unsavory moments caught on camera, and going viral to dent their image. However, Bryant did not have to be that unlucky. He did the damage to himself in a pre-meditated manner. His orchestrated something called the “White Hot” shoot for the LA times which made him the universal butt of jokes. The makeup and the outfits were ridiculous, and the shoot was skewered across the length and breadth of the World Wide Web. People have never appreciated homophobic slurs from sporting icons, and by 2011 they had decidedly become unacceptable. Therefore, Bryant’s spur of the moment decision to scream at one of the referees after getting a technical was definitely not a wise idea. Bryant was demolished in the court of public opinion, fined dearly by the NBA, and had to issue apologies at virtually every forum in order to put the incident behind him.
Oh well
But most of all, is his inability to get along with other people. He soured the relationship with Shaquille O’Neal (Shaq) who can get along with anyone on this planet accept Kobe. Dwight Howard left the Lakers after only one year of play and many people believe it was because of his spiteful relationship with Kobe. Kobe’s ego and lack of maturity have probably cost him at least $200 million in endorsements. The only other person who was this pitiful in the endorsement arena who had this much success was former Laker star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
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