Every year the World Series of Beer Pong attracts the best players the world has to offer. The event is held in a different place every year and the world’s best beer pong players compete for a 10,000$ first prize. Being the leading tournament on the beer pong circuit, their table specs and dimensions have become the culture’s standard. They’re tables are designed to test the skills of the players.

The surface of the tables are eight feet long by 2 feet wide. This is longer than the average pong table, but eight feet is the accepted standard tournament length. The two foot width allows for plenty room to place sunk cups without cluttering up the playing field. The tables stand 27.5 inches tall, this height is suitable for any players throw type, be it arched or straight down.

The surface of these regulation beer pong tables are coated with a melanine surface which protects them from scratches and more importantly…spilt beer! The frames are made of a very sturdy aluminum metal. A little known fact about these tables…they are incredibly portable. These eight foot monsters actually collapse into a two by two foot by five inch briefcase with a hand grip for easy mobility. Another little known fact, these tables come complete with a six ball holder underneath so that players don’t have to waste their time searching for stray balls. What else would you expect from the biggest beer pong tournament on the planet?

Richard LoNigro is a beer pong enthusiast and table distributor. Portable Beer Pong Tables

At some time of our lives we all come across great images that belong to sports. They can be baseball, basketball, swimming, hockey, tennis and the list of course goes on. Often some of the better shots display something unusual such as torn clothing , an injury, facial expressions that are uncommon. personality is also captured in the lens from time to time. There are few people who don’t admire action photos especially parents who want a keepsake of their child playing sport or in the process of a sports achievement if you can manage it.

Most of the time, good quality shots are rare. Why? Because not everyone has the time to be at the event on a regular basis to capture the unique action shot that will stand out from the rest. Adding further hardship to capturing good sports shots is the position you are able to get at the event. Lets face it, no one likes a 7ft basketballer bouncing up and down in jubilation on our camera bag while we are distracted with other things. Being too far away is also a problem, there’s only so much a lens can do if you want true quality.

If you manage to get close at a big game or indeed be fortunate enough to get a press pass, remember that the other photographers have also worked hard to get there as well. Show some consideration and you’ll get some in return. If you are forced to remain in the stands, get as close to the action as possible. It will make a difference believe me!

You will take better quality sports photos if you familiarise yourself with the sport first. It’s important to know when that special moment is about to occur or when it is most likely to occur. Find out what the fans like to see most. Is it first off the block in swimming? Is it shooting a goal while still off the ground in basketball? Always position yourself accordingly. Try to figure out what will be behind the player when you take your shots - this always improves the outcome!

There’s much more emphasis on timing with sports or indeed any kind of action photography. Your response and preparation for that crucial moment is paramount. Yes, the right place is important, so is the timing but execution is equally important. Sure, there are unpredictable moments but you’ll become better at preempting them with practice.

Someone said that if you see the action, you missed the action - I’ll bet it was a photographer who said it! You need everything ready to go at the time of play. This includes a rough idea of distance, lighting issues and more important, your own personal preparation for taking the shot. Almost a split second before it actually takes place.

In sports photography it is more often the photographer not the camera that is important. Remember that! You will need to have good equipment, don’t misunderstand me. However, the really good shots are not luck coming your way. You should strongly consider a 85mm lens, a 135mm lens and perhaps a 200-300mm lens for end of court or field shots. With soccer, baseball, surfing, cricket and rugby a 300-400mm is definitely needed.

This article has been supplied courtesy of Roy Barker. Roy has included instant access to even more sports photography tips & an easy to use guide here.

1. Study your league! Know the point structure inside and out before the draft. You will find weaknesses in the point structure that you can exploit for your draft day bonanza. If you get 6 points for a rushing touchdown but only 4 points for a passing touchdown you may see how a Vince Young could score more points than a Matt Hasselbeck. If you get 1 point for every ten yards but six for a touchdown, a back that is placed in goal line situations could outscore a back that runs for over 100 yards. This is the most important rule and that is why I have placed it first.

2. You must participate in a live draft. If you auto set your draft it can lead to disaster. If your league does not have a live draft it will be hard for you to react to what the other players in your league are doing. If you see all running backs going in the first two rounds but you have all your picks go and you have two quarterbacks set next then you will be stuck with a two quarterbacks and no one else in your backfield. It is critical that you are available on draft day for your team to be set up to win your league.

3. The First Round is already set for you - In the first round remember that you are looking to draft the highest fantasy point player on the board. That means that with the exception of maybe Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, you are going to draft a running back in the first round. Follow your spot and draft the highest available player in the rankings in that first round. You are not going to win the league with just one player but you can lose it by not following the order here.

4. You must take a running back in the second round if you are in the bottom of the picking order and you are in a reverse pick round. If you are in 12 to 15 round league and you are pick 16 you must take the best available running back. Before the second round is over you can be certain that a good running back will not be available. A lot of people want to pick a quarterback or receiver at this point but the best available player strategy would lead us to pick a second tier running back because they will be worth more points in the long run.

5. The third round is where you should look for your first wide receiver or a second tier quarterback. If you are at the top of the round you may want to go for a top receiver like Terrell Owens. If you are at the back of the round you may want to look at the best available quarterback. Remember that the point drop off from a second or third tier receiver is great but there is not much difference between them when that is all that is available. You can start getting them in the later rounds so do not waste a pick here.

6. Do not draft a kicker before the 10th round. You would be wasting a pick. A few years ago a lot of people picked Janikowski in the sixth or seventh round. They could have used that pick to sure up receiver or tight end. But they thought they were getting a fantasy steal at that point. I have never found records of a kicker that was so much better that I had to draft him so far ahead of other kickers. Now that is not to say that if you do see 7 or 8 kickers go off the board in the third round you may need to start bragging about how you have won your fantasy league or change to a more competitive league.

7. Do not underestimate the value of a good defense. Last year the Giants defense may have allowed points and a lot of yardage but in the league I was in I got almost 16 points a week from them on the sack value alone. Sacks were worth two points in one of my leagues and they got at least two a week. You must study the point value for a defense and you could be able to find a good one that no one else is watching in the later rounds.

I have won by league 10 of the last 13 years and I want you to win your league too.

I hope these tips are helpful and for more you can sign up for a free membership at http://www.fantasyfootballtrainingcenter.com -where our goal is to make your fantasy football experience more enjoyable and if you happen to win along the way then it isn’t our fault the other guys weren’t there!

Lateral thinking problems are often just simple puzzles that lead you to make certain assumptions. To solve them, then, you have to look at the assumptions you’re making and try to get beyond them. Let’s look at an example.

A librarian used a book he had never read to destroy thousands of other books. How was this possible? This simple riddle or lateral thinking puzzle relies on the idea of a “librarian” and “never read” to encourage you assume that it is all about the kinds of books you read. Get away from that assumption and you might stumble upon the solution - that he used a book of matches to burn all the others.

Such puzzles are good mental exercise, and fun as well, but not all lateral thinking problems are word play or simple puzzles. Many are designed to require or encourage creative thinking about more realistic scenarios. They often have many possible solutions.

You may not like the inconclusive nature of this kind of puzzle or problem - at least at first. It is common to want one definitive solution, so you know you’re “right” once you have come to a conclusion. But the more open-ended lateral thinking problems are just as good for exercising your creativity, and the thinking skills developed from working on them may be more applicable to real life situations, where there is rarely one definitive solution.

Situational Lateral Thinking Problems

In these problems, there is usually a scenario or situation which is explained, and a goal to accomplish. For example, suppose you need to get a basketball out of a 12-foot deep pit that has smooth cement for the floor and walls. It is square, about four feet per side. You are alone, and have only what you are wearing, plus what is in your pockets. Using nothing else, how can you get the basketball out?

This is a lateral thinking problem because it requires you to think “laterally.” This means coming at problems from other angles, as opposed to the more traditional linear or logical approaches. In this case, it means using what you have in ways that these things are not normally used.

For example, you might make a “basket” of your t-shirt, tying shoelaces to the four corners. Then you could unravel the threads from your socks to make a string that would lower the shirt. The idea would be to move the basketball onto it and then pull it up. Moving the ball might be accomplished with a shoe hung on the end of a string made of strips of clothing, which you use to “kick” the ball into the right place.

Another solution: A piece of paper from your pocket might be chewed and dropped onto the ball using shoe laces and clothing for a string. When it dries it would perhaps “glue” the line to the ball, so it could be pulled up. A tall person might “chimney” his body up and down the pit to get the ball, as climbers do with rock walls that are a few feet apart. There are undoubtedly other possibilities here.

Life itself presents us with many lateral thinking problems, at least if we look at situations the right way. For example, a judge in a Michigan child custody case went beyond the traditional thinking about how much time the children would spend at each parent’s house. Instead, he decided that the children would stay right where they were in the home they knew, and the parents would move in with them on alternating weeks. That’s a good example of applying lateral thinking to real life problems.

Copyright Steve Gillman. For more on Lateral Thinking, and to get the Brain Power Newsletter and other free gifts, visit: http://www.IncreaseBrainPower.com

Across the globe, countless number of people are avid fans of the sport of basketball. Presently, sports betting has been adding to the craze of basketball. Sports betting has allowed bettors who have used basketball odds to their advantage in order to continuously earn additional income. Some bettors are even starting to make a living out of basketball betting.

Knowing the basketball odds is imperative to making successful bets. Finding out the odds traditionally involves several steps. The first would be to look at individual player statistics. Learning about players’ offensive and defensive strengths and weaknesses is a good way to start.

Conducting basketball odds research is relatively simpler when compared to the process of sports handicapping in other sports, such as hockey and football. These sports require a tedious amount of work, as the number of players per team can be very large. In basketball, on the other hand, there are only around 15 players per team.

In addition to individual player statistics, bettors will also look into team statistics to come up with accurate basketball odds. When you view team statistics, you want to be cautious about who you deem to be the powerful teams in the league. A team with a player with the best statistics may seem like the obvious pick, but, in reality, it is the teams with several above-average performers that win the championships.

As a result of the proliferation of sports betting sites on the Internet, finding out the latest basketball odds of your favorite team is a very trivial process. It is important that you check such sites, as basketball odds provide you with an overview of your chances at winning.

Such websites will usually have the odds for both the professional (NBA) and collegiate (NCAA) leagues. Be aware that in basketball betting, the odds for teams hardly ever stay the same throughout the season. Accordingly, you need to know what the team odds are at all times.

Making yourself aware of the basketball odds will certainly increase your chances of mastering basketball betting. The key to earning a lot of cash through sports betting is consistently checking the odds.

If you want to learn more about basketball betting or more specifically basketball odds then check out http://www.basketballbettingsecrets.com

This topic is nothing new, the conversation around why it is that whenever a city or town perceives there is a major problem with the youths in their locations (code words for too many black youths are hanging out), the most often mentioned and accomplished solution is to build a basketball court? In fact the town that I reside in has just built a number of outdoor basketball courts, albeit with no programming, it’s a simple case of “If you build it they will come” The intentions are noble, but the risk of failure is also high. Because all it will take is for one terrible incident to happen and the courts will be closed down. Yet with no programming in place we leave it up to the young people to police themselves and keep everything in check (risky) The proponents of this strategy for building basketball courts to address youth problems will argue that its a healthy way for these young people to channel their excessive energy in a positive manner, and law enforcement officials although many won’t say publicly like the idea , because they can keep an eye on a large number of potential suspects especially if they are at one central location. On the flip side the opponents of such strategy will argue that not everyone wants to play basketball as a way to keep busy, and in some cases these courts can become trouble spots for all type of illegal transactions, and violence. Whose right whose wrong? As a basketball coach I know all of the benefits that are associated with playing the game, however as I wrote in a previous story (Sports Addiction) I also am very aware of the negative impacts of sports, particularly in the black community. I hear this statement all the time “The kids love basketball” no kidding, if you were bombarded with thousands of images and constantly brow beat with one option for success, would it be any surprise that you would have a passion for that field.

In my honest opinion I never saw building more basketball courts as a long term viable solution to address the issues and challenges our young people face today. In fact I think it furthers perpetuates the carefully crafted myth of blacks getting out of the ghetto by one of 2 means entertainment or sports. Yes I know its a popular game, amongst our youths, because its inexpensive to play, and kids really gravitate to it, but the focus on basketball is just a temporary fix, it does nothing in the long run to help them solve their problems of completing their education, obtaining marketable skills for employment, parenting, or learning to be wiser consumers.

Side Note:(Free of Charge)

I think its no coincidence that the leading recreational activity in the prison system is basketball, a system that’s over populated by young Blacks and Hispanics; why because these individuals come from the same communities where they’ve been inundated with the idea of basketball being their only way to stay busy or handle their business. Its a viscous cycle!

When affluent communities feel the need to address a youth problem, they seek to build community centers, a place that offers a variety of options that will help their kids prepare for the future, there are job training courses, computer workshops, mentoring, college prep, financial education, etc. Yes they too offer sports and recreational activities, but they don’t limit it to basketball, you’ll find swimming, rock climbing, tennis, game rooms (for board games like chess) etc. You see they understand that what they are providing is what Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu calls a “Safety net” I know you’re saying but they have the money to accomplish this task, and you are correct ,but I would argue that often times when a city or town builds a basketball court its usually more than one and they pay contractors from outside of the community a hefty price tag, I think if you must build multiple courts (maybe fear of gangs crossing other territories) why not build a simple enclosed structure or at least a structure with a roof and a few sections that can be drywalled or set up like cubicles. Areas that can be designated for classroom sessions around the basketball courts, it doesn’t have to be elaborate, just something with a roof over top, rest room facilities, and the likes. You could include a clause in the contractors agreement to donate building supplies and or labor to set up the classroom sections. This would attract a larger population that has no interest in sports to the building seeking activities that will benefit them. If money is an issue then have the facility open for limited hours, I find it hard to believe that there is no money (grants, donations) available that won’t support this type of effort. There are enough qualified and committed individuals in the community that truly care about the next generation who would gladly man the facility or volunteer their time, parents, teachers during the summer vacation, the elderly during the afternoons (we need to do a better job of connecting our youth with the wisdom of previous generations), off duty police, and so forth.

The suggestion I offered won’t solve all of the issues, but it would be far reaching and have a longer lasting effect as we attempt to influence the whole person not just enhance their physical skills through sports this way our youths can keep pace with other young people from well off communities as we create our own safety nets to keep them out of the wrong GAME!

Tony Price
A Boston Based Collegaite Athletics Administrator and Head Basketball Coach. A Hall of Fame Inductee(Worcester State College) with 20 plus years experience as an athlete, coach, and administrator

Many athletes are always looking for exercises to jump higher. They want to add valuable inches to their vertical jump in order to increase their athletic performance. There are several great exercises to help you jump higher and I will detail them in this article.

If you want to jump higher you need exercises that target the proper muscles that are involved in jumping. Not all exercises are conducive to increasing your vertical jump height. Some exercises will build muscle strength but you need to focus on building fast twitch muscle in order to jump higher.

Box jumps are a great vertical jump building exercise. To perform box jumps you simply need a box that is around 1 -2 feet high. Start by standing on one side of the box and proceed to jump over the box and land on the opposite side. Then repeat and jump back to the side you started on.

Another exercise to help you jump higher is rim jumps. All you need to perform this exercise is a basketball hoop. Stand in front of the basketball hoop and jump up as high as you can and try to touch the rim. Then as soon as your feet land back on the ground, jump up again trying to touch the rim. Continue these repeated jumps for about 10 reps.

The last exercise I will go over is the speed rope. Many people discount the benefits of the speed rope but they should not because it is the perfect exercise to help increase your vertical jump. It forces you to make quick and explosive jumps which are great for training to jump higher. All it requires is a jump rope and can be done almost anywhere.

These 3 exercises to jump higher are a great starting point for anyone looking to increase their vertical leap. Remember that you always want to be training your fast twitch muscles because they are the ones that will lead to increased jump height.

If you would like to learn how to jump higher then I suggest you get a copy of the “Vertical Explosion Training Guide” as it is by far the best vertical jump program available. It will show you exercises to jump higher that will add 10 inches to your vertical in 10 weeks…Guaranteed! Go check it out now: http://www.verticaljumpguide.com