Upcoming Excitement!!

So… as all of you know, winter is here! Cold temperatures, brisk mornings, and SNOW! It's all exciting and I can't wait for that white, fluffy goodness to start piling up.

I'm beginning to receive emails from work and that makes me super anxious to start snowboarding again!

Usually during the summer, I travel up to Whistler, Canada and get some snow time there at Blackcomb Glacier since they have snow year round. Unfortunately,  I was not able to make enough time to get out there this past summer. It makes me antsy for the upcoming season.

So with a new season comes companies putting out their new gear. Some good, some bad. But what makes it good or bad… reviews, materials, brand name (yes, that counts…), or even the color theme.

I find myself always looking at the new boards and bindings even when I don't need new equipment just to see what's new. In fact, I think I'm going to go look now…

A Little Disappointing

On November 7th, there was a networking event that I was able to attend with a bunch of my classmates. The networking event was set up through the university and it was all alum from Slippery Rock. It was specifically for the school of business and the school of health, environment, and science. I went expecting at least one alum to be from the sports industry, but to my dismay, there wasn't a single alum that had experience within the sports industry.

Pretty disappointing but I tried to make the best of it.. But some of the alum just didn't know what to talk about when I introduced myself as a sport management major.

On the plus side, I was able to bond and network with the sport management students that were also able to attend and the food wasn't half bad either :)

Wrapping up the Semester

How is November almost over already?? That's the question that I hear all over campus with finals coming up and everyone is rushing to get projects finished.

It seems like this class is only half way through with the amount of work that is still yet to be completed. Not very extensive projects but just time consuming and tedious ones.

Everything is getting closer and closer:

8 days until Thanksgiving Break
19 days until Finals Week
24 days until Winter Break
36 days until Christmas
80 days until Sochi 2014

Sponsorships are Key

As everyone knows, sponsorships are so important to sports and athletes because it is a way to generate revenue and it brings along status to that individual or team. By status, I mean that when you look at an athlete and see that they are sponsored by Coca-Cola and Nike, you assume that they must be pretty good to secure those companies.

Source

Recently, Real Salt Lake (an MLS team) signed Life Advantage as their new jersey sponsor. RSL is one of the smallest teams in Major League Soccer but this deal is one of the largest in the league bringing in about $30 million over 10 years. That is about three times more than their previous jersey sponsor, XanGo, has been paying them since 2005.

Sponsorships are basically required at this time in sports, especially if you want exposure and prestige within the industry. You can see sponsors everywhere... from stadiums to merchandise to uniforms to equipment.

However, the way that sports show their sponsors are all around different. In football and basketball, you really only see their sponsors around the stadium and those company's advertisements. But in alternative sports, you see them quite a bit more. In snowboarding and skiing, their sponsors are shown on the equipment and clothing. In NASCAR, it's all over the car body and the driver's fire suit.

Oh man! Are You Okay?

Injuries are prevalent in every sport and can prevent athletes from performing at their best and even ending their careers. 

Mouth guards, joint braces, and head gear are out there and readily available, but why don't more athletes use protection?

                  

                 Knee brace usually seen after ligament injuries

Concussion head gear

It seems like they only decide to use extra gear after they get hurt.

The sensors are on the sides underneath the molar teeth.

Mark Dillon, Irish investor, has developed a new mouth guard that has sensors embedded that is connected to a program that shows if an athlete has suffered a serious but hidden head injury. Dillon was concerned about the head injuries in full-contact sports. He calls this mouth guard the "Mamori" which means protect in Japanese.

Football and ice hockey are some of the toughest contact sports and helmets can protect a lot, but unfortunately concussions are unavoidable in these sports. 

With many kids and teens beginning these sports are such a young age, protection gear is so important to prevent early injuries that could stunt growth or cause permanent damage at such a young age.

Throwing Money Down The Drain?

The Olympics is a huge sporting event and is watched by billions of people around the world. Sochi, Russia is taking the worldwide stage this year for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Itar-Rass/Barcroft Media

Sochi has not kick started the games off on a very positive note due to the money that has seemingly disappeared. With 120 days left to the opening ceremonies, an estimated $30 billion has gone missing in a result of "kickbacks and embezzlements". Sochi began their Olympics journey with a budget of about $12 billion but now it's looking more like $51 billion to host these games.

Sochi is now the costliest Olympic Games. Below there are the costs of previous games...

Beijing 2008: $43 billion

Vancouver 2010: $8.9 billion

London 2012: $13.9 billion

Sochi 2014: $51 billion 

While Sochi is dealing with the money situation, they are also dealing with human rights concerns and global controversy regarding Russia's new laws that forbid gay propaganda. 

As Russia takes on two of the world's largest international events within the next 5 years, Putin hopes that it will showcase their power and boost the worldly opinion of Russia. So far, that doesn't seem like the case... yet. 

Winter Is On Its Way!

For some, this is terrible news but for others, this is the news that they have been waiting for. Snow is coming down in a few places across North America. 

Matt Crawley via xgames.espn.com

Pictured above is a glimpse of the snowstorm in Snowbird, Utah last week. They have not officially set an opening date for their resort; however, they are usually one of the first resorts to open their doors for the winter season. 

Mitch Winton/Coastal Mountain Photography (via xgames.espn.com)

British Columbia (Canada) has also been getting their fair share of the preseason powder. Whistler Blackcomb Mountain Resort is one that is favored by many skiers and snowboarders. It is located just about 2 hours north of Vancouver.

To say the least, winter has shown its face and by the looks of recent forecasts, it isn't going anywhere. So get your gear ready to plow through the snow this winter!