As family and friends mourned the loss on January 19 of the 29-year-old Canadian X-Games champion, Sarah Burke, the debate over the safety of extreme sports reignited. Injuries are not new to the world of extreme sports. As athletes improve, they push the boundaries, with more dangerous courses and riskier maneuvers. Freestyle skiing is no exception. Courses like the Eagle Superpipe in Utah—where Burke suffered her injuries—have walls that soar as high as 22 feet. This was the same course where Olympic snowboarding hopeful Kevin Pearce was severely injured in 2009. While some, including Pearce, feel that certain extreme sports have become too dangerous, others believe that changes such as improved courses and mandatory helmets have improved safety. Burke died on January 19 at the University of Utah Medical Center, nine days after she fell during practice. At the time, she was attempting a maneuver that wasn’t out of the ordinary—for extreme skiing, that is. Witnesses say Burke did not hit that hard after the botched 540-degree flat spin, but she suffered a torn neck artery and cardiac arrest from the fall. Read More

Whatever it is, you can get it on eBay. From stamps and Olympic hopefuls' sports bras to advertising space on the arm of a track star, eBay really does have it all. Female athletes from the Olympic training center in California wanted to do something in support of breast cancer research, but organizing a car wash, bake sale or 5k just wasn't going to cut it; they wanted to sell something that men would really be interested in. Naturally, they decided that to auction off their bras. Soccer players at the OTC decided they wanted to auction off their bras with proceeds benefiting cancer research and treatment. (How they came up with the idea is still up for debate in many frat houses and local bars.) The idea, which started with the soccer players, quickly spread to include female athletes from several sports. The players will be autographing and decorating their bras and sports bras and sell them on eBay the week of April 7. Another Olympic hopeful track star, Nick Symmonds, is also using his fame to cash in via eBay, though for a far less worthy charity; his wallet. Read More

A Giants fan and a Patriots fan, their cubicles separated by a mere 10 feet, have talked trash for two weeks leading up to Super Bowl XLVI. They’ve at last settled on a friendly wager: The fan of the losing team has to decorate his cube for a full week with newspaper headlines celebrating the winner. They make their predictions for the big game below. Why the Giants will win A Rollercoaster Season Has New York Playing on Another Level By Matt Tuthill To other Giants fans over the past eight years, I’ve often felt like Eli Manning’s lawyer. I’ve heard complaints about his body language, his leadership ability, the vacant facial expression, that hair seemingly ruffled in the ball pit at Chuck-E-Cheese. I’ve heard it all and admitted that there might be better quarterbacks out there, but that Giants fans shouldn’t be greedy, not after floundering for so long without a franchise QB. Not after Dave Brown and Kent Graham. Not after the sometimes great, but oftentimes atrocious run of Kerry Collins. Having Eli, I told them, would pay off one day. Before the Super Bowl XLII victory, I was able to point to a moment during Eli’s 2004 rookie season as evidence. Read More

While it may be cool to dress like a nerd in professional sports today, (exhibit A: the Wizards’ JaVale McGee), not every player can back up those thick framed glasses and suspenders with... actual brains. Sports smarts is one thing, but it is those athletes who can flex their mental muscles in multiple areas as well as their physical muscles (thanks to their underlying commitment to education) that really separate themselves from the pack. So here it is, a list of 10 guys who won’t only school you in their respective sport, but who will also outwit you with their crazy intellect. In other words, a truly despicable group of people. Ryan Fitzpatrick Nicknamed the “Harvard Man” (hey, it’s catching on), the current Buffalo Bills quarterback is actually the 26th alum of the Ivy League institution to play in the NFL. Read More