Larry Bird - A Synonym For Basketball

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By Denise I Smithson

Born in West Baden Springs, Indiana, Larry Joe Bird was raised in the nearby community of French Lick. Even as a youth it was apparent that Bird had an incredible talent of the game of basketball, being the all-time scoring leader at Springs Valley High School. His record in high school won him a basketball scholarship to the University of Indiana.

Larry Bird felt out of place on the large campus and dropped out, taking a year off before returning to college and the game of basketball at Indiana State. Bird led the team to the NCAA championships in 1979 against Magic Johnson's Michigan State Spartans. Although the Spartans were victorious this time, the team finished with a 33-1 record and cemented Bird's 30.3 points per game average as a college player.

The number one choice of the Boston Celtics in 1979, Bird was paid a record salary of $650,000 per year. Making an average of 21.3 points per game, Bird won the Rookie of the Year award in a season which saw a 61-21 record for the team and Bird gaining a lot of popularity with fans.

The following year, the Celtics relocated to the Robert Parrish Center and took on Kevin McHale. Bird and McHale are considered by many to have been the best frontline in NBA history. In the 1980-1981 season, the Celtics made it to the NBA finals, where they defeated the Houston Rockets six times to take the championship. In the 1980's, the Celtics made it to nearly every NBA final, often facing off against the Lakers.

Bill Fitch, the Celtics' coach nicknamed Bird "Kodak", since as Fitch said: "it's for his ability to picture how a play would unfold. He can turn a play into points.". Bird was also a formidable defensive player and his statistics are truly amazing - his tallies in the 1981-1982 season reached the double digits. The Celtics became even more of a force to be reckoned with in 1983, when guard Dennis Johnson signed on and new coach KC Jones came on board.

The Celtics took the NBA championship in the 1983-1984 season in a seven game series against the Lakers, with an 111-102 score in the final game. In this series, Bird averaged 14 rebounds and 27 points per game, also taking the MVP awards for the series and for the season. Bird also won the MVP award the next season, even after a loss to the Lakers. Bird and Magic Johnson had a friendly rivalry which fans still talk about.

The Celtics returned to finals once again in the 1985-1986 season; they defeated the Houston Rockets in six games and finished with a 76-15 record for the year. Bird again won the series MVP in this, his third NBA championship victory with an average of 24 points per game, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. This year also saw him winning the league MVP award, the third player to do so. Bird's Celtics would also come out on top in the finals the next year, beating the Lakers in six games. Bird, like his rival Magic Johnson was becoming synonymous with the game of basketball.

However, it was his performance in the 1987-1988 season which would make the name Larry Bird a synonym for basketball. This season saw him earning a 29.9 point per game average with a field goal percentage of .527 and a free throw average of .916. Due to surgery for a bone spur, Bird was sidelined in the following season. He returned for the 1989-1990 season, but Bird knew that it would soon be time to retire. This basket ball legend was part of the 1992 US Olympic basketball "Dream Team", along with Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. Bird holds a career average of 24 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists per game, his 49.6% field goal average and an incredible 88.6% free throw average, a 37.6% three-pointer average and has played in no less than twelve All-Star games. Larry Bird's name is truly legendary and the man is a living synonym for basketball, holding a special place in the hearts of basketball fans everywhere.

About the Author:

Sports quotes will motivate you to be your best in any walk of life. For interesting and inspiring sports quotations drop in to http://nothingbutsports.info Grab a totally unique version of this article from the Uber Article Directory

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How to Look like a Model, Succeeding with Female Muscle Building

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By Ricardo d Argence

More and more women are waking up to the importance of bodybuilding. They too want to achieve perfect proportions for their body with attractive curves in all the right places. Body building workouts also tone ones muscles and firm the body making you look younger and fitter. And its not just about looking good, you would also feel good, fitter and much stronger. It will also be good for your health and general level of fitness.

Technically there is no strict distinction between body building workouts for men and women. Why should there be when they both have the same number and type of muscles and bones.

The crucial difference between their bodies is that men have a concentration of testosterone in their bodies, which is the muscles-building hormone while the women have estrogen, which characteristically stores fat. This might or might not imply that women gain weight more easily. But the important thing to remember is that weight can be lost, with adequate exercising and diet control.

Women often hesitate to enter a body building routine because they think that if they were to stop exercising that it will lead to excess fat deposition. But this can be safely branded as a myth.

Muscles and fat are different tissues. They cant be converted into one another. Fat is formed in the body when all the calories that you consume are not burnt properly. The most common cause behind this is reduction in physical activity and exercise. This happens in everybody, even people who exercise regularly.

When bodybuilders stop exercising or they retire they would inevitably gain weight because their metabolic rate goes down and physical activity is reduced too.

Bodybuilding can be of great advantage to women. The important thing to remember is that if you want that perfect shape for your body you need to work with great focus, determination and patience. You will need to put in a while lot of handwork to get desired results.

1. The first thing that you can do is to appropriately change your diet so that you can allow for muscle growth and burning fat. If you make a few small changes you will be able to easily transform for your entire routine.

One way to do this is by eating five or six meals a day instead of three larger meals. This will keep your metabolism burning at a much higher rate and will leave you much more energetic all throughout the day.

2. If you want to build muscles you have build your workout with compound exercises. This way you can work on different muscle groups at one go. You can try deadlifts, bench presses or squats. There might be other options but these are the three most popular ones. So you should start your exercise routine with compound exercises. Then you can move on to various other kinds of exercising.

3. In order to build muscle however you need to do more than eat properly and workout effectively. You also need to get enough rest so that your body can repair your muscles and build new ones. This means getting a consistent 8 hours of sleep every night.

This is so important because your muscles really don't grow while you're awake. Your body is too busy with many other natural processes. Therefore, your muscles only get the chance to grow and be repaired while you are resting.

About the Author:

Obtain the #1 natural bodybuilding program, the Muscle Gain Truth No-Fail Method and achieve the best results in some weeks. web hosting

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How to Learn the Slowest Martial Art in Existence!

By Al Case

Okay, here's something that will really ring your bell--you are learning the martial arts using the slowest method of education in existence in the world. This is absolutely true. And it is propagated through the mysticism and awe of attaining something that, should you use a method of learning a bit more modern in scope and design, would speed your progress up by a factor of ten.

The martial arts utilize a method that has worked for the history of the world, for monkeys. This is the monkey see monkey do method. Using the monkey see monkey do method, you are trained to memorize random strings of data.

That's correct, random strings of data. As a matter of fact, to be sure, it is random strings strings of random data, and everything is held together through mystical concept. Not logical concept that makes sense, but mystical concept that makes you go, Oooo!

That system of kung fu, the one based on an animal--I have never heard of an animal being able to think logically. Oh, you fight like an animal, and with an animal's...logic. What you're telling me is that the movements that look like an animal have been gathered together so you could copycat them.

Copycatting is not a concept, and it is not logical. Copycatting is doing what you're told...or, in the martial arts world, sold. Lots of money in selling copycat methods, because you can just keep rearranging the strings of data and fool people into thinking they are getting something scientific.

Now, you might think that I am down on the martial arts because of what I have said here. The opposite is true, I am so in love with the martial arts it is unbelievable. I don't, however, subscribe to antiquated methods of learning.

My particular method is to take the mysticism of the martial arts, use logic to align it, and learn ten times faster than the next guy. This method, which is almost in direction opposition to any method you have ever seen, is called Matrixing. Matrixing is an actual scientific process--it is not the latest psuedo-science-jargon (cybermind, cranial digitation, neural brain logging, and that sort of made up so on) that internet marketers use to sell their tricks.

The question I sometimes get is...how does it work? Consider: if you had 6, 5, 1, 9 and a shaved dog, you wouldn't know how to count. If you had 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 6 and so on...you would know how to count.

What I do is line up the martial concepts in a counting manner, so there are no missing numbers, no out of sequence numbers, and no ridiculous concepts thrown in. When people learn in this fashion it is possible to learn, as I said, as much as ten times faster. Of course it depends on the person doing the learning, and whether they have a basic education, and so on.

Having said the above, it was not easy to develop Matrixing. In fact, it took me a trio of decades, as there was no precedent for what I was doing. The work is done, however, and martial artists the world over can now escape from...the slowest method of learning in existence.

About the Author:

Al Case has researched the martial arts for forty plus plus+ years. Learn about Matrixing at Monster Martial Arts. Visit the Uber Article Directory to get a totally unique version of this article for reprint.

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Trail Riding " Top 7 Rules You Should Follow When Trail Riding

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By Pat Brooks

Trail riding is a lot more enjoyable if you put safety first. You should always keep in mind the safe practices and always exercise a good common sense. These are important because your instructor will not be by your side to guide and help you all the time. Also, you would want to ride on your own eventually, which is a fulfilling experience.

The following are the top 7 rules to follow when trail riding.

1. If you go trail riding, always inform someone where you plan to go and when you plan to return. On a trail ride, it is not surprising if you or your horse becomes ill, lame, injured, get lost, or get stuck. Anything can happen on a trail ride and when it does, at least, one person will notice that you still have not returned. If something unexpected happens, help will come and you will be found because you have told someone where you planned to go.

It is always advisable that you ride with someone else if you are an inexperienced rider and you want go to an unfamiliar place. A child should always be accompanied by an adult rider in trail riding. If you are an experienced rider and you want to go trail riding alone, always bring with you a communication device like a fully charged cell phone. This way you can call someone in case of emergency.

2. Always bring a hoof pick and a pocket knife. If your horse gets a stone lodged into its frog, you can use the hoof pick to get the stone off its hoof. If you dont get the stone off and let the horse continue to walk, the horses hoof will get very sore. If your horse gets caught in vines or thick brushes, you can use the pocket knife to free your horses feet.

3. Never teach your horse to become lax because they cannot recognize play from work. Trail riding can be very relaxing. But, becoming lax is something you do not want to teach your horse as it will not know when to play and when to work. When this happens, you may not be able to control your horse.

If the horse learns how to relax, it might relax even if you do not want it to. For example, whenever you trail ride, your horse grab bites of grass as you walk. It might do this even if you are on your way to a show ring gate.

4. Without creating unnecessary anxiety among the horses, always ride a respectful distance from the other riders. Horses always communicate with each other, which can sometimes lead to violence. This is why you have to keep at least one horse length between you and the next rider in front of you. But, because of their herd instincts, you should not do anything that will cause them to think that the herd is getting split up.

5. Be careful when trail riding on a terrain you are unfamiliar with. Do not run through an open field that is not familiar to you. You never know when you are walking on an overgrown ditch or a covered up hole that your horse could stumble or, worse, get its leg broken.

6. You should know what to do when something scares your horse. What usually scare a horse are unfamiliar objects. When something scares your horse, you must ignore it so your horse doesnt make a big deal out of it. This is because the bigger the deal you make out of it, the bigger the deal it will be to your horse.

In case you are thinking that you will teach your horse to get used to whatever scares it by going back and forth in front of the spooky object, you are mistaken. This can even make the situation worse. Instead, let it look, walk slowly and sniff the spooky object to make it think that the thing is not scary at all.

7. Walk along your horse comfortably on the trail, especially if you meet other riders. Your horse tends to react the same way you do. If it senses that you are nervous, it will get nervous too and might cause for it to bolt unexpectedly. Therefore, you should always be calm so that your horse will calmly walk with you.

There are several other rules a rider must follow when trail riding. But, these are the top 7 rules to keep you safe so you get the most out of your horseback riding experience.

About the Author:

Author Pat Brooks is an equestrian, an attorney and Arabian horse training and breeding business owner and operator. She hosts the Horse And Rider Radio Show in Atlanta, Georgia, where she discusses information relevant to the newcomer. For additional information on horses go to Horse Facts and How To Ride A Horse.

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The History of The Most Popular Sport In The World

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by Gabriel Barkeley

Keeping yourself informed is very important in our times. Do so by reading the following article regarding this topic.

Some would say soccer is the most popular game in the world; we are not sure about that, but it is definitely one of the oldest. The history of soccer goes along, evidently, with the soccer ball history. When talking about soccer ball history there are several periods to distinguish. Thus we can talk about early ball history, the balls in the 1800s, balls in the 1900s, and modern models.

Early soccer ball history goes back to the times before Christ. It is known that people have liked kicking either a ball or something similar to one, since the beginnings of times. Indians in South America are known to have used a light elasticized ball, which is amazing since rubber started being produced only a few thousand years later. The early soccer balls consisted of different items from human and animal skulls to pig or cow bladders and stitched up cloth. Between 255 BC and 220 AD, the Chinese played 'tsu chu' using animal-skin balls dribbled through gaps in a net stretched between two poles. Ancient Romans and Greeks played a game which involved carrying and kicking a ball, whereas in certain ancient Egyptian rites are said to have had similarities with soccer.

Pre-medieval and medieval stories and legends that can be considered as part of the soccer ball history, also mention the use of animal bladders or skulls to play games similar to modern soccer. An instance of the use of an animal bladder ball is presented in the legend about the 'game' between two villages. An entire village used to kick a skull along a path to a nearby village square. The other village would in turn try to kick the skull to the first village's square. In medieval times they used the bladders from animals killed for winter sustenance. They used to inflate them and then try to keep the 'ball' in the air by using their hands or feet. In time people noticed that covering the bladder with leather would maintain the shape better and longer.

The soccer ball history of the 1800s was marked by the 1836 patenting of vulcanized rubber by Charles Goodyear. In 1855 the same Charles Goodyear designed and then built the first vulcanized rubber soccer balls. In 1862 H.J. Lindon came up with one of the first inflatable bladders for soccer balls. Although he is the father of the rugby ball too, he did not patent the idea at the time because of the preference for the round ball. By the 1900s the soccer ball history had entered on a different path, bringing these entertainment objects a lot closer to what they are today.

Did you like this article? Try searching out other articles for another great read.

About the Author:
Gabriel Barkeley is a consultant, soccer coach and trainer. He has worked and lived abroad since the late 1980s and has helped and worked with organizations and people from a wide range of backgrounds, professions and ethnicities. If you're looking to learn more about brine soccer ball soccer balls size then you can reach him at www.supersoccercalifornia.com

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Holidays are widely available and you will certainly be able to get items that you wish for

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by Bethany O Miah

Holidays are sometimes a regular occurrence for family's but there are people who still dream of being able to go on holidays on a regular basis. Holidays are very popular and a lot of people enjoy them on a yearly basis. It's one of the only times you can properly enjoy your life and relax.

Holidays are usually very variable in terms of prices and you can find them in a variety of places online and offline. You should be able to get some great deals at the moment. The best places to find holidays are usually online on major websites and main comparison websites which will help you get the best deals.

Finding a place you want to visit should be easy because there are literally hundreds of destinations available for your holidays. A lot of holidays are separated into different categories which are usually Sun, Beach, Sports and family or couples holidays.

Holidays are becoming cheaper now because of the recession so it could be a good time for you to travel to the cities and locations you want to. Most people tend to have their heart set on places that they want to go to on holiday. If you're unsure on a destination then do some research first.

Work and stress are the main things that seem to disappear when you take holidays and this is the reason they are so sought after. Holidays aren't always booked abroad. You can also take holidays in the UK in major cities or perhaps a country hotel is more your style?

Holidays are perfect for relaxing and this is why so many people take holidays each and every year in order to relax and enjoy themselves. To make sure that you get the best deals possible you should always do some research online and offline before you buy any package deals.

Holidays are easy to find and you should be able to find a great deal of offers and packages online so your first port of call should be websites. If you want to learn about hotels on the holidays you're interested in then you should have a look at some reviews websites where you'll learn about the services and facilities.

Holidays abroad are by far the most popular and some of the most popular destinations include France, Spain and of course The Canary Islands. Most holidays abroad are popular because of the climate and the beautiful scenery - many European countries are ideal for sun, sand and beaches.

Before you go on holiday abroad you should do some research into the weather and climate of the country and area so that you can find out what sort of weather to expect. You should always do some research into reviews and opinions to make sure that the place you're visiting will have services to your standards and that you'll enjoy yourself.

You won't have a problem finding the review and opinion websites because there are plenty available online. Lots of them cover holidays so you should get the info you need. You will definitely need to do research when you're looking for hoildays abroad because it's vital to get all the information you can possible find.

It's a huge mistake to think that all you need to do is look at the pictures on the holiday websites because you will need to do more than this. Most holidays are easy to find and you won't have much trouble finding destinations for your holidays that are suitable for your tastes as well as having the facilities you need.

All in all, as long as you do the research you need to and plan your trip properly you should have fantastic holidays abroad when you are able to go. A lot of people take holidays on a regular basis and you will find that they will remain popular for years to come - traveling is a fun and exciting part of life.

About the Author:
Author Bethany O Miah discusses choosing holidays. www.completeholidayguide.co.uk has brilliant information on holidays, you'll easily be able to buy what you desire.

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Arod

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by Denise I Smithson


Better known by the nickname A-Rod, New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is one of the most famous players in baseball today. Born in New York City, Rodriguez's family moved to the Dominican Republic when he was four years old, only to return to Miami a short time later. Rodriguez's father took for New Jersey not long after returning to the US, leaving his family behind.

In Miami Rodriguez would begin his baseball career playing for his high school team. It was here that Alex would go All-American his senior year and be the first high school player to ever to try out for Team America.

Upon finishing high school, Rodriguez signed a letter of intent to play for the baseball team at the University of Miami - but he decided to pursue a professional career in baseball instead, entering the amateur draft.

He was quickly picked up by the Seattle Mariners, where he played as the third 18 year old short stop since the turn of the century. His star was rising, but the season was cut short due to the Major League strike of 1994.

Because of this disruption, A-Rod didn't get a chance to really shine until the 1996 season, when he batted an incredible .358 average, scored 36 home runs and 123 RBIs, the highest averages for any right handed batter in the American League since Joe Di Maggio! This was a stellar season for Rodtriguez, with the highest total of hits, doubles, extra base hits and runs in the Major Leagues - he finished the season with the Major League Player of the Year title.

Rodriguez continued with the Mariners until becoming a free agent and playing with the Texas Rangers for a short time. In 2004, Rodriguez was signed by the New York Yankees, where he still plays today. He has continued to play at a level few others can match, winning the MVP titles in 2005 and 2007. He has been criticized by sportswriters and fans for sometimes failing to hold up under pressure, something which has not bothered him; says Rodriguez: "I could care less. In my career, I've been hearing it for a long time. It will never stop until you win five or six World Series in a row, and hit a Joe Carter home run. I've done a lot of special things in this game, and for none of that to be considered clutch, it's an injustice." The Yankees apparently do not agree with this criticism, having signed him to a 10 year, $275 million contract. If Rodriguez breaks the home run record while on the team, he stands to make millions more.

A-Rod's personal life is also controversial; he has been seen with another woman and his marriage is reputed to be on the rocks. There have also been rumors that Rodriguez has had an affair with Madonna, something lent more credence by the singer's own troubled marriage to filmmaker Guy Ritchie.

About the Author:
How much do you know about baseball? ttp://www.nothingbutsports.info Nothing But Sports is a great place to brush up on your sports trivia and learn how to swing that bat.

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