A Few Little Known Facts About Sports Business Giant Nike

Nike is probably the most popular brand of athletic rubber shoes in the world. It has the most successful athletes as endorsers, and the company is only rivaled by Adidas. Nike has also branched out into different athletic apparel, and have long since dominated the world of sports attire. Here are a few fun facts about the industry leader.

Image source: jdsports.co.uk

Blue Ribbon Sports was founded in 1964. It started out as a distributor for Onitsuka Tiger shoes. Seven years later, Blue Ribbon Sports became Nike.

The founders of Nike were Bill Bowerman, a track and field coach, and Phil Knight, a runner from Portland. They started the company with only $1,200.

Nike was almost named Dimension 6. It was the company’s first employee, Jeff Johnson who came up with the name Nike. It was the name of the Greek goddess of victory.

The first batch of Nike shoes were made for running. The amazing thing about them was they were made in a waffle iron. It was Bowerman’s idea to make a grooved pattern on the soles to enhance grip on the ground while running.

Image source: nike.com

“Just Do It” first came out in 1988, with an octogenarian in W Walt Stack running across the Golden Gate Bridge.

My name is Peter Benedict. I went to St. Andrews University. I’m now based in Washington with my wife. Check out this blog for more on sports and business.

Some Rebounding Tips For The Knights, Because They Need More Wins

It has been a perennial reality that the St. Andrews Knights have often been playing with a huge handicap because of the team’s lack of ceiling. Although the Knights play their heart out and win games, it is not quite enough to secure those victories.

Image source: blazersedge.com

A look at statistics will reveal a huge problem in the team not having enough possessions. Without a lot of possessions, the team doesn’t get enough attempts. Certainly, the Knights will lack sorely in scoring opportunities this way.
If a smaller team needs to get more rebounds, they need to learn how to box out their opponents. Boxing out is an art in basketball. Even when an opposing team is taller, their life can be made difficult with good boxing out. Of course, this would require the smaller team to bulk up. A lot of strength conditioning is needed for this.
It is also important for the smaller team to learn how to jump higher. If they are smaller, it also means that they are lighter, and they should exploit their quickness to react. In fact, being more aggressive to the jump has shown that it can fish fouls from the opposing team, as fouls by a bigger player on a smaller one are easily noticed by referees.
Positioning is also key to getting rebounds. A player must develop the skills to read a ball’s behavior after it hits the ring. From there, a player’s position should be based on his prediction on where the ball is likely headed. This is clearly a gamble, but it is certainly an educated one.

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The Knights need to make peace with the fact that basketball will always be a huge rebounding grind for them in this league.
Peter Benedict  supports the St. Andrews University varsity teams. For more sports insights, follow this  Twitter page .

Crunch Time: Improve Your Freethrow Shooting With These Tips

Free-throw shooting is one of the fundamentals of basketball. It’s so important, it can be the deciding factor for a championship or a send-home. And during crunch time, when the stakes are high, you need to make your free-throws count.

Image source : quotemaster.org

Here’s what you can do to improve your free-throw accuracy.

Use good form

A good shooting stance will dramatically increase the accuracy of your shots. It’s easier to shoot straight shots with a good shooting form. Stand with your lead foot slightly forward, your feet in a 45-degree angle. Flex legs and flick your wrist as you shoot to allow the ball to make a backspin.

Make a routine that puts you into rhythm.

The most common is three dribbles, though you make one that fits your shot.

Look straight at the front of the rim

When you shoot, look at the rim and not the ball. This will help you shoot at the direction of the rim. And then you can either watch the ball in the air or not.

Avoid planting your feet flat on the ground

Your feet should be on their tip toes. If you don’t have enough strength, jump 1 or 2 inches in the air. Make sure you’re not palming the ball, meaning, you hold the ball using your fingers and only shoot with your dominate hand and use your off-hand for support.

Image source : imgur.com

Hi there, my name is Peter Benedict. I went to St. Andrews University for College. I’ve been a graduate for many years now but I still follow St. Andrews sports. Visit my page to know more.

American Football Remains The Favorite Sport In The U.S.

Different people will always have their own preferences in choosing which sports they patronize. However, a great number of Americans consider American football as their favorite, about 46 percent saying so, according a Harris Interactive Poll of more than 2,000 American adults. 35 percent state that their favorite sport to watch is professional football, and 11 percent say college football is their sport of choice.

Image source: fanindex.usatoday.com

The second favorite sport, based on that study, is professional baseball at 14 percent, which is interesting because baseball has long been considered as the national pastime. Countless youth, and even adults, play the sport and even join urban or rural baseball or softball leagues, which underscores the statement that it is the national pastime.

Still, football is the most watched sport.

Super Bowl, the National Football League’s annual championship game, has attracted an average of 111 million viewers for the past eight years.

At the national college level, more than 50 million attended football games, 210 million viewers turned in to watch during the regular season, and 120 million watched NCAA bowl games.

 

Image source: theodysseyonline.com

Even if it is easier for other people to play other sports, football continues to be the most patronized because of a combination of factors, including the way it can bring people together, the fast-paced plays which you cannot help but stay tuned to, the exhilaration of elimination games, and, of course, the rivalries between teams or schools.

Hi, Peter Benedict, a St. Andrews  alumnus, here. I may have graduated a long time ago, but I still make time to watch and support my alma mater’s sports teams. Learn more about them by subscribing to my blog.

Learning From The St. Andrews Knights: The Strategy Against Much Bigger Teams

It hasn’t been a very peachy season for the St. Andrews Knights in men’s basketball. I am absolutely still their number one fan. But that also makes me their most disappointed fan with what we’ve all been seeing so far.

Image source: youtube.com

It’s nice to see the team not losing by a blowout for a change. At least there are some flashes of brilliance on the floor. Take for example the game against Bryan College. The Knights actually had the lead at the half. With a field goal percentage of 53 percent at halftime, St. Andrews only proved that they could score, almost as many points as the opponent, that is.

However, not to undermine Coach Hernandez, basketball is not won on offense. We simply can’t trade baskets. When the game is on the line, teams naturally level up. That’s exactly what Bryan did.

Even with three Knights scoring in double figures consistently, just like what Zinaich, Smalls, and Vanderhorst did, we will have to come to terms with the fact that we are a much smaller team compared to the rest of the league. Only then can the Knights realize that the kind of defense they should be playing has to work with that.

Image source: downtownball.net

The Knights should be playing the full-court press for the whole game. Many might say that this is too huge of a demand, but the fact is we’re smaller. When we win, we’re more tired than bigger teams are whenever they win. We simply have to accept that.

We have to make calculated gambles in intercepting the ball, playing denial, and jumping as high as we can for those loose balls. We foul hard if we have to. That’s the only clear solution I see.

Hi, I’mPeter Benedict. Join me as I follow the different sports teams of the SAU Knights. You can follow me on Facebook for more updates.

Doing It Again: Gary’s Game Winner Against Bc

Image source: sauknights.com

When the St. Andrews Knights men’s basketball team fought against Bryan College, it was certainly a game to behold. During the first 2 quarters, both teams were pretty much neck to neck. However, St. Andrews University was able to break away from the opposing team for 10 points, resulting in a score of 48-38 at halftime. During the first 24 minutes, the Knights’ field goal percentage was at an impressive 51 percent, while their 3-point percentage was at 41 percent.

Midway during the 2nd half, St. Andrews would break away even further, extending their lead to 14 points at 59-45. However, the Bryan players were able to catch on fire as they were able to go on a 31-17 run, eventually tying the game at 76. By this point, there was only 10 seconds left on the clock. Luckily, there was Gary Titus who was able to do everything right during clutch time. He took the inbound pass, dribbled down the floor, and put up a buzzer beater floater which bounced off the backboard. The game ended with the Knights’ second conference win for the season.

Image source: sauknights.com

Titus Gary was the leader in points made at 17. His other teammates weren’t definitely slacking off as three other players were able to end the game with double figures as well. From three point land, Gary was 2 out of 8, while having five rebounds and two steals. After the game, he was able to acquire his 198th career 3-point field goals, which is now ranked first at the university since the 2008-2009 season.

Peter Benedict here. I went to St. Andrews University. It is where I honed my skills in business management and cultivated my lifelong love for sports. Follow me on Twitter!