LESAProject

The other day, I was reading the chapter on intelligence in my psychology textbook. The section was about what can and can't be considered different types of intelligences. One sentence that really caught my eye read "the abilities that we can manage without, as in...athletics, are better considered talents than intelligences." Now, I guess you could say that athletics is probably a talent and not an intelligence, but that's not the part of the sentence I want to dwell on now.  What I would like to dwell on now is the question: Can we really manage without athletics, or sports in general? Two hundred ...

Here is the final installment of my work, "Violence and Aggression in Sports." Thanks to all who have been following along, I hope you have enjoyed this in-depth look at a disturbing trend. Aggression or sportsmanship can be learned and reinforced in many different ways. Multiple reasons, rather than a single one, influence such behaviors. Young athletes need positive, appropriate, and constructive role models to teach and reinforce sportsmanship and moral reasoning (Nucci & Young-Shim, 2005). The coach is perhaps the most significant person influencing the amount of aggressive or sportsmanlike behaviors displayed in the competitive sport context (Conan, 1980; Cratty, 1983; King, 1990; ...

Photo by Darla Tamulitis-La Vita Loca Photography, Copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved In their first game against a SIFL team and hampered by seven turnovers and the absence of two key players, the Louisiana Swashbucklers dropped a hard fought contest 88-32 to the Columbus Lions. The Swashbucklers, who were coming off a 88-6 trashing of the North Texas Crunch, could not repeat their offensive power of the previous week. They were held scoreless in the second half. The Lions defense held Swashbuckler quarterback Alvin Bartie to only 10 of 26 passing for 253 yards. Bartie was also sacked four ...

Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, July 4th. Does it get more American? Find me an American over the age of three that has never eaten a hot dog, and I will be greatly impressed. Call competitive eating what you want, but nobody can dare to insult a Nathan's hot dog. On July 4th, no matter how disgusting and disturbing it might be, America's focus is set on Coney Island, New York where the annual hot dog eating contest occurs yearly. Year-in and year-out 20 men will go against their common sense (if they have any), and attempt to eat more hot dogs in the span of 10 minutes ...

The following is part of a weekly series in which writer Todd Civin presents the lighter side of the Boston Breakers of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS). The league is built on the down-to-earth nature and approachability of its athletes. "Getting Silly with the Breakers" is a fun-filled way to create a comfortable bond between the fans and the professional athletes who are the Boston Breakers. A special thanks to Erica Hunt, the Communications Director for the team, as well as the players themselves for making this approach possible.   It is difficult for ...

In the last year we've seen Twitter explode into a phenomenon where athletes have expressed their big news or even their nonsensical brain farts in 140 characters or less. Regardless of the type of comment, one cannot deny just how big Twitter has become and its relevance in the sports world today. The big, famous athletes receive a great amount of attention for their tweets, but really it's the hot female athletes who can keep people coming back to their pages. That got us thinking about 20 of the hottest female athletes who run their own Twitter page. ...

One reason why athletes are often admired by the masses is that they often push themselves to the limits to do amazing things—whether it's scoring 38 points with the flu in Game Five of the NBA Finals, winning the U.S. Open with an ACL-stricken left knee, or rowing across the Atlantic Ocean solo style. Is it truly mind over matter? Sanity over insanity? Or just the fact that once an individual gets past the rationalization factor of "playing it safe," one is capable of doing what's deemed impossible? Katie Spotz, a sensational 22-year-old adventurer and athlete from Mentor, OH, knows a thing ...

On the 22nd day of March during a wide-ranging span of years throughout history, the Heavens parted and out dropped the likes of many famous individuals from various walks of life including: comedian Chico Marx (1887), actor Karl Malden (1912), "Captain Kirk" William Shatner (1931), Canadian figure skater Elvis Stojko (1972), actress Reese Witherspoon (1976), composer Andrew Lloyd Weber (1948) and sportscaster Bob Costas (1952). Each spent this day celebrating the anniversary of their birth some number of years ago. Little did Boston Breakers' midfielder Jen Nobis know that when parents Pam and Mike Nobis headed for that little hospital in ...

  Here is Part two of my three part series 'Violence and Aggression In Sports.' Thanks to those of you out there taking the time to read an in depth article on this dangerous sports trend.   Although aggressive behaviors may sometimes provide catharsis, an opposing view is that participating in or viewing aggressive behaviors is more likely to elicit greater amounts of aggression than to result in decreased aggression (e.g.; Bandura and Waiters, 1974; Berkowitz, 1970; Geen, Stonner, and Shope, 1975). Gelfand and Hartmann (1982) found that participation in competitive games raised boys' and girls' levels of aggression, regardless of competition outcome (Nucci ...

It takes a special breed of woman to be a Bond Girl. Not only does James Bond's sexy wing lady have to be hot, she has to be skillful with some tool that will make her useful for the world's leading spy in and out of the bedroom. The next installment in the James Bond series currently sits in pre-production and is set for release in 2011. That got us thinking about ten hot female athletes who could fit the bill as Bond's sexy sidekick. The following ladies come from various sports with various background that can ...