sports

Sometimes, professional athletes aren't always as good (or lucky) in the real world as they are on the field, the court, or the course.

Some estimate that between 60 percent and 80 percent of NBA and NFL players go bankrupt within 5 years of retirement.

Famous names such as Allen Iverson and Mark Brunell have experienced huge financial woes.

Now former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling says he's "tapped out" after the demise of his video game company, 38 Studios.

ESPN reports that Schilling told WEEI-FM in Boston that "the money I saved during … Read more

It's clear that we are moving into a faintly disturbing period of human history. Thanks to technology, everyone is following us around. Thanks to Facebook, we're following everyone else around.

However, when it comes to the NBA, which tonight might enjoy the last game of its season, surveillance has reached a fascinating extreme.

For, thanks to cameras first developed to track missiles, each NBA player can now have his moves recorded 25 times per second. The system, from a company called STATS, is known as SportVU, which does not, I believe, stand for Sport Voyeurs United.

But perhaps … Read more

You may have seen those crazy cousins of the Jet Ski and jetpack that let you zip around your favorite water-sports venue while essentially attached to a wild fire hose.

We've written about the JetLev R200 -- a jetpack-like design -- as well as a later spin on the idea: the Flyboard, which with its foot- and hand-level water jets, might make for more of a skiing-like experience.

Well, now it looks like the concept has been applied to a form factor all of us can more or less relate to: the cycle. The Jetovator lets you ride the wild hose as if it were a bike or motorcycle. And for that reason, it looks a little less squirrelly than the other devices (though watching the embedded video does make us wonder about the fine print in our health insurance policies).… Read more

Barbecuing is an outdoor activity. Some might call it a sport. There are certainly enough competitions that one could easily view it as such. Considering some of the hunks of meat that end up on the grill, it also is not difficult to see barbecuing as being a strenuous activity. Fishing is also said to be a sport (or at least it has its competitive elements). Therefore, it only makes sense to put a grill on a boat.

For those who are into either competitive fishing or barbecue, Hammacher Schlemmer has the answer to all your grill-on-the-go needs. The Barbecue Dining Boat … Read more

Apple's hardware seems to have been updated today, so I hear.

However, one man who might once have thought he'd be involved in those updates has reportedly achieved a slightly more exalted goal: he has bought himself an NBA team.

Robert Pera, 34, once an Apple hardware engineer and now the founder and CEO of Ubiquiti Networks, a company that seeks to provide Web connectivity cheaply for emerging markets, is reportedly buying the Memphis Grizzlies.

The way ESPN shoots it, Pera is an avid, nay, obsessive basketball player who owns 64 percent of Ubiquiti, a company that has … Read more

Normally, a new version of EA Sports' Madden Football is an E3 non-event. Not so at E3 2012: in fact, it became a sort of poster-child for future-forward gaming.

Admittedly, the second-screen Madden prototypes on Xbox SmartGlass shown briefly at Microsoft's press conference aren't real (yet), but Madden 13 does feature integrated Kinect features and completely new player physics, dubbed Infinity Engine.

The most interesting part of the Madden's Kinect feature-set is that it doesn't use the camera: instead, it relies on voice commands as a way of controlling pre-snap adjustments on offense and defense. Joe Montana seemed to pull it off well during Microsoft's keynote, but I needed proof. I tried it in a relatively quiet E3 show floor booth, and it not only worked, but it could end up being a feature I actually use. … Read more

Stupid Andy helps us round out the week before the three-day holiday, and our favorite way to pay tribute to the soldiers is by getting choked up at YouTube videos of soldiers reuniting with their dogs. The ones with their families are pretty good, too.… Read more

You know how you sometimes are thinking of someone and they suddenly walk down the street in front of you?

Well, I have just had a similar experience. Attempting to wind down for my weekend, I just finished Hank Haney's book about Tiger Woods, "The Big Miss."

No, this is not a tale about one of his larger girlfriends. It is a very thoughtful analysis of the man and his game, written by his former coach.

No sooner had I placed it on the floor (yes, I should be tidier) than I received word that Woods will, … Read more

I'm not one to watch an NFL game on TV or toss around the pigskin in the park, but if I did I would probably benefit from this magnetic football.

Ultimate Reception is a campaign on crowd-funding site IndieGoGo aimed at developing a magnetic football and gloves that improve catching ability.

Actually, the gloves are embedded with powerful magnets that attract a special layer in the football's skin. They're strong enough so that the ball will stick to the glove when the arm is outstretched and palm down. … Read more