The strongest and fastest people on Wall Street faced off this weekend to determine who is the best athlete. 

Wall Streeters ranging in ages from 22 to 62 participated in the annual RBC Decathlon at DaSilva Memorial Stadium at St. John's University in Queens on Sunday.

In a span of four hours, the athletes completed a 400-meter run, football throw, pull-ups, 40-yard dash, dips, 500-meter row, vertical jump, 20-yard shuttle, bench press, and an 800-meter run.

The annual event raised $1.4 million for pediatric cancer research and treatment at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Mark Rubin, who works in fixed-income sales at Barclays, captured the Wall Street's Best Athlete title for the third consecutive year. Rubin was a former Penn State safety who had a stint playing in the NFL for the St. Louis Rams. 

If you missed the competition, we've included photo highlights in the slides that follow. A big thank-you to Dmitry Gudkov and Kevin McCarthy who were both kind enough to share their photos. 

Kamunting Street Capital LLC trader Matthew Cook ran a 5.31 for the 40-yard dash.

Barclays analyst Jacob Stoller got a 4.96 during his 40-yard dash.

Jared Sholly of RBS ran his 40 in 4.85.

In an interview published today by Ad Age, Cadillac marketing chief Uwe Ellinghaus added his voice to a growing chorus of executives who feel advertising during sporting events might be getting too expensive.

Ellinghaus told Ad Age that the luxury car brand will "reassess everything we do in sports" because he doesn't know whether it's worth it to advertise in an arena where his competitors are also spending lots of money.

"If our competitors spend 20-40-50-times as much as we do, is it wise to go there just to show we are in their league? Isn't experiential a better opportunity?" he told Ad Age. "To surprise people positively about Cadillac's presence? Nobody is surprised if you come to a golf tournament and see a luxury-car brand advertising there. It's exactly what you expect."

Cadillac's contract to sponsor the WGC-Cadillac Champion golf tournament runs through 2016, Ad Age reports.

Ellinghaus' words come three months after another high-profile auto executive, Honda assistant VP-advertising Tom Peyton, said that a "day of reckoning" is coming for sports networks who raise advertising prices without providing larger viewerships to justify the increases.

"There has to be a point where the price of sports properties on TV, the price of tickets for consumers to games, is truly affecting the amount of sports we can engage in — and the type of sports we engage in," the Honda executive told Ad Age in March.

What's happened is that the advent of the internet and the explosions of cable television options have created a fragmented media environment where people are much less likely to all be watching the same thing at the same time.

As a result, live sports are valuable to advertisers because they now represent some of the only places brands can reach a large number of people at the same time. For instance, live NFL games accounted for nine of the 10 most-watched TV broadcasts of 2013.

And with DVRs and illegal download sites stealing viewers from live television, sporting events are some of the only programs people feel they need to watch live.

This has caused ad rates to skyrocket, creating bidding wars between networks like NBC and ESPN looking to get a piece of the bigger advertising pie. The upshot, of course, is that the only way for the networks to make a profit after paying exorbitant licensing fees is to raise ad prices further.

Case in point: the price of a 30-second Super Bowl ad has jumped from $3 million to $4 million since 2011, even though the audience for the game has remained steady around the 110 million mark.

Now, it seems, major brands like FedEx, which in 2014 skipped out on the Super Bowl for the first in two decades, are threatening to stop paying more money for the same audience.

Whether the rates actually come down or not remains to be seen. After all, Ellinghaus might find that his reassessment of Cadillac's marketing budget reveals a reality so many other brands have already accepted — that in today's fragmented media landscape, sports are too good a deal to pass up, no matter how much the networks and leagues are charging.

SEE ALSO: Major Companies Are Now Too Poor To Advertise During Sports Events

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In the South, college football is a way of life. Southern Methodist University (SMU) is no different. This fall, however, SMU fans will have a very rare opportunity at their home stadium: they can buy a beer. 

Right now, the NCAA does not permit any alcohol at championship tournament events. In most conferences, however, alcohol sales are determined by the school.

Most universities are wary of selling alcohol at sporting events because they are often considered family affairs, and most of the students in the crowd (and the athletes on the field) are underage. The SEC, the king of college football, has a league-wide ban on alcohol within the stadium.

More schools are giving it a try, however. SMU ran a trial during basketball season, serving beer and wine at twelve home games. They netted into the six figures. Virginia Tech athletic director Whit Babcock told USA Today that while his current school does not sell alcohol, he has seen it done in a responsible way at his previous institution, Cincinnati. 

At Virginia Tech, alcohol is only sold in the luxury suites at football games. At Cincinnati, beer was sold at all home games. Babcock notes, "In my two and a half years there, we didn't have any alcohol-related incidents, so it worked. It opened my eyes that it could be done in a responsible way."

However, alcohol sales can not help generate revenue, they can actually help to calm crazed fans. For many fans, a typical college game day starts at 8 a.m. and is an all-day affair. (I grew up on the University of Kentucky campus, what we lack in football skills, we make up for in bourbon.) The drinking is heavy, and games often don't begin until the afternoon, meaning that fans are very intoxicated by the time the festivities really begin. Tailgating can go too far, because fans know alcohol is not allowed within the stadium.

When they know they can still buy alcohol at the game, fans drink less before the game. They can actually have breakfast, not Jell-O shots, in the early morning because they know there will not be cut off by game time. In West Virginia, the addition of beer sales during football games in 2011 actually led to less drunkenness overall. At SMU, during the trial period, they did not have any alcohol-related arrests. 

Selling alcohol at the games also helps promote the sport to more casual fans, who visit for fun, rather than as die hard fans or students. They can grab a cheap seat and a beer, much as they would at an NFL game. SMU athletic director Rick Hart "repeatedly heard the expectation from new or casual fans that a night on the town – whether to a sporting event, a play or something else – would include the opportunity to buy beer and wine."

While this will certainly benefit SMU — less rowdy fans, more profits, new customers — the implementation was extremely detailed and serious. The sale of beer and wine was approved by the school's board, student affairs office, and student leaders. After that, a very careful alcohol sales program was created to prevent underage drinking. Students over 21 receive a wristband with three pull tabs on it. Non-students receive only one pull tab. Buy a beer, take off a tab. This limits binge drinking within the stadium. 

Right about now, Budweiser is at the edge of their seats, waiting to hop on the opportunity for advertising sales at College GameDay. But they might be waiting for quite a while, especially when it comes to the largest (and potentially most lucrative) conference: the SEC. Alabama athletics director told USA Today, "Primarily economics would drive it. The disadvantages are security and fan behavior and other things that go with that. And so it's a trade-off. It is done successfully in places throughout the country. We're in the Bible Belt; we may not be the first ones to do that. But certainly we would consider it. Whether we do it or not, I don't know."​

Of course, if the SEC never changes their prohibition, students should be getting a brand new way to sneak liquor into stadiums soon, in the form of Palcohol. 

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Today, during a tense and hard-fought World Cup match between Italy and Uruguay, Uruguay's Luis Suarez bit Italy's Giorgio Chiellini. This isn't Suarez's first taste of a player. Here's a brief history of Suarez biting other soccer players:

Suarez has twice been suspended from his professional teams for biting incidents. Considering Suarez's history, it only seemed logical that a betting website would offer the opportunity to gamble on whether or not Suarez would chomp down on a competitor at the World Cup.

What are the odds!? http://t.co/TQhfrYLjq8

— Who Ate All The Pies (@waatpies) June 24, 2014

As it turns out, the odds were pretty long. Betsson, a gambling website based in Malta, offered the proposition bet at 175-1 odds. One gambler, Thomas Syverson of Trondheim, Norway, put $5.25 on Suarez's biting someone, and walked away with a cool $916. Betsson's sportsbook manager, Andreas Bardun, told ESPN a total 167 gamblers bet on the bite. The biggest winner was also a Norwegian, who took home $3,300.

Gambling does have a history of odd bets, especially when it comes to the Superbowl, when gamblers bet on everything from then length of the national anthem to the color of the Gatorade shower given to the winning coach. But this is probably the first time a bet was placed on biting. And almost definitely the first time it paid off.

SEE ALSO: Bitten Italy Player Slams FIFA Referee For Ignoring The Luis Suarez Bite

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The playing field may not be level for school sports due to physical differences between children born in different months.

Our research measured 8,550 children’s stamina, muscle strength and power. Those born in the autumn had a clear physical advantage over children born at other times of the year.

Unfortunately, long ago in England, we adopted a September 1 cut-off for school entry. This was historically to allow children to help with the harvest.

Now, it means the oldest children in each year are also those who benefit from summer vitamin D exposure – a double advantage. If we moved the cut-off to April fool’s day the smaller and less fit children would be the oldest in their school-year which might cancel out the autumn advantage.

The tests we used in our research are standard indicators of physical performance. We tested children during PE lessons, following a standardised procedure, but then we converted them to age-related percentile scores using a commercially available testing system.

Stamina was measured using the 20m shuttle-run (bleep-test) in which the children ran as the speed gets faster-and-faster until they choose to stop. Global data from this test show us children’s fitness levels are declining about 4% per decade– but we found the rate was closer to 10% in English children.

We also measured children’s strength using an handgrip dynamometer and their explosive lower body power via a timing “mat” which measures how long they are off the ground, also known as their flight time. Then, with some maths involving mass and gravity we calculated how powerful they are.

September is the best month

Media coverage of our research has omitted the important point that we controlled for the age of participants. This is important as it allows us to compare children of exactly the same age (we subtracted the date-of-test from date-of-birth to be accurate to the day). This means we did not look at the “relative age” effect (being older in your school year), and we didn’t compare by school year, only by age.

Previous research we published on relative age last year showed a small advantage for autumn and winter-born children’s fitness level depending on when they were born, but the effect was nearly twice as big as our study on the month of birth. If we were studying the relative age effect, children born in September would be the fittest.

Other researchers have found that autumn-born babies are longer (crown-rump length), heavier and more muscular at birth than summer babies. They have put this down to greater vitamin D exposure during the third trimester of the pregnancy. It is in this third trimester that the foetus develops much of its bone mass and musculature. This is why October babies whose mums get sunshine in July, August and September are bigger – and possibly why they go on to be fitter and stronger.

Finding ways to mitigate the disadvantage isn’t just important for sports. The chief medical officer, Liam Donaldson has proposed national fitness assessments for health monitoring purposes. I endorse this, but it has to be done properly, sensitively and accounting for relative age.

We used a health-related cut-offs for our tests to identify children with “clinically” low fitness. April-born children were twice as likely to have clinically low muscle strength and were 50% more likely to have low fitness. Such differences should be accounted for in any testing carried out in schools.

Ways to level the playing field

It’s unlikely the government will switch the school entry date based on differences in physical performance. However, in New Zealand (where the effect is reversed) they put weight limits in schools sports to take away the simple advantage of being the biggest. In Scotland, a small number of players in (for example) Year 8 are allowed to play for Year 7 teams.

More complex ideas could involve limiting the number of players in a team to 50% born between September and March and 50% born between April to August. Schools could even have two teams per year based on six-monthly age grouping (the under 12’s and the under 11 and a halves).

Of course this would mean some of the best and biggest children not being picked, but if sports is about talent development and potential that should be ok. That said, I would find it hard not to field the team most likely to win and imagine most teacher and coaches would, and parents of November born superstars sitting on the side-line might also query this.

One unexpected pattern in the data was that children born in October and November came from families which were, on average slightly richer than those of children born in other months. This might be that some better-off families are actually planning their family birth dates to give their children a better start by being born early in the school year. But that’s just an idea and we can’t prove it!

Gavin Sandercoc owns shares in FitmediaFitness.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

SEE ALSO: We’ve Finally Found Out Why Drugs Don’t Work On Pancreatic Cancer

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The GoPro camera has revolutionized the way that people capture the world around them.

The ultralight and portable device provides an easy way to record amazing, high-definition images, and has become the standard for many video producers as a cheap alternative to buying or renting expensive camera equipment. 

The company IPO'd this week, and its stocks were exploding the next day. 

The reason the company is so successful, of course, is because of the awesome footage that its cameras capture.

In honor of the World Cup, here's a video of Davis Paul playing office soccer with his buddies.

Video by Davis Paul

This is what it looks like plummeting to Earth as the first human to reach supersonic speed. From Felix Baumgartner's point of view:

Video by redbull

You can achieve some pretty amazing effects for cheap.

Video by jeremiahjw

Check out how to create the "'Matrix' effect"

The gaze of the world is fixated on Brazil as they host this year's World Cup. But outside the stadiums a severe week of weather has wreaked havoc on tens of thousands.

On Sunday officials in Brazil revised earlier estimates, now saying that 50,000 people have been forced from their homes because of torrential downpours leading to massive floods. Reports before today had estimated that number to be much smaller.

Channel News Asia reports that officials say floods have hit 37 towns in Santa Catarina and 59 in Rio Grande do Sul. Luckily, the rains seem to finally be losing steam.

The good news for soccer fans is that these floods shouldn't get in the way of the World Cup. On Monday, the knockout match between Germany and Algeria is happening in Porto Alegre - the capital of Rio Grande do Sul - but according to Channel News Asia they have not been hit by the floods.

SEE ALSO: A Perfectly Timed Photo Shows How Close Brazil Was To Getting Knocked Out Of The World Cup

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Professional sports have come a long way from the magic sponge.

As the stakes get higher, the margins smaller, and the competition more intense, one Dublin company is setting the pace when it comes to translating enormous masses of data into something sports teams can use for demonstrable gain.

That company is Kitman Labs, and they offer sports teams something invaluable and utterly modern: the ability to predict when a player might get injured with an unprecedented degree of accuracy.

The concept, chief executive Iarfhlaith Kelly says, is about capturing and analyzing the vast amounts of data that teams capture about their players.

“We monitor and analyze…and as those measurements degrade we highlight injury risk.”

They focus on the relationships between different sorts of information to illuminate hidden risks – if a player’s ankle rotation is decreased at the same time that they are training harder, sleeping less, or under more stress, this is a risk, Kelly explains.

“It’s effectively an early-warning system. It’s real-time metrics on an athlete that relate to known risks, within that sport and within that athlete.”

Getting value from data

The set of circumstances that has allowed Kitman to flourish and gain contracts with the Leinster and Irish rugby teams is the same business model that is powering many disruptive small businesses: the management and analysis of vast amounts of data.

What has traditionally been a time and cash intensive activity has been opened up. For Kitman, it’s data gathered from athletes via sensors like GPS vests and heart rate monitors, but the rule applies in nearly every sector.

Pulling all this data together and looking at it in new ways is where the company is ploughing a profitable furrow.

“Some people focus particularly on sleep, and the GPS companies will focus on work done on the pitch…there’s other companies doing work on blood markers, heart rate variability, and various other metrics.”

We believe each one of those can only tell us one story, and that no one particular variable or approach can accurately highlight injury risk.

But what challenges does it present?

Kelly warns that, much like in any other business, there must be unstinting focus on your raw material.

“Our biggest challenge is making sure that we get good data”, he says.

When analyzing the data and creating systems to process it into a meaningful product, Kelly was able to take advantage of relationships with the TCD school of statistics, although he admits that as the business grows, that expertise will have to come in-house.

Changing horses

Being nimble enough to react to surprises is also important, he says, as is not being dogmatic about the concept.

When Kitman started out, they presumed that they would be able to form a general set of rules about different sports – that using broad statistical churches like age, position and sport, they could predict who was susceptible to injury, and when.

However, when the TCD statisticians analyzed their data sets, the results were “worse than random”.

Essentially, they would never be able to predict injuries without getting deeper into the data – without building up a picture of each athlete, and forsaking structure for intimate knowledge.

“Every athlete is unique. You can only predict an athlete’s injury by basing what you know on his historical information, nobody else’s”.

We discovered this pretty early…it’s something we didn’t expect to come across, and it’s been the making of us.

Future plans

Armed with the products they’ve created, and an impressive client list, Kitman is planning to move into the US market, where hundreds of professional sports teams are thirsty for anything that might give them the edge.

Kelly, along with co-founders Stephen Smith and Jason Cowman, who work with the Leinster and Irish rugby teams, admits that the potential of the Irish market is limited by the relatively small amount of professional teams here.

Using the product also means that clients have to have committed resources themselves – namely a team doctor and a sports scientist, amongst other demands.

“We are extremely limited here, whereas the US is an enormous opportunity for us. We’re over there and we’re looking at opportunities in Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball.”

Once over there, Kelly isn’t limiting himself: “We see it being applied…to every track and field sport”, he says.

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Any athlete in any sport can tell you that 50% of the game is mental. Poker is no different. In fact, the mental aspect of poker is the most crucial part of the game because you need to know how to handle short term gains and short term losses in order to stay focused until the end. 

Bumps in the road will happen. What matters is what you choose to do when you come across the challenging moments. And to be able to make the best choices and to strengthen your poker game, you need to know how to avoid getting stuck in mental pitfalls.

1. Stop thinking in terms of absolute values
Poker is a game of relative values. That means that you don't need a monster hand to win, you just need a hand that is better than your opponent's. Similarly, even if you have a monster hand, it doesn't mean that you're going to win... Your hand might look better, but your opponent's might do better once the flop comes.
Don't believe that? In the 2009 WSOP, Joe Cada's winning hand was two 9's. He beat Darvin Moon who had queen-jack.

2. Don't play every single hand
New players sometimes feel like they need to play every single hand. This happens for several reasons, including wanting to be part of the action, not wanting to give away a bad hand, and wanting to impress other players. Unfortunately, you will not do well if you play to impress others because then you are not focusing on the game. Worrying too much about impressing others is a distraction.

3. Failing to study your opponent
You can't completely ignore other people. You need to be aware of how your own habits betray what cards you might be holding. You must also be able to analyze other players and their playing styles in order to see what their tells are. If you can't pick up on your opponent's mental mistakes and you can't decipher any of their habits, you should find easier opponents. (Think of it this way: if you can't reach a basketball hoop, don't challenge John Wall to a slam dunk contest.) Understanding how other players think and behave is so critical to the game of poker that some professional poker players have an ex-FBI agent train them in recognizing non-verbal communication.

4. Not wanting to "give up"
Of course, giving up is bad. But in poker, sometimes a good player needs to recognize when it is the correct decision to fold instead of waiting for a lucky strike. That's just how the game works. A lot of novice players get too caught up in waiting for cards in the flop. For example, a person might have 3 cards that could lead to a flush. Instead of actually considering the pot odds and probabilities, he will cling to the dream of seeing two more cards in the flop that will complete his flush. This might never happen, and by then the player might have unnecessarily wasted a fair amount of money. Not "giving up" has seriously negative consequences because the player is relying on short-term emotions, rather than investing in the long-term of the game.

5. Not knowing any math
A huge part of poker is knowing how to correctly size bets and understanding pot odds and implied pot odds. If you can master this, then you will have a better sense for when it is best to fold and when it is best to keep playing. A lot of new players don’t take the time to learn the probabilities. Instead, they play the extremes by betting too much when their cards excite them, and by betting too little when their cards disappoint them. Ideally, a player should not get caught up in these emotions, but should analyze the situation and proceed to make choices that maximize potential winnings and minimize potential losses. 

6. Bluffing too much
Some people really get into bluffing because it's exciting — and it's incredibly enjoyable to bluff successfully. The downside of this behaviour is that your bluffs no longer become believable after a while. In other words, your playing strategy will be very easy to read for the duration of the game. 

7. Cold calling raises
Cold calling is when a player calls more than one player's raise at once. Opponent A will raise, then opponent B will re-raise, and then you call. This play indicates that you are either a timid or an undisciplined player — or both. If you do not feel comfortable enough to re-raise after opponent B re-raised, then you should probably fold. 

8. Being afraid to make mistakes
Some players are too afraid to play until they know "for sure" that their hand will win. If they are uncertain of the round's outcome, they fold. The problem with this strategy is that people who do this assume that other players play the same way. Often times, when a timid player sees someone playing aggressively, he automatically assumes that the aggression is a sign of good cards. And then, he folds, even though the other player might have been bluffing.

And finally...

9. Using your cards as an excuse
This is the most important rule in any poker game. People use “bad cards” as a scapegoat constantly, but it’s not a legitimate excuse. Even the greatest poker players get terrible cards, yet they still end up at the final table.

You're not going to win every single round — accept that and move on. The trick is to recognize profitable opportunities in the game. You don't have control over the good or bad cards that you are dealt, but you do have control over making the best of your situation and finding the good opportunities. And that's how you win.

SEE ALSO: How To Talk Like A Poker Pro

SEE ALSO: 12 Things Everyone Should Know Before Stepping Up To A Blackjack Table

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich just smiled while looking over the housewarming package the Atlantic Coast Conference had waiting for the Cardinals.

It confirmed his belief that his school made the right move.

There was the crystal-and-wood championship trophy the school aims to win, a backdrop featuring the Cardinal and league logos, and a black-and-white welcome plaque. After bouncing around in three other leagues over 19 years, Tuesday marked Louisville's official entry into the ACC. The Cardinals are replacing Maryland after it joined the Big Ten along with Rutgers.

In a news conference that included ACC Commissioner John Swofford and Louisville President James Ramsey, Jurich said, "We're not the biggest, we're not the best, but we're going to work our butts off to make you very, very proud."

Jurich stressed Louisville's long-term commitment to that end, and Swofford expressed confidence that this will be a permanent relationship.

The commissioner already believes the Cardinals' presence bolsters the ACC's strong resume' including men's basketball powerhouses North Carolina and Duke and defending BCS football champion Florida State.

"It's more than fair to say from an historical and success standpoint, we are now the strongest collection of basketball programs that have ever been assembled," Swofford said, "and we will have four of the five active Hall of Fame coaches on the sidelines this year."

That list includes Cardinals men's coach Rick Pitino, who was absent from the news conference. But he echoed Swofford's belief in a statement that said "we're very, very excited to be joining the ACC."

Louisville football coach Bobby Petrino was also absent, but said in a release that "we are thrilled this day has finally arrived."

Though Maryland's departure for the Big Ten opened the door for Jurich to call Swofford and ask that Louisville be considered as a replacement, the commissioner said the school had been on its radar as a candidate for expansion. However, the sudden vacancy created an urgency in which the conference weighed Louisville's academic and athletic qualities over 11 days.

Swofford said Louisville's strengths in both areas made the decision obvious. The ACC's invitation ended up sparking a remarkable run of success that's been called "The Year of the Cardinal."

Louisville's football team won the Sugar Bowl. Both basketball teams reached the championship games with the men claiming the school's third title. Baseball capped the year with the first of back-to-back College World Series berths.

Ramsey said the school's "upward trajectory" will continue as it joins an elite conference, adding, "I can think of no greater home or neighborhood that we would like to be associated with and be part of than the Atlantic Coast Conference."

From Jurich's end, Tuesday culminated a long process that began with membership in Conference USA when he arrived in 1997 before he led them to the basketball-strong Big East in 2005. Louisville had sought to join the Big 12, which instead plucked West Virginia from that league.

Even after accepting the ACC invitation, the Cardinals stayed in the Big East through its makeover as the American Athletic Conference following the departure of Catholic member schools that took the name with them to an upstart league. Louisville's programs have thrived at each stop and aim to be competitive right away in the ACC.

The Cardinals now get to reunite with some old Big East foes in Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame, not to mention creating some new rivalries along Tobacco Road. Jurich expects Louisville fans to travel wherever the school plays and hopes that its nomadic existence has ended.

"We've been through four conferences in my 17 years, so hopefully this is the last one," Jurich said. "I couldn't be more happy for that."

SEE ALSO: Why Selling Alcohol At College Football Games May Actually Be Better For Students

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Let’s face it – some college football fan bases are more into their program than others.

There’s a reason that schools like Michigan, Ohio State and Alabama have stadiums that seat over 100,000 fans each, while some of their conference mates can barely fill half that number.

But loyalty isn’t just based on home attendance figures.

Some fan bases, like Nebraska’s, travel extremely well, often turning away games into quasi-neutral affairs. Another element, which every school has had to endure, deals with how supportive its fans stay during a down period.

We’ve gone through and taken a look at every college football fan base with the intent of determining which is the most loyal, year in and year out. As you’d imagine, many of the schools on the below list come from the SEC and the Big Ten – the two conferences that make the most money each year. That isn’t by accident.

Without further ado – the 15 most loyal college football fan bases.

15. Clemson Tigers Fans

Prior to the Tigers’ opener last year against Georgia, which Clemson won, most college football fans were unaware of the program’s impressive pre-game rituals. When it comes to loyal fan bases in the ACC, Clemson is undoubtedly No. 1 – even over defending national champion Florida State. In both 2012 and 2013, Clemson had higher attendance numbers (over 80,000 per game) than its ACC foe, despite having a slightly smaller stadium. Clemson supporters – even before the past few successful years under Dabo Swinney – have always been a passionate bunch.

Clemson’s fans, despite a number of solid campaigns in a row, have had to deal with losing to in-state rival South Carolina five times in a row. Expect them to go absolutely crazy when they finally break the streak.

14. Oklahoma Sooners Fans

Oklahoma, which is always in the national championship conversation, also has an absolutely stellar fan base. Sooners fans are more-than-willing to trek out to Memorial Stadium, which is getting a hefty renovation over the next two years, to watch their team six times per year. That doesn’t take into account the Red River Shootout against Texas, held in Dallas, which supporters make the trip for each year. Oklahoma’s home attendance numbers have topped 84,000 for a few years in a row. The school also claims a 92-game sellout streak that dates back to 1999.

As we’re all well-aware, Oklahoma vs. Texas is one the most entertaining and passionate college football rivalries in the country. Not surprisingly, both teams made this list.

13. Tennessee Volunteers Fans

Tennessee’s fan base is one of the most passionate in the entire country, but it somehow wound up only seventh in the SEC when it came to our list. The Vols, one of the most powerful programs of the 1990s, may have fallen back down to earth, but their fans still show up in droves to root them on.

In fact, in 2013, a year which saw UT post its fourth consecutive losing season, the school came in sixth (over 95,000 per game) in the country in average attendance. Sure, a 102,000-person stadium helps that cause – but just because the seats are there doesn’t mean the fans will come.

Tennessee’s spring game number – over 68,000 – was also quite impressive, given the team’s recent struggles. Fans are excited about the Butch Jones era – they’re hoping that he can return them to glory sooner rather than later.

12. Texas Longhorns Fans

In both 2005 and 2009, Texas reached the BCS national title game. To put into perspective how passionate Texas fans are – four years after their most recent shot at playing for it all, their coach, Mack Brown, was basically forced out after a few mediocre seasons. Longhorns fans expect to compete on the national stage every year. Whether they’ll return to prominence under new coach Charlie Strong remains to be seen.

Over the past two seasons, Texas has averaged just under 100,000 fans per home game. As we noted earlier, the Longhorns also play Oklahoma every year in Dallas – and fans from both sides fill the stadium. Arguably the most football-focused state in the country has a number of big-time college programs – and Texas has always been right at the top.

11. Texas A&M Aggies Fans

Another Texas school – but one that no longer calls the Longhorns big brother. Texas A&M fans, who have long been one of the most dedicated groups in the country, have started to get much more recognition for it over the past few years. Perhaps that’s what happens when you produce a Heisman Trophy winner and move over to the ultra-competitive SEC. The school’s numerous traditions (Midnight Yell Practice, etc) and “12th Man” marketing campaigns also contribute to the Aggie pride.

A&M’s attendance numbers are very solid – the school has had no problem selling out Kyle Field over the past few seasons. But starting in 2015, the school will have the fourth-largest college stadium in the country and the biggest in the SEC after a big renovation project. It’ll also be bigger than Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium, which you knows fans will take great pride in.

10. Auburn Tigers Fans

Like we said, there are a number of SEC schools on this list. As you’d guess, there are two from the state of Alabama – and both are undoubtedly football-crazed. Auburn fans easily had the craziest 2013 season – between the miraculous victory over Georgia, Chris Davis’ return against Alabama in the Iron Bowl, winning the SEC and losing the BCS national title game in the final minute, it was a roller coaster ride that most will never forget.

Auburn’s home attendance numbers the past few years have been impressive, per usual. But the excitement that Gus Malzahn has brought to the school resulted in over 70,000 fans coming out for the spring game in 2014. Want to hear another interesting stat? According to the NCAA, Auburn’s 14 games saw the most overall fans (over 1.2 millon) in attendance – including home, away and neutral contests. The Tigers’ product on the field may have been all over the place the past few years, but the fans have never wavered. Plus, there may be no better tradition that the rolling of Toomer’s Corner after big wins.

9. Penn State Nittany Lions Fans

There aren’t many college football programs that could survive something like the Jerry Sandusky scandal and still remain competitive on the football field. But three years later, Penn State, though still banned from the postseason and under scholarship sanctions, is chugging along. While fans were undoubtedly disgusted with what allegedly occurred on campus, they haven’t let it stop them from rooting for a coaching staff and group of players who had nothing to do with the prior regimes.

In fact, the school has stayed in the top five in home attendance since – behind just Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama and Texas. If you’ve ever been to a PSU home game, then you know all about the impressive tailgating the Nittany Lions fans have going on.

There’s also a lot to be excited about at the moment in Happy Valley. Though former coach Bill O’Brien left the school to take a shot at the NFL, his replacement, James Franklin, has fans amped up. Over 72,000 fans came out to watch the team in the spring game – an absurdly high number for a Big Ten school. Simply put, football is a way of life at PSU. Don’t expect that to change any time soon.

8. LSU Tigers Fans

There is arguably no place more terrifying for opponents to play than LSU’s Death Valley – a number of opponents have made the claim. Tiger Stadium, which will soon house over 100,000 fans per game, currently sits as the 10th-largest college football stadium in the country. As you’d imagine, the school has had no problem filling it each year – they finish in the top ten in overall attendance seemingly every campaign. Annual contests against Alabama, Arkansas and Florida usually produce some wild scenes in Baton Rouge.

Back in 1988, after a game-winning touchdown pass from Tommy Hodson to Eddie Fuller against Auburn, the crowd noise reportedly registered on a seismograph as a small earthquake. That pretty much tells you all that you need to know about LSU fans.

7. Florida Gators Fans

Florida football fans certainly had a tough 2013 season to endure, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be back with more hope than ever in 2014. Florida’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, also known as “The Swamp”, is easily one of the most difficult places to play in all of college football – not only because of the number of fans that pack in the venue, but because of the numerous chants and fight songs they sing during each contest.

Florida fans will have no problem reminding you that their Gators are the top program in the state – far above Florida State and Miami (FL). While that may not actually be the case year over year, the program’s fans are certainly at the top of the totem pole.

6. Michigan Wolverines Fans

Surprised the Wolverines aren’t higher? Sure, Michigan boasts the highest attendance (over 112,000) per home game, year over year. But as we saw this offseason, the school is having a hard time selling student tickets for a number of reasons– mostly related to logistical decisions the school has made. Regardless, Michigan fans are among the most prevalent in the nation. There are a ton of them. They travel well. And they’ll always remind you that their program has the most wins in college football history.

There is no doubt that Michigan’s annual contest against Ohio State – wherever it’s played – is among the most-watched games of the year. Michigan fans, who have had to endure nine losses in the last ten affairs, have been patiently waiting for the tides to turn.

5. Georgia Bulldogs Fans

In a feature we wrote last month, we named Georgia supporters the “most tortured” fan base in college football. You can’t be tortured if you don’t care, right? UGA fans have been waiting for that breakthrough season for what seems like an eternity. In the meantime, they’ve been coming down to watch their Bulldogs play “between the hedges” in droves. Georgia’s home attendance for Sanford Stadium has averaged over 92,000 fans per game the past few seasons – second in the SEC behind Alabama.

UGA also posted the fourth-highest spring game attendance for an SEC team in 2014 – over 46,000 came out to see what the Bulldogs will look like this fall. The running joke is that head coach Mark Richt has “lost control” of the program. He certainly hasn’t lost support of his team’s fan base.

4. Notre Dame Fighting Irish Fans

Despite Notre Dame’s comparative struggles on the football field in the 21st century, fans haven’t stopped cheering for their beloved Irish. Notre Dame, between its NBC contract, its refusal to join a conference and off-the-field propaganda like the cult classic “Rudy” has become arguably the most iconic program in college football. As such, the school might have the largest fan base in the country, even though most of those supporters didn’t actually attend the school.

Given their spread-out fan base, Irish supporters travel very well. But fans in South Bend also don’t miss a game – the school claims it has sold out every contest since way back in 1973. Say what you want about Irish fans – we’ve called them a bit delusional before – but they are all-in on their program.

3. Ohio State Buckeyes Fans

If you either attended Ohio State or grew up anywhere near Columbus, you know that it’s virtually impossible not to be a diehard Buckeyes fan. Between the ridiculous on-field success, the impressive school traditions and the program’s recent dominance of Michigan, there hasn’t been much to complain about – well, other than how 2013 ended. Ohio State has cemented itself as the team that draws the second-highest number of fans per contest every year- behind only Michigan, because its stadium, nicknamed The Horseshoe, just isn’t quite as large. 

If you’ve ever debated just how into football Ohio State fans can get, head to Columbus the week of “The Game”. Students put tape over all of the Ms on campus and jump in Mirror Lake to celebrate the contest. It’s a crazy scene.

2. Alabama Crimson Tide Fans

You’ve seen the ESPN commercial that pays homage to the “Roll Tide” rally cry that Alabama fans seemingly use on a daily basis. But Tide fans don’t just talk the talk – they walk the walk. Alabama’s attendance has been third-highest in the nation for a while now, averaging over 101,000 per contest – tops in the SEC. They also travel very, very well. Nick Saban has basically reached worship status in Tuscaloosa.

Alabama’s 2014 spring game attendance was over 73,000 – the highest in the nation. It’s a sure bet that Tide fans are already pumped up for this year’s Iron Bowl as the team tries to avenge last year’s heartbreaking loss to Auburn. They’ll also be quick to remind you that they still hold the lead in that rivalry series.

1. Nebraska Cornhuskers Fans

Nebraska has not challenged for a national championship in over a decade, but its fans base is still by far the most loyal in the country. The Cornhuskers have sold out a 91,000-seat stadium 333 straight times – an absurd number – dating back to 1962. Nebraska fans don’t take a Saturday off – even if the team is playing on the road.

Ask ND fans – back in 2000, when No. 1 Nebraska traveled to South Bend to take on the Irish, a sea of red invaded Notre Dame Stadium and virtually made it look like an NU home game. There’s a reason that the Big Ten, which has made it clear that it wants to expand to bigger markets for media purposes, made an exception for the Cornhuskers. Hopefully in the next decade, the program can return to its dominating ways and give its faithful more to cheer about.

SEE ALSO: Why Selling Alcohol At College Football Games May Actually Be Better For Students

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The community surrounding ‘The Beautiful Game’ is huge, and is a unifying force for countries all over the world. All that soccer requires is a ball, a couple goals, and some players—that’s part of what makes it so brilliant.

As many cities in the World Cup's current home country are occupied by the most famous soccer players in the world, Brazilian photographer and journalist Renato Stockler’s photo essay Terrão de Cima captures the pure democratic essence and simplicity of the soccer fields ensconced in Sao Paulo neighborhoods.

Stockler says in the project’s description that the fields he photographs, “Are a breath for the hard daily life of those who live in the outskirts of Sao Paulo. These fields show the urgency for public and communal places to practice sports, a portrait of those who fight for leisure in a city as Sao Paulo.”

The reddish dirt and uneven patches of grass that make up most of the fields are a harsh contrast to the soft greens that soccer fans are accustomed to watching. All the same, Stockler says that when the hard day’s work is at an end, it’s easy to find tight knit communities of players, friends, and family gathered around the sparse field to blow off steam.

Terrão de Cima, which loosely translates to, “The Ground from Above,” is a love letter to the rugged fields of Stockler’s home, which are fast disappearing due to land speculation.

Aerial photography is the perfect medium for the task, since it shows the incredible variance in color, shape, and texture of local soccer fields, yet also captures the players as a single unit—a culture, rather than just a bunch of people. We’re still not sure we’d want to slide tackle anyone on these fields, but we’re more than ok with ogling them from above.

SEE ALSO: 30 Photos Of The Pickup Soccer Fields That Produce Brazil's Best Players

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Twenty laps into the Coke Zero 500 things got a little crazy and very dangerous.

A 16-car crash led to a huge pileup and some of the race's biggest names getting knocked out of contention.

It started when Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. got loose ahead of the pack. Kevin Harvick told USA Today that he then "got squirrely." Jeff Gordon reportedly tried to avoid a crash and that started the huge wreck.

Along with Gordon, notable drivers Jimmie Johnson, Danica Patrick, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were all involved in the crash, according to People. And not all of them were able to continue (though Patrick and Earnhardt did).

Aric Almirola ended up winning the race which was ultimately shortened by rain.

You can see the full crash on YouTube here:

SEE ALSO: The 49 Most Mesmerizing Photos From The World Cup So Far

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The Buffalo Jills cruised to an early lead over the Bills last week when a judge refused to toss out the case after the Bills claimed they were not the cheerleaders' employer, Robin Abcarian reports for the Los Angeles Times.

New York Supreme Court Judge Timothy Drury said there was enough evidence to support the Jills' claim that they were employees of the Bills, even though the Bills had claimed they were only involved with the cheerleaders to guarantee the integrity of the team's brand.

The Bills sold management rights of the Jills to a local fast-food chain, Mighty Taco, in 1986, according to the lawsuit. A series of other managers have since controlled the Jills, who are accusing the team of demeaning them and not paying them for all the hours they worked.

"Judge Drury's decision denied the Bills' scheme to insulate themselves from the illegal cheerleading operation," the cheerleader’s attorney Marc Panepinto told the LA Times. "We will now have the opportunity to prove the unlawful wage practices by the Bills and their contractors.”

The Bills passed the following statement, issued after the decision, along to Business Insider:

"The order issued today is a procedural component of the legal process and our organization remains confident in our position in this matter.  For decades, the Bills have contracted with third parties to hire, train, manage and compensate cheerleaders. We are confident that the facts developed in this matter will further support our position."

The lawsuit filed by five former Jills claims the Bills made them pass a "jiggle test," told them when to change their tampons, and how they should wash their "intimate areas." 

Jills also allegedly had to wear bikinis at a team golf event, where they were later auctioned off for a ride on the winners' lap in a golf cart, or sent to the dunk tank. The lawsuit also alleged the Jills had to attend a calendar release party, where they had to perform in what amounted to a bikini show with no stage. The cheerleaders were groped and touched by members of the audience, and were not paid for the appearance, the lawsuit claims.

They even had to buy their own $650 uniforms, according to the lawsuit.

The cheerleaders were also required to sign a contract that misclassified them as an "independent contractor," which is illegal per New York's labor laws, according to the lawsuit. Also the Bills, Citadel Communications, and Stejon Productions, two of the other management groups, illegally took gratuities paid to the Jills, according to the lawsuit.

The Bills reportedly suspended their cheerleading squad shortly after the lawsuit was filed.

Currently, there are five similar cases involving NFL cheerleading squads also pending litigation, including two from the Oakland Raiderettes and one each from the Cincinnati Ben-Gals, New York Jets Flight Crew, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders. 

These suits claim cheerleaders had to work long days with little pay, make unpaid public appearances, and were fined for having the wrong pom-poms, according to Mother Jones.

All of the lawsuits claim the cheerleaders are making unfair wages considering all of the time they put in before and during the season.

SEE ALSO: North Korea Will Send Cheerleaders To Asian Games In The South

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Emily Freeze Walbruch wrote about her experience at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. With permission we have republished her story along with family's personal photos. Walbruch lives in Utah with her husband Matt, and four children.

Every four years my husband Matt, gets a glorified twinkle in his eyes. He pulls out our passports and begins the long journey of applying for World Cup soccer tickets.

We have already had amazing luck and went to Germany in 2006 and South Africa 2010. I’m always afraid of the disappointment if for we aren't selected to get tickets, but so far, that has never  happened. Last October, Matt got that familiar email: “You have won the right to purchase four World Cup tickets in Brazil!”

So we started planning what would be one of the most amazing experiences of our lives.

Through the lottery we won tickets to three different games and we decided that our two oldest kids, Kyle (12) and Ellie (10), would go along with us on our journey. We bought plane tickets, arranged accommodations, planned tourist attractions, applied for our Visas, and anxiously began the countdown.

The day to leave finally arrived. 

I was grateful that our flight wouldn’t be quite as strenuous as the one to South Africa, and only a three-hour time difference would help us with jet lag. 

We traveled from Salt Lake City to Miami and then nine hours from Miami to Rio de Janeiro.

Our plane landed at 6 a.m. and our guide took us to our new home for the next nine days, a spacious and modern one bedroom apartment a block away from Copacabana beach.

As we made our way out for our first outing together, we didn’t have to travel too far to purchase our first souvenir, a soccer ball. There were stands on every corner selling soccer gear. Kyle played one touch with the vendor and then we went to explore the area.

Copacabana beach, which spans a little more than 2.5 miles, was simply spectacular. The white sand on your feet and the perfect waves were welcoming, not to mention it was a soccer junkie's paradise. It had soccer goals every few feet, pickup games every 50 yards, and TVs at every beach café sounding “gooooooooaaaaaal.”

At the far end of the beach was FIFA's FanFest, a public viewing area designed for spectators to watch the games alongside thousands of fans from around the world.

Our first two games included some of the legends in one of the most famous soccer venues in the world, Maracana Stadium. On Sunday, we arrived at our first game about 2.5 hours early.

Rio had prepared well for the number of people it would have to handle. There was a free metro system for those attending games, volunteers on every corner directing people where to go, and military lining the outskirts of every entry point.

I could sense Matt and the kids’ excitement and anticipation as we stepped off the subway platform. We walked a few blocks, took some great pictures with crazy fans and prepared to enter the stadium.

The security procedure before entering the stadium is a basic metal detector or a quick scan from an officer with a metal detector wand.

It’s hard to describe to someone the feeling you get when attending a World Cup game. The fans are not like any other. 

These fans go all out with elaborate face painting, tons of flags, and unique chants. Without a doubt, this is the most exciting and exhilarating place to be while watching a soccer game.

The stadium was magnificent and the pitch was flawless despite tons of media reports of the rushed construction. 

The first game we attended was Argentina vs. Bosnia and all we could see in the masses were Lionel Messi jerseys. Luckily, we got to witness the soccer superstar score a goal and lead his team to a  2-1 victory.

We were thrilled to watch Spain take on Chile in our second game at the World Cup. Spain had just lost its  previous match 5-1 to the Netherlands. We were convinced the Spaniards would dominate Chile but instead, the Chileans took them to town and won 2-0.

After each game, we hustled out and headed for the metro, all the while still hearing the same chants we heard while entering.

We took a guided tour up the south coastline to visit Barra da Tajuca and a surfer's dream beach, Prainha, where we ate lunch at a quaint hideaway by the name of Bara de Guaratiba. We had the best Muqueca fish stew ever.

Later we spent the evening at the FanFest with thousands of other Americans cheering the USA on for a win over Ghana.

Naturally, we visited Brazil's famous Christ the Redeemer statue. This was one of my favorite days because I had looked forward to it for so long. With arms stretched to represent a symbol of peace in Brazil, the mighty statue was glorious in-person.

We also made sure to visit the famous work of Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón, the "Escadaria Selarón" steps.

Selarón's 'tribute to Brazilians' is comprised of 250-steps made from a mosaic of 2,000 ceramic tiles. These gorgeous tiles were collected from over 60 countries around the world. After nine full days in Rio it was hard to say goodbye, but we were excited for the adventure that lay ahead. We boarded a plane and made the four-hour trek to another host city of the World Cup, the remote Amazon outpost of Manaus. 

As soon as we got off the plane the heat and humidity hit us straight on. We managed to tour plenty of markets, the fisherman’s wharf, and ate the best fish we've ever had at "Banzeiro." 

Eager for a really authentic experience we spent an entire day on the Amazon River with a local who spoke little to non-English. He drove us around on a rickety speedboat to the "meeting of the rivers," the area in which the Rio Negro and the sandy-colored Amazon River meet but do not mix.

Here is an aerial view of the "meeting of the rivers" from the plane.

While in Manaus we saw USA play against Portugal. We dressed in our finest USA attire and headed to Arena Amazonia to watch the highest paid soccer player in the world Christiano Ronaldo take on our home country. It was so refreshing to see so many American fans and to speak English again since we had been operating against language barriers thus far.

People were dressed up like Captain America, Wonder Women, Rocky, and plenty other American characters. As before with previous stadiums we had visited, there wasn't anything wrong with the Arena Amazonia. The roar of the crowd when team USA took the field was priceless.

We were on the edge of our seats the entire game and the USA 'I believe' chants were endless. Now if the game ended with America's 2-1 lead it would have been perfect. But, we all know the outcome. Portugal scored with 20 seconds left to tie the game. Although in Manaus, the overall sentiment was that the USA walked out of the stadium as winners.

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The Tour de France is here again — and with it a perennial question arises. Why do cyclists shave their legs? Here are some of the purported reasons:

• It looks sexy and lets you show off your diamond-cut calves.
• It makes post-ride massage easier and way less painful.
• It makes cleaning and treating wounds easier and speeds up healing.
• It's a tradition and part of the sport, so you just do it.
• It makes you faster because it's more aerodynamic than hairy legs.

Depending on who you talk to — whether it's a massage therapist, a doctor, or your partner — there is an argument to justify each of those reasons.

But perhaps the most compelling reason is that shaved legs are faster, at least according to two guys at Specialized, a major California-based manufacturer of performance bicycles, which has a state-of-the-art wind tunnel. 

Recently, they set out to determine whether shaved legs were in fact faster than hairy legs. They tested a number of riders "across the entire spectrum of Chewbacca scale," eventually choosing one cyclist, Keith, who had level-six hairiness — "fairly dense follicles."

They tested him with hair, and then they tested him without hair, 10 separate times. The results? They were "shocked" at how big of a performance difference they found. Over 40 kilometers, or about 25 miles, Keith saved 82 seconds — nearly a minute and a half. Although they found that Keith was on the high end of performance savings, even a rider on the low end could still save 50 seconds. That's huge. On average, that's about 70 seconds saved just by shaving your legs. After hundreds of hours of testing in the wind tunnel, the guys at Specialized said this was the most surprising revelation they have ever had.

In a bike race or triathlon, where races are won and lost by seconds and sometimes hundredths of a second, that is a huge difference. The closest Tour de France in history was won — after three weeks of racing — by just 8 seconds by American Greg LeMond in 1989.

So, hair slows you down — "smoother is faster," as Specialized says. Is that why cyclists shave their legs? For many, especially amateur riders, it's probably a combination of all the reasons above. But for the pros, you can be sure it's all about saving time and going fast.

Will Keith keep shaving his legs? "Depends on what the girlfriend thinks," he said. 

Watch the full video from Specialized below:

SEE ALSO: Meet The 9 Americans In The Tour De France

SEE ALSO: The Newest Danger To Tour De France Cyclists: Selfies

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Once again, an NBA player has come "home" and that means Diddy and Skylar Grey's song "Coming Home" is being played everywhere across radio and TV.

LeBron James has announced he's going to become a Cleveland Cavalier once again, and Skylar Grey decided yesterday was a perfect time to give her popular hit a new version.

She hopped on YouTube yesterday to perform the song with new lyrics to reflect LeBron's return to Ohio.

In this version she says "I know that Cleveland awaits, and they've forgiven my mistakes." Given the enormous debacle of "the decision," most NBA fans and Cleveland sports fans would probably agree with this sentiment. It perfectly describes what this moment is all about for Cavs fans.

This is not the first time this song has been featured prominently in a huge NBA move. When Carmelo Anthony was traded to the New York Knicks a few years ago, MSG Network decided to use the same song to welcome the superstar and drum up some hype.

Here's the commercial they aired for Carmelo:

SEE ALSO: LeBron James Didn't Mention A Major Factor In His Decision To Return To Cleveland

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Professional bike racing is one of the most dynamic sports when it comes to relentlessly pursuing technological advances. Today’s bikes are incredibly stiff, lightweight, and fast, making use of materials like carbon fiber that allow riders to fly up high mountains. Helmets are super-lightweight, ventilated, aerodynamic, and the safest they’ve ever been. Jerseys, shorts, and gloves offer sweat-absorption, protection from UV rays, and aerodynamic benefits. Food has come a long way for endurance athletes, with energy bars, drinks, and gels now the norm.

But until recently there’s been at least one area where technology was missing — a means for a team to get water bottles easily and safely from the support cars to the riders.

For the better part of a century, team helpers have had to awkwardly stuff their already tight jerseys with a half dozen or so water bottles, handed out from team cars, then ride back through the pack, delivering each bottle to thirsty teammates — hopefully without dropping a slippery bottle and causing a crash.

Now a company called Sportful has produced the “bottle vest,” which is worn by a designated team rider and loaded with up to seven bottles neatly and securely, as first reported by peloton. Once the vest is filled with bottles by support staff back in the team car, the rider puts it on and pedals back up to his teammates:

The helping rider no longer has to remove his hands from his handlebars to hand out bottles, which means he’s safer to himself and those around him since he’s less likely to lose control of his bike and cause a crash (something that’s happened countless times in the past).

He just lets his teammates grab a bottle while he rides along next to them. Care for a refreshing drink? Why yes — thank you!

The idea apparently came from a pro rider, Michael Rogers, according to his Tinkoff Saxo team. His team’s apparel sponsor, Sportful, produced the vest exclusively for the squad to use in this year’s Tour de France.

“It’s a really nice idea and no one has thought about it before,” said Italian rider Daniele Bennati. “The bottle vest is much faster. When I go to the team car, the sport director or mechanic has prepared it for me, I put it on and off I go. When I reach my teammates, they can just take the bottles straight of my back.”

A lot of technology comes and goes, but this handy bottle vest looks like one that might stick around. It's inexpensive, easy to use, and safe.

DON'T MISS: Meet The 9 Americans In The Tour De France

SEE ALSO: The Most Stunning Pictures From The Tour De France So Far

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The blows seem to just keep coming at the Tour de France: Another star rider has crashed out.

Spain's Alberto Contador, a two-time winner of the Tour, was forced to abandon after crashing hard on the descent of the Petit Ballon in the Vosges Mountains during Monday's 1oth stage, a day he was favored to win.

He needed "lengthy medical attention to patch up his knee before getting going again," the AFP reported. "The 31-year-old Spaniard also needed to change bikes and a shoe before restarting while he received further attention from his team car as he continued the race."

Contador tried to continue but was unable to carry on. His team manager, Bjarne Riis, said he had suffered a fractured tibia and would need surgery.

Contador's team, Tinkoff-Saxo, said its "attempt to bring Alberto back in the peloton was made difficult by the mountainous terrain and the high speed up front. After 20 kilometers of chasing Alberto was not able to pedal and abandoned the race due to his knee injury."

Race organizers reported on letour.fr a statement from a member of Tinkoff-Saxo's support staff, Philippe Mauduit:

"Alberto badly crashed. His right knee is seriously injured. The crash has been violent. I have his shoe with me, it's completely destroyed. According to some rumors, his bike has been broken but that's not the case ... Before pulling out he told us that he was in an awful pain and he couldn't go any further on his bike. It's a pity because everything had gone well since the beginning of the Tour. We had a plan and today's race was unfolding exactly as we wanted. In a fraction of a second, it all fell apart, so we're immensely sad." 

Confusion Over A Broken Bike

Soon after the crash, a debate was sparked on social media over whether Contador's bike was actually run over by a car, as initially reported, or if his bike suffered from frame failure after hitting a pothole.

John MacLeary of Telegraph Sport tweeted a photo showing what appeared to be one of Contador's bikes broken in two places. (Contador's race number at the Tour was 31.)

New photo just dropped in from AFP of broken bike which is definitely Alberto Contador's - see mounted race No 31. pic.twitter.com/1xyy1ww0Ay

— John MacLeary (@JohnMacLeary) July 14, 2014

Later, Specialized posted the following statement on its website regarding Contador's bike:

"In the hours that have passed since Alberto's crash, more details have emerged and the complete story is now clear ... Teammates were first to communicate the crash to the team car via race radio. Reports from Tinkoff-Saxo are saying their team car was passing closely to a Team Belkin vehicle and bikes on the roof racks became entangled between the two cars causing Alberto’s spare bike to be broken into two pieces. When a racer has a heavy crash, a mechanic will immediately provide a spare bike as a safety and performance precaution.

"As Alberto’s spare bike was destroyed, Nicolas Roche immediately offered his own race bike so that Alberto could continue the race. With the arrival of the second team car, Alberto was provided his own, secondary spare bike. Unfortunately after riding approximately 18km with what is now known to be a broken tibia, Alberto Contador was forced to abandon the 2014 edition of the Tour de France."

Contador won the Tour de France in 2007 and 2009. After claiming his third Tour victory, in 2010, he was issued a two-year suspension for a doping offense and stripped of his third title.

A Crashing Opener

It's been a dramatic Tour this year with the two main favorites having crashed out before the first rest day on Tuesday. There are two weeks of racing to go until Paris, and Italy's Vincenzo Nibali looks poised to win. But as we've seen in the first week, anything can happen.

On stage 5, the other overall favorite, Chris Froome of Great Britain, above, crashed out.

Star sprinter Mark Cavendish of the Isle of Man crashed out on stage 1 in a hectic finish, so three of the sport's biggest names are now out of the race.

Still, it appears fewer riders are pulling out of the Tour these days. The Wall Street Journal reported the number of those abandoning was actually decreasing:

Below is the official statement from Contador's team.

Tinkoff-Saxo’s team captain Alberto Contador has abandoned Tour de France following a hard crash on stage 10. Contador crashed on the descent of Petit Ballon, while positioned in the peloton. Team Manager Bjarne Riis explains:

“Alberto crashed on a fast and straight part of the descent. He was reaching for his pocket and the bike was swept away under him probably because of a bump or hole in the road. Alberto was in the shape of his life and the entire team had our eyes fixed on the podium in Paris and the work we would have to do to get there.”

Following the crash Alberto received a new bike and medical treatment to stop the bleeding from his knee.

“After the crash, Alberto got back on the bike and we tried for about 18 kilometers to keep him in the race. Despite his best efforts and an impressive show of willpower, he had to abandon the race,” says Bjarne Riis after the stage.

The captain of Tinkoff-Saxo was brought to the finish line in a team car and underwent medical examinations with x-rays being taken of the areas affected.

“Alberto has broken his tibia just below the knee. It’s not a complicated fracture but it probably requires surgery. He will stay with us tonight and tomorrow he will travel back to Madrid to undergo further examinations and a surgery if necessary,” adds Bjarne Riis.

Alberto Contador’s exit is a tragic event also taken the many months of preparation into consideration together with the work that the team has done leading up to and during this year’s Tour de France.

“We will naturally have to look ahead. But right now it’s to early to say anything about the possibility of Alberto riding Vuelta a Espana. It depends on his recovery and on how fast he can get back on the bike and start training again,” concludes Bjarne Riis.

This story was updated at 11:18 p.m. EDT.

SEE ALSO: Cyclist In Tour De France Busted For Using Cellphone

SEE ALSO: Simple Invention Solves Old Problem For Tour De France Teams

SEE ALSO: Why Cyclists Shave Their Legs

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Snapchat is in the midst of a transition.

The app first gained traction as a place to send photos and messages that would disappear after 10 seconds or less. 

Then, it allowed users to share stories with a select group of friends for 24 hours at a time in a feature called "My Story".

Now, it's starting to let people create group stories centered on big events in a feature it calls "Our Story." At a selected event, a user will have to enable the location services on their phone, and then add the snap to "Our Story" the same way one would add to "My Story."

The initial event the feature was made available for was the Electric Daisy Carnival, an electronic music festival in Las Vegas.

However, the first massive event the feature was put to use for was yesterday's World Cup Final between Argentina and Germany, and roughly five minutes worth of snapchats were submitted to the story.

Some of the best snapchats from the story included fan sightings of new Cleveland Cavaliers' forward LeBron James and actor Gerard Butler, and video of Argentinian forward Lionel Messi as he was exiting the pitch following the soul-crushing defeat.

Here are some of the best:

Somehow, this fan had better seats than LeBron, who can be seen sporting a pair of Beats headphones. Many media outlets were reporting that LeBron was heading to Rio for the World Cup Final after signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Another fan found famous Scottish actor Gerard Butler sitting in a luxury box above the stands.

Star Argentinian forward Lionel Messi leaves the pitch dejected, with his head held low as he passes through security. He would later have to re-enter the field to accept the Golden Ball award as the tournament's top player.

An Argentina fan sports what is very likely the best face paint from the match.

Lastly, here's one American fan who still believes that we will win.

SEE ALSO: Snapchat Announces A New Feature That Lets Users Share Their Photos And Videos With Anyone Publicly From Events

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