The Best Ping Pong Ball In A Cup Trick Shots

Technically not bloopers, we had to bring you this cool video of the best "Ping Pong Ball In A Cup Trick Shots":
[via Uberpong]

Rollerblading Gets Radical

If you thought that inline skating was just about gliding at a leisurely pace through the park or along the boardwalk, then you obviously haven't been keeping up to date with extreme sports. While rollerblading can be a gentle activity – about as much exercise as going for a walk – there are lots more exhilarating ways of going skating if you are looking for thrills and a heart-pounding workout.

Image source

You've probably seen rollerbladers performing the same sorts of tricks that you expect to see on skateboards and with free runners. This is known as aggressive rollerblading, where the focus is on performing spectacular moves, such as spins and grinds. You will see skaters spending their time defying gravity as they fly through the air. While it's not for everyone, aggressive skating has a huge following, and it's guaranteed to get your adrenaline running.

If aggressive rollerblading interests you, there are two different types that you can try. Street skating, which is also called freestyle skating, uses the urban environment as the stage. Street skaters jump down flights of stairs, grind down rails, and leap over obstacles at high speed. In many ways, street skating has a lot in common with other extreme street sports, such as parkour.

If street skating seems just a little too much for you – and it can be pretty intense – then you can try park skating. As the name says, this form of aggressive rollerblading takes place at the skate park, with skaters focusing more on technical tricks than on the freestyle moves seen in street skating. Not only do they try to perfect individual tricks, they try to connect them together into a fluid series of moves known as a line. This can include tricks on features such as pipes and curved ramps, which just don't exist in a street environment. If you are looking to try park skating, ask around for a good park – the best parks have a flow to them, and have good lines that make it easier and more enjoyable to perform tricks.

Of course, if you are going to perform all those tricks, slides and grinds, a regular in-line skate just isn't going to do the job. What you need is a pair of aggressive rollerblades, which are specifically designed to take all the impacts and strains. Not only are they tougher in general than regular skates, they also have specific features designed for aggressive skating. For example, the frames are specifically made so that skaters can grind on them, and some include grind plates. Street variants may also omit the inner two wheels, giving a huge area for grinding.

As well as aggressive rollerblading, there are a number of other types of in-line skating that you can try. For example, freestyle slalom skating is incredibly technical and involves performing tricks as you weave around cones that are laid out in a line. Vert skating is another variant, and is basically park skating on steroids – skaters perform acrobatics as they zoom up and down the sides of a half pipe, carrying out complicated aerial stunts such as spins and flips that can take them 10 feet above the sides of the pipe. There are also inline sports that mirror traditional winter sports, such as hockey, speed skating and off-road skating – this last one is basically the equivalent of cross-country skiing on rollerblades.

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Whatever type of inline skating appeals to you, it's incredibly important to take the right safety precautions, otherwise the sport can be hazardous. According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, there are slightly more than 400,000 rollerblading and skateboarding injuries every year. However, given that over 11 million Americans are into these sports, that means that you have a less than one in 20 chance of getting injured in any given year – and most of these injuries are preventable. Buy quality skates that fit you properly and support you, so that you avoid injuries like twisted ankles – and make sure you keep them in good working order. Also, it's inevitable that you're going to fall from time to time, so learn how to fall without hurting yourself – if you don't know how to do this, ask someone that does. And of course, proper protective gear is essential, starting with a helmet that meets or exceeds government safety standards. Other things you will want are quality wrist guards, along with knee and elbow pads. If any of this protective gear gets damaged, replace it – it's already done its job.

Uberpong: Table Tennis Just Got Cool

"The future of table tennis begins now" is Uberpong's tagline and looking at the graphic designs on their awesome ping pong paddles, they mean it! Table tennis (or ping-pong) has had a tough time of breaking into the mainstream. Despite being the second most played sport in the world, the image of players wearing headbands, an all white sports kit and using red and black paddles is not exactly one that gets the heart racing.
Uberpong aims to change all that by combining great art and design with ping-pong paddles. Graphic designers, illustrators and artists from around the world have contributed their work and this will be printed professionally onto the rubber. "The Uberpong ping pong paddle designs are an extension of your personality. We want you to play with style," says founder David Lowe.

Uberpong is a Kickstarter project by Origin of Cool and they need your help to hit their funding target. If they miss it, they get nothing! To get behind them, visit: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1539217842/uberpong-the-future-of-table-tennis-begins-now and http://www.weheartpong.com

Awesome Baseball Infographic

How Much Time Does It Take for a 95 M.P.H. Fastball to Reach Home Plate?

via Phoenix Bats

10 Coolest Super Bowl Rings

USA

With Superbowl XLVI on Sunday and a rematch between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants, what better way to get you through to the big game than with the 10 Coolest Super Bowl Rings:

via Origin of Cool

Marching Band Forms Giant Football Player

Before the excitement of 2 hours of commercials intertwined with live footage of men wearing pajamas and bike helmets, this marching band shows off their creativity with this little bit of genius: