Category: Sports

From curling to football and everything in between

Nike Golf Swing Portrait

Q: What happens when you combine the greatest swing in golf with the power of modern digital photography technology?

A: Nike Golf: Swing Portrait

Nike Golf is airing a new ad this week showing Tiger Woods’ swing via slow-motion, high-definition photography. The ad was orchestrated by cinematographer Junusz Kaminski, who won Academy Awards for “Saving Private Ryan” and “Schindler’s List,” and utilizes a Phantom v5 digital camera capable of capturing 4,000 still photographs per second. The ad was shot in April, 2006, inside a Las Vegas sound studio, with Woods taking 20-25 swings over an eight-hour period.

An original cello arrangement composed by Christopher (Kimo) Kemp, with cellist Cameron Stone, accompanies the footage.

You can view the poetry at nike.com/nikegolf/swingportrait/ and be sure to turn up your speakers for the full effect.

Update: It appears Nike have removed this campaign from their web site. Thankfully, YouTube comes to the rescue and you can still view the original ad there.

(Thanks to Berger for the background information.)

Nice Throw, Anne!

Anne Baker Throwing Like Crazy In support of my alma mater and to give a friend good press, I wanted to post this little blurb about long-time friend and fellow MASA member, Anne Baker, and her track and field performance this past weekend. Way to go, Anne!

The following blurb is taken from the news post about the event on the UR Athletics home page:

Senior Anne Baker finished fifth in her qualifying round at the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships at Illinois Wesleyan Univesity.

Baker threw the weight 15.59 meters, 51 ft., 1.75 inches. The distance was just short of qualifying for a spot in the finals.

And the background information to help clarify what the heck I’m talking about:

Senior weight thrower Anne Baker has been selected to compete in the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships this week.

Baker will compete on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University. The meet is being conducted on Friday and Saturday, March 11-12, 2005. This is her first NCAA appearance.

She is seeded eighth in a field of 13 individuals. Her qualifying performance of 16.20 meters (53 ft., 1.75 in.) is a Rochester event record and tied the New York State Collegiate Track Conference (NYSCTC) record. Baker won the State title on February 25 with that 16.20 meter throw.

Either way, don’t cross her path. She’ll toss something very heavy at you, and hit you up to 53 feet away.

Phreakin’ Phil

Phil - Groundhog Day 2005 Curse you, Punxsutawney Phil! The “Prognosticator of Prognosticators” was rudely awoken this morning and, most likely out of spite, predicted six more weeks of winter. Granted, there are always six more weeks of winter from this point forward, but it’s fun to blame the cold and snow on something else. Especially if that something else is a marmot.

Tonight is the State of the Union speech by our beloved monkey president, which means that I’ll most likely catch the first twenty minutes and then tape the rest. In my opinion, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart coverage of the speech should be much more interesting than the speech itself. As a matter of fact, the Daily Show coverage of January’s inauguration speech was absolutely hysterical and served as a counterbalance to a speech that has been deemed a “vacuous … sermon” by Zbigniew Brzezinski from the PBS Newshour.

I’ll stop yapping now. I’m a Democrat who needs to mourn the loss and move on!

Before I forget, a new Red Sox Blog popped up today, and it happens to be a really good read. I recommend checking it out and taking a look at the photos that I (shameless plug) coincidentally took.