Super Bowl XLIV – Your guide to Fort Lauderdale

by Annie Scott on

Super Bowl XLIV (number 44) is upon us. The grand Saints vs. Colts event will be taking place at Miami’s (well, Opa Locka’s) Sun Life Stadium on February 7, 2010, with kickoff at 6:30 pm ET. As this is the 10th time Miami has hosted, you surely know by now that attempting to stay in Miami is like trying to get a ride for two on Santa’s sleigh on Christmas Eve. Surrounding areas, such as Fort Lauderdale (just 25 minutes away on a clear day), are the way to go.

Despite what the internet would have you believe, Fort Lauderdale is not just full of randy old people. There’s some pretty cool stuff to do there, and if you happen to be visiting one of their 33,000+ accommodations for the big game, you can find out what’s shakin’ in their free e-guide, The Essential Guide to the Big Game, available in PDF here.

The listings include Best Sports Bars, Best Clubs/Lounges, Spas, Gametime Food and other dining options, Golfing, Gambling, Nature, Best Places for Kids and more.

“We are looking forward to welcoming football fans from across the country and hope that they will get to experience as much of the destination as possible during their visit,” says Nicki Grossman, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Conventions & Visitors Bureau. “There’s so much fun here they may never want to leave and the ‘Essential Guide’ will help them take advantage of the best that we have to offer.”

Don’t forget they have 23 miles of beach. Fort Lauderdale is lookin’ pretty good. Still need Super Bowl tickets? Visit Ticketmaster today to pay $1,450 to $237,300 per seat. Holy jockstraps, Batman!

Gadling goes Zorbing

by Grant Martin on

We’ve written about Zorbing a few times at Gadling, the crazy extreme sport where you jump inside of an enomous plastic ball and bounce around as it rolls down a hill. Think of yourself as the rodent inside of a giant, cushioned hamster ball. It’s hard to resist.

Various iterations of the sport have been around for a few years now, including an official franchise in Tennessee and a whole host of copycats, but the technology was born in Rotorua, New Zealand, a small, adventure-centric town three hours south of Auckland.

Here, you can get your Zorb in a few different flavors: alone, with water, with a friend, down a zig zag path, or combinations therein. Since I was with another guy and wanted the “ultimate experience,” I chose to take the zig zag path with water.

So what’s it like?

Well, at the bottom of the hill you first change into swim trunks, then they shuttle you to the top and you jump in line. Once it’s your turn, they ask if you want water (highly recommended) then they toss a bucket full of warm water into the waiting Zorb. Draping a slippery rug into the entry, the attendant asks you to dive in, then they zip closed the inner sphere. On three, you kick back towards the bottom of the hill, and off you go.

The whole thing lasts about 45 seconds, but it’s the most disorienting, wonderful, happy experience of your life. The Zorb spins below you as you try to maintain some sense of location and focus, then as it changes directions you bounce back and forth inside of the inner sphere. It’s fun in a wholly wild, new way.

Worth the $35 to ride? Sure, at least once. Check out a video of the experience after the jump.

Dim Sum Dialogues: Expat ultimate frisbee

by Stephen Greenwood on

Confession time. Time to come clean. It’s something I’ve been meaning to get off my chest for a while. Something I didn’t know how to bring up before, but here goes… I did the most caucasian thing that an expat living in Hong Kong could do.

I joined an ultimate frisbee league.

Like the majority of twenty-something American males, I had a brief flirtation with ultimate frisbee in college – but had never devoted the time or effort to learning the strategy of the sport or even the full extent of the technical rules.

So when a few new friends invited me out on a Sunday for a pickup game of frisbee, I thought it’d be good to practice a sport I thought I knew and maybe I’ll make a few friends along the way. What I came to realize was that I knew absolutely nothing about ultimate frisbee.”Okay let’s count it off from the left for D – force flick and make sure we keep pressure the cup. On the turn let’s run a vertical stack, making quick cuts to the outsides. Can I get two more handlers? And if we change to a horizontal, please make sure everyone stays in their lanes!”

I nodded my head and pretended that I had the slightest understanding of what was going on. I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to stand on two legs for longer than 5 minutes in the thick summer humidity.

Sunday afternoons were pickup games – open to everyone. Tuesday nights were league games – a more serious affair. Thursday nights were practice – I guess to fill in the gap between Sundays and Tuesdays. All of this play would eventually lead up to international tournaments over short weekends – Singapore, Beijing, Bangkok, Shanghai…with the HK team being represented by a few elite teams made up of experienced and mid-level players.

The players around me were from all sorts of backgrounds – a vibrant display of Hong Kong’s diversity. A handful of Hong Kong professionals. An Irish teacher. A German engineer. A Dutch designer. An Aussie pilot. A Thai accountant. An Indian film producer. A Canadian student. A British accountant. An American in the shipping industry.

It sounds like a setup for a bad joke, but it was just another Sunday on the field with the Hong Kong Ultimate Player’s Association.

As I got introduced to more people between games, it became apparent that newcomers like me were a dime a dozen. The first question was usually – “where are you from?” And the second was – “well, how long will you be here for?” The group was immediately welcoming & friendly, but I got the feeling that there was a hesitance to make strong friendships too quickly.

After a couple months of showing up three days a week, the names started to stick to the faces, and I started being accepted as more of a regular. It became apparent that there was a strong core group of people that were devoted to the organization, and then a fringe set of transients like me – people who disappeared from Hong Kong almost as soon as they had materialized, eager to learn names and possibly trade business cards.

Many foreigners in Hong Kong come over on temporary contracts. Five weeks. Three months. Six months. It becomes common to make new friends, only to try and organize a last minute going-away party for them a few weeks later. HKUPA let me experience the full extent of Hong Kong’s transient expat community, and allowed me to feel like I was a part of something, if only for a little while.

Eventually, I became proficient in the techniques of the flick, the hammer, cutting, handling, pulling, zone, horizontal, vertical, and occasionally even scoring. The summer league came to a close and the three meetings per week turned into once-a-week relaxed weekend beach games. My league team even took the title… although I don’t think I was exactly the deciding factor in the path to victory.

I consider my progress in a sport less valuable than my adoption into a small community for a few months. In a city so dense, so huge, it’s easy to get lost – and HKUPA became a welcoming place to plant some temporary roots. So for fellow travelers or transients out there, if you’re having a hard time getting settled, try frisbee. If you need an explanation on the verbiage before you set foot on the field, leave a comment and I’ll give you the expert scoop.

HKUPA’s fall season is starting up soon. If you’re in the Hong Kong area and interested in joining or passing through for a pickup game, see their website for more information: HKUPA.com

Kansas City’s empty arena

by Tom Johansmeyer on

There’s a modern ghost town in Kansas City. Efforts to attract a major league basketball or hockey team came up empty, and the Sprint Center stands empty. Then NBA and NHL have been looking to smaller cities for expansion opportunities, according to an article in The Atlantic, because they won’t have to compete with local baseball or football teams for fan dollars. Since Kansas City has both, filling the Sprint Center has become quite a chore.

Since it doesn’t have the 200 events a year that were expected, the Kansas City Sprint Center is just hanging around and operating at a loss. One hopes this does not splash over to the surrounding businesses – such as restaurants – that were opened in anticipation of 18,500 asses in seats for hockey games, concerts and whatever else they can drag into town.

The arena is an architectural marvel but, for now, a commercial disaster. How else would you describe an attraction that there’s no reason to visit?

The Sprint Center is even empty on Twitter, where it has only 102 followers.

Undiscovered New York: Getting sporty

by Jeremy Kressmann on

You probably already know New Yorkers are a competitive bunch. Whether it’s fighting it out for designer duds at the latest sample sale, running down a taxi or climbing the corporate ladder, it’s a city that thrives on getting ahead. What you may not realize, however, is that these very same facets of New York City also make it the ideal place for athletic pursuits.

Despite all the glass and concrete, New York is an increasingly athletic and outdoor-friendly city, with residents (and visitors alike) reaping the many benefits. Recent years have seen new city regulations to make the streets of the Five Boroughs increasingly bike and pedestrian-friendly. Just a few months ago, a project was announced to convert a stretch of Broadway between 42nd and 47th streets to a pedestrian-only mall. What’s more, large-scale projects like Hudson River Park have redeveloped once-gritty industrial waterfront areas, adding new trails, running paths and parkland.

Perhaps the most surprising fact of New York’s athletic culture is the variety of great outdoor-centric activities you can do just by jumping on the subway. Ever wanted to paddle a sea kayak next to a canyon of skyscrapers? How about a rock climb on one of the highest man-made climbing walls on the East Coast? Or maybe you’d like to “clown” around on a trapeze for the day? Lace up those cross-trainers and click below – this week, Undiscovered New York is “Getting Sporty.”
Climbing and Bouldering
You probably already associate New York with towering skyscrapers and climbing the corporate ladder, but it’s also a great place for some climbing of the more natural sort. Not only can visitors learn climbing skills like bouldering within Manhattan’s Central Park, there’s also a wealth of large climbing walls located all over the city.

Organizations like Climb NYC over a wealth of climbing info to help you find a wall that’s right for your skills and interests. Over at Chelsea Piers, visitors can tackle a 46′ high x 100′ wide climbing wall – one of the largest (and most expensive) man-made climbing walls on the East Coast. Others prefer the City Climbers Club, which offers a more modest but also more reasonable climbing area. Whether you’re just a beginner or a climbing expert, you’re sure to get a challenging experience.

Hudson River Kayaks
The image many visitors have of New York City waterways is grim. Visions of the East River are likely to conjure garbage and decomposing mob victims. Thankfully a concerted cleanup effort has left New York’s waterways in 2009 surprisingly clean – clean enough that you can now ride a kayak on them.

Visitors interested in taking a FREE kayak ride should head to Piers 40 and 96 as well as 72nd Street along the Hudson River. The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation rents out free boats for 20 minute rides every weekend during the warmer Spring/Summer months. No prior experience is necessary other than knowing how to swim. It’s a great way to spend the day, paddling your way along the surprisingly serene river between the protected nooks of the river piers. You’re certain to get a view of the city you wouldn’t otherwise get back on dry land.

Trapeze School
Ever harbored a secret fantasy to run off and join the circus? You might finally get your chance when you come to New York. Just a short walk from Hudson River kayaking at Pier 40 is the Trapeze School of New York. Complete with all the necessary swings and safety nets and harnesses to get you up and swinging, the school has been attracting urban daredevils and just the plain curious for almost 10 years.

There’s quite possibly no better setting to learn – as participants flip, swing and glide their way through the lesson they are greeted with panoramic views of the city waterfront and skyline. Visitors can purchase a two-hour lesson starting at around $50-60 plus a one-time $22 registration fee. The school has a second indoor location at 30th Street.