Pele

Soccer or football is a popular sport all around the world. One of the most famous players is from Brazil. He is known to millions of fans as Pele: the king of soccer or the soccer magician. Pele was born on October 23rd, 1940 in the city of Tres Coracoes.

Pele in his childhood practiced football tricks with a home made ball. He didn't even have shoes to play. He played with bare feet later. When he was eleven, he played for the team- Little America in Bauru. His team won the match because of a spectacular goal scored by Pele.

Pele was from a poor family. Therefore, he worked as a shoemaker at the railway station to help his family. Later, Santos team of Sao Paulo invited Pele to join their club when he was just fifteen. He played for Santos first team. Only in two months, he became so well known that he was chosen to be on Brazil's all star team.

Pele is the only player in the history of the game to have been a member of three world cup winning teams. He played for Brazil's All Star Team and won the World Cup for them three times in 1958, 1962 and 1970. No any player in the world has achieved this landmark. FIFA declared him as the greatest player in the history of the game alongside Diego Mara Dona in 2000. Pele has scored an amazing 1,283 goals which is the highest number of goals by an individual player till date.

Top dollar trading baseball cards

In the world of sports card and memorabilia collecting there are a few sought after pieces that hold a tremendous monetary and historical value to them. One of these cards is the T206 Honus Wagner vintage baseball card, considered to be the Holy Grail of all sports cards by some collectors. The main reason for this is due to the rarity and age of the card. It is rumored that there is possibly between 50 to 200 cards in existence only, and a few of them may still be lurking out there in the market place.

Honus Wagner, as depicted in the card itself, was a player for the Pittsburgh Pirates during what is referred to today as the 'dead ball" era. Considered to be one of the greatest players of the game, it is no surprise that between the years of 1909-1911 the American Tobacco Company (ATC) wanted to have Wagner's image put on a card as incentive for people to purchase their particular brand of tobacco. Wagner's picture was to be apart of the T206 series, but certain issues arose surrounding the authorization to use his image, which is what led to the low print numbers of his card.

There are two theories floating around that could explain the reason as to why Honus Wagner stopped production of his card. The first school of thought was based on Honus Wagner's personal ethical feelings about having fans that were children, purchasing cigarette packs in order to obtain his card; he did not feel that was right. The second school of thought has to do more with the fact that Wagner was said to be a very shroud negotiator and he did not like the compensation that was being offered to him by the ATC.

From January of 1909 the ATC looked for permission from the player themselves, in order to be included in the T206 series of cards, I believe the whole set had about 524 major league players at the time and roughly 76 of these players then went on to be inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame. The ATC was anxious to get Honus to be apart of their Ad campaign, seeing as he was rated one of the best players in the league at that time. Wagner had done previous Ad work with other companies such as, a gunpowder company, a soda drink company, as well as a chewing gum company. Whether it was his strong moral feelings, or his tough as nails negotiating skills, no one knows for sure why he actually put a stop to the printing of his cards, but it has kept his cards to a small number, which has now rocketed it's price value sky high.

One of the most notorious of all the Wagner cards has to be the "Gretzky T206 Honus" Card, mainly because of the story of how this particular card traded hands from an average collector, to a sports memorabilia shop, to a top sports memorabilia dealer; who later founded Mastro Auctions. The card then again changed hands to another prominent business man who was affiliated with George Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees, long story short the Honus card ended up with a memorabilia collector named Copeland who eventually decided to sell off his entire personal baseball collection which consisted of around 873 pieces.

The Wagner card being apart of this collection, Mastro Auctions contracted Sotheby's New York, to take the collection on consignment. There was a lot of publicity surrounding this collection going up for sale, and it brought out a large number of hobbyist and curious a like. Many of the items that were up for sale went for much more than the estimated pre-auction price. The initial pre-auction price for the Honus card was set at around $114,000.00 but within minutes of the opening bid it had swelled to a whopping $451,000.00, which was paid by Mr. Wayne Gretzky and Mr. Bruce McNall who was the owner of the NHL team the L.A Kings, the pair purchased the card via phone in bidding. After this the card became known as the "Gretzky T206 Honus."

It was determined that the purchase of the card was orchestrated by Mr. McNall. He stated that if you purchase the best in the world, there will always be another buyer who would want to purchase the best as well, so it was bought as an investment for both individuals. Gretzky did eventually resell the card, and he of course made a profit, so I suppose in the end Mr. McNall's thoughts regarding the purchase of the Wagner card were correct. None of the other Wagner cards have been quite as successful in terms of having such a story to tell. The publicity that the Gretzky T206 drew to the existence of the card propelled the card even further into the collecting stratosphere. While the Gretzky card has great entertainment value, it is not the most expensive card to be sold. In fact, the most expensive card to be sold was indeed a Honus Wagner T206, and that took place on an eBay online auction put up by Robert Edward Auctions. The card sold for an insane $1.265 million! So in closing this card currently holds the world record for the most expensive baseball card

Golf

For the golfer, the simplest golf swing is the one that you have perfected. It may have cost you a lot of money to get where you are now, but the end result is satisfying. On the other hand, if you are new at golf, trying to learn how to swing a golf club with good results can be difficult. If you are teeing up, the best way to approach the ball is make direct contact with perfect body and eye coordination.

If you are amazed at the ability of Tiger Woods and other golfers who seem to have their swing down to a science, though you may never reach their ability, it is fun to keep trying. To have that great golf swing requires not only a lot of practice, but patience as well.

To hit the ball squarely on a consistent basis, a great deal of concentration is required. There will be times when everything seems to go right. Then for some reason, the very next time you are out on the course, it seems that every time you take a shot, it does not go where you had hoped. Such is the game of golf. They say that practice makes perfect, but in reality, knowing the proper techniques and practice would be more accurate to say. By repeatedly doing the same motions, you should be able to get to the point where you can be very competitive at the game of golf.

For the best results you should play the game of golf with those that are well experienced and well at the game. Rather than competing with them, you should be competing against yourself while at the same time asking for tips. The key to success is not to over-think the simplest golf swing. With consistent practice and reading articles, you will get the hang of it and eventually lower your handicap to an acceptable number

Tips for a Golf Beginner

Having great balance is a vital element in playing great golf.

The most important thing any pro will tell you about golf is that you need to achieve proper balance. It is immaterial whether you are putting or trying to drive 350 yards, you must maintain good balance. All good golfers have one thing in common. Great balance.

The usual cause of bad balance is over swinging or incorrect transfer of weight. Try and resist the temptation to over-hit the ball or swing for the fences. Allow your rhythm, timing and balance do the hard work. A good exercise is to stand on one leg with your eyes closed until you become unbalanced and then swap legs and repeat the process. If you can do this for one minute or more on each leg, you are achieving good balance.

Get a Grip on Your Grip

Having the correct grip gives you power and control over your golf shots. Many players who shoot in the eighties, nineties or beyond, do so due to a bad grip. They often have a good swing, lower body work and tempo but are flawed due to a poor grip. Often players know what a good grip looks like yet still hold the club incorrectly.

Most players fail to understand that the awkward position of the left hand is actually correct. If you persist and allow yourself to get comfortable with the proper position, your ball striking will improve dramatically. The amount of pressure you apply to the grip is also a key element. Think of the golf handle as a tube of toothpaste. If toothpaste would come out of it, you are gripping the club too tight.

Set Up and Posture Are Important Basic Elements In Improving Your Golf Game

As with balance and grip, set up and posture make a huge difference to consistently playing good golf. Without the correct shot set up and posture you will find it extremely difficult to improve your golf with any speed. Many players hunch over the ball and have a round in their back just as they may slump in a chair and this will not be helping their golf.

Your feet should never be wider apart than your shoulders. Your stance will change as you move through the clubs in your bag. This should only narrow as you play short shots closer to the pin. It is a good idea to practice by putting a club on the ground pointing to your target so you get a good grounding on where to aim. Proper alignment is part of the correct set up and will also help with your posture.

These tips are designed to give you an idea of how important it is to start with the basics and nail them first before getting into more advanced techniques. You really can save many hours of fruitless practice and frustration by following a well proven path. Importantly, you should try and gain some momentum now by using these tips to begin your journey towards more enjoyable and successful golf.

Of course these tips are just the tip of the iceberg, as it were. There are many more techniques and methods that need to be employed in order to fully master the game of golf. A complete training method is very important in order to gain consistency and accuracy in your game. Thankfully there are now professionally written programmes that are proven to work thanks to the professionals who have helped many thousands of enthusiastic golfers over many years and bought back the enjoyment and satisfaction of playing great golf.