NFL, UConn help found Korey Stringer Institute
Football Betting Lines
04/20/2010 -
NEW YORK (AP) -Alarmingly, the number of athletes dying from heat-related illnesses is rising. Kelci Stringer, the widow of Vikings tackle Korey Stringer, who died from heat stroke nine years ago, hopes to do something about it.
So do the NFL and the University of Connecticut, who have partnered with Stringer to open the Korey Stringer Institute at UConn's Neag School of Education. The creation of the institute will be announced Friday at the NFL draft.
If the last 35 years are broken into blocks of five years, the worst segment for such deaths has been, shockingly, the last five years. According to Doug Casa, professor of kinesiology at UConn and the lead researcher for the institute, there have been twice as many deaths in that span than was the average for previous five-year blocks.
``That shows why this institute is needed so much,'' Casa said. ``The legacy of Korey Stringer could be saving lives.''
Stringer died of complications due to heat stroke on Aug. 1, 2001 during training camp. At 27, he was the first professional football player to die from the illness.
Kelci Stringer spent several years in court suing the NFL and equipment manufacturers, all the while envisioning a day when there are athletic trainers at every high school in the nation; today, only about half of the schools have one. And she imagined a time when pro, college and youth sports organizations have set policies on prevention of heat illnesses.
She believes that day soon will arrive.
``The first goal is to make sure this is not some sort of fly-by-night institute,'' she said. ``I hope we are around a long time. There's constant research that comes out each day and we want to continue to put out that information and be a resource for every athlete in any sport at any level.
``I would hope in the short term we can help eradicate these type of heat-related deaths.''
To give the institute some cachet, Kelci Stringer sought the aid of the NFL and of Casa. The league, which settled the lawsuit over Korey's death out of court, was impressed by her plan and her goals. So much so that the league is providing financial help, as is one of its main sponsors, Gatorade.
The NFL also will help publicize and market the institute, and few sports organizations are more effective in those areas.
In late 2008, Kelci Stringer, Casa and Jimmy Gould, who was Korey Stringer's agent, met with NFL executives, including commissioner Roger Goodell.
``It was clear they had a strong commitment and passion in doing work in the heat illness prevention area,'' said Gary Gertzog, the NFL's senior vice president of business affairs. ``We all thought this was a terrific opportunity to increase the education at all levels of sports, particularly at the youth level, so that they understand how to prevent heat illness.
``We all have been parents or coaches for youth sports and we all have seen kids playing in very extreme weather conditions. They wanted to make sure everyone understands how important it is to be properly hydrated.''
One of the primary missions of the institute will be to extend awareness, education and advocacy about the proper precautions to avoid heat stroke through its website (ksi.uconn.edu). The institute also will offer its services to athletic trainers, team physicians, athletic directors, coaches, league supervisors, parents, principals, equipment manufacturers and others to create proper protocols, policies and emergency action plans to prevent sudden death in sport, especially as it relates to heat stroke.
Casa had worked for several years with Kelci Stringer on the lawsuits. UConn has a history of research on heat illnesses and hydration, and Stringer says Casa ``is like a god in this area.''
``This is a place that makes sense because of the knowledge base we have,'' Casa said. ``We won't be just sharing information that we have, but we'll be inviting other universities and high schools to share their plans related to heat stroke with us, for us to help them and critique them.''
Eventually, Kelci Stringer hopes her husband is remembered for more than the ``senseless and tragic way'' his life ended.
``What I really wanted while pursuing all these legal avenues is to have the NFL support my efforts in creating a legacy for Korey,'' she said. ``What's been driving me was the number of young athletes we were losing each year.
``I want to make sure we almost use Korey as the catapult to bring attention and awareness to what is going on with young athletes and NFL athletes as well.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.
Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"
A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."
Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.
In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.
"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."
Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.
But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"
Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.
This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.
Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.
In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.
No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.
And that's all any bettor can ask for.
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