Photo by cabezadeturco

Spain has never won the World Cup. In the 49 games they’ve played in total, they have won 22 and lost 15. Their best performance was making it to the semi-final round in the 1950 tournament, where they finished fourth. Since then, Spain has never come closer than the quarters.

So why is there suddenly so much optimism about Spain’s chances in South Africa?

Only 11 teams have played in a World Cup final. Three of those teams, Czech Republic, Hungary and Sweden, will not be present in South Africa this year. This loosens up the competition considerably.

Despite their previous track record, Spain also arguably has some of the most capable, experienced players in the world, with nine of its players listed in ESPN’s Top 50 Players of the 2010 World Cup.

Goalkeeper and captain Iker Casillas is notable for being a starter on the team since he was 21. Then there’s David Villa, who is second in career goals in Spanish soccer history. He’s also 11th on the Spanish Primera División top-scorer charts. Gerard Pique, a holding midfielder with the best long ball of any defender in years. With guys like these around, Spain should do just fine.

Photo by Supermac1961

The team has certainly gotten respect for winning 41 of their last 44 matches, including the Euro 2008 Soccer Championship.

The strongest argument against Spain winning is the country’s own regional rivalries, like the one between Barcelona and Real Madrid. There’s a certain degree of competition between the two cities and other regions, even off the soccer field. Put that together, and there’s suddenly a lot of added tension within.

The real question is whether Spain can work through it long enough to win the world’s most important tournament.

 Loading ...

Feature photo: batmoo

“When I heard it was only 20-minute games, I was like, ‘Man, I would kill that. I’ve played two-hour games in college and the NFL.’ The first game I ever played in rugby, after two minutes, I was begging the coach to take me out.“
–Leonard Peters, current USA Rugby Sevens player and former safety for the New York Jets and the Chicago Bears

“They all say overseas that whenever we take [rugby] seriously, we’ll beat everyone, and it’s true. If I could get some All-Pros and train them in rugby, we’d go out and kick ass.”
–Dan Lyle, who in 1996 turned down the Minnesota Vikings to play for Bath Rugby Club in England

“It became quite difficult and I didn’t seem to get better. That was to do with lack of involvement in the game.”
–Gavin Hastings, former Scotland rugby captain, on joining NFL Europe’s Scottish Claymores as a kicker in 1996

“The most difficult adjustment in the sport was learning positional play — knowing where to be at the right time and the most advantageous position to receive the ball.”
–Manfred Moore, Oakland Raiders running back who in 1977 left the NFL to play rugby league with Australia’s Newtown Jets

“I think the more violent game is American football, and the more physically challenging is rugby. The advantage in American football is that you get seven months to prepare for a four-month season. In rugby, it seems like you get two weeks to prepare for an 11-month season.”
–Richard Tardits, who played rugby with France’s national youth team before moving to the US and picking up football. Tardits would go on to play linebacker for the New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals before returning to rugby as a member of the US national team.

Community Connection

Join the debate at American Football vs. Rugby: Which is Tougher?, or learn more about rugby with our photo essay on the Anatomy of a Rugby Match.

Picture: Spartan Race

Joe Desena, creator of the Death Race, is introducing an event for the rest of us called the Spartan Race. Whereas the Death Race takes 24 hours and has been called Survivor meets Jackass, the Spartan Race bills itself as a fun, two-mile course that most people could run.

“Joe’s desire is to stage a worldwide series of events cast in the same metal as Death Race, but in a scale that’s achievable for a lot of people,” said Brian Duncanson, the Spartan Race series’ director, in a press release. “The courses are designed to provide some challenge, but everyone can get through them and have a great time while doing so.”

Set to debut May 16, 2010, in Burlington, Vermont, the Spartan Race includes obstacles like a mud pit, scramble net, tunnel crawl, wall climb, spear throw, water wading, and fire jumping. “May will be our first event of this format, so we’re looking forward to executing a successful event and testing the formula before we head to the big markets,” Duncanson said.

Entry is $50 per person. All participants receive a t-shirt and medal, and the top overall finisher of each race will get the opportunity to participate in the next Death Race.

Additional races in 2010 will take place in Montreal, Toronto, New York City, Boston, Chicago, Cambridge, and Norwich, with more locations planned for 2011.

Community Connection:

Do you have the physical and mental ability to complete the Spartan Race? You can find out more and sign up on their website.

After losing his right leg to cancer at age 10, Male got into mountain biking as a way to stay physically active. Instead of using a prosthetic, he rides one-legged using a toe clip.

In this video, Male rides the trails at Carlmont Hills in California. I like the clip because it’s less about him as an amputee and more about him as a straight-up sick rider. My favorite part is his balance as he clears the tabletops – most two-legged riders don’t have that much style.

Patrick Edit at Carlmont from keithdasneak on Vimeo.

Community Connection

Mike Hanson, a blind hiker, is hitting a very different kind of trail. Read more on Matador Sports.

Photo: madpai

On March 15, 2010, 29-year-old Skurka left for a 4,700-mile hike around Alaska, which is being called the Alaska-Yukon Expedition. The hike will take approximately 7 months to complete. Skurka will use skis, foot and a packraft to complete the journey.

The trek will cross into six U.S. national parks and two Canadian national parks. Skurka will also spend time hiking in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Alaska Range and the Brooks Range and on the Iditarod and Chillkoot Trails. He’ll also have to float on the Copper, Yukon, Peel, and Kobuk Rivers.

Throughout the course of his hike, Skurka will only cross eight major roads. He anticipates covering 24 percent of the expedition on skis, 28 percent by packraft and 48 percent by foot.

Skurka is not a novice to long-distance treks. According to his website, he has hiked more than 23,000 miles since 2002. On his resume of extreme hikes are the 2,175-mile Appalachian Trail, 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail, 6,875-mile Great Western Loop and 7,778-mile Sea-to-Sea Route.

His ability to complete 35-45 miles a day is in part due to his ultralight packing strategy. The packraft, for example, weighs a mere 4.5 pounds.

Despite being so remote for the majority of his hike, Skurka’s adventures will be updated via a blog at National Geographic Adventures as well as a Twitter feed at @andrewskurka.

Community Connection:

Andrew Skurka isn’t the only person currently chasing a personal hiking milestone. For more inspiration, follow the story of blind hiker Mike Hanson, who is currently thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Photo: Paulo Brandão

At 22 years old, most people are balancing a rigorous college schedule or trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives. Not Katie Spotz.

On January 3, 2010, Spotz set her row boat in the Atlantic Ocean and pushed off from Dakar, Senegal. She ended her journey Sunday, March 14, in Georgetown, Guyana. The whole trip took 70 days, 5 hours and 22 minutes.

Throughout the trip, Spotz mingled with a variety of fish and sharks, fought fatigue and sleep deprivation, battled equipment malfunctions and kept time by the sun.

Spotz’s goal was to raise money $75,000 for Blue Planet Run Foundation, a non-profit organization that raises money for safe drinking water projects around the world.

Spotz was the first person to swim the entire length of the 325-mile Allegheny River, finished first in her age group in a half ironman triathlon and completed the 62-mile Oxfam Trail Run, an ultramarathon held in Melbourne, Australia. She’s also run 150 miles self-supported across the Mojave and Colorado Deserts and cycled 3,300 miles across the United States from Seattle to Washington, D.C.

Community Connection:

Read more about Spotz’s epic rowing journey in her blog archives

For an interview with another young ocean adventurer, check out Jessica Watson, 16, Youngest Person to Sail Around the World Solo, on Matador Sports.

Photo: US Air Force

Nicknamed “Fearless Felix,” Baumgartner has made over 2,500 jumps, including BASE jumps off of the Petronas Towers and Taipei 101 and a carbon-wing flight across the English Channel.

Now, he’s preparing for his biggest stunt yet, a jump from the Earth’s upper atmosphere that, if successful, will be the highest and fastest jump in skydiving history.

The plan calls for Baumgartner to take a balloon high into the stratosphere, to an altitude of about 120,000 feet. Wearing a modified space suit, he’ll then open the door and step out of the gondola.

Baumgartner will be in free-fall for about five and a half minutes, during which time he expects to break the sound barrier. By the time he deploys his parachute, he will have traveled over 21 miles straight down.

“When I jump, I’ll be going on a journey that no one has ever done,” Baumgartner told England’s Sunday Times. “But you absolutely can’t let fear take a hold of you.”

Red Bull is sponsoring the jump, which will likely take place sometime this year at an undisclosed location in North America. The event will be broadcast live via streaming video.

Photo: Red Bull Stratos

Falling From Space

The current altitude record was set in 1960 by Joe Kittinger as part of an Air Force program dubbed Project Excelsior. Kittinger, then a test pilot, made a series of high-altitude jumps, culminating in a 102,800-foot leap from a balloon above the New Mexico desert.

What is it like to fall from space? According to Kittinger, who’s now working on the Stratos team, it’s surprisingly peaceful. With little air resistance, there’s almost no sensation of falling at high altitudes.

“There’s no sound, no movement,” Kittinger wrote in his autobiography. It’s like being suspended in the sky.

At that altitude, skydivers’ are almost completely dependent on their gear. Many of the attempts to break Kittinger’s record have ended with equipment failures, with one skydiver dying after his helmet depressurized mid-jump.

Kittinger himself was almost killed during the first Excelsior jump when his drogue chute, a small parachute meant to stabilize his fall, deployed too early and got wrapped around his neck.

To prevent possible gear problems, the Stratos team has spent three years planning and constructing the gondola and pressure suit that Baumgartner will use for the jump. Baumgartner also hopes to not have to use his drogue chute, and plans instead to control his descent with just his body position.

Reaching the Speed of Sound

The biggest unknown for Baumgartner is how his body will react when he reaches the speed of sound. Scientists assume that he’ll be able to stay conscious, but they can’t say for sure.

Photo: US Air Force

“We just don’t know what will happen to Felix and the suit when he goes supersonic,” Stratos engineer Mike Todd told the New York Times. “Felix could slip right through it, but if half the suit’s supersonic and the other half isn’t, there could be turbulence that knocks him out of control.”

To find out how Baumgartner’s body behaves as he breaks the sound barrier, scientists will fit him with instruments to monitor his heart rate and his acceleration. Video cameras built into his suit and the gondola will record his descent.

Besides gathering data on how the human body performs under extreme conditions, Baumgartner and Stratos hope that the jump will help contribute to the development of new emergency escape procedures for astronauts.

Community Connection

Find out more about the jump on Red Bull Stratos’ site.

Photo by andreas_fischler

The name is misleading: there is no actual board involved. Instead, airboarders use an inflatable sled made of urethane and nylon to get speed while staying close to the ground.

The underside of the airboard is lined with grooves to keep it going straight. The rider controls the airboard by steering with the side handles and shifting body weight. To stop, you lean hard into a 90 degree turn, dig your boots into the ground, or bail.

Many ski resorts now offer board rentals and trails specifically designed for airboarding, with jumps and steep slopes for those who want more of a challenge. All airboaders are required to wear a helmet and participate in an introductory lesson with an instructor before hitting the trails.

As you can see in the video below, there’s big potential for epic wipeouts:

If you discover that airboarding is your thing, you can purchase your own board from the official Airboard website. Prices range from 79-399 euros.

Community Connection

If you’re looking to squeeze in some more winter fun before the season is over, check out some Montana winter festivals.

After a week straight of rain and flooding, we’re finally getting some sun here in Massachusetts. With temperature’s rising, the Northeast climbing season is opening.

I’d like to celebrate by sharing a video of one of New England’s classic climbs: Speed of Life.

Located in Farley, MA, Speed of Life (V10) is a strong candidate for the most beautiful hunk of rock in the US, a highball gneiss boulder with an almost-flawless face. First climbed by Maine native Dave Graham, it has a reputation as one of the most perfect boulder problemsof it’s grade, a crimpy, steeply overhanging climb full of big moves.

This video is by climber Jon Glassberg, who sent Speed of Life during a trip to Massachusetts this past winter. Apart from the final, celebratory crotch grab, I think Glassberg does a good job of conveying why Speed of Life has come to represent the perfect climb for so many people.

Speed of Life (V10) from Jon Glassberg on Vimeo.

Community Connection

You can see Dave Graham’s first ascent of Speed of Life on YouTube.

(Feature photo: Blas Brains )

With little of the spastic movement of skateboarding, longboarding is sometimes said to resemble surfing on concrete, which is a good way of describing the agility, grace, and flow of the sport. Watching a good longboarder is mesmerizing and surprisingly relaxing.

For a moment of zen, check out this video of Kyle Chin longboarding down a long, winding road in the mountains. The video was shot in an undisclosed location.

Community Connection:

Watch more longboarders in action on the Loaded Newsletter YouTube channel.