YouTube Studying

Some things aren't meant to be. One of them is snow at the end of April. Okay, there is my daily complaint just like yesterday. Now, on with the real discussion. There is a certain value that can be gained by being "a student of the game." What I mean is, if you put in a similar effort to study a sport, you can learn all about it just like you would learn calculus. That's why I have become a YouTube fanatic. There aren't very many outlets for power soccer, but YouTube is fortunately one of them. With so many videos online of national and international competition, it is obvious that I'm learning from the best. I think that by learning what other people are doing well, you can improve and learn more than you would have before. Just this morning, I was watching a video about passing. That seems pretty basic I know, but I was having trouble figuring out how to get more power on my passes. The guys in the video use the same guard I do, and it looked like I spin just as fast, but I'm not sure how they hit harder. However, when they hit the ball, the guard did not shake; as you might expect, mine does. So, I need to make sure that I follow through on my spins to regain the momentum that I've lost when the guard shifts. Without putting in the study time, I would not have learned this, and my game would have most likely suffered as a result.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bofh/ / CC BY 2.0

Study Pays Off

According to the old Saturday Night Live, all you need to know about economics is supply and demand because that is all you will remember five years down the road. I wish that was all I needed to know for my exam on Friday. However, economics is much more complex than that. Isn't it interesting how often times we think we know a lot about something, like economics, when we only know one small part of it, like supply and demand. I always thought economics is about money because when you hear about the economy, it relates to the supply of money. However, maybe you already know this, economics is the study of motivation. We didn't even get in the money for the first few weeks because at its most basic form, trading products for other products constitutes an economy. Money is only used to store value from some other product or service that has already been provided. Therefore, as you might have guessed, money is really worthless without the agreement backing it up to provide a service or product in the future.

Why do I bring this up? Besides economics, I have been realizing how much I do not know in regards to power soccer. I can hit the ball and control it relatively well myself, but using my teammates and being used by my teammates is what I need to develop farther. For some reason I have trouble getting a solid pass to the side; I lose my momentum too quickly. In a similar way to enrolling in an economics class to learn about economics, I have enrolled in the School of YouTube to watch Team USA as well as various clubs around the country to learn how they have become successful. Somehow, these players get amazing momentum on their spin shots that I am still trying to learn. But that is why I study; only when you know where you are heading can you begin to head there.
Photo by epicharmus on Flickr

A New Sport for Many Americans

Everyone needs to admit it; we all love YouTube (unless, like some of my readers, you live in an area that is still left in the ancient world of dial-up Internet). However, I at least would love to see more sports broadcasted on this extremely popular and addictive medium. Attention sports fans, this is about to change! In an article I read on mediabistro.com, it was reported that the Indian Premier League has struck a deal to broadcast all of the third season matches on YouTube! When I first read this name, soccer immediately came to my mind given the popularity of the Premier League in England. However, I was surprised to see that this league actually plays cricket! I don't even know the rules of cricket, so this is of immediate appeal to me. I love to learn about popular games that I just don't happen to know about yet. When I heard that an acquaintance of mine went to college and took up cricket, I thought it was really cool, but I had no idea how to play this game other than the fact that it is somewhat like baseball.

I think that in the same way that I want to learn about cricket, many other people would enjoy learning about a popular sport in the rest of the world. Using YouTube is also very smart for the simple fact that it is free. In order to build an audience, free views go a long way. Many people like myself also would have a hard time paying to see something with such low familiarity. I'm sure that cricket is a great game, but since I do not know this for sure, I would have a hard time spending my money on a whim. Therefore, YouTube appeals to me, and maybe if this deal completes itself, I could indeed become a cricket fan. Then, I would be more willing to pay a price for this service. Even though free media outlets do not generate as much profit as they could make through some system of either pay-per-view or pay-per-season, it will be more important to introduce cricket as a popular sport if it's easier for fans to access this material.

Please comment on this if you know much about cricket because I would love to learn more!