Entering its 14th year, Gridiron Celebrity Hoops XIV (Gridiron XIV) is uniquely positioned as the first and only celebrity basketball game to have ever become officially sanctioned by the National Football League and endorsed by the United States President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Now independently produced exclusively by Jam Sports Productions, this preeminent event is where NFL players, prospective NFL draft picks, boxing champs, world-renowned wrestlers, streetballers, and celebrities from music, television, and film get together for an electric game of hoops. While the championship weekend is underway, we will once again take center stage and continue our tireless campaign to raise awareness and share information on how we can protect and support the most delicate and vulnerable among us – our children, our future.

Gridiron XIV offers football fans of all ages and levels of interest a once-in-a-lifetime experience to witness the Best of Both Worlds – their favorite football heroes playing in a competitive game of basketball alongside fun, safe, indoor sports-themed contests. This is where NFL players who think they are equally as talented in basketball as they are in football vie for bragging rights to show how multi-athletic they truly are. Over three dozen pro athletes and celebrities will take center court, coach, host, perform, DJ and MC. Our athletes and entertainers boldly rise to the challenge to see who’s a game-changer for a wonderful cause! This incomparable hoops event debuted at Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami. Since then, it has grown into a distinctive and integral component of pro football’s championship weekend. Super Bowl is the nation’s most celebrated sporting event. Gridiron Celebrity Hoops continues to be the premier All-Star charity-basketball game of this spectacular entertainment weekend. It’s a lifestyle event that captures the sights, sounds and action of the many different facets of the NFL.

Next to the Super Bowl itself, it’s the hottest game ticket in town. Gridiron Celebrity Hoops XIV is also our keynote evening in which we benefit children who have suffered from devastation, isolation, violence and more. Philanthropically conscientious, this unmatched fan-favorite, interactive experience brings the issues of child abuse, abandonment, neglect, homelessness, foster care, and adoption into “forever families” to the forefront, on a national scale to raise awareness and funds to enrich the lives of these delicate youths.

2012 Gridiron Celebrity Hoops

By Ryan Jaslow/CBS News

Are you among the millions of women who wear high heels day after day? If so, a new study suggests you’re probably causing permanent damaging to your feet and legs.

It’s no secret for those who wear high heels that it can be painful to walk in them. But researchers behind the new study wanted to delve deeper and see if heels cause long-term damage to the way women walk.

Researchers at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia got the idea over a cup of coffee, while watching a young woman stumble past them in heels. “She looked quite uncomfortable and unstable,” Dr. Neil J. Cronin, a postdoctoral researcher at the university’s musculoskeletal research program, told The New York Times. “We began to consider what might be happening at the muscle and tendon level.”

For the study – published in the Jan. 12 issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology – Cronin and colleagues put 9 “habitual high heel wearers” to the test and studied their walking. These women wore two inch heels for at least 40 hours a week for a minimum of two years. The researchers compared their strides on a 26-foot platform with strides of 10 young women, who wore heels less than 10 hours per week. All the women ranged in age from their late teens to their early 30s, and were outfitted with electrodes and sensors to study their leg muscles.

What did the researchers find?

The daily high heel-wearers walked with shorter and more forceful strides, compared to the controls. The heel wearers were also found to constantly have their feet in a flexed, toes-pointed position – so much so, that it became “default” for their feet, Cronin told the Times. This position – along with the shortened stride – actually caused the women’s calf muscles to shorten, the study found, leading them to put more strain on their muscles

Cronin said that when these women will slip on more comfortable shoes like sneakers or flip-flops, they face an even greater injury risk since they’re introducing their permanently deformed feet into a different environment. And since the women in the study were young – 25, on average – the toll the heels take on feet may happen fairly quickly, and the impact could be even worse for older women.

That doesn’t surprise Dr. Orly Avitzur, medical adviser for Consumer Reports. She’s written about high heels dangers for years, and she told HealthPop that she’s heard from many women they simply can’t wear high heels once they reach their 40s because their feet are too damaged.

“If you’re doing it in your 20s, it’s one thing,” Avitzur said. “If you do it when you’re much older, you’re accruing years and years of deformities and issues related to your feet.”

Avitzur says in addition to the study’s findings, wearing high heels daily can cause hammer toes, bunions, dislocated or sprained ankles, fractures, and ligament tears – some of which may require surgery. She says the bigger the heel the woman wears, the greater the risk. And for some women who wear high heels during a night on the town, alcohol impairs balance and coordination, making risk even greater for fractures and ligament tears.

Can anything be done to reduce a woman’s injury risk if she can’t live without high heels? Avitzur says for some women who’ve been wearing heels for decades, it might take a long time to reverse the damage they’ve caused. But she says women should wear flats most of time and only switch into heels sparingly. If you’re going to buy heels, avoid the ones with pointy tips and opt for a pair with a wide toe box, she says. Once women reach their destination, they should should give their feet a breather under the desk or table, and especially take them off if they plan on dancing.

“Even I must admit a woman’s leg looks better in high heel than a flat shoe,” Avitzur said, conceding many women sacrifice practicality for fashion. But, “stilleto shoes, as stylish as they can be, are simply not worth the risk of fractures, dislocation, surgery, and weeks of wearing a cast.”

cbsnews.com

By Tony Lamont

With the passing of Don Cornelius this morning, many people are going to revisit their memories of Soul Train and what it meant to them. Here’s one of my favorite parts of watching Sou Train, it was the “Soul Train Line!”

Check out the video below and see if you can spot a couple soul train dancers that later went on to become big stars.

By Tony Lamont

Earlier this morning sad news came out about the apparent suicide death of Soul Train creator “Don Cornelius’.

Here’s an episode of Soul Train featuring the God- Father of Soul “James Brown.” To show you how popular the show was, and how international, notice the Japanese subtitles. Plus the God Father performed with a live band.  R.I.P Don.

theGrio.com

Ibtihaj Muhammad is an African American Muslim and a professional fencer, about the rarest combination to set foot in a fencing match.

She’s caught people’s attention based on that alone, but no one can deny her sheer talent: she earned a spot on the U.S. World Championship Fencing team in 2010 and was an All-American at Duke University in her weapon of choice: the women’s sabre.

WATCH IBTIHAJ MUHAMMAD’S INSPIRING STORY HERE:

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The 25-year-old New Jersey native fenced throughout her high school years and never stopped. And her work has paid off: she’s the second-highest ranked fencer in the women’s sabre category.

Muhammad stands out in the ring with her headscarf, and admits being a fencer and Muslim is not always easy.

“Within the fencing community, there’s still a lot of apprehension when it comes to encountering a Muslim fencer,” she told theGrio. “I mean, there are very, very few.”

Ibtihaj Muhammad is making history as… a world renowned fencer. She is ranked 11th in the world in women’s sabre, and, as the Wall Street Journal reported, if she makes the U.S. Olympic team, she may be the first practicing Muslim woman to represent the United States at the games.

What’s next for Ibtihaj?

Muhammad recently gained entry to an open spot on the U.S. Olympic fencing team. The team will compete in the London 2012 Olympic games.

A little-known fact…

Fencing is one of four sports that has been included in every modern Olympic Games since the first games in 1896.

For more information, click here.

theGrio.com

By theGrio.com

Maimah Karmo, 37, was diagnosed with breast cancer six years ago. With a three-year-old daughter, a fiancé and no family history of breast cancer, it was completely unexpected.

After going through her second round of chemotherapy, Maimah promised God she would live a life of service. Still, there were setbacks. As she told Essence Magazine (LINK: http://www.maimahkarmo.com/Maimah_Essence%20Magazine.pdf), her fiancé ended up leaving her, saying he wanted to “live my life and just be happy.” Her hair started to fall out, and her family worried that her bald head would scare her daughter.

But Karmo survived and created the Tigerlily Foundation, which educates young women about breast cancer. She has appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and has been featured in numerous publications for her sharing her story of survival.

Maimah Karmo is making history … as an inspirational and outspoken breast cancer survivor who is bringing awareness about the disease to a national level. In 2010, Karmo was appointed to the Federal Advisory Committee On Breast Cancer In Young Women, and the Congressional Black Caucus presented her with the Leadership in Advocacy Award in the same year.

What’s next for Maimah?

Karmo is continuing her advocacy work through the Tigerlily Foundation and continues her journey to becoming, as she puts it, a “fearless” woman.

In her own words …

“I’ve lived more in the past four years than I did the years before, and when I die, I want to know that I made the best use of my ‘after life’ and impacted the lives of as many people as possible,” Karmo said in a biographer on her website.

A little-known fact …

Breast cancer fatality rates have decreased; this may be because of earlier detection, according to the American Cancer Society. There are more than 2.5 million cancer survivors in the U.S.

For more information, click here.

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theGrio.com

By theGrio.com

Comedian and actor Kevin Hart has been keeping audiences in stitches for more than a decade. His popular stand-up acts, such as I’m A Grown Little Man and Laugh At My Pain have been made into TV specials and released in theaters.

Using topics such as his notoriously short stature, parenting and the hip hop community in his material, Hart captures the humorous side of everyday life.

Kevin Hart was raised by his mother in Philadelphia and moved to New York to attend community college. He later moved to Massachusetts and started winning comedy competitions before becoming a nationally recognized comedian.

Today, Hart is just as likely to be making appearances on stages across the U.S. on his comedy tours as appearing in movies and sitcoms, and even hosting awards shows.

Kevin Hart is making history … as a comedian who is able to see the humor in life. His stand-up acts have been made into television specials and featured on Comedy Central, and he has transferred his comedic skills onto the big and small screens, appearing in movies like Scary Movie 3, Soul Plane, Death At a Funeral and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Hart also hosted the 2011 BET Awards last June, and his most recent stand-up performance, “Laugh At My Pain,” was released in AMC theaters last September.

What’s next for Kevin?

In addition to his international comedy tour, Hart is appearing in three movies scheduled for release this year, including a movie based on actor Steve Harvey’s best-selling relationship book, Think Like A Man, where Hart stars in a lead role alongside singer/actor Chris Brown and actress Gabrielle Union. The movie hits theaters on March 9th.

In his own words …

“I’m a student of comedy. I don’t just do it, I’ve studied it,” Hart told Source Magazine. “I love to tell stories, paint pictures for audiences and let them see what I see, but through my eyes, through my stories.”

A little-known fact about Kevin Hart…

Before making it big in comedy, Hart worked as a shoe salesman in Brockton, Massachusetts.

By theGrio.com

The Huffington Post reported that Ava Duvernay became the first black woman to win ‘best director’ at Sundance Film Festival Sunday. Her film, Middle of Nowhere is the second full-length feature for the director. Her first, I WIll Follow was released last March to glowing reviews. DuVernay’s production company Forward Movement, produced her films. Her distribution company, African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement, (AFFRM), released Middle of Nowhere.:

In her acceptance speech, Duvernay said that it was important that Nowhere be seen beyond the film festival and for “filmmakers of color to see one another’s films and have them seen.” ‘Nowhere’ was picked up by Participant Media for distribution last week.

Her win came as a shock, as Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts Of The Southern Wild, a story inspired by the people who refused to leave New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, was considered the favorite. (Beasts took home the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize.)

“Middle of Nowhere is a story about a woman named Ruby who has lost her husband to incarceration,” DuVernay told Jason Scoggins of the Sundance Project 2012. “It touches on the prison wives’ tale, but really the story of a woman who’s living in a relationship that’s imbalanced.”

Click here read more.

By Los Angeles Times

Robert Hegyes, an actor whose Jewish-Puerto Rican character Juan Epstein was one of the Sweathogs on the 1970s TV sitcom “Welcome Back, Kotter,” died Thursday of a heart attack in New Jersey. He was 60.

A resident of Metuchen, N.J., Hegyes arrived at JFK Medical Center in nearby Edison in full cardiac arrest and died there, hospital spokesman Steven Weiss confirmed.

By Tony Lamont

I am the type of person that loves for all ages embracing the Hip-Hop culture and its music. But I must say that I was a little frightened when I ran into this video on the web. Let’s just put it this way, “just because you can….doesn’t mean you should.” Watch what happens when you take an elderly choir and mix in a little hip-hop.

Check out the video: