Sports

With the exception of a few sports like WWE, sporting events are unscripted. It’s this unpredictability that leaves people at the edge of their seats until the last seconds of a game. Additionally, the success of underdogs can be a big plot twist that no one sees coming.

For example, the Toronto Raptors won the NBA Championship in 2019, even though no one even considered them a contender at the start of the year. In Formula 1, the 2009 championships were won by Brawn GP and Jenson Button, and yet the team had no sponsors and almost didn’t make it to the first race of the year.

These factors make sports a great subject for movies. Some are complete works of fiction, while others are based on real events. Here are some of the greatest examples of these films.

Rounders

If you think about it, a lot of video games over the past few decades have included luck-based minigames with wagering, so the distance between video games and casino games have never really been that far apart. Some games take this even further by including actual interactive casinos within the game world, or make casino games more useful than a downtime distraction.

In this article, we’re going to look at five popular video games that also included traditional casino and card games.

The Sims 3

Sims 3 players can purchase the Lucky Simoleon Casino DLC, which not only adds an entire casino with blackjack and slot machines, it also adds a Gambling skill that will level up as your sim plays.

Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler) is a jeweler living the high life at a high cost. He maintains a home with his wife and children, as well as an apartment with his girlfriend, Julia (Julia Fox), but it takes more than selling high-end jewelry to a select clientele. Howard has so many shady irons in the fire that he has to become an expert juggler and proficient liar just to keep his head above water.

The United States is often regarded as a country that doesn’t like football (or soccer as they call it). However, their league, called MLS, is one of the top-flight football leagues in the world.

It’s not men’s football that’s making waves, though. The US Women’s National Soccer team is the most successful in the world. In 2019, they won the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the fourth time, helping to assert their dominance over the sport.

The US team were already reigning champions and had been joint favourites to win ahead of the tournament. However, they impressed many pundits after performing even better than expected.

The Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens will stage the Super Bowl LIV. Photo: AJ Lipp

The countdown is on for the Super Bowl LIV, the 54^th Super Bowl and the 50^th championship game in the modern-day era of the National Football League (NFL). The location has already been set for Super Bowl LIV, with Florida’s Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens set to celebrate the seventh decade of Super Bowl action. It will be the sixth Super Bowl staged in Miami Gardens, with Super Bowl XLIV the last time it was staged in this region of South Florida.

The British lineal heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury, is embarking on a short-term career in the world of WWE wrestling. Fury, who is currently out of boxing training as he recovers from a bruising victory over Sweden’s Otto Wallin, doesn’t seem to be capable of putting his feet up during his downtime as he seeks to dabble in the whacky world of WWE. It all started at SmackDown a couple of weeks ago, when Fury was spotted ringside and quickly became embroiled in a storyline involving himself and towering inferno, Braun Strowman.

Fury is on the line-up for WWE Crown Jewel

While trying to maintain your health and fitness, it can be challenging to stay energetic and motivated throughout the year. Various circumstances, such as harsh weather conditions or simply not feeling up to it are some of the factors that can tempt you to abandon your goal of being healthier and fitter.

However, to keep the fire burning and maintain that same spirit of progression in your daily training, the entertainment industry has come up with motivating movies to assist you in staying fit. Other than encouraging you, these seriously inspiring movies are also meant to challenge you to reach higher fitness and strength levels. After reading this piece, you'll surely be interested in immediately hitting the gym. For your reference, here are some exercises Sylvester Stallone did as he trained to play Rocky Balboa.

When you watched wrestling back in its heyday, before the WCW got gobbled up by the WWF (which later became the WWE), you had a host of colorful, unbridled, over-the-top personalities all itching to get at one another in the squared circle to combat each other and find out who would be victorious.

Riding herd on all of these men and women through his interviews and broadcasts was "Mean" Gene Okerlund, a man of little stature yet who towered large over the industry. He never backed down from the big guys, and always kept the audiences entertained.

Today, we ring the bell for Gene Okerlund, who has passed away at age 76. No cause of death has yet been listed, however Okerlund has had a history of kidney troubles requiring transplants in 1995 and again in 2004.

Godspeed, "Mean" Gene.

XFL Commissioner, Oliver Luck, was at the Sports Business Journal's Sports, Media & Technology summit yesterday and discussed a myriad of ideas the new league is bringing to the table to be "fan friendly".

Not looking to compete, so much as compliment the NFL, the XFL from its initial inception back in 2001 has always been about the fans. From custom jerseys sporting nicknames instead of surnames, which MLB has now adopted during "Player's Weekend", to WWE style locker room interviews, everything they have done was meant to appeal to the fans.

We've seen the trailers online for SANDMAN, but we all know that trailers aren't often representative of the whole story. What can you tell us that's a bit more in-depth about the film?

SANDMAN is kind of a passion for us, for our whole team. It's a project that I wrote about a year and a half ago. Some of the premise is based upon my own life, so it made it a little bit easier to bring the story together.

Review By The Masked Ace

Review By The Masked Ace

In the UK, ITV debuted the first episode of it's new World of Sport Wrestling this week.  While it is not really available to US viewers, it is not particularly hard to find if you want to check it out.  Not that the Masked Ace is suggesting that you should violate any copyright laws...of course...

During Sunday’s EXTREME RULES Pay-Per-View, Kurt Angle accounted that Brock Lesnar needed to appear on the July 16, 2018 episode of Raw to set up a match for SummerSlam or else Brock would forfeit the WWE Universal Championship.  Brock wasn’t there, but Paul Heyman was, and he did agree to have Brock face anyone of Kurt Angle’s choosing.

Kurt set up two triple threat matches with the winners going on to have a number one contender’s match on next week’s Raw.

The two matches featured some of WWE’s hottest talent.

From WWE.com:

STAMFORD, Conn. — After a three-year suspension, Hulk Hogan has been reinstated into the WWE Hall of Fame. This second chance follows Hogan’s numerous public apologies and volunteering to work with young people, where he is helping them learn from his mistake. These efforts led to a recent induction into the Boys & Girls Clubs of America Alumni Hall of Fame.

Hulk Hogan also Tweeted:

Once again, it is I, The Masked Ace, Critical Blast's resident wrestling expert! 

Last week, it was announced that Universal/NBC had decided to keep Raw on the USA Network, reportedly tripling what they were paying the WWE.  Smackdown would no longer be on USA, and WWE had been shopping it around.  The frontrunners included Fox, Facebook, and Amazon.  

From WWE:

WWE is saddened to learn that WWE Hall of Famer Bruno Sammartino passed away at age 82.

The story of Bruno Sammartino is the story of the American dream.

During his childhood in the small Italian mountain town of Abruzzi, Italy, Bruno Sammartino heard stories about how the streets in the United States were paved with gold. Though he believed it literally at the time, Sammartino would experience fortune and fame first-hand as the longest-reigning WWE Champion and the most beloved competitor in the history of the squared circle.

The Masked Ace has returned, and I have your Wrestlemania predictions here!

André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal for the André the Giant Memorial Trophy

From WWE.com

Following more than two years of extensive evaluations, four-time World Champion Daniel Bryan has been medically cleared to return to in-ring competition by leading neurosurgeons, neurologists and concussion experts, including Dr. Robert Cantu, Dr. Javier Cárdenas and Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher.
 
Bryan underwent a full review of his medical history and received comprehensive neurological and physical evaluations independent of WWE. He was cleared by each doctor as well as WWE’s Medical Director, Dr. Joseph Maroon.

From WWE:

STAMFORD, CONN. – Professional football will be reimagined when the new XFL kicks off in early 2020, Vince McMahon announced in a live stream event today.

The XFL will deliver a fan-centric, innovative experience, including shorter, fast-paced games and a family-friendly environment, complemented by cross-platform viewing options and real-time fan engagement.

Plans for the XFL at launch include eight teams, 40-man active rosters and a 10-week regular-season schedule, with a postseason consisting of two semifinal playoff games and a championship game.

The Masked Ace has returned!  January 22 marks the 25th Anniversary of Raw!  To celebrate, the WWE will be doing a huge live Raw from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn as well as the Manhattan Center (home to the first ever Raw taping back in 1993).  On Raw and Smackdown, WWE announced a who's who of stars returning for the celebration