Awesome Table Tennis

Loved the top 2.

Amazing Basketball Shot

Believe in miracles. But don't depend on them:-)

Shuttle Cocks

While trying to order shuttle cocks online, I came across a couple of interesting factoids.

One - each shuttle cock will have 16 feathers, and the best shuttle cocks are made from feathers in left wings of geese.

Two - prices of good quality shuttle cocks went up steeply in recent years due to Avian Flu. Thick and heavy feathers of northern Chinese geese were the source of premium shuttle cocks. Due to Avian Flu scare, millions of these geese were slaughtered, causing the scarcity of shuttle cocks.

Sportakrobatik - Die 5 Disziplinen

Amazing!

The Most Expensive Catch

The 21-year-old college student who grew up near Shea Stadium emerged from a mad scramble at AT&T Park on Tuesday night with a bloodied face and the city's most-prized souvenir: the ball from Barry Bonds' record 756th home run. Barry Bonds passed Hank Aaron to become Major League Baseball's new all-time home run leader when he belted No. 756 off Washington's Mike Bacsik.

By most estimates, the ball that put Bonds atop the list of all-time home run hitters with 756 would sell in the half-million dollar range on the open market or at auction.

That would instantly put Murphy in the highest tax bracket for individual income, where he would face a tax rate of about 35 percent, or about $210,000 on a $600,000 ball.

"It's an expensive catch," said John Barrie, a veteran tax lawyer with Bryan Cave LLP in New York who grew up watching the Giants play at Candlestick Park. "Once he took possession of the ball and it was his ball, it was income to him based on its value as of yesterday,"

Even if he does not sell the ball, Murphy would still owe the taxes based on a reasonable estimate of its value, according to Barrie. Capital gains taxes also could be levied in the future as the ball gains value, he said.

Ouch!