#SocialStudies v8.0

April 5, 2012

Happy Spring Break, #SocialStudies regulars!  It's been a quiet week in our office with many Lower Peninsula schools off all week -- but I still managed to dig up some web gems for your perusal. *Beach umbrella optional.

1. Fore real?

Oh, professional golfers. Do they even know? They can't possibly understand how difficult this game is for the rest of us; I look like a toddler aimlessly swinging a metal stick while teetering around well-shorn grass plateaus. 

The 2012 Masters Tournament tees off today -- and players in the field lurked around Augusta earlier this week, reading greens and testing the waters, if you will. One such tester? Martin Kaymer, who tees off second in this clip. I'd suggest watching the entire 37 seconds.


2. Floored by this performance

This woman is named Johanna Quaas, and she is 86 years old. Read that twice for effect. Here's her floor routine (yes, FLOOR ROUTINE!) at a gymnastics tournament called “Turnier Der Meister,” or Tournament of Masters, at the 2012 Cottbus World Cup in Germany.


3. Watch the guys who are supposed to be defending

In Iowa, it looks like mash-up sporting might be the next big thing. I think this play could be called a roll-out?


4. Moves like Stokkebroe

We opened with an octogenarian doing something amazing; and I think it's appropriate to bookend things with this little heart-breaker. William Stokkebroe is 2 years old, and wee man can flat-out shake it. Try not to smile: Dare you.


 As always -- if you find something worthy of us watching, send it over. Links, photos, stories ... whatever strikes your fancy that week. Make it part of our #SocialStudies!

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#SocialStudies v4.0

February 23, 2012

The best part about #SocialStudies, as I’m sure you’ve all realized by Week 4, is that the sum of its parts make entirely zero sense when combined into one. 

There are no easy transitions from flying squirrel wrestling moves to some guy dancing down a professional sporting arena aisle while Bon Jovi blares in the background. Nevertheless – we love compiling the weird and wacky each week. 

So, without further ado …

1. You won't see this in Battle Creek, but ...

Last summer, this Chicago-area high schooler stunned an arena with acrobatics not seen on a wrestling mat since… well, never. Yes, we are very aware that this type of "flying squirrel" move is illegal under high school rules – but that doesn’t make it any less cool to watch. Don’t worry: multiple angles shown. 


2. Dance Machine, circa 1986

The lip-syncing is fairly horrific. The moves aren’t anything spectacular. And this video is more than three years old. And yet, once you start watching this weird dude at a Celtics game – you cannot stop. His stellar sassy-steppin’ solo starts around 10 seconds in. Ladies and gentlemen: I give you Mr. Jeremy Fry in HD. 


3. He is the Hunter; Robichaud, the hunted.

Junior Vincent Hunter of Detroit Consortium knows how to dunk.  Here’s a compilation of no less than four of them from their game last week against Dearborn Heights Robichaud.  The Cougars won the game, 73-67 – pushing their latest winning streak to four straight.


4. Say it with us: Battle ... of ... the ... Fans!

And finally, it seems amiss to neglect the final day of fan polling for our Battle of The Fans contest. View all five finalist submissions here and click the image below to vote on Facebook for your favorite. Good luck to Frankenmuth, Grand Rapids Christian, Petoskey, Reese and Rockford!


It's MHSAA tournament time, which should reveal a bevy of video highlights and social media madness as we finish up February and fly full bore into March.

See something high school sports-related online that the rest of us must see? Capture some cool video yourself? Upload it to We're always looking for more to add to your weekly #SocialStudies. 

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @MHSAA.