#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 V 2.1

September 13, 2012

By Andi Osters
Second Half social media guru

Welcome back, video mongers! A new school year has begun, and with it #SocialStudies 2.0.

Ready for your weekly dose of clips to peep? I hope so. 

A quick refresher on #SocialStudies – I give you a selection of video clips I spotted in my never-ending quest to find the end of the Internet (which I’m convinced involves a cat video of some sort). These videos will typically highlight the amazing, dazzling, funny or weird side of sports – some high school, some college, some pro… and some which defy categorization.

And sometimes, we’ll simply show you a clip that is interesting and/or unique enough to be worth sharing.

We welcome your submissions and ideas for this weekly feature, so feel free to email us a link or raw footage. Seriously: we love videos. That said, let’s get to the meat & potatoes.

1. Give him a hand (he needs only one)

Here’s a high school football player from South Carolina who apparently was born with mattress springs attached to his legs instead of feet.  The slo-mo replay of this interception (courtesy of PlayOn! Sports) is simply jaw-dropping.


2. Oh, Buddy ...

If Blake Griffin was at a gymnasium and I also happened to be in that very same gymnasium, I would absolutely tell my dignity to have a seat and allow that monster NBA dunk-master slam one over my head.  I’d probably react to the experience just like this guy did, too.


3. Swing, swing a song

And now, for something completely un-sporty. Well, almost. There’s definitely activity happening in this brief short about an art installation in Montreal. I’m always fascinated by the intersection of musical creation and physical motion. Enjoy this giant human-powered instrument.


4. Summer School

And file this last one under In-Case-You-Missed-It-Over-The-Summer – here’s a recap of our Student Advisory Council’s 2nd Annual camp retreat to Mystic Lake in June.  The 16-member council enjoyed time on the high ropes course, team building activities, bonfires and strategizing an action plan for the 2012-13 school year. 


That's enough for this school year's first lesson. See something over the weekend that caught your eye? Snag something at a pep assembly that we should see? Upload it to YouTube and send it on over.

You might just see it on Second Half’s #SocialStudies.

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