This past Monday, eight of the greatest home run hitters in Major League Baseball took the stage in Cincinnati for the Gillette Home Run Derby. Featuring a new format with a clock and head-to-head competition, this derby had the most action and excitement since its outset. The night made for a great story as Todd Frazier of the Cincinnati Reds—the hometown guy—won the title. In their bracket set-up, a total of seven head-to-head competitions took place, in which the guy who hit second won all but once. While one may argue that the reason for the second batters' high success rates were due to those batters being higher seeds, we cannot neglect the power that comes with watching your competition. Now, think about it. In this competition, all you need to win is to just get one more home run than your opponent. If you bat second, you know what number you need to hit in order to advance to the next round. As the four minutes wound down, each of the sluggers knew exactly h...

All eyes will be on Vancouver this Sunday as the U.S. Women’s soccer team takes on Japan in their second consecutive World Cup Championship game. In order to reach the finals for two straight tournaments, we know the athletes have not only incredible physical strength, but also extraordinary mental strength. Midfielder Megan Rapinoe spoke with NPR before the World Cup began about what distinguishes the U.S. team: “I think traditionally, we've always been very fit and fast and physical, and we have that sort of physical element that we can just outlast teams,” she said. “And we have that grit and that mentality that we're never going to quit.” That grit is an integral part of what has led to the team’s success—and is also an integral part of being mentally tough. In their book, The Mental Game Plan: Getting Psyched for Sport, Drs. Stephen J. Bull, John G. Albinson, and Christopher J. Shambrook ou...

Tonight, all eyes will be on the Minnesota Timberwolves as they make the first overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. Reporters and analysts have been trying to figure out for weeks who the Wolves will select with the No. 1 pick—most settling on either Jahlil Okafor or Karl-Anthony Towns—both excellent players who would improve the struggling Timberwolves. Okafor is a 19-year-old center for Duke who has won multiple National Player of the Year awards at the collegiate and high school levels. Towns, just one month older than Okafor, is a center for Kentucky who doesn’t fall short when it comes to his list of awards and accolades. However, the two have one key difference heading into the 2015 draft—Okafor has no interest playing for Minnesota and Towns does. Now, it’s not really fair to say that Okafor has absolutely no interest in playing for Minnesota. However, multiple reports have surfaced that Okafor would ideally like to be bypassed by the Timberwolves and instea...