Major league baseball is in full-swing and Shysterball, a well-known blogger and serious baseball fan, is now hosting a Photo Contest! In an effort to build up Zvents’ image gallery for baseball park venues, teams, and players, he’s now generously hosting an independent photo contest for all of you baseball fanatics. Here’s the info you need to participate (for more details, check here):

Send me a photo that best represents your team’s home ballpark and/or a photo that best represents your home team without prominently including the team’s logo. It could be a field action shot, a team photo, a uniform shot, a picture of the team name that doesn’t include the actual logo, whatever. Examples that spring to mind: the ivy — or, I dunno, drunken Lincoln Park Trixies — at Wrigley. Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. The McCovey cove at AT&T Park. General apathy at Rogers Centre. Adam Dunn eating a four way at Skyline. Something — anything — that defines your team and/or its stadium in a picture without actually showing the logo.

The only catches are (1) the photos must be 1MB or large JPG; and (2) must be taken yourself, not horked off the web.

The winning photos for each team/venue will have the pride of placement as the official photo of the stadium venue, and as the official photo of the team “performer” on Zvents (the photo will also show up on the Zvents-affiliated papers too, which means your picture of the Green Monster, for example will be in the Globe whenever people search for Sox events). One grand prize for best overall photo will get $100 and a Zvents t-shirt, and one almost-grand prize will get a t-shirt.

Please send Mr. Shysterball an email with your baseball pictures!

Play ball!

*Flickr Photo Credit: Wisdoc

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Super Bowl XLII is just around the corner in Glendale, Arizona, just west of Phoenix in the new home of the Phoenix Cardinals, University of Phoenix Stadium. The new digs are a replacement to the Cardinal’s long time home at ASU Stadium in Tempe and the 88 luxury suites and 25 acres of surrounding retail and entertainment make for the ideal destination for this year’s big game.

We all, perhaps, think of the Super Bowl not for the game itself but the commercials, half time show, and guacamole (it has been said that American’s eat more guac on Super Bowl Sunday than the rest of the year combined) but we at Zvents noticed that it isn’t about Sunday as much as as the amazing list of things to do in Phoenix leading up to February 3rd.

Catch Chris Rock, February 2nd, at The Best Damn Super Bowl Party Period as he performs at their after party live at Ultra Lounge at Prive Super House. If you are lucky enough to score tickets, go for the entire event which starts Thursday with Jenny McCarthy, Ludacris and Holly Robinson Peete of the Hollyrod Foundation who is in town for fashion show fund raiser, “Gridiron Glamour.”

If fashion is your thing (wait… this is a football game isn’t it?), players wives come together to host the Off the Field Fashion Show, a benefit for the Phoenix Children’s Hospital on February 1 from 10am - 2pm. The event gives attendees an opportunity to visit the new SouthBridge real estate and retail development in Scottsdale, said to rival Beverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive.

Rather party with the celebs? Just opened Taste Ultra Lounge is hosting Friday Night Lights on February 1st with Hugh Hefner, Jessica and Ashlee Simpson, and Jamie Foxx making an appearance. The “Tao inspired nightclub” has been one of the hottest places to be in Arizona since its opening in October, 2007.

On January 31st, P. Diddy (or is it just Diddy now?) is hosting a block party outside mega club Axis/Radius in Scottsdale. This two-story dance club has been a Scottsdale epicenter for over a decade and continues to throw the best party in town. You might as well bring a sleeping bag (or Red Bull) to stay first in line for Snoop Dogg on Friday night, Kid Rock and Bud Bowl on Saturday, and (ahem) Girls Gone Wild after the Super Bowl.

If you get past the crowd and inside Axis/Radius on Thursday, you’ll find Nick Lachey hosting the Super Skins Kick Off Party while P. Diddy performs under the stars. We encourage you to find a moment of peace from all this hype and sign up with Nick for the Superskins Celebrity Golf Classic. Multi-platinum recording artist Nick Lachey and two-time reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion, Jimmie Johnson have partnered with Prime Cuts Productions to form the Super Skins Celebrity Golf Classic prior to Super Bowl XLII. Proceeds from the event, a special Super Skins Online Auction and Super Skins Party, will benefit multiple charities including “The Nick Lachey Foundation” and ” The Jimmie Johnson Foundation.”

Believe it or not, we’ve just scratched the surface and we’re out of breath. Take advantage of Navteq’s Map Network Super Bowl XLII Event Guide which covers just about everything going on in Phoenix related to the game; otherwise, search Zvents for much more in town or stay tuned and we’ll share other opportunities to party in desert.

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Our very own Eric Odland, who discovered collapsing art work, witnessed the 2007 YoYo Competition at San Francisco’s Exploratorium in September and we were lucky that he had his camera in hand.

“I caught the competitions near the end, which were the more advanced ones. There were some performers who were there to compete, as well as those who just wanted to demonstrate their amazing skills for the fun of it.”

The competitors were mostly young, between the ages of 10 and 20 with a few as old as 30, but clearly, age has little to do with professional Yo-Yo.

The final results were:

1A, 2A, etc refers to the type of tricks being performed. For example, 1A is a single, standard yo-yo where tricks are performed by manipulating the string. “Open Finals” means any type of trick can be performed.

For more amazing feats, unusual competition, and other fun things to do search Zvents. We can’t wait for to see the action at these events:

• The official Alabama State Fiddling Championship in April 2008
• Gingerbread House competition in December of course
• Monster Jam coming to Charlotte in February
• The the fast-paced precision & grace of hoop dancing coming to Phoenix

To catch the other great videos we post or stay on top of our favorite recommendations, be sure to add our RSS feed for the blog or subscribe through email and we’ll send you future posts.

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Can the Spurs defend their title? Will the Cavs and LeBron James take another step forward this season? Can the run-and-gun Phoenix Suns make the Finals before Steve Nash slows down? These are just some of the many intriguing questions as the 2007-08 NBA season gets into full swing.

Here are some exciting matchups coming up this weekend:

• Thursday: Dallas Mavericks at Golden State Warriors - A highly-anticipated rematch of last season’s epic first-round series, in which the Warriors upset the heavily-favored Mavs.
• Friday: San Antonio Spurs at New Orleans Hornets - Both teams are off to 3-0 starts. The Spurs were expected to be, but the Hornets are showing that they’ve got some exciting young talent, led by star point guard Chris Paul.
• Saturday: Boston Celtics at New Jersey Nets - A battle of two teams led by a trio of All-stars — The new-look Celtics with Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce, and the Nets with Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, and Richard Jefferson.

Get out there and check out some NBA action!

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Today, the sunny weather was perfect for running the Nike Women’s Marathon ‘07, a Marathon and Half Marathon, in San Francisco, California. The race kicked off at Union Square with participants traversing across the city past major landmarks, such as Coit Tower, The TransAmerica Building, Fisherman’s Wharf, Aquatic Park, Fort Mason, and The Ghiradelli Square. The typical fog was absent so that runners could enjoy clear and scenic views of the San Francisco Bay, Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and the Pacific Ocean.

This year’s event, which signed up about 20,000 participants, benefited The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. For runners, crossing the marathon’s finishing line meant conquering a feat of endurance. Once they had passed the finishing line, they were congratulated and rewarded with a 2007 Finisher Necklace designed by Tiffany & Co. The streets of downtown were later flooded with participants proudly touting their signature pink Nike Finisher tees.

This year’s Nike Women’s Marathon was a major event displaying fun, fitness, and health awareness. If you missed this one, there are plenty of other opportunities hosted by Nike to build both physical strength and show support for your favorite charity/health organizations. Check out the upcoming Nike events offered nation-wide!

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