Pandora has announced twelve new workout stations, aimed at people who want something to listen to while exercising. Here are the stations and some of the artists who feature on them:

• 80′s Cardio – Billy Idol, Michael Jackson, Journey.
• Alternative Endurance Training – Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rise Against, Sublime.
• Classic Rock Power Workout- AC/DC, Aerosmith, Queen.
• Country Fitness – Keith Urban, Toby Keith, Lady Antebellum, Jason Aldean.
• Dance Cardio – Deadmau5, Tiesto, David Guetta.
• Electronic Cardio – Daft Punk, Skrillex, Diplo.
• Hard Rock Strength Training – Linkin Park, Three Days Grace, Disturbed.
• Pop and Hip Hop Power Workout – Ke$ha, Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce.
• Pop Fitness – Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Train.
• Rap Strength Training – Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Eminem.
• Yoga – Deep Forest, Deepak Chakra, Brian Eno.
• Yoga Workout – Cheb I Sabbah, LTJ Bukem, J-Boogie’s Dubtronic Science.

After adding a genre station, listeners can personalize and refine it by providing thumbs-up and thumbs-down feedback for each song depending on whether they want to hear it more often or never want to hear it again. The vice president of corporate communications at Pandora, Deborah Roth, said:

People have been asking for stations designed specifically to get their blood pumping during workouts. We created twelve great stations from various starting points across the music universe, everything from 80′s to country to hard rock, all geared toward giving people energizing music to listen to while they’re exercising.

via PSFK: http://www.psfk.com/2011/09/music-motivation-pandora-adds-new-workout-stations.html#ixzz1XTQOUuQL

http://www.fitnessbusinessinterviews.com/fitness-entrepreneurs-top-100/

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http://www.fitnessbusinessinterviews.com/fitness-entrepreneurs-top-100/

What’s the difference between a CEO with a management background and one with a design DNA? Nike’s president and CEO Mark Parker is the answer. He began his career as a designer inside the company, where he would often modify and customize shoes for himself (a practice he continues to this day). Creative innovation has been essential to his success, and he gives design a seat at the table “with senior management at the company helping to shape strategy and direction for the company.

SportsOneSource Media

A motion by attorneys for Louisville Slugger to throw out a jury verdict that found them liable for a 2003 baseball player’s death has been denied by a district judge in Montana.

In the motion, Louisville Slugger argued that attorneys for the parents of Miles City baseball pitcher Brandon Patch failed to produce evidence that had a warning been given, Patch would have changed his actions to avoid injury, according to the Billings Gazette.

The American Legion baseball player died after he was struck by a ball that was hit by an aluminum bat. Patch’s parents sued the company in 2006. The suit went to trial in October. After 12 hours of deliberation, a jury sided with the Patches and awarded them $850,000. The jury ruled that while the bat was not defective in design, the ordinary user was not properly warned of its dangers.

In the ruling, District Judge Kathy Seeley dismissed arguments citing a prior case in which the person was injured but not killed. Testimony in the trial gave evidence that Patch would follow guidelines and rules and therefore would have altered his actions if a warning had been given, Seeley ruled.

“The Court has not been able to locate any Montana cases that are analogous to the case at bar with respect to the failure to warn involving a deceased plaintiff, and the parties have cited none,” the order stated.

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In May of 2009, I was doing a research project on aluminum versus wooden bats and found it to be a hot topic pinning local governments, bat companies, and the USA Baseball Youth Commission. USA Baseball came out with a position paper (http://tinyurl.com/USA-Baseball-Statement) on behalf of  the AABC, AAU, NABF, USSSA and T-Ball USA.

Read my post on the link above and see what you think. Whatever the case may be, this is going to be a long battle that will set the precedent to many of the lawsuits around the country.

Having played little league baseball, we always understood the dangers of aluminum bats and the speed at which the ball explodes off the bat, but in my humble opinion, I don’t see why we would eliminate the aluminum bat completely from youth baseball.

Among the 39 sports surveyed by the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA), exercise walking, swimming and exercising with equipment attracted the greatest number of female participants seven years of age and older in 2008, according to data in the Association’s Sports Participation reports. Exercise walking attracted 59.3 million females; swimming, 33.3 million; and exercising with equipment, also 33.3 million.

Sports, recreational and fitness activities attracting more than 20 million females were aerobic exercising, 25.6 million; bowling, 24.8 million; camping (vacation/overnight), 23.4 million; and working out at club, 21.6 million.

Attracting more than 10 million females were bicycle riding, 19.4 million; hiking, 18.9 million; running/jogging, 17.2 million; fishing, 13.7 million; weightlifting, 13.5 million; yoga, 12.9 million; power boating, 12.4 million; and billiards/pool, 12.0 million.

“Nine of the 12 most popular sports and activities among girls and women are fitness activities, which clearly shows that females are health and fitness conscious,” said NSGA Vice President of Information & Research Thomas B. Doyle.

Attracting the fewest number of female participants was muzzleloading, 200,000. A complete listing of female participation is posted on the NSGA website www.nsga.org.

For the study, a participant is defined as someone seven or older who participates in a sport more than once within the year. For swimming, exercise walking, bicycling, exercising with equipment, running/jogging, weightlifting and aerobics, a participant is defined as one who is active in a sport six times or more within the year.

The two-part sports participation report is based on a survey of 20,000 U.S. households.

Last week, the NFL refs announced penalties in Spanish for the benefit of the Hispanic Heritage Month celebration at the Miami Dolphins-New York Jets Monday Night Football game at Land Shark Stadium. The stadium took on a decidedly Latin flavor with a Calle Dolphins tailgating area; Gloria Estefan and Hank Williams Jr. singing a bilingual “Are you ready for some football?” in the MNF theme video; and Marc Anthony performing the national anthem.

Sports leagues certainly recognize the power of marketing to Hispanics. Today, the NBA announced its most comprehensive Hispanic marketing effort that encompasses all of its previous efforts, which have included Spanish-language radio broadcasts in 11 markets and Spanish language team Web sites, and new ones, including advertising, broadcasting and online components.

The league’s effort is called “éne•bé•a,” – or the Spanish pronunciation of ‘NBA,’ – and includes a dedicated Web site at www.nba.com/enebea, which currently features a story about the Miami Heat signing guard Carlos Arroyo (who is from Puerto Rico); advertising that features Heat guard Dwyane Wade along with Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol on Spanish networks; and content on Spanish language social networking sites. There will also be special merchandise. NBA TV even broadcast the NBA Mexico game between the Philadelphia 76ers and Phoenix Suns in Spanish on Sunday.

Already recognized for its efforts to reach fans globally, the NBA wants to make further inroads with its Hispanic fans, who make up 15 percent of the league’s fan base. Some 25 NBA players hail from Latin America and Spain.

NBA Commissioner David Stern said the number of Hispanics living in the U.S. is close to 50 million that will have a spending power in the next several of years of $1 trillion.

“We pride ourselves on our diversity and inclusiveness as a league,” Stern said. “We’ve slowly begun to diversify our efforts to speak to our Hispanic market.”

Earlier in the summer, I was reading the annual report from the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. The report details participation trends in sports and provides insight into what sports are growing and what sports are hurting. Recently, I was reading a blog post by Darren Rovell and he presented some interesting numbers.

• Lacrosse has long been called the fastest growing sport in America, as it has grown 117 percent since 2000. Still, only 1.9 million people played lacrosse in 2008 compared to something like slow pitch softball, which had 9.8 million participants.

• The biggest increase in participation in team sports in 2008 was ultimate Frisbee, up 20.8 percent.

• Last year, 15 percent of cheerleaders and 29 percent of gymnasts were male.

• Last year, 6 percent of tackle football players and 18 percent of paintball players were female.

• There were 17 million people playing table tennis last year, a 15.5 percent increase from 2007.

• Skateboarding participation was down 7.4 percent in 2008 and is now down 20.8 percent since 2000.

• Interest in the UFC might be skyrocketing, but mixed martial arts participation actually went down 1.4 percent last year. That has nothing on boxing, which is down 42.3 percent as compared to participation in the sport eight years ago.