geldefender^® Blog

While we’re on the east coast, we’re going to hang around for the next couple of stops on our region-by-region tour of American baseball. Today we’re heading south to Florida.

Florida is home to both the Florida Marlins and the Tampa Bay Rays in the Major Leagues and no less than 14 Minor League teams, the most of any state, with creative names like the Blue Wahoos, the Stone Crabs, and the Marauders. But with as much professional talent as the state holds, it also holds plenty of younger talent as well.

Take, for instance, the number one high school team in Florida, ranked nine in the nation, Venice High School. The Venice Indians finished as 2013 7A Florida State Champions for the second year in a row in May. In their final game of the season, they destroyed the Haines City Hornets 14-4 on the 18th for their second consecutive championship win.

Baseball is and always will be a staple of the American culture, so we want to keep players from little league all the way to the majors outfitted with  GelDefender head pads to  extra padding, comfort and cooling while  playing the sport that they and the rest of America love.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender^TM products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

It was September of 2010, and St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Blake Hawksworth—in only his second season in the majors—was on the mound against the Chicago Cubs. In the fifth inning, moments after a pitch to Cubs’ outfielder Sam Fuld, a stadium full of people cringed to see Hawksworth on the ground, blood dripping from his face.

“I can remember the incident, and I can remember seeing the baseball,” said the young righthander. “I can still even hear it, the sound it makes coming at you.”

Hawksworth was just a split second too slow getting his glove up to prevent Fuld’s line drive from hitting him squarely in the face.

He was taken immediately to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a split lip and a concussion. A few stitches, some dental work, and a month later, and he was back on the mound.

“If it was higher, lower, who knows how bad it could have been,” he said. “It could’ve been my eye, who knows. It’s just such a blessing to walk out of that okay.”

Now, with the upswing in concussion awareness, he is looking for ways to protect himself and his fellow pitchers for when what happened to him in 2010 happens again. “I’m fearful of it for anyone,” he said, “because I know the effects it has.”

Hawksworth said athletes often don’t consider themselves vulnerable to head injury until they are faced with one themselves. “In any sport, there’s a sense of invincibility,” he said. “You kind of have that thought of, ‘Yeah, that’s scary, but the odds of that happening to me are slim.’ Until it happens to you.”

He said hearing about people that have dealt with head injuries and their side effects for the rest of their lives, let alone their playing careers, has motivated him and major sports organizations to seriously consider greater protection.

“It’s an issue that’s going to be addressed, and Major League Baseball I know for a fact is looking into it, and especially in the NFL – hockey, cycling, you name it,” he said. “Head injuries are the scariest injuries out there.”
After taking a look at the GelDefender head protection pad for caps and working with it off the mound, he said he thinks its subtlety, its comfort, and its cooling make it a good options for pitchers.

However, he said that regulated protection for players may be in the distant future for a very traditional sport like baseball.

“Unfortunately, there’s some vanity in sports, and people are hesitant to wear something that is different,” he said. “But I think at the end of the day people have families, and they have lives to live after they play. And they want to do everything they can to live a healthy life.”

Listen to audio excerpts from our interview with Blake here: https://soundcloud.com/geldefender

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender^TM products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

The next stop on our region-by-region tour of American baseball is GelDefender’s home state, North Carolina.

North Carolina has no Major League teams but boasts a respectable eight Minor League teams (nine if you count the Charlotte Knights, but their stadium is actually in South Carolina). So why would we highlight a state that not only has no Major League teams but also sends one of its Minor League teams across the border to play? In short, because North Carolina is the only state with two teams still in the College World Series.

UNC and N.C. State, along with only five other schools, are still contenders for the 2013 title, and both North Carolina teams are scheduled to play later today. In a huge upset Sunday, the No. 7 N.C. State Wolfpack stomped the UNC Tar Heels 8-1, shuffling the No. 1 team to the losers’ bracket. Despite this setback for the Heels, both are still considered powerful candidates to win the whole series. At 3 p.m. EST today, UNC will be taking on LSU to advance in the tournament, and at 8 p.m., the Wolfpack will be playing the UCLA Bruins for a spot in the semifinals.

Baseball is and always will be a staple of the American culture, so we want to keep players from little league all the way to the majors outfitted with  GelDefender head pads to  extra padding, comfort and cooling while  playing the sport that they and the rest of America love.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender^TM products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

With the recent release of our new head pads for caps, GelDefender has decided to take a tour of America and check out its favorite pastime region-by-region. For our second stop, we’re taking a look at Texas baseball.

Texas, the second largest state in the US after Alaska, is home to two MLB teams, the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers, and five Minor League teams. But, as with California, we’re going to focus our attention on some players who you probably don’t know as well and who are much earlier in their baseball careers, the Woodlands High School baseball team.

The Highlanders have just finished their impressive 38-4 season as the 2013 Texas Class 5A champions, putting them in the top five in most national rankings systems. Their year culminated last Saturday when the Highlanders went up against Fort Bend Dulles High School. After giving up two runs in the top of the first inning, Woodlands answered with four in the bottom and continued to press their advantage to a 9-5 championship victory. Woodlands pitcher Carter Hope, who had been drafted by the Kansas City Royals the day before, pitched a two-hitter after the discouraging first inning, finished his high school career on a high note.

Baseball is and always will be a staple of the American culture, so we want to keep players from little league all the way to the majors outfitted with  GelDefender head pads to  extra padding, comfort and cooling while  playing the sport that they and the rest of America love.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender^TM products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

With the recent release of our new head pads for caps, GelDefender has decided to take a tour of America and check out its favorite pastime region-by-region. First stop: California.

With five Major League teams (more than any other state) and 12 Minor League teams (a number second only to Florida’s 14), California is steeped in the baseball culture. It takes a devoted state to host the Los Angeles Angels, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Oakland Athletics, the San Diego Padres, and the San Francisco Giants in its borders, not to mention all the college and high school teams it harbors.

Take, for instance, St. Francis High School of Mountain View, who came sixth in this year’s USA Today high school baseball rankings. The Lancers just earned themselves the 2012-13 Central Coast Section Division I title for the first time since 2001. They blew through the tournament playoffs with wins of 2-0, 3-0, and 8-3 before finishing their season with a 10-0 championship win against rival Serra-San Mateo. St. Francis’s junior left-handed pitcher John Gavin threw a one-hitter and eight strikeouts. The team finished with a 30-4 overall record, a great season with another one expected next year.

Baseball is and always will be a staple of the American culture, so we want to keep players from little league all the way to the majors outfitted with  GelDefender head pads to  extra padding, comfort and cooling while  playing the sport that they and the rest of America love.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender^TM products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

The Women’s College World Series championship round kicked off last night in Oklahoma City with a 5-3 win for the Oklahoma Sooners against the Tennessee Vols. The best-two-of-three series between No. 1 Oklahoma and the No. 7 Tennessee will continue tonight with game two, with game three if necessary Wednesday night to determine the 2013 championship team.

The 12-inning nail-biter tested the women to the height or their endurance as they played the longest game in the championship round of the WCWC since 1984. The only runs scored were in the eleventh and twelfth innings. After the Vols scored three runs in the top of the eleventh, the Sooners answered in the bottom with three more when down to their last out and last strike. The Sooners closed out the game with another two runs in the bottom of the twelfth in the important first game of the series.

The excitement and hype surrounding these games and the rest of the WCWC has been high as these women battle for the top. It’s strange to think that a few short decades ago, women were fighting at the Congressional level for rights that are today obvious.

Title IX, the act that laid the foundation upon which women’s amateur and professional sports are built, was made law in 1972 and ensures that “no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in . . . any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” This assurance has had far-reaching influence in the sports world, as it guarantees women the same opportunities as men athletically as well as in other educational endeavors.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender^TM products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

It’s a rarity for pitchers to get beaned by a batter’s line drive, but it’s also a reality. With that in mind, Major League Baseball has been scrambling over the past several months to find head protection for its fielders, particularly pitchers.

Unfortunately, the search has not yet yielded the results MLB has been seeking, and Toronto Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ faced that very scenario Tuesday without any head protection. Luckily, Happ seems to have suffered no significant injuries other than bruising and a cut ear and has since been released from the hospital.

While the search for the right product for pitchers to comfortably wear under their caps has not yet been successful, watch for a new GelDefender product – one made specifically for caps – that will be available May 18.

The comfortable soft gel and the cooling benefits make the newest GelDefender head pad perfect for use under caps, and the design allows the pad to fit inside caps securely.

We’re sending samples to MLB and a few MLB teams that have requested our product, and we hope they and other ball players will choose this new equipment option.

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender^TM products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

Now that the NFL draft has been completed, 224 draftees and an undefined number of free agents are making plans to strap on their helmets and work to earn a spot on a team.
 

In 2012 the big news was how many rookie quarterbacks were opening day starters. This year, it’s how few quarterbacks were drafted in prominent rounds.
 

Florida State’s E.J. Manuel was taken by Buffalo but was the lone QB picked in the first round.
 

Second-rounder Geno Smith will have a shot at immediate playing time as part of the Jets dreadful offense, but the remainder of the 11 quarterbacks taken—with the exception of Southern Cal’s Matt Markley—are longer-term projects.
 

Matt Barkley, taken in the fourth round by the Eagles, looks to be one of the most intriguing picks. Injuries and a weaker Southern Cal team dropped his stock in 2013, and arm-strength questions remain. But Michael Vick’s 2013 performance was nothing memorable and new coach Chip Kelly will be looking for any way to score points.
 

The 2013 NFL preseason kicks off Sunday, August 4, when the Dallas Cowboys face the Miami Dolphins in Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio.
 

The defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens lead off the regular season with a Thursday night game on September 5.
 

Three days later, Bills fans will find out if Manuel will have the reins when Buffalo tees it up against New England. That same first Sunday of the season, the Jets may have West Virgina’s Smith under center against Tampa Bay.
 

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender^TM products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

The NFL draft has become perhaps the most important annual sports activity that involves no activity on the field.

When NFL commissioner Roger Goodell strides to the podium Thursday night—shortly after 8 p.m. ET—to announce the first selection in the 2013 draft, he’ll be in front of a packed house at Radio City Music Hall in New York and over 8 million viewers on ESPN and the NFL Network.

Such viewership, not even including months of pre-draft speculation and post-draft analyses, makes the NFL draft a television powerhouse that approximates viewership for hallmark sports events such as the final round of the U.S. Open, the Indy 500, NBA playoffs and most NASCAR events.

Typically, given the geography, fans of the New York Giants and New York Jets dominate the live audience and annually provide collective groans or cheers depending upon the fan view of the choices made by team executives.

This year, it is likely that the most vocal of those reactions will come from fans of the Jets, who watched their team end a disappointing 2012 season plagued by the Mark Sanchez/Tim Tebow quarterback puzzle and are now debating the pros and cons of the recent trade of star quarterback Darrelle Revis to Tampa Bay for the Bucs 13th pick in the first round and a chump change pick in 2014.

Jets fans unhappy with current starting quarterback Sanchez may plead for West Virginia QB Geno Smith, but the Jets are most likely to grab LSU linebacker Barkevious Mingo if he’s still available.

After several years packed with quarterback talents including Robert Griffin III, Andrew Luck and Cam Newton, Smith may be the only QB taken in the first round, with Matt Barkley of Southern Cal and Ryan Nassib of Syracuse slipping to Friday night’s second round.

Most of those considered in the “can’t miss” category in 2013 are beefy offensive and defensive tackles. If Kansas City doesn’t trade down, watch for Notre Dame’s Luke Joeckel or Texas A&M’s Eric Fisher to be called first by Goodell as the Chiefs try to keep new QB Alex Smith protected from the concussion problems that knocked him out mid-season in 2012.

The first round of the draft concludes Thursday night, rounds 2-3 are Friday evening and rounds 4-7 are Saturday afternoon.
 

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender^TM products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.

The 2013 Supercross AMA National Championship is poised to kick off April 6 in Houston, TX and will definitely be a stiff competition among the many challengers. Some of the top riders should be Ryan Villopoto, Ryan Dungey, Blake Baggett, Justin Barcia, and Ricky Carmichael. Houston is just the first leg in the tour, where riders will attempt to set the pace.

The most dominant riding should appear in both this race and the last race. We predict the top three riders will finish in this order: Villopoto, Ivan Tedesco, and Ryan Baggett. Though Ryan Dungey was a tempting pick, we cannot see him finishing in the top three given his subpar performance in the World Motocross Championships. In the 2012 Motocross Tour in Germany, Dungey came in behind Baggett below the #7 spot. This shed light on the inefficiencies of the US Motocross team and Dungey specifically.

Tedesco is a hard-to-sell pick, but he has been finishing in a higher position every year. Travis Pastrana would make an interesting pick, but his foray into other sports have taken away from the time he used to spend solely on motocross runs. He’ll likely make the top ten, however, and have a chance to redeem himself in the next leg of the race. We’re definitely excited to see how it turns out!

*Scientists have no conclusive evidence as to whether or how the reduction of g forces during impacts reduces the number or degree of concussions and head injuries. GelDefender^TM products provide supplemental padding as well as cooling and comfort benefits when used with helmets and caps. Participants in activities in which head impacts can occur should always use tested and approved helmets for protection. However, no helmet or supplemental padding can protect the user from all serious head or neck injuries that can result from impacts.