Awesome Sports

Microsoft asked Hacksmith Industries to help promote the addition of MLB The Show 21 to Xbox Game Pass. So they got to work building a shoulder-mounted pitching machine with the goal of firing balls at pro pitcher speeds. The sound it makes when it revs up is quite terrifying.

Snow and longboarding aren’t two words you often hear in the same sentence. But when deep snow gave way to a freshly-plowed road in Timmelsjoch, Austria, Johanna Bolanos Cabrera and Jasmijn Hanegraef took the opportunity to enjoy the scenery on the way down the twisty mountain pass. Film by Whiteroom.

Improve your golf swing in the comfort of your living room. The PhiGolf swing sensor works with your clubs or the included swing stick to track your every move. When used with the WGT Golf app mirrored from your smartphone to your TV, you can even see where the ball went.

Fans of America’s greatest pastime can pitch their cash inside Pro Style Sports’ Baseball Glove Wallet, a top-grain leather billfold made from the same stuff used for pro mitts and balls. Hand-sewn with 108 red stitches, it has a leather interior with eight card pockets and a money slot. Comes in white, brown and black.

Pro speedrider Valentin Delluc takes us on a wild flight over and through an empty Alpine ski resort. Watch as he paraglides in from the sky, grinds some ski lift cables, and catches insane air off of ski jumps and buildings at Avoriaz 1800.

Chris Benchetler shows us green run amateurs what we’re missing out on with this amazing POV of his line at California’s Mammoth Mountain. Watch as he winds through precariously tight rock formations, then catches air performing flips and spins on his quick trip to the bottom.

If you’re a serious rock climber, you need serious upper body and arm strength. Norwegian athlete Magnus Midtbø is among the world’s best rock climbers, and to prove just how strong he is, he managed to pull off this insane using only his right arm. He says he’s still working on his form.

The guys from Braille Skateboarding love to test out unusual skateboards. In this clip, they show off an insane custom board with 10 trucks and 20 wheels. You might think that would make it faster, but all of those wheels increase friction and also mess with its maneuverability. Still, it’s fun to watch them attempt to ride this mutant.

Since 2018, GoPro has been inviting its camera users to show off their athleticism and adventurous spirit with their Million Dollar Challenge. This year’s 4K highlight reel is not only packed with some exceptional action footage but serves as a testament to just how amazing action camera technology has become.

Back in 2018, the talented drone pilots of Team BlackSheep headed to Germany’s Bikepark Idarkopf for the Audi Nines mountain bike competition. While there, they followed along with riders and captured some truly outstanding footage of their spins and flips. Their ski and snowboard footage is equally amazing.

Do you suck at basketball? Maybe you need a robotic assist. Stuff Made Here has previously built a motorized basketball hoop that deflects a ball into the hoop, but only work if you at least hit the backboard. This new robot solves that problem, letting you toss the ball pretty much anywhere in its general vicinity.

An excellent MLB pitcher can throw a 100 mph fastball. But what would it take to pitch a ball faster than the speed of sound? Destin from Smarter Every Day set out to answer that question, and enlisted his engineering pals to build a high-pressure cannon that can launch a ball so fast that it explodes on contact.

If you’ve got the right climate conditions, summer skiing can be a fun way to spend the day. During a run at Norway’s FONNA Glacier Ski Resort, skier Benjamin Forthun pulled off an awesome straight-line skim across a pond, then ended it with a serious flourish. Here’s some POV footage of a more recent run.

Washington State University track and field star Ray Wells Jr. shows of his incredible jumping skills as he bounces over a series of sequentially taller hurdles until reaching a peak of 55″. He makes it look so effortless you’d think his shoes were spring-loaded. They’re not.

Water skiing is tricky enough when you’re right on top of the water. But add to the mix a pair of 11-foot-tall stilts, and the difficulty level just increased to 11. Watch in awe as dentist Christopher Dens literally rises to the challenge, and sets an unofficial world record for the tallest successful waterski run. The failure video is equally entertaining.

Pro skateboarder Isamu Yamamoto shows off her sharp and creative freestyle moves, which include everything from handstands on the edge of a board, to some crazy double-board maneuvers. She performed the routine as part of the World Freestyle Round-Up 2020 Online Showdown.

Video artist Donato “Milkyeyes” Sansone combined footage of Olympic athletes performing a variety of movements, from gymnastics to diving to track and field events, seamlessly melding together their motions so they look like one extended routine. The technique is a refinement of his earlier clip, Concatenation.

While pro sports might be on hold in 2020, ESPN is keeping the dream alive with lots of great stories about the past. This episode of 30 for 30, docu-series looks back at the steroid-powered summer of 1998, as the Cardinals’ Mark McGwire and the Cubs’ Sammy Sosa battled it out for home run supremacy. Premieres 6.14.20.

The #1 requirement for getting into the Olympics is that you’re an exceptional athlete. Half as Interesting explains how in 2018, a woman managed to hustle her way into an event at the Pyeongchang games with not much more ability than a bunny hill skier. You can watch Elizabeth Swaney’s amazingly mediocre ski half-pipe run here.

Red Bull Skateboarding presents a short clip which combines athleticism with visual trickery to play with our perceptions. All of the illusions we created in camera by using custom-built set pieces, and no post-production effects. Stick around for a behind-the-scenes explanation with director Gaston Francisco.

Skier Sammy Carlson, CK9 Studios, and Monster Energy present a fantastic short film for snow lovers. It’s packed with footage of Carlson ripping up the backcountry through massive piles of unspoiled powder, and pulling off some epic jumps along the way as he makes his way down the mountainside.

The guys from Toronto creative studio reactiv like to play with their food. In this lighthearted animated short, they imagine that edibles were actually used for playing various sports, and making quite the mess in the process.

Meet Spitfire. He’s a 7-year-old whippet with an impressive track record as the world’s best dock diver, which as we just learned, is a competitive dog sport. ESPN takes us inside the world of this talented canine, whose records seem as untouchable as the best athletes of all time. (Thanks Zico!)