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Health & Fitness

Sporting Life!: The Best Gadgets & Charities of the ESPY/GBK Pre-Awards Party

Between July 4th and Labor Day in the U.S., Americans from all walks of life engage in a variety of “favorite pastimes”—a day at the ballpark to catch a baseball game, taking in a picnic at the park or beach, and a little impromptu game of basketball or football with friends.  However, nothing brings this (American) sporting life, the great outdoors and popular culture quite like The ESPY Awards, a loosely formed “American” answer to the Academy Awards for the sports world. 

While previous hosts of the ESPY Awards (Justin Timberlake, Jamie Foxx, Seth Meyers, and Samuel L. Jackson) have shown how the line between sports stars and entertainers blur, 2013 host Jon Hamm is a most apt choice.  Who better than Don Draper himself to preside over the most light-hearted, guy’s guy gathering of celebrities to enjoy the ultimate highlight reel. Although this event is guy’s night out, like every action “show” there are moments the ladies will appreciate, including shout-outs for the best accomplishments by women athletes in the past year and journalist Robin Roberts receiving the Arthur Ashe Award for her resilience in the face of cancer and superhuman ability to inspire audiences worldwide by showing up, looking radiant and giving her personal best in her chosen profession.

Getting back to Jon Hamm, we think Don Draper would get quite a kick out of Gavin B. Kiley’s latest production at the Andaz Hotel, with a myriad of things that would keep his team of copywriters busy for weeks.  However, his colleagues Peggy Olson and Joan Harris would appreciate the Marena Group’s shapewear for women and workout gear, while Pete Campbell could get schooled in automotive technology with Miracle Details, an upper echelon mobile and convenient detail service. While elite athletes were perusing the goods and gadgets, Miracle Details (http://www.miracledetails.com/) gave their posh rides a once over with V.I.P. car detail valued at $350.

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With a world in turmoil, the team would also appreciate the charities that have put themselves in the spotlight to capture the attention and support of the athletes and superfans in attendance themselves. The Mama Sarah Obama Foundation (www.msof.org) has a very ambitious objective that was spelled out impressively in their display.  President Barak Obama’s paternal grandmother, who had been involved in a variety of charitable endeavors for AIDS orphans prior to her grandson’s election, was involved in raising funds for schools and hospitals in her native Kenya. Her vision and the organization’s mission is to provide orphans early childhood education, primary and secondary education and drive a Mama Sarah Scholarship Fund for Higher Education. 

People with name recognition closer to home, meanwhile, are also making those names count in other ways. The Los Angeles Lakers Youth Foundation (http://www.nba.com/lakers/community/foundation.html), has similar goals to the MSOB with youth in need.  They are also focused on raising and donating money and services on a need based scale to organizations all over the Los Angeles county, and provides disaster relief in California and the United States. The Model Citizen Fund (modelcitizenfund.org) distributes life-sustaining backpacks filled with 150 items that include food, health, and survival essentials to the homeless and disaster victims, giving them the tools and confidence to build/rebuild their lives.

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YES! Beat Liver Tumors (www.beatlivertumors.org), one of our favorite charities that has made the rounds at many suites over the last several years, was also back to provide influential athletes inspiration to help them proliferate information resources, support and HOPE to those who are affected by cancer of the liver and other forms of advanced cancer.  Among the gifting sponsors, Bands for Arms, provided inspiration and statement-making fashion through handmade bracelets fashioned from donated military uniformed from all military branches.

In addition to the aforementioned high performance athletic and shapewear from the Marena Group (http://marenagroup.com/), which uses their “ComfortWeave” fabric technology to evenly compress the body and stave off body heat and skin moisture, there were other clever—and reasonably priced—functional fashion items. Wild Soul Sunglasses (thewildsoul.com) offer cool, retro-inspired acetate sunglass frames named for wild animals. Proceeds from the glasses (which retail for around $100) are applied toward a health, environmental or social responsibility-driven charity of the buyer’s choice.

While there are several sporty watches with interchangeable bands and faces, I was impressed with Fly Watches (www.fly-watches.com/), which one-ups several of the competitors not only with their price point ($40 for a face and band “set”) and fun colors, but also a neat LCD light function that can be useful for hikers, runners and anybody  who may occasionally lose objects in their car at night.

Competitors in the GBK Lounge’s poker tournament were competing for a high-tech bed by Technogel Sleeping (www.technogelsleeping.com/us), which is inspiring because it is such a practical jackpot to play for (even though bling was well represented by Jason of Beverly Hills, loaning out some eye-catching designs, including a key with L.A.’s skyline worked into the design).  The mattresses, which start at $3,000, integrate Swiss and Italian bedding technologies into a cooling gel sleep surface which is completed in their U.S. factory in Colorado.  The company also manufactures and sells pillows, which start at an affordable $160 and on their own can improve the quality of one’s sleep from their ergonomic design.

On to the “boy toys”: VIP guests were clearly like kids in the proverbial candy store trying out such goodies as SKLZ athletic performance and sports skill development products, $250 gift certificates for Dazadi.com, clothing from Fruit of the Loom (this particular crowd was very responsive to its Big & Tall Collection) and JH Design Group’s licensed sports team logo jackets, iLinks’s high tech golf aids and video game gear from MHL.  True to form, there was also an exclusive travel-related gift: Sparkling Hill Resort (www.sparklinghill.com), a European-inspired wellness and golf resort based in British Columbia, founded by the owners of Swarovski. Its most sparkling selling point? Crystal elements into every aspect of its design.   

Celebrities on deck for the party included Chicago Bears alum Willie Gault, as well as actor Mekhi Phifer, Terrell Owens, Valery Ortiz, Bob Giney, Healther McDonald, David Anders, Giles Marini, Heather McDonald, Lindsey Berg, and Valery Ortiz.


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