
Oscar Mayer Launches Inaugural 'Wienie 500' at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Oscar Mayeris turning up the heat with the first-ever 'Wienie 500', a high-stakes race featuring all six of its iconic Wienermobiles speeding around the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race is set to stream live on May 23 at 2 p.m. ET via theFOX Sports appandINDYCARonFOX. Notably, the race marks the first time the full Wienermobile fleet has gathered for a competitive event in over a decade.
Each vehicle will represent a regional favorite — like the Chi Dog (Midwest) or the Slaw Dog (Southeast) — and compete for the coveted win in front of a national audience. The spectacle, complete with custom racing suits, a trophy ceremony in the 'Wiener's Circle' and even a celebratory condiment spray, will be featured in the Indy 500 pre-race show on FOX.
Fans can join in on the fun by entering a free-to-playDraftKings poolfor a shot at winning part of a $10,000 USD prize.
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Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Some pro athletes keep getting better as they age − neuroscience can explain how they stay sharp
In a world where sports are dominated by youth and speed, some athletes in their late 30s and even 40s are not just keeping up – they are thriving. Novak Djokovic is still outlasting opponents nearly half his age on tennis's biggest stages. LeBron James continues to dictate the pace of NBA games, defending centers and orchestrating plays like a point guard. Allyson Felix won her 11th Olympic medal in track and field at age 35. And Tom Brady won a Super Bowl at 43, long after most NFL quarterbacks retire. The sustained excellence of these athletes is not just due to talent or grit – it's biology in action. Staying at the top of their game reflects a trainable convergence of brain, body and mindset. I'm a performance scientist and a physical therapist who has spent over two decades studying how athletes train, taper, recover and stay sharp. These insights aren't just for high-level athletes – they hold true for anyone navigating big life changes or working to stay healthy. Increasingly, research shows that the systems that support high performance – from motor control to stress regulation, to recovery – are not fixed traits but trainable capacities. In a world of accelerating change and disruption, the ability to adapt to new changes may be the most important skill of all. So, what makes this adaptability possible – biologically, cognitively and emotionally? The amygdala and prefrontal cortex Neuroscience research shows that with repeated exposure to high-stakes situations, the brain begins to adapt. The prefrontal cortex – the region most responsible for planning, focus and decision-making – becomes more efficient in managing attention and making decisions, even under pressure. During stressful situations, such as facing match point in a Grand Slam final, this area of the brain can help an athlete stay composed and make smart choices – but only if it's well trained. In contrast, the amygdala, our brain's threat detector, can hijack performance by triggering panic, freezing motor responses or fueling reckless decisions. With repeated exposure to high-stakes moments, elite athletes gradually reshape this brain circuit. They learn to tune down amygdala reactivity and keep the prefrontal cortex online, even when the pressure spikes. This refined brain circuitry enables experienced performers to maintain their emotional control. Creating a brain-body loop Brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, is a molecule that supports adapting to changes quickly. Think of it as fertilizer for the brain. It enhances neuroplasticity: the brain's ability to rewire itself through experience and repetition. This rewiring helps athletes build and reinforce the patterns of connections between brain cells to control their emotion, manage their attention and move with precision. BDNF levels increase with intense physical activity, mental focus and deliberate practice, especially when combined with recovery strategies such as sleep and deep breathing. Elevated BDNF levels are linked to better resilience against stress and may support faster motor learning, which is the process of developing or refining movement patterns. For example, after losing a set, Djokovic often resets by taking deep, slow breaths – not just to calm his nerves, but to pause and regain control. This conscious breathing helps him restore focus and likely quiets the stress signals in his brain. In moments like these, higher BDNF availability likely allows him to regulate his emotions and recalibrate his motor response, helping him to return to peak performance faster than his opponent. Rewiring your brain In essence, athletes who repeatedly train and compete in pressure-filled environments are rewiring their brain to respond more effectively to those demands. This rewiring, from repeated exposures, helps boost BDNF levels and in turn keeps the prefrontal cortex sharp and dials down the amygdala's tendency to overreact. This kind of biological tuning is what scientists call cognitive reserve and allostasis – the process the body uses to make changes in response to stress or environmental demands to remain stable. It helps the brain and body be flexible, not fragile. Importantly, this adaptation isn't exclusive to elite athletes. Studies on adults of all ages show that regular physical activity – particularly exercises that challenge both body and mind – can raise BDNF levels, improve the brain's ability to adapt and respond to new challenges, and reduce stress reactivity. Programs that combine aerobic movement with coordination tasks, such as dancing, complex drills or even fast-paced walking while problem-solving have been shown to preserve skills such as focus, planning, impulse control and emotional regulation over time. After an intense training session or a match, you will often see athletes hopping on a bike or spending some time in the pool. These low-impact, gentle movements, known as active recovery, help tone down the nervous system gradually. Outside of active recovery, sleep is where the real reset and repair happen. Sleep aids in learning and strengthens the neural connections challenged during training and competition. Over time, this convergence creates a trainable loop between the brain and body that is better equipped to adapt, recover and perform. Lessons beyond sport While the spotlight may shine on sporting arenas, you don't need to be a pro athlete to train these same skills. The ability to perform under pressure is a result of continuing adaptation. Whether you're navigating a career pivot, caring for family members, or simply striving to stay mentally sharp as the world changes, the principles are the same: Expose yourself to challenges, regulate stress and recover deliberately. While speed, agility and power may decline with age, some sport-specific skills such as anticipation, decision-making and strategic awareness actually improve. Athletes with years of experience develop faster mental models of how a play will unfold, which allows them to make better and faster choices with minimal effort. This efficiency is a result of years of reinforcing neural circuits that doesn't immediately vanish with age. This is one reason experienced athletes often excel even if they are well past their physical prime. Physical activity, especially dynamic and coordinated movement, boosts the brain's capacity to adapt. So does learning new skills, practicing mindfulness and even rehearsing performance under pressure. In daily life, this might be a surgeon practicing a critical procedure in simulation, a teacher preparing for a tricky parent meeting, or a speaker practicing a high-stakes presentation to stay calm and composed when it counts. These aren't elite rituals – they're accessible strategies for building resilience, motor efficiency and emotional control. Humans are built to adapt – with the right strategies, you can sustain excellence at any stage of life. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Fiddy Davis Jaihind Jothikaran, Hope College Read more: The 'hot hand' is a real basketball phenomenon – but only some players have the ability to go on these basket-making streaks Aaron Rodgers' season-ending Achilles tear resurfaces questions about player safety on artificial turf Olympic athletes excel at their sports but are susceptible to unproven alternative therapies Fiddy Davis Jaihind Jothikaran does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Wall Street Journal
an hour ago
- Wall Street Journal
Jannik Sinner on His Game-Day Mindset: ‘Before You Win, You Have to Lose'
Jannik Sinner learned two things from his childhood as a ski racer that he uses on the tennis court. The first: good balance. And second: There are more painful outcomes than losing. 'In tennis you can get hurt, but it's nothing crazy bad,' he says. 'In skiing, if you fall, most likely you are going to hurt yourself quite badly. So on the tennis court I go for big shots because worst case, you just lose.'


New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Blue Jays takeaways: Myles Straw the microcosm, José Berríos' struggles and more
TORONTO — The tying run stood on deck in Sunday's eighth inning as the Toronto Blue Jays threatened yet another comeback. Toronto's history of late-game heroics gave fans hope — even down four runs, they slid forward in their seats. This time, though, Alejandro Kirk's lazy foul fly found a Texas Rangers glove and hope finally faded away. Advertisement The Jays fell 10-4 in the series finale, failing to complete their 10th sweep of the season. José Berríos allowed six earned runs in the loss, pushing his season ERA up to 4.00. From breaking down Berríos' recent struggles to Myles Straw's power showcase, here are three takeaways from Toronto's series win over the Rangers: The hero of Saturday's 14-2 win, Straw bashed 20 percent of his career homers in consecutive at-bats. In many ways, Straw is a microcosm of Toronto's larger offensive success. He's an elite defender, drops timely sacrifice bunts, rotates in and out of the lineup and found new offensive potential with tweaks to his approach. Straw is one of the many lineup breakouts who have the Jays sitting atop the American League. Straw's hitting adjustments live as small-scale versions of the alterations that unlocked George Springer and Addison Barger. All three use the same buzzwords when discussing changes made with Toronto's trio of hitting coaches: 'More athletic in the box' and 'intentful swings.' Straw never chased much or whiffed often in his career — consistent contact is his natural strength. When the Jays acquired the outfielder from the Guardians in early January, hitting coach David Popkins quickly called him. Straw remembers the conversation and the excitement it instilled vividly. Popkins already had a plan, asking Straw to lean on that contact skill and swing with more purpose. 'Just going out there with a positive mindset,' Straw said. 'And just doing damage.' Straw isn't likely to hit .290 with power like Springer. He doesn't have the elite bat speed that allows Barger to bash 18 homers in 100 games. But he owns his best OPS since 2021 and will soon surpass his 2023 RBI total (29) in half the plate appearances. The Jays are getting the most out of Straw, as with nearly every bat on the roster. Advertisement He is one of 13 Blue Jays batters to produce over 1.0 WAR this year, per Baseball Reference, easily the most in MLB. Only two other teams (the Red Sox and Cubs) have even 10 batters worth over 1.0 bWAR. In Berríos' last seven starts, he owns a 6.30 ERA with just one quality start. The Jays somehow managed to win five of those contests. It's always difficult to look under the hood at Berríos' second-level numbers. He's outperformed his expected ERA by at least a half-run in five of the last six seasons. Entering Sunday's start, he owned a 4.67 xERA and 3.74 actual — a classic Berríos season, in many ways. Lately, though, that classic Berríos hasn't consistently flashed on the mound. Berríos' recent struggle is putting batters away. In April and May, he turned 23.2 percent of two-strike counts into strikeouts — right around his career average. In June, that fell to 18.6 percent. It was 15.1 percent in August, entering Sunday, and in the fourth inning, that turned Berríos' latest outing truly sideways; he allowed four hits on two-strike counts. Sunday's issue, John Schneider said, was Berríos' fleeting command with his primary breaking ball. But the 31-year-old starter has also worked with pitching coach Pete Walker on small mechanical adjustments in recent weeks, looking to push his sinker velocity back up to career norms. He's sat under 93 mph in recent weeks after averaging nearly 94 mph with the pitch across the last few seasons. After Sunday's start, Berríos said he feels healthy, but his fastball averaged 91.8 against the Rangers. Berríos is the pinnacle of posting. He doesn't miss starts and has never once gone to the injured list. If there's a starter who could benefit from the added rest a six-man rotation that included Shane Bieber could bring, it's Berríos. But rotation expansion isn't quite that clean. It would take an arm from Toronto's bullpen and force starters to adjust their routines. Then they'd have to adjust again when the rotation shrinks in October. Advertisement 'Right now, if we get an extra day, it's going to be good,' Berríos said. 'But, at the same time, we have to take care of our bullpen.' Ernie Clement is seven plate appearances away from his most ever in a season, including minor-league campaigns. Kirk is 38 innings from his career high behind the plate. Jeff Hoffman is on pace to surpass his previous high in MLB relief innings, while Brendon Little, Mason Fluharty and Braydon Fisher are already beyond theirs. The product of Toronto's many 2025 breakouts is that many players are approaching new playing time heights. For the hitters who have become regular lineup fixtures for the first time — Nathan Lukes, Barger and Clement — don't expect delicacy down the stretch. Those players will just keep playing, Schneider said. With the platoons and rotational lineups Toronto employs, there's already rest built in for most players not named Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, the only two Jays on pace for more than 610 plate appearances this year. Kirk, logging more catching time than ever before, is perhaps the exception. It's crucial to have him rested and ready for October, but with unmatched defensive value behind the plate and stretches of being Toronto's best hitter, he's hard to take out of the lineup. 'He knows it's going to be a bigger workload,' Schneider said. 'He does everything he needs to do before and after to get ready. But you got to monitor it, for sure.' The bullpen is where Schneider will exercise the most caution. When Little is tired, his pitches don't feel as sharp, he said, and he has to force the movement on his pitches more. We've seen that result in shakier command and bounced pitches at times this year. The Jays have searched for more consistent usage for Hoffman all year, too. When used on back-to-back days, Hoffman has a 4.96 ERA this year. With one day off, his ERA is 1.10. 'I think it's good to be out in the situations they're in,' Schneider said. 'Those are good reps, but you want to be careful with them, a little bit.' The Jays must find consistency and rest for those top relievers, even amid a pennant race. Fresh bullpen arms are important in the regular season, locking down close games. But they're vital in October. (Photo of Myles Straw: Cole Burston / Getty Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle