Latest news with #Pacer
Extra.ie
17 hours ago
- Extra.ie
Retiree has walked 128m steps without ever leaving Limerick
When it comes to awe-inspiring feats, Vinod Bajaj is not pedestrian… Well, in fact he is, but that's exactly what makes him special. Mr Bajaj, 75, has walked the equivalent of two-and-a-half times around the world in just nine years and hopes he can inspire people to be more active. The retired business consultant has clocked up an amazing 128million steps, or just over 100,000 kilometres, since he began his remarkable pedestrian efforts in 2016. Vinod Bajaj from Limerick in the west of Ireland who has walked 40,075 kilometres over the past four years without ever leaving his home city. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire Mr Bajaj walks approximately 32 kilometres a day near his home in Castletroy, Limerick. He has even walked the length of an entire marathon in a single day hundreds of times. Interviewed last week – unsurprisingly, while taking a walk – Mr Bajaj said: 'Retirement doesn't have to mean just sitting on the sofa. 'If I can do it, anybody can do it, especially younger people.' Vinod Bajaj from Limerick in the west of Ireland who has walked 40,075 kilometres over the past four years without ever leaving his home city. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire He has never missed a day of walking since he started his treks and spends approximately six hours on two or three walks every day. Mr Bajaj uses an app called Pacer which has recorded over 128million steps since he began his impressive feat in August 2016, initially starting out at ten kilometres a day. He said: 'My wife was worried at the start. But I spoke to my doctor and he said it was all fine. My wife said, 'If you keep walking, you still have to do the housework.' Vinod Bajaj. The Limerick pensioner who says he has walked more than twice the circumference of the Earth is bidding for world record recognition. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire 'There are times I do a 35-kilometre walk and come home tired and need to cut the grass for an hour.' Mr Bajaj, who moved to Ireland from India 48 years ago, has walked the equivalent of the distance from Dublin to Sydney six times, or 40 times the length of the Wild Atlantic Way. It's also four times further than Forrest Gump ran across America in the hit film of the same name. The first big milestone that inspired him to increase his effort was when he realised that he had walked the circumference of the Moon and decided to aim for the circumference of the Earth next. Vinod Bajaj. Pic: RTE 'When you walk, your mind is very free, you get a lot of ideas. I got the idea of writing a book during my walk. I wrote my first book, Pension Without Tension, in 2021 with all the proceeds going to Pieta House,' Mr Bajaj said, adding that he plans on writing a second – and also has his eyes on a very different kind of book. 'I went to the Guinness World Records and I could not see anyone who had walked this much,' he said. 'I thought maybe I might have created a record, so I plan to approach the Guinness World Records to see if they will recognise my feat. I just crossed the 100,000-kilometre milestone in late April.' Mr Bajaj has worn out close to 25 pairs of runners since he began the campaign of daily walking in all kinds of weather. The biggest challenge he has faced on early morning walks is not being able to find a bathroom. 'Everything is closed and especially in the wintertime if you're dying for a leak, there's nowhere to go,' he explained. 'One morning it was six or seven o'clock and I was walking and I saw one house that had a light on, so I asked to use the toilet and they thought it was a joke.' He added, laughing: 'They didn't want a stranger in their house but eventually they let me because I'm 75.' Surprisingly, Mr Bajaj does not have a favourite route but instead said the joy is the walk itself, not the destination or the route. He said he plans to 'slow down' slightly with the walking but has no plans to stop. He added that anyone planning on getting into the activity should walk for at least 30 minutes at a time to be effective and that 'discipline and self-motivation' are the key to his success.
Time of India
5 days ago
- Sport
- Time of India
Who is going to be NBA finals winner? Fan-favorite Air Corgi prediction stirs pot with its unconventional pick
Who is going to take the NBA championship trophy home? The buzz around the same has skyrocketed as the Finals are starting on June 6. Amidst all the discussions, fan-favorite Air Corgi is also out with her pick. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Her choice resonated with the X users in large numbers, but there were a few who had different thoughts. Air Corgi prediction shared on X cements Indiana Pacers as new champions Sharing Yahoo Sports' Air Corgi post, an X user brought to the fans the moment where Air Corgi nets the ball thrown to her. The nets were assigned the names Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers, respectively. Air Corgi deflected the ball from a distance using the headshot, and it went down the nets. The process was repeated seven times, corresponding to the number of games played in the NBA Finals series. Of the seven times, the result went in the Pacers' favor four times, making them the NBA Finals winner by 4-3. The tweet read: 'Air Corgi makes her NBA Finals prediction' It was followed by the video. Take a look at the snapshot of the same: So, according to her predictions, the Indiana Pacers are likely to get crowned the new champions of the NBA. In response to a question asked by a fan, X's AI tool Grok replied: 'Air Corgi has been right in about 75% of its 2025 NBA playoff predictions, correctly forecasting three out of four series. It accurately predicted the Pacers over the Cavaliers (4-1), the Knicks over the Celtics (4-2, inferred), and the Pacers over the Knicks (4-2) in the Eastern Conference. However, it incorrectly predicted the Rockets over the Warriors (Warriors won 4-3). These are playful guesses, not based on analysis, so accuracy may be coincidental. ' The response sheds light on the reason why Air Corgi predictions have become a rage among NBA fans. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Fans could not keep calm over Indiana Pacers being declared as winners, igniting debate The YouTube short Video of the Air Corgi prediction game shared on X garnered 3.7 million views till the writing of this news piece. It is engaging the fans remarkably. They have shared their thoughts with a lot of enthusiasm on the prediction made by Air Corgi. The majority of fans are with the Oklahoma City Thunder, who were also the top-seeded team this season. A fan rejected the video's claim completely and wrote, 'Just make a new one, okc losing 2 straight home games is like 0%.' Another fan commented, 'I don't think so lol.' One more comment that showed the Thunder's huge fan base was, 'He's cooking' However, there were a few fans who seconded the opinion provided by Air Corgi An excited fan commented, 'Pacers in 6 is also my prediction.' Another opinion was, 'I've been saying Pacer in 6 from the get go.' Also Read: Finals The Indiana Pacers have a tough fight ahead as their opponent is the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are considered the better team. If the Pacers can pull off the upset, it will be historic, as the win would be their first.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
This Is the Youngest, Cheapest NBA Finals This Century Thanks to CBA
The 2025 NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers is the youngest in nearly 50 years. The eventual winner will have the lowest average age of any NBA champion since 1980. This isn't pure coincidence. The league's collective bargaining agreement dictates how much money players can earn at various points of their careers, and a second apron rule introduced in the last CBA complicates dynastic ambitions for teams with veteran cores. The youth of the Thunder and Pacers is fundamental to their balance sheets. Advertisement More from Here are some key numbers about the Thunder and Pacers rosters: 24.7 – The average age of the Thunder, weighted by playoff minutes, according to Basketball Reference (ages are as of Feb. 1 for apples-to-apples comparisons across seasons). The 1977 Portland Trail Blazers were a tad younger at 24.5 years, but the only other champion since the NBA/ABA merger younger than the Thunder or 2025 Pacers (26.2) was the 1980 Los Angeles Lakers (25.7). $169.1 million – The total payroll for the 2025 Pacers, per Spotrac, which ranked 18th in the NBA and below the luxury tax threshold of $170.8 million. The Thunder paid $165.6 million in salaries (25th) and also remained below the threshold. Advertisement Historically, teams have had to shell out more money to win. This is the first NBA Finals in the past two decades in which neither team paid the luxury tax, and 14 of the last 18 champions paid some tax, a much higher percentage than the roughly one-quarter of teams that pay it each season. Both of this season's finalists get major contributions from players on cheap rookie deals. Thunder All-Star Jalen Williams earned just $4.8 million this year. Fellow starter Chet Holmgren is also a bargain at $10.9 million. Andrew Nembhard, who was selected in the second round of the 2022 NBA Draft and is the third-leading Pacer in playoff minutes, was paid $2 million. $42.2 million – The salary for Indiana's Pascal Siakam and Tyrese Haliburton this season, who are tied as the highest-earners in this series but just the 19th-highest among all NBA players. NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Oklahoma City made $35.9 million, having signed his rookie contract extension two summers prior to Haliburton. Advertisement SGA and Haliburton each signed for the maximum amount allowed by the league's rules, which is 30% of the salary cap. Only players with at least 10 years of service can be paid up to 35% of the cap, except for players who meet certain awards criteria after their eighth or ninth season. Haliburton and SGA are in their fifth and seventh seasons, respectively, allowing their franchises the financial flexibility to build robust rosters without an albatross contract gumming up the cap sheet. The Pacers, for instance, traded for Siakam during the 2023-24 season and then re-signed him as a free agent over the offseason. The Thunder were able to make a $29 million per year free agent offer to starting center Isaiah Hartenstein last summer. The past two NBA champions were developed with similar timelines. The Denver Nuggets won the title in 2023, the year before Nikola Jokić's salary shot up to $47.6 million, and the Boston Celtics won in 2024, the year before Jaylen Brown's cap hit rose to $49.2 million under his new supermax contract. $380 million – The total value of the record-breaking five-year extension that SGA is eligible to sign in the summer of 2026—a number elevated by his MVP win. Williams and Holmgren, meanwhile, will be up for rookie extensions this offseason. Advertisement Both Finals franchises' owners should enjoy their low payrolls while they last. If Indiana re-signs free agent Myles Turner, it may be a taxpayer as soon as next season. $3.74 billion – Sportico's valuation for the Pacers, which ranks 21st in the NBA and ahead of the Thunder's $3.55 billion (24th). This is the first year going back to at least 1991 that the Finals featured two of the league's 10 least valuable franchises, using Forbes' valuations for seasons prior to 2020. Valuations are highly correlated with market size. Oklahoma City is the NBA's third-smallest market (ahead of only New Orleans and Memphis, per Nielsen's rankings, while Indianapolis is the seventh-smallest). 0 – The number of NBA championships won by Indiana and Oklahoma City. The Pacers won three ABA championships in 1970, 1972 and 1973, and the Thunder franchise won the 1979 NBA title as the Seattle SuperSonics, but one of these two cities will host its first NBA championship parade later this month. Advertisement Best of Sign up for Sportico's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
NBC Sports
01-06-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Pacers headed to NBA Finals after taking advantage of Knicks turnovers to win Game 6
If there was a consistent talking point out of the Knicks from the start of the series through the end it was this: No stupid turnovers. The Pacers thrive on turning those into easy buckets the other way. In Game 6, with their season on the line Indiana cranked up their defensive press and the Knicks, well… TYRESE HALIBURTON, THROW IT DOWN 💥 RUNS A ONE-MAN FASTBREAK AND SLAMS IT HOME! And ANDREW NEMBHARD IS LOCKED IN ON DEFENSE 🔒 HIS 6th STEAL of the NIGHT with the FINALS on the LINE!! Indiana scored 34 points on 17 Knicks turnovers (15 of those through three quarters when the game was in doubt) and that combined with 31 points from Pascal Siakam, and 21 points with 13 assists from Tyrese Haliburton, is sending the Indiana Pacers to the NBA Finals for the first time in a quarter century. Indiana wins Game 6 125-108 and takes the series 4-2. Indiana will travel to Oklahoma City to face the Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night (8:30 PM Eastern on ABC). Pascal Siakam — who scored 30+ points in three of the four Pacers wins— was named Eastern Conference Finals MVP. 'After a bad Game 5 we wanted to bounce back and I have 100% belief in my teammates. Whenever we're down we find a way and we did that tonight,' Siakam said, holding the trophy at center court. It was a bounce-back game. It was also the kind of game where everything seemed to go right for the Pacers — even Obi Toppin and Thomas Bryant were draining multiple 3-pointers. A PAIR OF HUGE THOMAS BRYANT TRIPLES 🎯🎯 Caitlin Clark showing her respect after Indy's 9-2 run in Game 6👀 While everything was going right for Indy, it was a rough night for the Knicks' stars. Jalen Brunson had 19 points but needed 18 shots to get there, plus he had five turnovers in the face of ramped-up Pacers pressure. Karl-Anthony Towns scored 22 (on 19 shots) with 14 boards, but he had a number of ugly defensive plays, like going under the screen on Haliburton and watching him drain 3s. With a lot on the line, both teams were tight in the first quarter, as evidenced by the 10 total turnovers and Towns' 1-of-6 shooting. Still, the game was tight, 25-24 Indy after one quarter. The second quarter was more of the same. The Knicks got a great stretch of play from Landry Shamet and Delon Wright off the bench. OG Anunoby had 14 first-half points, but the Knicks' 10 turnovers, which led to transition opportunities for the Pacers, had them up 58-54. Siakam was the only Pacer in double figures in the first half with 16. In the third quarter, the Pacers broke the game open and took control. It started with a 9-0 run to open the frame, capped off by a Siakam and-1 on a leak out. Indiana wasn't done, their run stretched out to 20-9 behind Bryant's 3s. From that point on the rest of the game, any time the Knicks would make a run — they had a 7-0 one out of a timeout in the third — the Pacers would answer with a bigger run, 9-0 to answer the Knicks with that one. Indiana led by 15 after three quarters, and this was the key stat: 15 Knicks turnovers became 30 Pacers points (New York had six points off Pacers turnovers at that point). That was the ballgame. That was the series. And the deeper team that trusted that depth from the start of the series is moving on to the NBA Finals.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pacer ETF Files With SEC for New Pair of Cash Flow Funds
Pacer ETF is expanding its suite of exchange-traded funds with two new free cash flow funds: the Pacer S&P SmallCap 600 Quality FCF Aristocrats ETF (SCOW) and the Pacer S&P MidCap 400 Quality FCF Aristocrats ETF (MCOW), according to a preliminary prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 9. SCOW will seek to track the S&P SmallCap 600 Quality FCF Aristocrats Index, which measures the performance of companies in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index that have had positive free cash flow (FCF) for at least seven years in a row, as well as high FCF margin and high FCF return on invested capital. MCOW will seek to track the performance of the S&P MidCap 400 Quality FCF Aristocrats Index, which measures the performance of companies in the S&P MidCap 400 Index that meet the same criteria. Pacer Advisors will be the funds' investment adviser, and the effective date, according to the filing, would be July 23, 2025. Management fees weren't included in the initial prospectus. Pacer ETF has 52 ETFs and total assets under management of $37.6 billion, according to FactSet data. Its Pacer Cash Cows ETF Series aims to provide investors with capital appreciation over time by screening broad-based indexes to identify quality companies with high free cash flow yield or margin. Some of the funds in this series include the Pacer US Small Cap Cash Cows ETF (CALF), with $4.4 billion in assets under management, and the Pacer US Cash Cows Growth ETF (BUL), which currently houses $78 million of AUM. 'Pacer is excited to work further with S&P as an index provider to potentially deliver additional opportunities to express Free Cash Flow with more of a Quality and Blend exposure,' a spokesperson for the firm told via an emailed | © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved Sign in to access your portfolio
