VICE Sports

"Fightland went to Havana to check out the only mixed martial arts gym in Cuba. The Cuban government hasn't legalized MMA for fear of losing its best boxers, so the fighters on coach Evelio Padron Ferrier's team wrestle on concrete floors, use the ocean for endurance training, and practice techniques pulled from memory and bootlegged DVDs."

"It started with batting average, home runs and RBIs. Then sabermetrics came along and introduced a new set of results-driven statistics. But results only tell half the story, and the new revolution in baseball analytics goes one step deeper to measure the actual physicality of the players – exit velocity off the bat, spin rate on a pitcher's curveball, efficiency of an outfielder's route to a fly ball, and a ton more. "FUTURE OF THE GAME is a new series exploring the cutting edge in sports technology, co-produced with our pals at VICE's tech channel Motherboard. In this inaugural episode we meet the architects of MLB Statcast, a new initiative using the same technology that tracks debris during the launch of space shuttles to change the way we watch baseball on TV and give overlooked talent a second change to stick in the Major Leagues" (Vice Sports).

"What do you do with an ageless wonder? That's the question surrounding Julio Franco, who, at this point, is more sea tortoise than man. Franco made his debut as a Philadelphia Phillie during the Reagan Administration. He played his last game in the Majors in the fall of 2007 at the age of 49, ultimately clocking 23 seasons at the pinnacle of his sport. Julio Franco is back and attempting a return to baseball with the Fort Worth Cats of the independent United League as a player/manager. That is insane enough in and of itself. Crazier still is that no one is really doubting him'" (Vice Sports).

"In Appalachia an old rivalry lives on at the lowest level of the minor leagues" (Vice Sports).

"Miami's inner city is football's Mecca. But its biggest rivalry isn't exactly big" (Vice Sports).

"He’s changing the game. He does things no one else does. There’s not a title in the world that he can’t win. The best bull rider in the world, J.B. Mauney is a throwback cowboy from Moorseville, North Carolina. VICE Sports traveled with J.B. to check out his atypical workouts, his superior technique and unrivaled work ethic that has taken him to unprecedented ground in the bull riding community."

"The NFL receiver has over 8,000 yards in his career, but he's probably best known for shooting himself in the leg accidentally while at a New York club in 2008. In this exclusive VICE Sports Sitdown, Plaxico talks about that incident, how it changed his outlook on life, and what it was like to win the Super Bowl" (Vice Sports).