Will you be taking your tailgating to the parking lot of a packed stadium or having a football party at home? Epic Sports has lots of fun ideas and products to help you have the most spirited party, no matter where you are!

Set the mood...

At the Stadium:
Decorating your piece of the action is fun and sets the mood for the event. Throw down a tailgating mat sporting your team's logo and colors to designate your space and provide a foundation for your party. Eat from a team serving tray and drink from your choice of the many varieties of tumblers, bottles, glasses and mugs that Epic Sports has available to support your team. If you brought your vehicle, you probably already have a steering wheel cover and a trailer hitch with your team logo, but if you didn't drive your car, you can at least pop on a team flag.

In Your Home:
For a football party at home, Epic Sports has a lot of new fun decorating options, just in time for football season! Share your team spirit with keyhook racks, a house banner, serving trays, pitchers and glasses, all proudly featuring your favorite team's logo and colors. There are lots of other products that you can get, but you get the idea.

Food to impress...

At the Stadium:
Cooking out in the stadium lot puts some limits on how elaborate your dining experience can get, but you can still grill in style using a stainless steel BBQ grilling set, printed with your team's logo! The set comes with tongs, a brush, fork and a spatula laser etched with your team’s logo.

In Your Home:
Thanks to the rolling out of Pinterest, you can easily find ideas to help you make awesome displays for entertaining a football party at home. Epic Sports has pinned some party ideas and recipe ideas to the "Football Food & Fun Party Ideas" board on its Pinterest page. Highlights include "football bites" from Gimme Some Oven which feature summer sausage, cheddar and ranch and the Snackadium from Scott Pham (pinned from Maddycakes Muse) which is a complex arrangement of dips and chips and lots of other eats arranged as a stadium.

Prepare in advance...

Shopping for a football party can take multiple trips if you aren't organized. Make a list of everything you can think of that you would want at your party, then another list of everything you need for each of those items.

Here's a (simple) example:
What I want:
Hot Dogs
Drinks
Chips
Cheese Tray

What I Need to Get to Make it Happen:
Hot Dog Buns
Hot Dogs
Mustard
Ketchup
Relish
Onions
Paper Plates
Plastic Forks
Napkins
Plastic Cups
Ice
Beverage of Choice
Ice Chest to Store Canned Beverages
Tray
Cheese
Sausage
Crackers
Dip

The truth is that there many more things you need to get than you might think at first. Once you have a complete list of everything you need, head to the store to pick it up. Planning your décor in advance gives you lots of extra options that you might not have. For example, online you can get awesome NFL licensed glasses and décor, but you might not be able to just get it in your hometown. Order your décor in advanced and you can have the most team spirit and the coolest stuff!

Consider seating...

Hopefully if you are meeting folks at the stadium or carpooling to your parking lot party, your friends will all have brought their own chairs, but bringing a couple extra chairs is a good idea if you don't want to share yours! At home, though you have seating, people won't likely bring their own chairs, so you will want to consider that pre-party. How many extra chairs do you have? If it's not enough, you can tell your guests in advance to bring theirs along or order a couple more at Epic Sports when you put in your décor order.

The smallest details can make a big impact on your party...

Plan for the weather and bring sweatshirts and stadium blankets as needed and don't forget the small stuff. Trash bags might be the last thing on your mind pre-party but it won't be too long into it that you notice you don't have enough of them!

Have other football party and tailgating fun ideas?  Leave a comment!

It's Thursday!  That means 3 new winners in the Epic Sports Q & A Sweepstakes!

We want to take this time to congratulate this week's winners who will each receive a $50 gift certificate to spend at Epic Sports! 

THIS WEEK’S WINNERS

Paul H.

Eve M.

Donna C.

No Photo Available (Yet!)

If your name is not listed above, keep entering because you can still win one of 6 remaining gift certificate prizes or even the Grand Prize of $3000 cash!

Enter daily and invite your friends to enter, too!

Get all the legal details in the Epic Sports Q & A Sweepstakes Official Rules.

Good Luck!

The nature of MMA exposes competitors to a variety of contagious and dangerous skin infections. Sweat rashes, ringworm, staph, cellulitis, MRSA, herpes simplex and impetigo are all fairly common infections that MMA fighters can be exposed to.

There are a number of precautionary measures that you can take to reduce your chances of getting one of these infections.

HOW MMA COMPETITORS CAN REDUCE/PREVENT SKIN INFECTIONS:

Practice good hygiene:
Shower before and after training if possible, wash hands regularly, and wear clean clothes. Bacteria grows in damp environments so wash your gym clothes immediately after training, don't just leave them in your gym bag.

Don't share with your friends:
Sharing is good, but when it comes to towels, razors and unwashed apparel sharing can result in the sharing of a contagious infection.

Train and compete in a clean environment:
It is best for MMA athletes to train in a gym that has strict cleanliness policies and procedures. Mats and other equipment should be cleaned and disinfected regularly, athletes with known infections should be prohibited from participation, and shoes should not be allowed on the mats at all.

Avoid exposure of your open wounds:
While the sport routinely places an athlete in the position where most of his/her body is in direct contact with another person's body in addition to the potentially infected surface of the mat, when possible cover your cuts to reduce your risk.

Don't grow your facial hair out:
Hair can trap bacteria and result in infection, so if it's all the same to you, removing your facial hair could help you avoid a skin infection down the line.

After training, wash with Head & Shoulders shampoo:
Apparently an active ingredient in Head & Shoulders, the dandruff shampoo, is Zinc Pyrithione.  This ingredient is also effective at killing pathogens in the staph family.

Treat your infection:
Knowing what you are dealing with as far as which type of infection you have will allow you to treat it appropriately and possibly even prevent it from getting worse! There are so many different types of infections, it is best to seek medical attention just as soon as you notice an infection starting. It could be a simply sweat rash, treated with an over the counter anti-fungal medication or a serious staph or MRSA infection which needs a prescription medication as well as continued doctor supervision. Play it safe!

COMMON SKIN INFECTIONS IN MMA:

Sweat Rash:
Sweat rashes are probably the least serious of all the skin infection fighters can find themselves with. A sweat rash is basically cause by friction. A sweat rash can start small and grow larger and be itchy but its treatment is a simple anti fungal cream that you can get over the counter.

Ringworm:
Ringworm is easy to identify because of its distinct shape. Google ringworm and almost all the images will look identical, a circle shape patch of dry skin with a clear center. However, all ringworm does not look like this, so it is best to see a doctor if you aren't sure. A topical anti fungal medicine is the first treatment for ringworm in most cases but if not sufficient, a doctor may prescribe stronger medication.

Staphyloccus Bacteria:
Staph bacteria can cause a variety of skin infections. The infection that is most commonly referred to as a "staph infection" is a bacteria infection that results in a painful boil, or pus pocket. It can become extremely serious if bacteria enter the bloodstream. Another infection cause by the staph bacteria is Impetigo which results in a painful rash with large blisters which boast both a pus and a crust. These are the two most common types of staph that affects competitors in MMA. Treatment for staph can be wound drainage and antibiotics but varieties of staph infection can be antibiotic resistant. Treating these types of infections early is very important.

There are lots of products on the Epic Sports Website that can help you in your fight against skin infections!  Check out these antimicrobial skin wipes which meet the CDC and OSHA compliance for hand washing and do so for less than a buck!

You Could WIN $3000 CASH from Epic Sports!

Submit the answer to today's question on Facebook for a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to Epic Sports!  All eligible entries will be included in the Grand Prize Drawing for $3000 CASH!

Today's Question: What does the Sabre Red Defense Pink Pepper Spray (Breast Cancer Awareness) feature? 

The answer: " All of the Above " - the Sabre Red Defense Pink Pepper Spray (Breast Cancer Awareness) features a Quick Release Key Ring, Safety Lock and 25 Blasts!

CLICK HERE

and submit " All of the Above " in the entry form found on the Epic Sports page on Facebook!

Full details found in the official rules.

Whether you're looking for a bat for batting practice or one for game play, the D-Bat Maple Trojan Hybrid Bat is a great choice!

The D-Bat Maple Trojan Hybrid Bat is reinforced with an 18 inch fiberglass sleeve that wraps around the handle and towards the barrel.

D-Bat credits a combination of using the best hard rock maple, care in selection, storage and drying of woods, state of the art manufacturing technology and the combination of proprietary sealer and top coat for the high quality and consistency of D-Bat bats.

This BBCOR approved bat is available in three different models (DB-110, DB-271, DB-J33) and available in 32″, 33″, and 34″ lengths.  Get your D-Bat Maple Trojan Hybrid Bat at Epic Sports and save!

Bullying might not exist if the culture of a team does not promote or tolerate it. Focus on what is expected of bystanders and educate all players and staff as to how players will represent the team in unity.

Start by educating all of your players on what is considered bullying and how it affects the victims. Then introduce your expectations, policy and reporting process.

How can you stop bullying if you don't know it's even happening? You can't. So, if a coach can establish the expectation that bullying be reported among players and staff and develop the trust that the bully will lose his/her spot on the team, no matter how good he/she is, that might be enough to hinder acts of bullying. The would-be bully might hold back actions because he/she doesn't want to be disqualified from playing. Even if the bully isn't deterred by this, the players will feel confident that reporting the incidents will result in the removal of the bully from the team at the very least. This will likely only work if each player wants to play badly enough that the thought of not being able to warrants cooperation.

Hold players accountable for things that take place at practice, in games, at school, as well as off school property and online. How can you do that? As a coach or administrators, you can most likely write into the expectations of your players that they be a positive representative of the team. While parents may argue that what their students do away from school cannot have repercussions at school, the truth is they would have a hard time arguing that their child's actions, bullying behavior against teammates or other students, is representing the school or the team in a positive manner. Online bullying can be proven and if reported, eliminating the person who is performing the bullying will encourage others to not participate in these types of actions.

Encourage victims to report bullying but understand that you will really be relying on bystanders to report it. Some victims won't want to report bullying in fear that it will make the bully angry and increase the frequency or intensity of the bullying behavior. Players should be spoken to on the topic often and reminded that if bullying takes place and it isn't reported by witnesses, that the non-reporting witness is as guilty as the perpetrator and will also be removed from the team when the situation comes to light. Also, ensure confidentiality of the person who reports bullying.

Get the administration behind you. Discuss how you want your team or athletic program free of bullying before there are any specific instances and find out what your administration will support and what it will not as far as your policies go. You need to make sure you have the authority to remove players due to bullying, especially if the acts take place away from school. Explain that the team is representative of the school and that the school will be held accountable by the public for allowing it to happen if they don't take actions to prevent it. You can cite this example. If removal from the team isn't an option, suggest sitting the player out.

Talk to parents before there is a problem and let them know what you expect and what the consequences will be for players who do not heed your warnings.

Lastly, take advantage of resources. Check out StopBullying.Gov, a Website dedicated to providing tips on how to handle bullying for ideas on how you can prevent your players from becoming victims of bullying.

The JUGS Pro Sports Baseball Radar Gun is designed using DSP, or Digital Signal Processing, technology that will help users get more accurate readings even faster. This is a product for the serious player/team that wants to measure improvements in pitching speed.

The Pro Sports Baseball Radar Gun comes with a RS-232 data port, 6 Ni-MH rechargeable batteries (reach a full charge in 12 hours), a wall charger, user manual and a heavy duty soft-shell carrying bag. It has an accuracy index of +/- .10 miles per hour and measures speeds between 30 and 150 miles per hour for distances of up to 300 feet! A roll down feature allows users to clock the first and last speed of the ball.

The JUGS Pro Sports Baseball Radar Gun also comes with a manufacturer's guarantee of 2 years!