Becoming the first American man to win an Olympic medal in luge has opened up a world of possibilities for Chris Mazdzer.
“There are some endorsement deals coming my way,” the silver medalist told Cheddar. “This has completely changed my life. It hasn’t changed who I am, but it changes what I can do.”
Mazdzer points out that Olympic athletes can work long and hard without ever seeing much financial rewards. He, for example, had been training for 21 years, juggling practice with bartending and working weddings just to make ends meet.
He says, “Some athletes work two, three jobs, just to keep doing what they love doing.”
To raise awareness, Mazdzer donated $5,000 -- about a third of his winnings -- to athlete-mentoring organization Classroom Champions. He’s also raised over $35,000 more in matched contributions.
He’s also planning for a future after sports.
“I want to go into financial planning, but I also want to go into...life fulfillment planning,” he said. “If you can manage how you view money and if you can manage how you feel about what you’re trying to do with your life…then you have the chance to be completely at one with yourself.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/olympic-luger-chris-mazdzer-makes-history).
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The battle royale, "last man standing" phenomenon has all but engulfed the video game industry. Though whether you prefer realistic bullet drop, zombies, or even trampolines, the premise still involves cutting down your competition with conventional weaponry like swords and firearms. Spell Break IS one of these games, but what if you'd prefer to incinerate your enemies with a fireball? Or choke them to death with a cloud of poison?
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, Feb, 6, 2019.
Respawn Launches Free to Play Battle Royale Game
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019.
Chris 'Hellpockets" Fields reflects on the Red Bull Final Summoning. Hellpockets also weighs on the character changes in Dragon Ball Fighterz.
Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman might be the MVP of the Super Bowl, but the #MVP award for Super Bowl brands goes to Planters' Mr. Peanut. Mr. Peanut won Twitter's #BrandBowl contest for generating the most brand-related tweets during the Big Game. "They ran a really smart sweepstakes on Twitter and were giving things away during the game," Ryan Oliver, Twitter head of brand strategy, told Cheddar on Monday.
Bud Light topped Salesforce's list of most buzzed-about brands during the Super Bowl, followed closely by Pepsi, Budweiser, Doritos, and Avocados from Mexico. Rob Begg, Salesforce's vice president of product marketing, said what set those brands apart was their active engagement on social media. "One of the things we did see with brands over the Super Bowl were the ones who had the highest mentions and the biggest buzz were the ones that sort of carried the advertising conversation online,” he told Cheddar.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Monday, Feb. 4, 2019.
While the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams face off for the Super Bowl title, advertisers will be waging their own battles during Twitter's Brand Bowl 53. Ryan Oliver, senior director of brand strategy for the U.S. and Canada at Twitter ($TWTR), said the Brand Bowl is a celebration of the advertisers that are being talked about on Twitter.
