Canada is ferocious. Canadian football is bad-ass. Well, maybe not so much. But they are trying and I appreciate that. Here’s a video from the CFL of one of the stranger TD celebrations I’ve seen. Anytime you need to call everyone over and set people up it’s already taken too long. You either celebrate right away or you don’t get to. Even the QB had walked off the field!
Archive for the 'Random' Category
23
Sep
08
100 Years Ago was Merkle’s Boner
In honor of the Cubs’ second straight journey to the postseason as the NL Central division winners it is important to note that today is the 100th anniversary of the “Merkle Boner.” No, that isn’t what happens whenever you give German Chancellor Angela Merkel a massage; it happened on the baseball diamond in a game between the Chicago Cubs and the New York Giants.
Fred Merkle, then at 19, the youngest player in the league, came up to bat in a 1-1 ballgame in the 9th inning. With two outs already and Moose McCormick on first, Merkle singled moving McCormick to third. Then, Al Bridwell came to the dish and hit a single of his own. McCormick scored and the New York fans came running onto the field cheering, swarming the players and the field.
Unfortunately for the Giants, Merkle never reached second base because of the fans and had walked off the field. Johnny Evers, the alert Cubs second baseman noticed this and after retrieving the ball appealed to the second base umpire who then called Merkle out on a force play. Because it was a force, the run was thus negated and the game was to continue. However, with all the fans on the field it was impossible to restart the game and it was ruled a tie.
At the end of the season the two teams though had identical records and a one-game playoff was required. The Cubs ended up winning that game and then going on to win the World Series, which as baseball fans know, was the last time they won. Had Merkle just run to the base and touched second, the Giants would have won the game, won the division and the Cubs would be mired in misery forever, instead of just for 100 years.
So, honor Berkle’s Boner in any way you feel appropriate today. This might be the year the Cubs just actually do it and get past their demons and win the World Series. Although I don’t think they will. They may get there but I don’t think the Cubs can get past either of the Red Sox or the Angels, but if they play the White Sox or the Rays I think they have a real chance.
22
Sep
08
I Am Never Going Surfing
Jumping off the remarkable story of Spencer Trapp and his fortunate escape from paralysis, is this unfortunate story of an 18 year old named Peter Jessee and a freak accident. Jessee, a three sport star in high school on the soccer team, hockey team and as the football team’s placekicker. After his graduation, the Jessee family from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma took a family vacation to Hawaii. While on a surfing lesson with his sister Peter started to feel an excruciating pain in his back. “He carried his surfboard up to the beach and put it up and shortly he came up and flopped down just like boys do,” said Peter’s mother, Janet Jessee. “But then he complained his back was killing him.”
After a while he asked if he could get a massage but about 45 minutes into the hour massage Jessee’s legs went numb and he was unable to stand. He was taken to the hospital where doctors informed he he had suffered an extremely rare paraparesis known colloquially as Surfer’s Myelophathy, a condition that often happens to first-time surfers. The injury, caused from hyperextending one’s back, is similar to a stroke localized just in the back. According to wikipedia the majority of patients who suffer from it eventually regain their ability to walk but some remain paralyzed for life. Continue reading ‘I Am Never Going Surfing’
22
Sep
08
Hydroplanes Crash Neat
Vodpod videos no longer available.
I used to LOVE playing Hydrothunder a generally lame video game almost solely because I enjoyed the opening screen with the voiceover’s loud “HYDROTHUUUUNNNNDDDDEEER” announcement. So, in honor of that, how about an awesome crash of a hydroplane to get your week started? I thought so.
19
Sep
08
Wee Man Picks Up Not So Wee Man
Jackass’ favorite midget, Wee Man and the rest of the Jackass crew were filming some bits and the big Shaq Diesel stopped by to hang out and participate. Check out the video below as the 7’1″ 340lb Shaq being picked up by the 4’6″ 120lb Wee Man. As well, Shaq humps Wee Man on the ground, Wee Man hits Shaq with a baseball bat in the stomach and Steve-O hits Shaq with a water balloon full of piss. All in all looks like a fun afternoon of filming!
Wow, this PSA from 1988 is amazing. Mario Lemieux, Tony Fernandez AND Bea Arthur? It’s like a dream team I could never even hope to have actually happen, and yet, there it is, real and once broadcast on television. The 80s weren’t so bad after all…
18
Sep
08
Killer Whales Love to Steal
I find the idea of fishing as a sport to be highly inaccurate, maybe if the fish also had a means to catch the people it would be a sport. That said, how often do you go fishing and then have a giant killer whale steal your fish only feet away from you. That’s what happens in this video where some guy comes awfully close to reeling in an approximately 50 pound king salmon only to have it get bitten in half by an orca. Pretty neat! Nature is exciting!
18
Sep
08
Streaking Can Be Dangerous
I love streaking. In college I streaked every Thursday and it made the college experience better for everyone. The opportunity to see me naked is one everyone should opt for. Thus when I came across this video of a guy streaking a soccer game in Australia I had to post it. Nathan Roberts is a player on the Virginia B Grade team but is sidelined due to fluid in his lungs, pneumonia and an inflamed liver and spleen. During a recent match between United and Hummocks Watchman Eagles after having “knocked back a few bevvies” it was mentioned that someone should streak. Taking up the offer after $50 was offered, Roberts went for it. The only stipulation was that he had to do a cartwheel while streaking. That, unfortunately, is when the troubles began. Join us as we watch the video (taken by his sister) together in all its grainy digitalized goodness and see what happens. Like any good streaker, Roberts had no regrets, “I like a bit of attention and I’d do it again,” he said. “But I’d up the price.”
Roberts gets tended to after knocking himself unconscious doing a naked cartwheel. He was taken off the field in a stretcher.
First Jonathan Papelbon taught me how to play craps now, he’s taught me how to love. Papelbon’s mom, who clearly has an awesome sense of humor sent these embarassing videos to the Red Sox and Comcast Sportsnet from Papelbon’s high school years. In them Papelbon and a friend are dressed in drag and dancing and then later, Papelbon and friend recreate the final scene from Dirty Dancing which Paps as the Swayze. The reaction around the Red Sox clubhouse as they watch the video is pretty hilarious, especially when Papelbon and the guy get close enough for a near kiss. The best part for me though is David Ortiz both introducing the video and then interviewing Papelbon afterwards, the Large Father is a pretty funny dude.
There are several more videos, including the full unadulterated version on Comcast’s website here if you are so interested.
02
Sep
08
Give Koyie Hill a Hand
I may be a cynic, but this story is one that really impressed me. Koyie Hill isn’t likely to ever become much more than backup catcher at the major league level, his stats there are less than inspiring, but his recall on Monday to the Cubs is one of the more unlikely stories of the season. That’s because last October, while building a window frame for his home, the wood got stuck in his table saw and when attempting to free it, Hill sliced his thumb, pinkie, ring and middle fingers clear through. Rushing to a hospital, a hand specialist was called in and Hill’s digits were able to be reattached. Knowing he was a ballplayer, when the doctors were fixing his hand, adding some bones into his middle finger to replace ones that were lost, the doctors fixed the hand to fit a baseball perfectly, as Hill says:
Catching is easy. Thank God it wasn’t my left hand. They added enough bones to my middle finger to where it moves some. They had me hold a ball in my left hand to see where my finger was placed so when they sewed it back on it was fixed in a position. So you could say it was actually built for playing baseball now, which is something a baseball player always wanted.
Hill asked the Cubs to keep his injury from the public and after several months of rehab and working with coaches, he was able to get back to his business of playing ball. Even though doctors told him his career was likely over, Hill refused to accept that, finishing the AAA season with a .275 average at Iowa along with 17 home runs, 24 doubles and 64 RBIs in 113 games.
“Now [the hand] is as good, or a little better,” he said. “I’ve been lucky enough to even be able to play. To be back here is a dream come true within itself. I never had a doubt I would play again. I just didn’t know what level and what limitations my hand [was] going to allow me to play.
“The first couple of months, when it was 30 degrees, I felt like I had frozen carrots for fingers. It didn’t feel good to hold a bat, let alone swing it. To make contact was even worse.”
Today, Hill is once more back in the majors, and on a World Series contender no less. While he doesn’t figure to be a major part of the playoffs team, if he even makes the roster, just being back up has to be more than enough for Hill who hasn’t lost his sense of humor throughout this whole ordeal. The hardest part of all this for him? “You had to learn how to give high-fives all over again.”
Two Russian sumo wrestlers tested positive for marijuana this morning before a meet in Tokyo and have been since suspended. The two men, aged 26 and 28 go by the names Roho and Hakurozan are also brothers. Local restaurants immediately logged a protest with the sumo federation claiming that this suspension will irreparably damage their livelihoods as the two brothers were responsible for 58% of the local sales of chips and oreos.
The Slanch Report 
Rugby Can Be Entertaining if You Change the Commentary
Tags: Alternative Rugby Commentary, New Zealand All-Blacks, Rugby
Here’s another long clip, there isn’t a lot worthwhile in watching the whole thing unless you really dig rugby or are a huge fan of the New Zealand team, but there are a few funny moments in this “alternative commentary.” For one thing, the theme music is especially catchy, then the anthem and organized demonstrations are pretty amusing, but there isn’t much else exciting afterwards. However, the commentary immediately after the teams do their ceremonial dances before the game is pretty hilarious and is the main reason I posted this, so after about 2:50 don’t feel you need to continue along the long journey.