From the Denver Nuggets game the other day, comes this video (via FAN IQ) of one of the Nuggets dancers (Bridget) while the telecast comes out of commercial. There’s something hypnotic about it, particularly in slow motion, that clearly also distracted the announcers. Listen as they start talking and then for some reason get completely off-track and go silent for a few moments. I wonder why. Maybe their nachos just got delivered at that moment. Yeah, that’s gotta be it. Looks like it was quite an exciting basketball game!
Archive Page 134
20
Nov
08
Um, What Was I Talking About?
20
Nov
08
The Future of the Globetrotters
Kids grow up too fast these days, take this video of a little girl who is already about 100 times better than me at basketball. It is simply unfair that this girl would probably WRECK me out on the court. Sigh.
20
Nov
08
Why to NEVER Wrestle
In eighth grade I decided to join the wrestling team for my winter activity. After one practice which involved way too much running, and then close contact with other sweaty, smelly teenage boys I quit and joined the basketball team instead. I played 4 minutes every game, averaged 2 three pointers per game and that was plenty. Now, after this story, I’m REALLY glad I quit. Three York College students are suing the school because after wrestling with a teammate during practice they all contracted herpes. First of all, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
The complaint states that one of the team’s wrestlers had Herpes Simplex Virus 1 lesions on his skin which held him out of practice for three days, then, the team’s trainer bandaged up the lesions and sent herpes boy out to wrestle. For the next few weeks various members of the wrestling team then started noticing herpes outbreaks of their own, FUN!
The NCAA actually has herpes wrestling rules which state that wrestlers with herpes must be on antiviral medication for 5 days before they are allowed to practice or compete and that no outbreaks can be covered with bandages to allow a person to compete. So, by those regulations, and based on what the students said happen, it looks like the school is at fault. Of course, that’s just one side of the story, so who knows for certain.
The students are seeking more than $50,000 in damages, which to me is DEFINITELY not enough to cover up the fact that these guys now have the herp. I mean, it’s bad enough that you wrestle, it’s worse that you wrestled some dude with herpes, it’s awful that now they have facial herpes and such. I’m officially terrified.
19
Nov
08
Things Are Strange in Texas
I don’t know why, but the idea of a coach-in-waiting to me is somewhat creepy. Jim Mora in Seattle, Jim Caldwell in Indianapolis and Jason Garrett in Dallas are all head coaches in waiting in the NFL, and to me, it seems like the nature of the job would lead to problems. Say for example, hypothetically a team like the Cowboys is struggling and their head coach looks over matched, at what point does the head coach lose all credibility and instead players and media start paying attention only to what the coach-in-waiting is saying or doing. After all, he’s going to be the big guy soon enough. I’m not the only one thinking this way either.
Anyways, the University of Texas yesterday announced that defensive coordinator Will Muschamp is the successor to head coach Mack Brown, who has made no announcement that he is expected to retire anytime soon. All my worries about the distraction such a coach-in-waiting could cause though were proved completely fair when I saw this photo of Muschamp on the sidelines. How can Mack Brown compete against a defensive coordinator that can LEVITATE!?! That’s some David Blaine shit right there and we all know he’s a scumbag, so now Mack has to deal with a coach-in-waiting, who everyday is probably waiting for something awful to befall him, AND someone who has studied with David Blaine. This cannot turn out well.
Watch your back Mack.
19
Nov
08
So Long Coco
When the Red Sox traded for Coco Crisp I was excited, I thought we might be getting a young Johnny Damon, the comparisons were there, clearly that didn’t happen. However, his time with the Red Sox featured some of the greatest plays in the outfield that I’ve seen, as well as this summer when for a time Coco was playing like the best CF in the game. I remember rearranging the roster on MVP ’05 on my Gamecube to throw Coco into the mix and see how he fit in on the Sox. In the first game he got hurt and was lost for the season. I should have seen that as a sign. Instead I restarted. He went on to have a decent video game season, but never met my expectations.
Was a strong middle reliever all that the Sox could get for him? I thought the market for Coco was a bit better, I thought the haul would be a little better, but hey, a strong bullpen arm is always necessary. Initial thoughts make this move seem like a first step to transferring Masterson back to the rotation, I for one hope that is NOT the case. I want to see (like Keith Law) Masterson become a super reliever. Someone who pitches something like 100-120 innings a year, comes in for 2-3 inning stretches at a time. I think he’d be PERFECT in this role and would be inherently MORE valuable than he would be in the rotation because I think his stuff plays better in a limited role, also, it lets him avoid more left handed hitters. Sure, the option now exists for Masterson to switch back, but I think his best role will be in the bullpen for the long term.
As for Ramirez, via the Sons of Sam Horn comes this interesting stat, on pitches out of the strike zone that players swung at, the top three were Mariano Rivera at 36.3%, Jonathan Papelbon was at 34.3% and Ramirez was third with 33.3%. That’s AWESOME. Sure, it’s a very limited, specific stat, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
It’s not sad to see Coco go because we all knew this was coming, I appreciate all he did for the team, most of all for never bitching during the season even though everyone knew he wanted to be the starter. He was a man about it all and I appreciate that. Plus, he had the best punch avoiding incident in recent baseball memory, (even if it was stupid to have charged the mound in the first place.)
So long Covelli.
Hello Ramon!
Straight outta Japan comes this video of a guy in some batting cages taking a few swings. Only instead of using a standard you know, baseball bat, he opts for using his nunchuks. Makes sense to me. I gotta say it’s pretty damn impressive to be spraying line drives all over with such a small stick.
19
Nov
08
Easy Nate Robinson
I know it’s confusing, you see someone the same size as yourself and you perk up, but you need to remember that you’re the size of tiny people and so age is VERY important…
While trying to run his charity event, “Do the Wright Thing” at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square, David Wright was mobbed by a cougar. Actually, many of them, most of them from Jersey and according to the NY Post, these “trashy-looking” women also had “bad 80s hair.”
David was forced to try and maintain order, telling the women, “Ladies, calm down! Please, relax.” It didn’t stop Wright from being attacked or the kids in front of the women being pushed down.
Goddamn he’s marketable.
18
Nov
08
Ride That Little Pony
Dustin Pedroia did it! In his first year he gets the Rookie of the Year, in his second he adds a Gold Glove, a Silver Slugger AND the MVP. That’s a hell of a way to start a career for a guy who is the same size as me. When you think about how the initial comparisons to Pedroia when he was drafted was a slightly better David Eckstein (mostly because he was a small scrappy white guy) to where he is today, pretty damn impressive. Beyond the stats, which were impressive, watching him play every day is a delight, Pedroia is the tough as nails guy that we all know who goes all out in everything he does and somehow succeeds despite never being the best. When the Red Sox needed him, Pedroia carried the team, hitting a ridiculous .350/.398/.485 for July and then, when the team needed offense after the trade of Manny Ramirez, Pedroia hit a RIDICULOUS .374/.425/.635 with an OPS+ of 177(!) in August. Wow. The only thing I simply don’t understand is that one of the writers somehow didn’t list Pedroia on his ballot AT ALL. OK, you don’t think he’s the MVP, fine, but you’re saying that he’s not even on the BALLOT? That’s ridiculous. According to WEEI and Lou Merloni, the writer who left him off the ballot was Evan Grant from the Dallas Morning News is the guy who didn’t list him. WTF? UPDATE: The Boston Globe confirmed that it was Grant who left him off, and he responded with his reasoning, most of which is lame, but at least he knows what OPS is, so that’s something…
With the possible departure of Jason Varitek, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Pedroia, despite only being a big leaguer for 2 years become the next captain of the Red Sox. Also, for fun comparison sake, after the jump the last Red Sox MVP.
18
Nov
08
Citi Field Remains
I joked about it yesterday but the douchiness of Citibank is pretty hard to ignore. Via the Biz of Baseball comes the report that despite laying of 53,000 workers, about twenty percent of their workforce, there is no intention of Citi reneging on their record $20 million per season naming rights deal. Well that just makes perfect fucking sense to me. Wouldn’t you love to be one of the 53,000 newly unemployed people, be told that there simply isn’t any money to pay you, but of course, there is still $20M available to throw the company’s name up on the facade of a billion dollar building. I know that I would be PSYCHED! Sure, I can’t pay my rent and my kids are going hungry, but I’m glad that the brand name is still getting publicity. Besides, what’s $400M these days, chump change right! I’m sure that money simply couldn’t be used more effectively, maybe by helping the employees, naaaaah, what am I thinking, that must be my socialist nature coming out.
See what I want to do is take the wealth from the corporations that are stupidly wasting it on useless shit like stadium naming rights and instead give it to the employees so they don’t need to lose their jobs. CuRAZY! I’m a fucking socialist!
I’m sure that there has been lots of research on naming rights, but I follow sports religiously, many of my friends (OK, well, the random people who I have begged to be my “friend” on Friendster…) also watch lots of sports, and I don’t know anyone who has ever EVER bought anything or opted for a service because the company had their name on a stadium. OOOH Quicken Loans Arena, I must run out and buy Quicken because I love the Cavs! Reliant Energy Stadium, whenever I need energy, they are who I will use. Minute Maid Park, mmmm juice!
I simply don’t understand these corporations shelling out millions upon millions of dollars simply to have their name on a building. I get that every time the stadium is mentioned the brand name is too, but 99 times out of 100 the name sounds fucking STUPID. Seriously, Quicken Loans Arena? WTF!?! I want more War Memorial Stadiums, less ATT WIRELESS BLACKBERRY STORM FIELDs.
Meanwhile, decent people are losing their jobs because these corporations are foolishly spending these ridiculous sums on a useless thing. It’s despicable.
18
Nov
08
What a Dam Ride
England being so dull and boring, some adventurous kayakers went by a 300 foot high dam in Wales and decided that, yup, they needed to go down it. So, courtesy of the BBC here are some strangely really small images of them doing it. Looks simultaneously awesome and terrifying.
[BBC]
17
Nov
08
Full Moon Over Italy
In Italy’s Serie A soccer league, one of the most competitive soccer leagues in the world, every little bit helps, especially in what is generally a low scoring game. So, when Giuseppe Mascara lined up to take a deciding penalty kick, with the score tied 2-2, three other members of the Sicilian team Catania dropped their shorts so that the goalkeeper was screened from seeing the ball.
“This is a strategy that (Catania coach Walter) Zenga tries continually in training,” the club’s chief executive Pietro Lo Monaco told RAI state radio Monday. Not everyone was psyched by this creative maneuver, with a former referee coordinator calling the move unsportsmanlike and in bad taste, but I like it. Then again, anytime public nudity comes into play I’m probably going to be a fan.
However, Lo Manaco disagrees with the former ref and other critics who called it a trick, saying “A trick? I wouldn’t say so. It’s up to the referee to decide if it should be penalized, otherwise I don’t see where the problem is….Good taste is relative.”
I look forward to this being used more often in other sports venues. This would obviously be a VERY effective strategy against Jeff Garcia anytime he’s under center…What about maybe Eddy Curry dropping trou right before LeBron takes a foul shot, I mean, the sight of a posterior that size might block out the hoop, the lights, everything. I think this could start a wonderful new trend in sports, and I for one cannot wait until the ESPN Top 10 mooning incidents.
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