Archive for October, 2011
Well it’s about time. After two consecutive nights where a squirrel (or squirrels meaning two or maybe an army of them, who knows?) disrupted play during the National League Division Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Philadelphia Phillies at Busch Stadium this week, stadium operations crews have laid traps out around the grounds to catch the wily tree rats. But do not fret, these traps are of the varmint-friendly variety so no squirrels will be hurt during their forced removal from their home. Also, to entice them, the traps are slathered with peanut butter. Yum.
Via KMOX:
“We’ve got a couple different reports where we’ve seen two, maybe three, squirrels,” said Cardinal’s Vice President of Stadium Operations Joe Abernathy, “It’s probably a small family that’s in here.”
While fans thrilled to the sight of a “rally squirrel” hopping across the grass in front of Skip Schumaker batting in Wednesday night’s game — and a squirrel sneaking across the infield Tuesday night — Cardinals management is not amused.
“From a stadium operations standpoint, we need to insure that the game can go on without interruption,” Abernathy said.
Gosh-darned right you need to make sure the game can go on without interruption. But be forewarned, Busch Stadium squirrel hunters: those creatures can be a crafty bunch. Before you know it, you’re the one caught in the traps instead of the squirrels. At the same time, maybe that’s just been my experiences with squirrel baiting. But then again, I do love peanut butter, so there you go.
Cardinals try to Catch a Squirrel — and Hope to Advance in Playoffs [KMOX]
That is awesome. From vlogger seeitourway:
FBC Throws 1st Pitch at Game 4 of the 2011 NLDS between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Milwaukee Brewers on Oct. 5. FBC graduate Max Ashton throws a perfect strike to get the crowd excited as the D-backs swept the Milwaukee Brewers at home to force a do-or-die Game 5 in Milwaukee on Oct. 7.
Bravo, Max. FBC stands for Foundation for Blind Children, an organization based in Phoenix, AZ, whose mission statement is, “The mission of the Foundation for Blind Children is to help blind and visually impaired children, adults and their families lead lives of independence and dignity through mastery of their environment. This will be accomplished through education, training, counseling, communication and technology.” If the inspiring performance on the mound by Max Ashton is any indication, FBC is doing a phenomenal job of accomplishing their goals.
What he accomplished kind of makes the litany of Ceremonial First Pitch Fails over the years appear even more pathetic, does it not?
[H/T BuzzFeed]
With the country musician and all his rowdy friends having been kicked to the curb by ESPN Thursday (or the other way around, depending on who you believe), it has been announced that Detroit Lions legend Barry Sanders will be replacing Hank Williams, Jr. and his so-played “Are You Ready For Some Football” song schtick for next week’s broadcast of Monday Night Football. The move by ESPN is especially fitting — not to mention savvy — given Sanders’ Detroit Lions are facing the Chicago Bears in a huge matchup in that night’s game.
Via the Detroit Free Press:
“Ok, I admit it,” Barry Sanders tweeted. “I will be at MNF this week and doing the intro.”
Said ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz, “This is the format we’ll likely use the remainder of the season. We haven’t made any decisions beyond that.”
Sounds like a decent idea. Sadly, I highly doubt the appearance by Sanders will involve any down-home, southern-fried boot-scootin’ or what have you, nor will it likely involve sequined vests, cowboy hats or annoying country rock jams. But hey, you never know. That Barry Sanders was always kind of an enigma.
Barry Sanders will narrate ‘Monday Night Football’ preview [Detroit Free Press]
Wait. What? Jeez louise, with every passing day, this crazy world makes less and less sense. We’re talking about Anderson Silva, the reigning UFC Middleweight Champion, joining Justin Bieber onstage and then, if that wasn’t bad enough, engaging in a little bit of synchronized dancing to boot. Weird, wild stuff.
While the locale of the above concert on Oct. 5 lends some context to the odd pairing — Silva’s native Brazil — the video nevertheless remains odd and slightly disconcerting. I suppose to rectify the cognitive dissonance I’m experiencing, the next logical step here would be for Bieber to join Silva in the octagon so the champ can teach him a thing or two about what UFC is all about. Yeah, that would be awesome.
[H/T The Big Lead]
Typically, one is rewarded for being a follower of Arizona Cardinals defensive lineman Darnell Dockett on Twitter with hilarious, sometimes politically incorrect, commentary (see here, here and here for a sampling). But one of his more recent tweets will hopefully raise a lot of awareness for what his teammate is doing by using Twitter as an agent to do good.
On Wednesday, Larry Fitzgerald announced that he will donate $0.10 to breast cancer research for every new follower he adds on Twitter during the month of October, which adds on to the already generous $1,000 for every reception and $10,000 for every touchdown catch he makes this month as well. As you can see, Dockett is in full support of his teammate’s movement, as he has pledged to follow suit and will donate $0.10 for every new follower Fitzgerald adds as well.
Fitzerald’s mother sadly died from complications related to breast cancer in 2003 when he was in college at Pittsburgh so this cause hits real close to home for the wide receiver. And for Dockett, the fact that Fitzgerald lost his mother at a young age is not lost on him, as his mother was tragically murdered when he was only 13-years-old.
So, I guess the least we all can do is take part in Fitzgerald’s campaign. All you have to do is follow him on Twitter. That’s about as easy as it gets.
Well, that’s certainly a bizarre prize, albeit a delicious one, so there you go. During the second round of the Madrid Open on Friday, Scotsman Elliot Saltman hit a hole-in-one on the El Encin golf course’s 204-yard third hole and for doing so, he was awarded his body weight in Iberico ham, or Jamón ibérico, in Spanish. Sounds mighty tasty.
So, how much porky deliciousness does that amount to, you ask? The brains behind this unique prize probably wished someone a bit more spry had hit the hole-in-one, because Saltman is a rather large fellow, coming in at 6-foot-4 and weighing thereabouts of 240 pounds. Yep, the Scot just won 240 freaking pounds of ham. Eat up, man.
And by the way, no, the synergy between the bloke’s name who won and the curing process of the meat he was awarded for his golfing feat was not lost on me.
Briton Saltman brings home the bacon in Madrid [Reuters]
Wake N’ Blog is the Sportress of Blogitude’s morning link dump. Send tips, link submissions, etc. to weedagainstspeed@gmail.com.
• I know, it’s gross, but it be true: Anthony Garcia, an employee at a market in Albuquerque, New Mexico, faces up to three years in prison after he admitted that he placed some of his own semen on a plastic spoon he used to give a woman a sample of yogurt. Garcia pleaded guilty to adultering food and providing false statements to federal investigators. Now the super gross part, according to the AP report: “The woman told police that after tasting the sample, she spit on the floor several times and wiped her mouth on the garment she was wearing to get the taste out of her mouth. Investigators collected samples of the woman’s spit from the floor and took the garment she was wearing as evidence.” Nasty. [msnbc]
• Awesome: The Top 10 sports-related episodes of The Simpsons of all-time. [Off the Bench]
• The 7 most heartwarming stories from the NHL preseason. [Puck Daddy]
• A reporter dropped an f-bomb during a Seattle Seahawks pregame show. [Guyism]
• An NFL rookie who was fined $20K for a hit was told to appeal the fine by the guy he hit. [Shutdown Corner]
• Tracy McGrady is very rich, by evidenced by the fact he claimed he could buy the country of Greece. [The Basketball Jones]
• Tim Tebow’s pep talk on The Biggest Loser was very Tim Tebow-esque. [Outside the Boxscore]
• Just so you know, John Wall will cross you over even if you’re not a basketball player. [Ball Don't Lie]
• The Dugout takes an entertaining look at Brian Wilson’s new Taco Bell commercial. [With Leather]
• Ha. ESPN The Magazine: Body Issues. [TAUNTR]
• Just like every week, here’s KSK’s Sex/Fantasy Football Mailbag. [Kissing Suzy Kolber]
• The Onion Headline of the Day: Sidney Crosby Tells Telephone Pole He Has Recovered From Concussion
Ouch. And by “can’t quite pull off backflip,” I of course mean she didn’t even come close. Clearly, this gal, despite her best efforts, doesn’t got the spirit, no, no, got the spirit.
[H/T Sports Pickle]
According to the team’s official Twitter account (you can tell it’s real because it’s called @realpatriots), When the New England Patriots take the field at Gillette Stadium on Sunday afternoon to take on the hated New York Jets, these are the uniforms they will be sporting. Spiffy. The coaches will also be donning throwback shirts — but as you can see, they are short-sleeved, so there will be no need for Bill Belichick to cut them. I wonder if that bums him out. Oh well.
Photo of the throwback helmets and pants follows.
(Note: The performance begins about two minutes into the video)
That, my friends, is Florida Panthers winger Kris Versteeg doing the karaoke equivalent of a hate crime on the Enrique Iglesias ballad, “Hero” (or giving the abysmal song its proper due, depending on your point of view — I’m leaning towards the latter myself).
This mind-blowing performance occurred on Tuesday night at the Florida Panthers Foundation’s fight against Pediatric Cancer after Versteeg auctioned off a karaoke performance. Whoever put up the cash that paved the way for this exercise in vocal prowess sure got their money’s worth.
[H/T Puck Daddy]
Bree McMahon was working at a fundraising car wash at Freedom High School in Orlando in Sept. 2009 when a car accidentally rolled forward, pinning her against a wall and crushing her lower body. The traumatic injuries left McMahon in a coma which was followed by multiple surgeries. Despite the doctors’ best efforts, there was no choice left but to amputate McMahon’s left leg, leaving the soccer player unsure what her future held.
Now, two years later, McMahon, despite everything going against her, has made an unbelievable and remarkable comeback. Courtesy of a “running leg” prosthetic, the college sophomore began training with her school’s soccer team at Brevard College in North Carolina and through incredible hard work and unimaginable perseverance, McMahon made the school’s squad.
From a Click Orlando report (via Off the Bench):
“I have to figure out and adjust my body movements to what I can do instead of what they can do,” said McMahon as she talked with Lauren Rowe via Skype.
McMahon is still training and has not hit the field to play a game, but she says she hopes to be ready for that soon.
McMahon told Rowe her coaches have to work hard to get her to slow down.
“I don’t want to stop, but my coach is like, ‘Bree you’re done for the day’ and I’m like, ‘Ugh,’ because I want to keep going,” said McMahon.
Amazing. What a brave and strong young woman. The entirety of an interview with the inspirational athlete can be found here.
Local Soccer Star Who Lost Leg Runs Again [Click Orlando (via Off the Bench)]
Seriously, that’s what the Florida Miami Marlins going with for their new logo? Weaksauce. Somewhere, a talented graphic artist bitterly weeps…while he cooks himself up another pot of ramen.
[H/T Getting Blanked (via Sportpost)]
You know, just because.
We’ve been having a lot of fun over the past week or so with ESPN The Magazine‘s upcoming edition of their immensely popular “Body Issue” set to hit newsstands on Friday, in particular with the lovely and talented Spanish golfer Belen Mozo, so why not continue on with it?
(watches video again)
Why not, indeed.
[H/T Golf.com]
For the second consecutive game, a squirrel stole the show during the National League Division Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the St. Louis Cardinals. On Tuesday night, a rascally little critter scampered around the field at Busch Stadium during the sixth inning, Wednesday night’s varmint made its appearance known in the fifth inning, running by home plate just as Phillies pitcher Roy Oswalt was making a pitch to Cardinals second baseman Skip Schumaker.
Some comments from the those involved (via MLB.com):
“I was wondering what size animal it needed to be to not have a pitch,” Oswalt said. “I got distracted. I didn’t really know that would be a pitch. If it ran up the guy’s leg, would he have called the pitch for a strike? It’s hard to say.”
“You notice that Roy wasn’t the least bit bothered by it,” said Lance Berkman, his former Astros teammate. “Where he’s from, that’s just par for the course.”
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel had visions of squirrel season.
“There’s not too much I can do about a squirrel running across the field,” he said. “I don’t know what I can do about that. Of course, being from the south and being a squirrel hunter, if I had a gun there, might have did something. I’m a pretty good shot.”
Ah, that Charlie Manuel and his dreams of small game hunting. You gotta love the guy.
Squirrel zooms past plate during Oswalt pitch [MLB.com]
Unless you have been living under a rock, you have undoubtedly heard about the inflammatory comments Hank Williams, Jr. made during an appearance on FOX and Friends last Monday where he compared President Obama to Hitler. That little gaffe resulted in ESPN pulling his intro from that night’s broadcast of Monday Night Football.
There have been comments from both sides — as well as a massive amount of commentary regarding whether it was right or wrong for ESPN to pull the intro — over the past few days regarding exactly what the future of Hank’s relationship with ESPN entailed, but now it’s official, sort of: ESPN says they fired the country crooner, but Hank Williams, Jr. said he told them to take this job and shove it. Who to believe?
