“Cowboy” Joe West, president of the World Umpire Association, worked his 4,000th major league game Thursday. Way to go, they gave him a Nationals game to celebrate.

He’s the 19th man to reach the milestone. And I love that the umpire milestone usurps (just sh#ts on, really) the 3,000 hit mlb player milestone.

Congrats, Joe. Here are some other reasons why CJW is really cool (c/o CowboyJoeWest.com)….

• Umpired first Major League game Sept. 13th, 1976 at the age of 23

• In 1981, became the youngest umpire to work in a National League Championship Series (28

• Designed and owns the United States, Canadian, and Japanese patents on the chest protector for the umpires known as the “West Vest.”

• Inducted into the South Atlantic League Hall of Fame in 2002…Quarterback of the Elon College football team, MVP in his senior year.

• avid golfer

• Was a nightly performer at Gilley’s in Pasadena, Texas in the early 1980’s where he worked with the Bayou City Beats and the Urban Cowboy.

Thought The Big Web Viral would be interested in this week’s token internet craze. The resemblance is pretty staggering.

Ho damn, The Big Dapper is more like it.  Here I’m am in matching threads and beard.

The meticulous scribe of this article felt the need to clarify that O’Neal is an american basketball star and that his nickname is Shaq, leaving me to believe that The Big World Renowned is not one that we should so quickly add to O’neal’s stable of The Big nomenclature.

The real story here, is that since challenging Obama  in person (roundball meets round-table on a healthcare reform) didn’t go so well the other day, Shaq resorted to the old standby to challenge David Beckham to a game of “soccerball.” It goes on…

And to entice Beckham on the show, O’Neal has decided to post a series of “tweets” calling on the England footballer to take up the challenge.

“Dear david beckham,” tweets Shaq. “I kno u heard about my Shaq Vs show, anyway u will never score a goal on me, I challenge you lil man.”

But Beckham failed to respond to the tweet, prompting another tweet from O’Neal: “David beckham I kno u hear me, dnt be scared, dnt make me call u out, u will never score a goal on me.”

O’Neal’s most recent tweet to Beckham read: “Dnt make me tweet to 2 million people that your scared of shaq, u betta respond, if u scared get a dog.”

There it is. The blow-by-blow on twitter, as reported by newspaperman. In related twitter news, Ocho Cinco doesn’t know what Levitra is.

David Beckham taunted by Shaquille O’Neal on Twitter (Telegraph)

Not making any accusations, but I curiously have Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division swirling in my head while I ponder this. Just sayin…

A note to serious bidders (always wondered about how you place a non-serious, very jesting bid on one of these high priced item), he’ll also send you some of the add’l 130 photos from his collection not contained in the books.

Not swim fan enough for you yet?

The prized piece of the collection (of over 500 laminated sheets contained in eight books!) - Scrapbook #1: email sent to the Akron Beacon-Journal while Lebron was in High School asking why they weren’t covering Lebron more - it just got weird.

These photos make the spectral sport of synchronized swimming look awesome, exciting, titillating and full of death defying, aerial madness. And then the video quickly disposes of that whole load of untruth.

Photo gallery c/o The Telegraph

On the Stairway to Heaven song pick - bold move, considering that most teams go with selections a la this (hint: in the world of synchronized swimming, Enya wins championships). The Spanish lady rockers of the chlorinated deep will inevitably open the door for other countries to choose tunes from the likes of AC/DC, Rod Stewart, Maiden, and anything off The Police album Syncronicity.

With her next big fight a month away, Gina Carano is jet-setting this week. Tuesday, she was in NYC for a press conference for her upcoming fight against Cris Cyborg on Aug. 15 in San Jose, the first ever female MMA headlining fight. Yesterday, she was back out in L.A. for last night’s ESPY Awards (“We’ve got dresses, high heels - it’s kind of a different scene. It’s a nice thing to do every once and awhile”). Somehow she found a few minutes to chat, and after I informed her that FOX was rehashing her Bruce Lee impression during the All-Star game on Tuesday (the Pepsi commercial…that wouldn’t stop recurring), she filled me in on her upcoming fight and her brief stopover in NYC…



This will be your eighth pro fight, making you for all intents and purposes a seasoned vet. Without giving away any secrets, what’s the weirdest thing you do to get ready for a fight?

I just turn into this crazy, focused, healthy person which is not at all what I’m like normally - I’m all over the place usually. I also stay by myself alot when I train. I become sort of a hermit.

Where does Gina Carano go in NYC? Do you roll with bodyguards, or is that unnecessary?

I was only in NYC for 48-hours, but we got to go out a little one night. I roll by myself a lot. It’s funny, everyone always expects me to have an entourage. The fans are usually pretty cool - come up to me and tell me they admire what I’m doing.

This being the first time a women’s match will headline a fight card makes this an unparalleled landmark in the history of MMA. Looking back, is there a moment in sports history you can remember watching that stands out as particularly memorable to you personally?

I’ve always been more of player and would rather be out there competing. And with MMA there were no real established female fighters to look up to, so I had to kind of make my own way. My dad did play for the Dallas Cowboys, so I remember watching them growing up.

As you know, the other night was the Major League Baseball All-Star game. We know that you have a pretty extensive background in a few different sports (volleyball, softball, basketball). Were you ever an All-star, and what was your greatest All-star achievement?

My fondest memory as a player was definitely leading my high school basketball team to state and winning the state championship. I was the point guard and got the MVP!

Cris Cyborg, Cyborg Santos - sounds more like a comic book villian. Have you ever thought about fighting under an alias?

Well, Conviction is my ring name, but I’d never go by anything but my real name. When I’m in the ring, it’s purely me in there.

Lastly, prediction for the fight? (Don’t just say “pain”)

I don’t usually make predictions, but I don’t think it’s going to go the distance.

Check out Gina’s blog on Yardbarker.com as she prepares to face Cris Cyborg for the 145 lb. Female World Title, Saturday, Aug. 15.



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I hate when it comes down to whether or not the keeper guesses which way to lunge on a free kick… of course, when you have 9 hours to decide, that problem doesn’t really apply.

The slow motion replay adds some nice insult to injury.

Also, #20 from the Norwegian Tippeligaen side’s work on this play is utterly soothing to watch - jog towards the net, slow up to let the ball go by into the net, arms raised in whimsical glory!

Video: An incredibly soft 45-yard goal from the Norwegian Premier League (The Spoiler)

I’m no Sammy Columbo, but I’m guessing Kobe is going to at least get referenced? (And hopefully…capped.)

The Broadband Motion Picture Who Shot Mamba is being billed An Epic Nine Part Saga Told in 12 Parts. Sounds like the sort of irreverent and haphazard production that I could get behind.

Or you could just check out the plot summary:

When he’s accused of murdering a charismatic snake named Mamba, Merri Sherman sets into motion a chain of events that could result in the world’s takeover by a cult that worships a magic basketball, known only as the Orange Roundie. His only hope to stop this is by following the instructions of an ancient prophesy, which may also be predicting his own doom. (IMDB)

Some of the key players behind WSM:

Dustin Pearlman - the director, as noted on the IMDB page. Past projects he’s been involved in include: “30 Days of Night: Dust to Dust” and “Hood of Horror” (aka “Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror”)

Brian Spaeth - the writer, and a man who, if nothing else, deserves your adoration for owning the domain www.madpropstobakedpotatoes.com

Calvin Stadiums - the faux-likeness of the facebook profile linked up on WhoShotMamba.com, with interests such as having the world’s largest and most valuable collection of size D batteries.


Anxious to see how this plays out (hopefully, not in Kobe’s favor).

follow Who Shot Mamba? on twitter

Maybe not quite the 2009 version of Vertical Limit, NFL executive edition. But I could see Goodell looking back to Seahawks CEO Todd Leiweke , lagging behind, and saying: “100,000 sperm and you were the fastest?”

Goodell, Leiweke and Seahawks Head Coach Jim Mora scaled Mt. Rainier on Wednesday in a charity ascent of the 14,411 ft. peak to raise money for the United Way. The group was led by Ed Viesturs, the only American to ever summit all 14 mountains over 8000 meters.

Leiweke on KJR sports radio in Seattle:

“Actually, no one approached us. This was kind of the Seahawks inspiration. Jim Mora had a real interest in going up (Mount) Rainier, so the idea just kind of snowballed. We went to the United Way and said ‘we have this idea. We can climb Rainier and plant the flag for the 12th man but also for United Way.’. So the idea kept building. Jim Mora signing up was a huge deal but then getting Commissioner Goodell to come out and join us was just a side of epic.”

Little more is known of how this group came together other than that one point The Taskmaster sent an email that read “count me in.”

I Can’t See Bud Selig, David Stern, or Gary Bettman Climbing Mt. Rainier (Sports Radio Interviews)

For those of you who know, and for those of you who are about to find out…

Welcome back, The Mooks of Kickball! Part Deux, Season 2, the Challenge…

Gotta keep it local for the first update of the new series with a wildly entertaining video that profiles the Brooklyn Kickball League - a glowing example of the undeniable fact that there are few things better than being outside and drinking.

Before you view this I should also add that is indeed a German TV documentary, and there is a Beavis & Butthead reference.

sich erfreuen!

The German language is so angry. I love it.

As mentioned in the past, I do play in this league (that was my girl Hillary from our squad Diddy’s White Party with the ball juggling maneuverings around the 4 min. mark). This video does not give team Never Scared’s sound system justice. It is literally a guitar amp, an ACDC converter box and an IPOD all running off of a car battery - rigged to a hand truck I think they stole from Home Depot.

Check back next week when I’ll post about this weekend’s International Kickball Invitational happening on Saturday in BK. (Hopefully, it won’t be totally overshadowed by The Cardboard Tube Fighting Tournament)

Check out last year’s post on The Mooks of Kickball (i.e. kickball was so 2008)