Tower, we’re going to buzz the backstop.
Is it a news report? A talk show? Is it child protection PSA? (Not very likely judging from the picture-in-picture graphic laugh fest). I don’t speak a lick of Japanese.
Playing baseball at an airport (Japan Probe)
I don’t even know Briny Baird, son of Butch Baird, but what a guy! He won the whole damn Country P.F. Changs!
Yesterday, while a whole lot of you were sitting at work dreaming about P.F. Chang’s chicken lettuce wraps, B.B. was atop the Omni Hotel in San Diego staring down at a make-shift bullseye set-up in right field of Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres.
The task at hand, take ten shots from the 300+ foot elevated tee. If a single one landed in the center of the bullseye, every man and woman alive in America would receive a free P.F. Chang wrap (the kicker: you have to buy a damn entree. RATS!) Additionally, for every bullseye P.F. Chang’s donated $2,000 to the San Diego Navy/ Marine Corps Relief Society ($1,000 and $500 for the outer rings).
Now this was an elevated tee. It sat Monday on the roof of the Omni San Diego Hotel, 34 floors – 340 feet or thereabouts – above L Street, 268 yards to a flag stabbed into Petco Park’s right field turf and surrounded by a large bull’s-eye. Tough hole, but maybe the most picturesque in the history of golf.
Little wind, but always a threat of tricky gusts. No trees. Possible nosebleed. The only rough was the shot itself. Not since Alan Shepard sliced a few on the moon had we seen anything like it. A David Letterman stunt, perhaps. (SignOnSanDiego.com)
Briny put two in the center, and 8 of 10 in the scoring area – raising $17,500, which Chang’s upped to $25 large. Novel charity work by all (we all lost interest in the chicken lettuce wraps after hearing the damn entree kicker).
Go check out the video on SignOnSanDiego.com
For the social media junkies reading this, if you’re aspiring to get something linked on Fark (a veritable cavalcade of referral traffic) take note of the headline for this submission…
The real star of this clip is Grady Sizmore’s face. Talk about falling under a spell of doldrums upon seeing his would-be game-winning walk-off hyphen-inducing home run robbed by Granderson. Did he promise a terminal cancer kid he was going to hit a walk-off tonight?
According to MLB.com, Sizemore wasn’t available for comment, but Indians’ broadcaster Al Pawlowski’s call pretty much hit on the emotion:
Jacoby “The Jet” Ellsbury steals home, the Sox close out the sweep of the Yankees at home, and my roommate and I had the first simultaneous “Holy S#@t” yell of the young 2009 MLB season (in the friendly confines of our home).
It was Ellsbury’s first steal of home plate since College, and the first one for the Red Sox since Jose Offerman did so in August 1999. Still, that one was part of a double steal; the last straight steal of home (love that expression) for the Sox dates back to 1994 (Billy Hatcher)
In honor of Ellsbury and all you grifters out there, I give you 10 videos featuring Great Moments in Stealing Home. We’ve got another Pettitte failing, some video game footage, Jenny Finch as a teen, and of course the classic 1955 steal by Jackie Robinson. (Also, something that doesn’t technically qualify as stealing home. I’m a sucker for a well-executed clothesline, what can I say.) Enjoy!
Jennie Finch (age 16) steals home
Backyard Wrestling “Don’t Steal Home”
Tsuyoshi Shinjo stealing home plate
Delayed Steal to Home Plate (2007 Little League World Series Japan vs. Curacao)
Johnny C steals home as batter swings (Here I F@#%ing COME!)
Jackie Robinson Steals Home (Game One, 1955 World Series, Dodgers vs. Yankees)
Aaron Hill Stole Home!
And last, but not least…
…OK, they wouldn’t let me embed this one. Please, go watch it. Just read the description:
When I say abuse, I’m not talking about having to ask Piniella to “lay off the water works, Lou.”
I’m talking about the business end of Hank Blaylock’s broken bat last night….
As well as taking an uncontested 96 mph fast ball from Brad Penny to the dome last year.
Like.A.Ton.Of.Bricks.
Sports By Brooks posted this morning that Danley was taken to the hospital for a possible concussion after that bat whack last night. Here’s hoping he makes a speedy recovery.
Not a glutton for punishment personally, but, if I had to suffer umpire abuse, I would rather go this route:
ABC Family really got it right when they decided to air Rookie of the Year, Little Big League and The Sandlot back-to-back-to back on Saturday. What’s truly unfortunate is that it was all just programming stunt to plug the World Television Premiere of Sandlot 3: Heading Home that night ( They made a Sandlot 2? ). Starring Luke Perry as Tommy “Santa” Santorelli.
Ah geez, I apologize. Let me remedy that one…
I just ate a Tic Tac. I knew it was a Tic Tac too.
OK, let me set the record straight, it was actually an Eclipse mint. In my defense, I’m young, stupid, naive, I’m only 24 (note: I’m actually 24, not 26, 27 or 28), and maybe a little hyped up on Winterfresh.
A-Rod speaks: ‘I knew we weren’t taking Tic Tacs’ – USATODAY.com
So I was sitting around watching Norbit (for the second time) on HBO Comedy this weekend. When the plot intricacies became too much to bear, my mind wandered and I started to think (appropriately) about other things that suck. Specifically, things that I own.
Pretty high up there on this list of contraband is a signed black and white 8×10 of Mo Vaughn from his days on the Red Sox.
The Hit Dog was pretty beloved in Boston before his unceremonious departure. He left in 1998, signing the richest contract in the league at the time to go to the Angels, where he was plagued by injury. After that, he went to the Mets – where baseball players go to die – and was never seen or heard from again.
Regardless, I prominently display this autograph atop a stereo cabinet that has three of four – minus the woofer – speakers blown out. Mo has taken a few tumbles during Number the Beast (I keep dryer sheets in a more sturdy, in tact location).
Which leads us nicely to this week’s sports blogger poll…
Send your submissions to me here. The best (crappiest) of the best (rubbish) will be posted Friday in A.M.
Each Wednesday, I post a weekly update to the digest “If You Had Money”, which shows the sporting goods and memorabilia you could purchase if disposable income was no longer a thing of the past. Each week, it will inevitably leave you wanting…
If you do a search for ‘bankruptcy’ on Ebay, it returns 322 results. Which frankly, is lower than I expected.
Regardless, liquidation is the theme of the season, my friends. Take these guys for example, they’re unloading five tons of brand spankin’ mint condition baseball cards!
David Ortiz was placed on the 15-day DL today. When asked about filling in for Ortiz at DH, the genius of shill himself, Manny Ramirez told the Boston Herald:
“I love DH…I’m pretty sure they’re not going to miss my Gold Glove out there [in left]. We’re fine. We’re going to be fine.” (via ESPN.com)
Even MannyRamirez.com only argues that he may not be a gold glove outfielder.
