Remember when the Beatles said Everybody had a hard year, Everybody had a good time…and them some other stuff about wet dreams, etc.? You were probably too young. God knows I was, but I have heard that song, and I think that lyric pretty well sums up those of us who grinded it out on the blogging circuit in 2009. Guess we’ll have to wait until 2010 to quit our day jobs, comrades (kudos to those who actually did quit their day jobs).
To close out 2009, I asked a few of my fellow members of the sports and pop culture blogging intelligentsia to send me their best post from 2009. I’m proud to say that I at least retweeted most of these when they first went live, and had a chance to go back and re-read. This list revisits Barry Bonds, Brett Favre, cartoon characters who juiced, and the seemingly insurmountable number of Harry Potter-lookalikes in the sporting world.
I didn’t pick a best post myself, but my favorite post – or should I say community organizing effort – by another blogger came from Yardbarker’s Alana G back in late November, who through her site campaigned MTV Jams to air a Tiger Woods video playlist. I never did follow up, and ask if they played my submission (Usher – Confessions, Part II), did I?
Check out the rest of the links below. I hope this leaves you feeling good, looking towards the future.
In honor of my first trip back to Fenway Park this weekend, I put it out there to some of the sports blog intelligentsia to send: My First Sports Memory
You can read all about my personal moment of nostalgia – a heartwarming tale about how Fenway Park turned a shy six-year old into a leader of men – here. Below is some more true folklore (at least in the eye of the beholder).
If nothing else, this a great chance to see a few of your favorite sports bloggers really, really date themselves ( Game 3 of the 1986 World Series, a Kirk Gibson game, the John Havlicek retirement game!).
My earliest sports memory was Game 3 of the 1986 World Series at Fenway Park. My father had one ticket to the game (second row centerfield bleachers), but he decided to bring me figuring they wouldn’t deny an 8 year old entrance to the game. He was right, the old man at the gate pulled me up over the turnstyle and let me into the game. I don’t remember much about the game other than the fact that Oil Can Boyd was on the mound for the Sox and shit the bed.
I hope this led to a life of hurdling-the-turnstyle crime for Mr. Don Chavez.
I was 7 years old and we went to see the Salt Lake City Trappers on the 4th of July. I believe Hank Aaron threw the first pitch. I had no idea what was going on, but I knew that there was going to be fireworks after the game. The only thing that I remember is that there was a loud bang that just scared me to death, and I
yelped out my first F bomb. The next moments were in slow motion. My step Dad looked at me and then told my Mother what her son just said. My next memory is having soap in my mouth.
They’ll be other examples of kids blinding loving the watered-down experience (especially when you’re not old enough to drink) that is Minor League baseball..as well as more F-bombs.
For me, probably around 1983-84, at Memorial Stadium to see the Orioles play. My father took my 4 siblings and I to the games to give my mom a break in the evenings. We always got there early to catch balls in the outfield bleachers, and get autographs signed by the players during batting practice. Cal “not overrated” Ripken would sign at every game, and sign for everyone. I have one baseball that he signed for me on four different occasions. When was the last time you saw a ball player spend 45 minutes signing autographs on game day? He is from Baltimore, and is Baltimore and every kid growing up in that era and in that area have Cal Ripken as their first and most lasting memory in Sports.
Touching, let’s hear about an autograph signing gone sour, shall we..
I remember going to a Bullets-Pistons game at the Capital Centre with my dad and one of my friends, around 1990. Well after the game ended, a few of the players including John Salley went down the line of waiting fans to sign autographs. Salley got the group to my right, looked directly at my friend Sean and me, and went directly to the next group on our left. My dad tried to get autographs for us also but he refused to sign for him too. I’ve never been a John Salley fan since.
Then again, if this goes differently, imagine the shame you’d be feeling right now if you grew up loving John Salley…
1986, it must have been. Tony Pena’s last year with the Pirates. I woulda been 2. I remember someone telling me that Pena was up to bat at Three Rivers Stadium…either my dad or the announcer. I was sitting in the nosebleeds, but remember saying “He’s gonna hit a home run,” which he did, to the leftfield seats way below me. Pena’s always been one of my favorite players because of that.
One of the many Red Sox games of my youth also featured a Tony Pena home run – the rarity of which can not be overstated (1,988 games career games – just 107 HRs).
1983, Left Field at Veterans Stadium, sitting in ubstructed view seats, so I actually ended up watching on television screens on overhang, my uncle lectures me, “Just remember that your Godfather took you to see Pete Rose play baseball.” I remembered. Though, I could have seen the same game at home.
I remember going to the Phoenix Firebirds game at Phoenix Municipal Stadium on my brother’s birthday. The Firebirds were the AAA affiliate for the Giants back then and I got to see a bunch of great players come through. But that night I couldn’t have been older than five or six. It was a night game because it’s Phoenix in the summer and you don’t play baseball during the day outside. I remember how packed the place was. Matt Williams was on the team and there was a buzz about him but I didn’t care about that. I just liked the environment of the ballpark. Nothing of note happened (besides hearing my brother’s name announced over the PA) but it was my first trip to the ballpark and I still remember the way the sky looked and the way the mountains made strange shadows on the field.
We were up in the nosebleeds. the place smelled real bad. I remember my science teacher Mr. Coyle was selling beer. Very surreal. On the floor for the Celtics were guys like Pistol Pete Maravich, Dave Bing, I remember they were playing buffalo and ernie d the former braves star but local kid from providence was on the celtics at the time. the place went absolutey nuts for hondo. ab-so-lute-ly nuts. i dont remember the garden ever rocking like that and we had seasons all through the bird years. thats the night my love
affair with the celtics began.
Josh, we can deduce that you were at least in grade school when this game took place – in 1978 – how old are you?
Little background info:
I was born in Bremerhaven, Germany and lived there until 1995 then moved to Olympia, WA.
After living in WA for a few months we went to a Mariners-Yankees game in the 1995 divisonal series playoffs. We went to game 5 of the series so the series was 2-2. It was a great game, we sat in left-center at the Kingdome(old Mariners stadium shared with the Seahawks). Since it was a old stadium, not all the seats were that good but who cares it was game 5. It went to 11 innings that night with my team, the Mariners(who I am still a huge fan of), winning the game 6-5.
My first baseball game: Mariners-Yankees, game 5, 11 innings. Mariners Winning.
This wins the reward for decrepit sporting venue visited in thine youth…whoops, wait a second…
My first live sporting event memory was on a cold October night at the old Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Back when Sweet Lou and Trammel ruled the middle of the diamond and Kirk Gibson was in shape.
My dad had a stache like Jack Morris and it was his first game as well.
It was 1984 and I was 10. The ball park seemed like a magical place despite the scary surroundings of Motown. The bathrooms had long pee troughs like a farm, the floors were dirty and the hand rails were sticky with beer (hoping that was the case).
I remember thinking that the field seemed way smaller than I expected and the grass much greener.
It was a frosty night and I also remember having a lot of hot chocolate to keep my hands warm, more so than enjoying it as a drink.
I don’t remember who the Tigers were playing, nor who won but I do remember Gibson hitting one out of the park and into the lumber yard across the street. It was all anyone was talking about.
I was just glad I did not miss it.
It may not of been the most glamorous place but the old Tiger Stadium will always have a soft spot in my sporting heart.
Back in like 1996 or 1997 the NBA pre-season schedule grabbed a spot in Missoula, MT of all places which happened to be a couple of hours from where I grew up. So my Dad and I and a couple of friends grabbed some tickets and went. The game was between the Sonics and the Grizzlies (Vancouver of course) and was a big deal to us small time Montana folk. Long story short – at some point in the middle of the game, George Karl showed his disagreement with the officiating by dropping an “F” bomb. Now you have to understand how small the arena was and as you can imagine, the entire place heard it, staring back at George in complete shock. George, realized he had been caught, and dropped the sheepiest of all sheepish grins while look around in embarrassment. Classic.
You sure you don’t remember flyfishing first? Because you were probably flyfishing the day before…and every day at 4 a.m. before and after. What is is with Montanadians and the fly fishing, anyway?
And what is it about effin that leave such an impression on the kids? Moving on…
My parents took me to a Yankee game when I was a really little kid. We had great seats on the first base line through my dad’s work. It’s every kids dream to catch a foul ball and on that day, mine came true…well almost did.
It was mid-way through the game when my dad went to get himself and my mom a few beers. When he got to his seat, one of the Yankee players hit a foul ball and it was coming right at us. Without any time to put the beers in each hand down, my father stuck the cup in the air in an attempt to catch the ball. As the ball fell from the sky closer and closer, my dad targeted the ball with the cup. And then, he caught it. Right in his cup. This was a million to one shot. You know that game where you have a ball attached to a cup with a string and you try to catch the ball in the cup? Well this was like that on PEDs and no string. I couldn’t believe he caught the ball.
We didn’t even have a chance to savor the moment. As this miracle catch happened, the asshole behind us was going for the foul as well. The ball didn’t even have a chance to get wet. This dick swatted at the ball hitting my dad’s cup, sending the ball 4 rows in front of us. Unbelievable.
Steve Melfi, who eventually forgave his dad for that fumble last Summer, wishes you all a Happy Father’s Day.
This weekend, I’m making my long awaited return to Fenway Park – a place I haven’t been in over 10 years.
As a young lad, going to Fenway was a yearly ritual. I’m pretty sure my first game was during the 1990 season – the Roger Clemens era, yes, but also the Mike Greenwell and Jack Clark era. That was the season the Red Sox set the record for grounding into the most double plays (174). Now the Sox are better known for records like selling out every seat since 2003.
I’ll never forget that first game though. On the way in, taking the Green Line T from Framingham, MA, my Uncle Ronnie informed me that when someone on the opposing team strikes out you bound out of your seat and yell “Sit Down!” as menacingly and berating as possible. With my hat already nearly pulled fully over my eyes and a glove that may or may not have had velcro capabilities, my uncle probably thought it was more likely that I’d be asleep by the fourth inning.
Well, unless his true intentions were to create the most jawing 6-year old in New England that night, he should have never gave me those instructions. I’m pretty sure the game went into extra innings, and the Redx Sox pitchers K’d the opposition a few times during warm-ups too (how else could I have told no-less than 35 batters to “Sit down!!” – which is what I approximate).
I’m sure there’s backyard whiffle ball or youth league soccer glory from the late-80s documented on a beta-max in the attic, but I can’t really recall that. I remember vividly however giving the Red Sox opponents – let’s call them the Blue Jays (remember how annoying the early-90s Blue Jays were?) – the business though.
In honor of my sure-to-be triumphant return to Fenway…as well as punk little kids everywhere, I’m once again putting the sports blogger intelligentsia to task, and asking bloggers far and wide to send me a brief anecdote on:
Remember the 90′s? Remember laughter? I was 11 years old in 1995, with less than none of the world sense and street smartz I possess today. I was preadolescent drunk (translation: pretending to be buzzed after a single Mike’s Hard Lemonade) on the notions of blatant carelessness, blatant recklessness, and blatant disregard. In short, I had no clue, which is no excuse for, but probably part of the reason why, I asked for a Carolina Panthers Starter jacket for Christmas that year. To give you idea of what this puffy monstrosity looked like, the answer is none more blue.
’95 was of course Carolina’s expansion year. Good ole’ Dom Capers was the skipper. They had just drafted a promising rookie/ stud drunk QB Kerry Collins to command the helm, and the future never looked so bright.
As we all know, the team has floundered – not unlike the Starter jacket fad, which gave way (at least in the Northeast) to the psuedo-hipppie Northface yupper fleece. Fun fact: Jake Delhomme wears these, always has. Collins exclusively wears lined flannel, and beat up 11-year old kids in the 90′s who had the Chicago Bulls Starter pullover. Trendy little twerps got what was coming to them (He was like 23 at the time too).
But I digress. This week, we’re polling the sports blog intelligentsia to share their own engaging anecdotes about Starter jackets. I’m sure there’s at least one good tale of a kid getting faced that’s tied to the outerwear that defined an era of sport.
After the rip-roaring success of the politically charged Great “Bailouts” in Sports History, I decided to go back to the well and poll the sports blogging intelligentsia on issues quasi-related to Decision ’08. This week’s topic:
BEST SPORTS PLATFORMS FOR THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
It may seem a little (or entirely) taboo right now, given the economic ground and pound, however, I’ll point to a story in this week’s New Yorker by Peter Boyer (The Appalachian Problem) on Obama’s campaigning in Appalachia, in an attempt to siphon votes away from McCain and take the state of West Virginia . Boyer brings up former Democratic Governor Mark Warner, who fought an uphill battle to get into office, and repaid the voters of the region by getting Virginia Tech into the ACC. Since VT joined the conference, their men’s basketball team earned its first NCAA Tournament berth, and the football team was able to expand Lane Stadium. All the while, creating heightened interest in V-Tech sports in and around the region – translating into additional revenue, not to mention jobs, in the state.
In the same light, I’m suggesting Obama vow to get Memphis out of Conference U.S.A, to appeal to the economically liberal, socially conservative voters of Tennessee. (And Alabama’s UAB faithful.)
If he so chose, he could mix in some lackadaisical foreign policy while catering to the Memphis populus – who can see Germantown from their houses (nod to Scott from WaitingForNextYear.com for that one!)
Here are some other campaign promises the sports blogosphere would like to hear coming out of the political arena in the final month of the race. And Since Obama and McCain already downplayed anti-steroids legislation (thanks Phil, from CheatorBeat, for that), they could use something to get sports fans going…
“[The candidates] should focus their campaign on adopting the ‘Francesca Football Plan’ which involves replacing the final two NFL exhibition games with regular season games. This plan, which I first heard mentioned by WFAN Legend (in his own mind) Mike Francesca, would expand the NFL regular season to 18 total games and in doing so would push the SuperBowl back two weeks to the Sunday just prior to Presidents Day. This would create an official, govt. sanctioned three-day SuperBowl Holiday weekend and subsequently do away with the most ‘called-out’ workday of the year.” (Chris “Shorty” Smith, BadChoiceMilk)
The incremental plan to increase the amount of football is as brilliant as Francesca is insufferable.
Have you seen the Mike Francesca Show? Who in their right mind would watch that one gurgle for a half-hour late Sunday night when you’re faded from a full-day of football?
Jimmy Traina from SI.com has a simpler suggestion for how our chief commander could improve the NFL: “Whoever is elected president needs to make the Monday after the Super Bowl a national holiday”
The Super Bowl is already a well established, polished glutton fest. But this would set off a spending spree that would rival black friday. It would all be contained to beer and protein, but still. (plus I think I’d like to live in country where those things helped drive the economy). The real benefit, however, is the money saved by companies closing on a clear no-work work day.
Bares mentioning that I’m actively looking for a politician to run for office on the four-day work week platform. The Super Bowl holiday could seamlessly be included as buffer.
NBA blogger Trey Kerby (The Blowtorch) would like your candidates to abolish the shooting game at the All-Star Game, and mandate a one-on-one tournament.
The score of last year’s All-Star game was 134-128 – 260 points, yet almost an unwatchable game. It’s a combined point total that’s only rival is that of the Dow Jones Industrial losses over the last week. What do they have in common? Both are pretty boring to follow, yet there is undeniably something wrong happening.
Forget NBA All-Star regulation though, what we need is NBA relegation. I’d like to see the president vow to protect against lame duck teams who mail in the end of the year so they have 25% chance of getting the #1 pick in the lottery. You tank, congratulations, welcome to the D-League. Have fun spending a year throttling post-pubescant 19-year olds (that run, and run, and run) in Sioux Falls for a year.
Here are some additional ideas to get people flocking to the polls:
Here’s a thought – make instant replay mandatory in every sport. Everything is reviewable, especially missed calls. (Moon Dog Sports)
“There needs to be a plus one system playoff for D1 college football. The top 4 play and the winners play in a final game. This will keep the pundits happy that still want to keep the smaller bowls, and it will still allow for a lot of pork barrel spending at the AT&T Cotton Bowl, AutoZone, Liberty Bowl, Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, Brut Sun Bowl, Capital One Bowl,Champs Sports Bowl…” (Ethan Jaynes, NESW Sports)
…etc., etc., etc., etc. (great ref. to pork barrel spending!)
“Being that Ohio is a battleground state, Obama should campaign to get better coaching for the bengals and browns. I’d say the same about michigan…but mccain’s already conceded it and the lions are a lost cause anyway.” (Dan, InGameNow)
Swing states are going to make or break this election, and both candidates have already vowed to examine and take down programs that aren’t working (I think they were mainly talking about government bureaucracy, however.)
Do your civic duty, and vote for the platform that will get our presidential candidates your vote on November 4:
You don’t have to be getting hit over the head with news alerts to realize that tomorrow the House will reconvene to try to reach a solution, for better or worse, concerning the financial bailout proposal. Thus, I thought it appropriate to recall some of the great bailouts in sports history.
My personal contribution is Drew Bledsoe coming off the bench, after losing his starting job to a then injured Tom Brady, and leading the Patriots to victory in the 2001 AFC Championship Game, only to be relegated back to the bench for the Super Bowl.
I tasked some of the sports blogosphere to come up with other great bailouts in sports history. Here are the top-3, and many other below…
1.) The Tackle
Courtesy of Melfi, NYHoosier.com, a Colts fan who had the pleasure of experiencing this game on ESPN Gamecast. Here’s a rather indulgent video of the play. The anguish of a Colts fan having to follow that game on ESPN.com, with the 18-minute delay time and the kind-of-moving football dot, warms my heart. It’s the little things that get us through these tough economic times.
….
2.) The 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals
James Christensen, from NEPatriotsDraft.com, was the first to suggest this, but his sentiments were wildly echoed by others for this one…
Isaac, from World of Isaac, gets the nod for sending in the clip of the no-call that only the most entitled of Wall Streets’ out-of-work millionaire CEOs could defend…
My buddy Derek, who’s the biggest hockey fan I know, gets a shout out for this one…
The Pittsburgh Penguins were bankrupt, and on the verge of leaving the city, when the franchise’s most storied player bought the team. In a deal that had to be approved by the Federal Government, Lemieux assumed control of the team in 1996, and vowed to keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh. Also, as part of the deal, he agreed to pay back the close to $100 million owed to creditors.
Apparently, most of that debt has been paid back. And with the addition of Sydney Crosby (who lived in Lemiuex’s house when he first joined the team), the Penguins are now selling out games left and right, and moving towards the black.
This is a bailout backers of the Bush’s plan would like you to remember, simply, because it’s worked. However, as things shake out in the financial world over the next couple days, I ask that you also keep Drew Bledsoe in mind taxpayers – he was asked to step up when Brady went down, and then discarded with near immediacy.
….
The sports blogosphere’s most distinguished statesmen stepped up with some other great examples, so here are all the honorable mentions…
A big bailout? How about MLB relocating the Montreal Expos to Washington, D.C. and christening them the Nationals? Jeffery Loria sold the Expos to MLB for $120 million, and a few years later, MLB sold the team to the Lerner family for over $500 million. Add to that, Washington, D.C. threw in a $611 million stadium with very little ownership equity. (Maury Brown, President of Business of Sports Networks, BizofBaseball.com)
The NBA stopping the Cavaliers from themselves in the early 1980s, preventing them from continuing to trade away consecutive first round picks for past-prime talent. (Kelly Dwyer, Balls Don’t Lie)
How ’bout Jeff Hostetler coming in for an injured Phil Simms (foot), winning the last 2 games of the season and the Super Bowl XXV (Chimpanzee Rage, Deuce of Davenport)
George Steinbrenner bails out the Red Sox by signing A-rod (Jodie Boduch, GossipOnSports.com)
Gretzky saving hockey any place West of Detroit (Ethan Jaynes, NESWsports.com)
Kevin McHale bailing out his buddy Danny Ainge by trading KG to the Celts (The Sports Culture)
Ray Lewis NOT Convicted of Murder (Trey Kirby, TheBlowtorch.net)
Ed Hochuli coming to the rescue of the Denver Broncos in Week 2 this season. (Ryan Phillips, Rumors & Rants)
Throw your personal favorite sports bailouts in the comments below!
I’ve been all over a lot of these sports syndication sites recently. They’re a great aggregator for what is going on online in the sports universe. I ran a quick compete.com comparison with my top-3 (BallHype.com, Yardbarker.com, ArmChairGM.com):
Personally, I thought BallHype would come out on top. It is definitely the site where I see pages by the most influential sports bloggers. Interestingly enough, FanIQ.com also came in at just under 100,000 monthly uniques (placing it above BallHype as well).
I hope to have widgets for all my profile pages from these sites up on this site sooner rather than later.
