Watch live as Starbury shows how nuts he is
July 24, 2009 at 2:16 pm | Posted in Awkward, Basketball, Idiocy, Minda's Take, NBA, Sports Culture, Sports fans | Leave a comment
No, this fellow isn't nuts, why do you ask? (click image to go to his UStream event.)
“Boooey: Hey @STARBURYMARBURY what’s it like to publicly lose your mind?”
This random Twitterer has a very valid question for Stephon Marbury. You want to find out? Check this out. It’s “Stephon Marbury Live 24/7” on UStream. His fans and haters alike are Tweeting questions at them, and he’s…well, he’s hilariously ignoring some of them, and answering others. He just answered one about health care with something like, “I think our system should be like Canada’s system. But we’re not Canada, so that’s not going to happen.”
On his level of fame: “I’m not nowhere near as popular as Yao Ming. I don’t even wish that. He got problems, he can’t go nowhere.”
I can’t decide if this is hilarious or just sad. But if you’re bored as you finish out your work week, go check ‘er out!
[H/T Deadspin]
Congratulations, Mark Buehrle
July 23, 2009 at 4:44 pm | Posted in Baseball, Major League Baseball, Minda's Take, Sports Culture, Sports fans | Leave a commentThe White Sox are infinitely hateable. I despise them, and I think you know this already. Hate the team, hate the announcers, hate the fan base. Some of my most deep, vile feelings in all of sports are directed at that team. I hate the jacked President Obama wore at the All-Star Game, hate that bleach thing they all did to their hair a few years ago, how they, collectively, always have the worst facial hair in the Majors.
However.
I heard that Mark Buehrle had a perfecto in progress (via Twitter, naturally), and rushed to sign into MLB.com Audio to hear the last few innings. All that hatred magically goes out the window when there’s history in progress. Suddenly I didn’t hate the fan base, because their roars after every successful pitch gave me chills. Today, I couldn’t hate the announcers on the radio because they are just wide-eyed fans who are too enraptured by what they’re seeing to trot out any tired catch phrases.
Baseball is filled with magical instants. There was only a tiny sliver of time when it was unclear whether Dewayne Wise would catch a deep fly ball for the 2nd out of the 9th inning. But in that teensy little moment, the crowd went from roaring to terrified to relieved to panicked, and then finally back to roaring as Wise finally came up with the ball.We’ll be seeing that catch later, replayed time and again, not because it was beautiful, but because of all that happened after Wise leaped up toward the wall but before he held the ball up to show he still had it and the perfect game was safe.
Tomorrow, I’ll go back to despising the White Sox. But today, I tip my cap to Mark Buehrle for this share in baseball history.
Turn on the White Sox game
July 23, 2009 at 4:04 pm | Posted in Minda's Take | Leave a commentJust do it. Just in case.
RIGHT NOW.
Tim Tebow’s a virgin, and why do we know this?
July 23, 2009 at 3:53 pm | Posted in Awkward, Football, Interviews, Media, Minda's Take, Sports Culture | Leave a comment
I wish I knew who to credit for this...
Maybe you’ve heard, maybe you haven’t – but as part of the SEC Media Days, Clay Travis asked Florida QB Tim Tebow whether he’s saving himself for marriage. Tebow’s answer was brief, non-preachy, and concise: “Yes, I am.”
One reporter tried to move on to the next question, but apparently the rest of the room got all Awkward Turtle about it and burst into a fit of nervous giggles, which Tebow also handled with more grace than could be expected of anybody. “I think y’all are stunned right now,” he said. “Y’all can’t even ask a question. Look at this! The first time ever! Wow.”
(Audio of the question: HERE.)
Really, it was cute. I’m sure he will be mocked by a thousand sports blogs for it, but: He’s Tim Tebow. He COULD have just about any woman he wishes, any and every day of the year. If he successfully dodges all the women who throw themselves at him and actually saves his first time for his future wife, that would be as much of an accomplishment as, say, a national title or two.
In a live chat about the media day experience, Travis mentioned that the others in attendance think he crossed a line:
Oh, I think some of the older media members will think the question was out of line. Maybe not. I’m told there is a division over whether it was appropriate or not to ask.
Even though it was a pretty personal question, I don’t think Travis committed any grave sin by asking, because it’s Tim Tebow. In no way would it be appropriate to ask every player (and coach) at SEC Media Days how much sex they have, but Tebow’s become a Christian figurehead (and can change your life if you but watch him play football). Truthfully, I’m surprised nobody asked sooner.
[H/T The Big Lead]
Stupidly fun game: Random Baseball-Reference page
July 22, 2009 at 4:24 pm | Posted in Baseball, Major League Baseball, Minda's Take, Nerdery | 1 CommentBaseball-reference.com was recently described in the NY Daily News as “the catchall Web site that puts the national pastime into real time, and supplies game telecasts, radio broadcasts, highlight shows, bloggers, reporters, even drunks trying to settle trivia disputes, with detailed accounts of Saturday’s games and those of decades gone by.” [emphasis mine]
I certainly use B-R, which you can see in pretty much any baseball-related post. I link to it often, because it’s basically awesome. (B-R and FanGraphs share the title of “Bestest Thing to Ever Happen to Baseball Fandom.”) When my brother(s) and I watch baseball together, we often turn to B-R for various inquiries. “Remember that time Barry Bonds was intentionally walked 120 times in a season? Has any Royals player had that many TOTAL walks in a season?” (Answer, yes, but only by a few. And certainly not recently.)
Last night, deep into the second of two miserable Royals losses, my brother invented a Baseball-Reference-based game. The site has a “random page” feature here, about halfway down the page.
Before you click on “random page,” each person guesses something from two of these three categories: Team, Player, or Year. So a guess might be, “1997 Expos” or “George Brett 1980″ or “Roberto Clemente Pirates.” Whatever. Then open a random page. Did anyone have their year, team OR player mentioned? No? That’s because B-R is ridiculously expansive.
Take another drink and guess again…
The Erin Andrews nightmare: More than just a legal hassle
July 18, 2009 at 2:06 am | Posted in Media, Minda's Take, Sad panda, Sports Culture | 1 Comment
Why would anyone be sick enough to do that to this - or any - woman? NOT COOL.
I am so utterly horrified on behalf of Erin Andrews, I don’t even know what to say. If you haven’t heard yet, here’s the Cliff’s Notes version:
-A series of grainy videos was posted that showed a nude blonde woman “who looks a lot like a sports blogger favorite,” but Andrews’ name was not specifically mentioned. The videos were taken from various hidden cameras in a hotel room, and showed the woman doing routine things like brushing her hair (so this is NOT a “celeb sex tape situation).
-ESPN didn’t confirm that it was Andrews, but its legal team sent a strongly-worded letter to the proprietor of the site that posted the videos.
-Andrews’ lawyers confirmed it was, in fact, her, and released a statement.
Here’s some detective work on the situation from Don Chavez, who found that the videos have actually been sitting around the internet, largely unnoticed, for months now. Why they came up now instead of in February, I have no idea.
Some male bloggers I know were discussing it earlier, and went over many finer points of the legal action that’s going to come from these videos. Who will be sued? What will the charges be? Will they stick? It was a pretty thorough discussion of the legal ramifications of the videos.
But as far as I know, none of them mentioned the fact that Andrews was so wholly violated that she could be emotionally scarred for a very long time.
Think of it: She travels all the time for her job, and is probably alone in random hotel rooms hundreds of nights per year. Why would she ever, EVER think that she was anything but alone in those rooms? Sure, she has a lot of obsessive fans, but why would she ever think any of them would be scummy enough to plant cameras in her hotel room? That is beyond messed up. You all know that I adore Erin Andrews, and I sincerely hope she’s OK. This shouldn’t happen to anyone, ever.
The whole thing was summed up perfectly at The Big Lead: “equal parts mind-blowing and sickening.”
This Washington O-Lineman is a man after my own heart
July 17, 2009 at 5:16 pm | Posted in Football, Minda's Take, Sports injuries | Leave a comment
The hero of the hour. Don't commit crimes in front of this guy!
Every woman who finds herself the victim of a purse-snatching needs a guy like the University of Washington’s Skyler Fancher* around. Fancher, himself the victim of two recent robberies, chased down a purse-snatcher – in flip-flops – and retrieved the purse of a total stranger.
*or a bat-wielding older brother, like I am lucky enough to have!
Oh, and Fancher was also injured this spring and is coming off of two leg surgeries, but from what he told the Seattle Times, he doesn’t see himself as any kind of hero. (!!)
“I would just say I’m a normal citizen,” said Fancher, who did not reinjure his leg during the chase. “We’re all just trying to look out for each other, right?”
Yeah, just a normal citizen. Because what normal guy DOESN’T leap up from his table to spend ten minutes risking his athletic career by chasing a purse snatcher for a stranger? Sounds totally normal to me. I don’t doubt that most “normal citizens” want to think they’d do something that heroic, but not everyone can actually do it. This young man deserves big-time props, even though A) It sounds like he doesn’t want that kind of recognition, and B) His coaches are probably kind of angry that he risked his physical recovery like that.
I desperately hope that running after the kid – who was arrested and charged with theft, by the way – didn’t do anything to re-injure Fancher’s leg. I think I have a new favorite random offensive lineman, and I don’t want his awesome bravery to keep him off the field!
[H/T: The Big Lead]
Worst sports days ever.
July 14, 2009 at 4:43 pm | Posted in Baseball, Major League Baseball, Minda's Take | Leave a commentThe Home Run Derby was long, lacked any amazing feats, was missing some bigger names, and did I mention it was too long? I hung out at a few different liveblogs last night, but found myself spacing off during most of the Derby. There came a point when I had almost no clue who was up or how many dingers they had hit, but I don’t feel bad about that because none of the announcers were paying any attention either.
Even people who paid money to be there were bored.
Tonight is the All-Star Game. Big whoop. Sure, I’ll watch*, but only because there’s nothing else going on in baseball. And even then, I’ll pout through the first few innings while Zack Greinke isn’t starting, and Roy Hallady is. (Aside: I looooved this analysis and the resulting discussion. It starts with the premise, and title, that “Halladay over Greinke is a good call,” but the more writer Martin Manley digs through the numbers, the more he thinks Greinke should have gotten the nod. The commenters make a lot of really insightful points too. This kind of thing – the stuff that isn’t possible in a newspaper – is what I wish I could be good at.)
*until it’s time for Tuesday night karaoke, of course.
But you know what? Enough of my bitterness – Albert Pujols, Jr. made the whole thing worth watching.
The tiny version of Albert celebrating, and all the other players' kids celebrating right with him? Enough cute to get me through the All-Star Break.
Juan Uribe: Winner of the “Worst Feeling in the World” award
July 11, 2009 at 1:09 am | Posted in Awkward, Baseball, Major League Baseball, Minda's Take | 2 CommentsSan Francisco Giants pitcher Jonathan Sanchez would have had a perfect game tonight. He struck out 11 batters, walked nobody, and didn’t allow a hit: a flawless performance.
Instead, Sanchez is “only” rewarded with a no-hitter because this guy committed an error in the eigth inning to allow the game’s only baserunner.
(click image to see the full box score)
I’m sure Giants fans loooove the look of that box score, except that ’1′ there in the ‘E’ column. And what is Juan Uribe supposed to do about this? Does he avoid Sanchez altogether and hope one of them gets traded, or Sanchez somehow forgets about it? Does Hallmark make a “I’m sorry I robbed you of a perfect game” card? Is there an appropriate fruit basket for that?
Regardless of how the pitcher and errant fielder handle this between themselves, of this I am certain: No one in the sporting world feels more like a dope tonight than Juan Uribe.
This isn't The Error Which Shall Live in Infamy, but you get the idea.
New to GTFB: Twitter and e-mail
July 10, 2009 at 4:44 am | Posted in Minda's Take | Leave a commentSmall programming notes:
There is now an official Getting to First Base Twitter. I’m hoping it will NOT just be, “oh hey, here’s a new post that I wrote,” but will feature a little bit of bonus content. You’re more than welcome to follow it, or not follow it, or use it to let me know if there’s anything you wish I would post about. (I also have a personal Twitter, but it’s pretty Royals-centric so I do not blame you if you don’t wish to follow that one. No innocent people should be subjected to Royals misery on a daily basis.)
On a related note, you can now reach me at a new e-mail address: gettingtofirstbase at gmail dot com.
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