This is what sports is supposed to be about

I know this sort of act seems small. In a world full of pampered prima donnas, who cares what happens in a Division II softball programs in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference?

If you have a couple minutes, you'll find the story of Sara Tucholsky, Mallory Holtman, and a rare act of sportsmanship (or is it sportspersonship?) terrificly inspirational. I won't give away the ending, but it demonstrates an amazing demonstration of grace and selflessness that is too rare in sports these days. [Via Fazed]

Getting into the opponents head

Even if you're not a basketball fan, you'll get a smile from the story of Speedo man, Coach K, and a secret weapon that helped Duke University win one particular game.

The best laid plans of mice, men, and Reebock

I'm not all that impressed with this ad. It feels cheap, struck me as poorly edited, and ordinarily wouldn't have held my interest to the end to see the product being advertised. Perhaps the dopey soundtrack was going to be replaced with better music in the event the ad actually aired, which might've helped.

But, I still feel a little sorry for Reebok, who filmed this "19 and 0" ad in anticipation of a Patriot's win. D'oh! [Via Other Crap]

Kyle Lograsso: Prodigy and Survivor

I don't have many favorite sports writers. In fact--since I am not really that into sports--the list contains exactly one: Frank Deford. I was exposed to Mr. Deford via NPR, and I found his observations always made me care about a subject I wouldn't otherwise give much thought.

Take this television report, for example. Story about a 5-year-old golf prodigy? Sounds mildly interesting. But there's so much more to Kyle Lograsso's story.

The two parts are a little long (~12 minutes), but I think you'll find these videos worthwhile and inspirational.

Miller Lite Rocks and Justin Timberlake is Real

First of all, let's be clear: Miller Lite is the only great light beer. If you're drinking anything else, it's water. Don't believe me? Go ahead and try a blind taste test. I triple dog dare you.

Now that that's out of the way, here are some cool shots that show what happens when Hollywood visits Green Bay, WI. Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel, and James Van Der Beek tailgated outside Lambeau Field a couple weekends ago. Check out JT in the background of the shot on the bottom--he's shotgunning a Miller Lite!

Dates starlets, sells out concerts, and still shotguns Miller Lite. My opinion of JT just went up several notches.

Check out the Miller Lite UCLA/USC Crosstown Rivalry

If you're a Los Angeles sports fan--or a sports fan of any sort--you'll want to check out an interesting site launched by Miller Lite. The site, which will add some fun for football fanatics in the weeks leading up to the big USC/UCLA game on December 1st, is the hub of a "challenge" between fans of the two schools, which have one of the greatest rivalries in college football.

Site visitors earn points for their school by playing online games, texting answers in SMS trivia, and participating in Miller Lite events at home games and local bars. The stakes are high--the fan base with the most points will help their school earn its share of $100,000 from Miller Lite.

In addition to highly interactive games and content, the site also features blogs from:

• Lonnie White, former USC football player and award-winning sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times,
• James Washington, former UCLA football player and co-host of a nationally syndicated program on the FOX Sports Radio Network, and
• John Jackson, a former receiver for the Trojans and broadcaster for FOX Sports Net.

Depending upon your preference, you can visit the site at http://www.USCUCLAChallenge.com or http://www.UCLAUSCChallenge.com.

(This one is rated R since you have to be 21 or older to enter the site!)

Cool Service for Sports Fans

Have you ever been hanging out and all your friends start raving about some terrific no-hitter or major upset they watched last night, and you missed out? Me neither, but perhaps there are some sports fans out there that never want to miss a great and memorable game again. If so, AreYouWatchingThis.com (RUWT) is for you.

RUWT employs a game-watching robot (RUWTbot) that searches for games going into overtime, ranked teams getting upset, no-hitters through 7, or anything else a sports fan wouldn't want to miss. Then, when the game action heats up, it sends an SMS message to you so you can switch off Brothers and Sisters and turn on ESPN in time for the action.

Seems like a hot idea for you sports fans.

People Magazine Knows "Beautiful" but is Confused by "Sexy"

Every year, People Magazine releases its list of the most beautiful people, and I generally have found little reason to disagree. Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Aniston, and Patrick Dempsey are some genuinely beautiful people.

Now People Magazine is seeking the "sexiest baseball fan," but based on the photos on their site, they have no clue what the word sexy means. Their Sexiest Fan Alive contest features some photos of people who may be the least sexy people I can imagine. Face paint? Ick. Dopey smiles? Lame. And how the hell is that chick holding her bat? She clearly is no baseball fan!

So, if you're sexy and a baseball fan, please go help People by uploading your photo.

Martin Prado's Amazing and Magical Bat

What do you suppose the chances of this are? During a Mets-Braves game last week, Martin Prado grounded out, let go of his bat and it stood upright. Weird.

Yet Another Way to Make Parachuting More Exciting - Base Jumping

Having jumped out of a plane twice, I can't imagine doing what these two guys do. Within one minute they go from strolling through a university tower to leaping out the window to landing 30 or 40 stories below. Nice POV shot of the entire experience.

Making Parachuting More Exciting

When merely jumping from a plane isn't exciting enough, you might as well add a little something extra to your parachute jump.

Playing Tennis with Baseball Bats

This one is almost too amazing to believe. It doesn't look like any special effects were used, but it's hard to believe two guys could use bats to whack a baseball back and forth on a tennis court this many times.

Deion Sanders is a Sad, Pathetic, Dimwit

I am guilty of giving athletes too much credit. I'm a sports fan, and when I see a guy like Deion Sanders instantly read and react to the myriad of inputs and nuances as a play develops, I think, "That guy has brains."

I was wrong. Deion Sanders isn't smart. He's not even average. He may, in fact, be mentally defective. This is evident when reading the vile, shallow, callous column he wrote in defense of Michael Vick.

It's not merely that Deion mounts a defense of Vick. While personally I don't find there to be any room for support for Vick given the evidence, he is innocent until proven guilty (or until he pleads guilty, which could happen within days.)

I question if Deion has a cognitive issue because of the unbelievably vulgar and ignorant manner in which he wrote about Vick's alleged offenses. A person who is merely cold-blooded might still recognize how his lack of empathy might offend others. But Deion is apparently too dense to even appreciate that his ramblings are patently nauseating. His thought process says volumes more about Deion than it does about Vick, and what it reveals is that Deion is a feeble-minded and indifferent human being.

Michael Vick's arrest for dog fighting is well known, but let's review the facts quickly to set the stage for the pile of bullshit Deion Sanders heaped on top of this horror:

• A federal grand jury indicted Vick for "knowingly sponsoring... an animal fighting venture" over the course of six years.
• Based on reports from those involved in his illegal operation, Vick is alleged to have participated in illegal gambling, personally handling cash settlements with purses as high as $26,000 for single match.
  
• The indictment included specifics of the extensive violence against dogs, including executions by electrocution, hanging, drowning, shooting, and other brutality.
• His partners in crime reported Vick direct participated in executing "8 dogs in or about April 2007" at his Virginia property.
• At least one dog was killed by being "slammed to the ground."
• Federal authorities took possession of animals who were recovered alive but had to be destroyed because of their training as fighting animals.

Any normal person would know this behavior is so abhorrent and the crimes so egregious that even the hint of support for Vick would create a knee-jerk reaction. Not Deion! Here are some of his unbelievable comments:

• "What a dog means to Vick might be a lot different than what he means to you or I." True, a dog to me is a living being with feelings, emotions, and the capacity for great caring. To Michael Vick they're living pieces of meat whose torture, pain, and death are cause for a good time.
  
  
• "Some people kiss their dogs on the mouth. Some people let their dogs eat from their plate. Some people dress their dogs in suits more expensive than mine, if you can believe that. And some people enjoy proving they have the biggest, toughest dog on the street." Just to be clear, Deion believes all of the following fall into the same classification: Kissing dogs on the mouth, eating with dogs, dressing dogs, and forcing two dogs to rip, tear, and crush each other until one of them through blood loss, shock, brain damage, or trauma is dead. The fact he asks if you can believe some people dress their dogs while finding it perfectly normal that others take pleasure in seeing dogs tormented and vivisected says an awful lot about what goes on in Deion's brain (or, point in fact, doesn't go on in there).
  
  
• "You're probably not going to believe this, but I bet Vick loves the dogs that were the biggest and the baddest." Yes, I believe Vick "loved" the dogs that were the biggest and baddest. Those were the ones that lived. The others? If Vick didn't drag their still warm carcasses out of the ring, he drowned, electrocuted, hung, shot, and crushed them to death. But Deion is fine with that provided Vick loves the ones that win.
  
  
• "I believe Vick had a passion for dogfighting. I know many athletes who share his passion. The allure is the intensity and the challenge of a dog fighting to the death. It's like ultimate fighting, but the dog doesn't tap out when he knows he can't win." One hardly knows where to start to sort out the layers of wrongness in this statement. What's the worst part? The fact Deion acknowledges "many athletes" share the "passion" of animal cruelty? Or is it that he seems to feel Vick should be held less accountable because all the other kids are doing it? No, I think the most offensive part of this statement is the implication that dogfighting is so much better and more enjoyable because the dogs fight to the death unlike, apparently, wimpy human fighters who expect and are provided an opportunity to live, even after losing a match.
  
  
• "It reminds me of when I wore a lot of jewelry back in the day because I always wanted to have the biggest chain or the biggest, baddest car. It gives you status." Did he just compare the painful slaughter of animals to wearing jewelry? Is he implying that Vick--one of the highest-paid and best known men in sports today--has a need to earn "status"? And did he really just claim that there are people who think better of man after finding they torment animals for hobby? Sadly, the answers to those questions are yes, yes, and yes.
  

I don't know why you'd want to read more, but to see Deion Sanders prove his ignorance, you can read the entire text here.

This Headline Is Not What It Seems *

I am not a big baseball fan. I casually root for my home team and enjoy a couple of games a year. So, I really have no opinion about Barry Bonds, his record, or his asterisk. (If you want some interesting opinions, check out the brief and informed musings of several ESPN experts.)

That said, I think it is sad that we live in an age of asterisks:

George Bush Won the Election*

* But Al Gore received more votes.

Paris Hilton is famous*

* but hasn't done one thing to earn that fame.

James Frey led an amazing and awe-inspiring life*

*except much of it didn't really happen.

"We have learned that Iraq has trained al Qaeda members in bombmaking, poisons and deadly gases."*

*Oops.

"Mission Accomplished"*

*Double Oops.

"The Iraqi regime... possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons."*

*Triple oops.

Sure, we can blame Barry Bonds, James Frey, George Bush, and Paris Hilton for their various infractions, but are they the problem or are we?

If we follow Paris's every move to the point where she's the lead story on the news, can we blame her for her fame? If our adulation of record setters encourages cheating and we ignore the obvious signs of that cheating, do we have a right to demand an asterisk? And if we disregard evidence that our administration is rushing to war and then rushing again to declare victory, can we complain when both the rationale for the war and our "victory" are found to be erroneous and premature?

Maybe we're the asterisk:

Americans value hard work, honesty, and doing the right thing.*

* Don't we?

Tiger Woods on TV... at the Age of Two

So, what were you doing when you were two years old?

It's How You Play the Game

What is the lamest part of this video? Is it:

1. That coaches--who are supposed to be instilling in kids that the important thing in sports is sportsmanship and how you play--taught the kids this lame "play"?
2. That rather than being offended that the coaches are teaching their kids to win by any means necessary, the parents cheer and laugh?
3. Or that this play is apparently legal?

So, do you suppose those laughing, cheering parents might've changed their tune had one of those defensive lineman caught on and come plowing in to tackle the quarterback/actor at full speed from behind? Think they might've accused the other player of unsportsmanlike behavior for slamming the strolling kid? Wouldn't that have been ironic?

Jake Brown Falls 40 feet During Skateboarding Competition

Damn, this is a scary and painful video, and it sure could've turned out a whole lot worse!

Jake Brown falls over 40 feet while trying to complete a 540 above a 27-foot-tall quarterpipe wall. He hit the wall at 40 MPH on his skateboard, but it gets away from him during the jump and he falls far and hard. The amazing thing is that after eight scary minutes, he gets up and walks off the ramp on his own two legs.

Jake remains in the hospital with a fractured vertebrae, contusions of the liver and lung, and a mild concussion. "I came out alright," he says.

Once he gets up and appears to be okay, ESPN shows his fall in slow-mo from every angle. The shot of him hitting the ground so hard his shoes fly off is some of the most painful sports footage I've seen since Joe Theisman's Monday Night Football injury.

Here's hoping Jake continues with a speedy recovery.

Eternal Life

Can you name a very expensive product that you could purchase but never use in your lifetime?

Of course, I am talking about the Major League Baseball line of urns and casks! Thanks to Eternal Image, after a full life of achievements and experiences, your ashes can be placed in a silly little jar in the shape of home plate with a baseball on top. Yes, the remains of your body can be turned into the equivalent of a tacky, hobby room collectible.

But wait, there's more. You also can also opt for a Precious Moments cask or urn. Because nothing says "We miss you, Mom" like putting her remains in something that looks like it was purchased at The Dollar Store. I always found those Precious Moments characters with their giant anime eyes a little creepy.

Prices are not (thankfully) provided at Eternal Image.