Flipper Anderson's Mother In Atlanta

So the reason I hadn't posted anything for most of the last week is because I was in Atlanta visiting my in-laws for a few days and also seeing Springsteen at Philips Arena. The show was incredible. I'd say even better than the shows in L.A. at the Sports Arena back in October. The main reason is because at this show, Springsteen played "Rosalita" during the encores and it's the one song I had longed to see played live. It really was a magical moment for me. But I digress. The real reason for this post has to do with us leaving Atlanta. As Marge and I checked in at the airport and waited to send our bags through we were called up to the next counter by a Delta employee. She did the usual by asking us for our I.D.s but when she noticed we were from Duarte, her face immediately lit up as she said, "Duarte! I never see people come through here from Duarte. I know Duarte very well. When my son went to school out in Los Angeles, we used to visit friends in Duarte." Needless to say, we were pleased to find someone so far away from home actually acknowledging our town so that would have been thrill enough. Then she mentioned her son went to school at UCLA and graduated in 1988. So I shook my head and was about to say that I also attended UCLA in 1987 and 88 when she hit me with, "Yeah, he played with the Rams and in the NFL." My jaw just about hit the floor as I noticed her nametag: "Ms. Anderson" ... So I said to her, "Is your son, Willie?" Again, her eyes widened and she said, "Yes!" It was amazing because Willie "Flipper" Anderson happened to be one of my favorite NFL players of all time. Not only because he went to UCLA but also because he played for the Rams -- my team before they abandoned L.A. The guy still owns the NFL record for most yards receiving in a game. Ms. Anderson seemed genuinely touched that someone remembered her son and I told her to make sure to let him know she had run into one of his big fans. So we had a brief conversation and my day was made. Just wanted to share. Also, below is a version of "Rosalita" from the Tampa show. Couldn't find the one from Atlanta -- at least not yet.

Foreign Guys On Family Guy

Here is a clip from Family Guy the other night. It's classic because of the way it's written. Probably better to just watch it than to have me try to explain.

Umpire Takes Fastball To Jaw

Did you see this over the weekend at Dodger Stadium? Umpire Kerwin Danley was hit square in the jaw by a Brad Penny fastball that got by catcher Russell Martin. Seemed as if Martin was expecting a different pitch. Danley, whose mother was in the stands, turned out to be OK after being taken by ambulance to a local hospital. Another thing that stood out to me about this incident is Vin Scully's reaction. Scully, who has probably seen everything in his 50-plus years with the Dodgers, seemed genuinely taken aback as this unfolded. Haven't heard Vin react that way to many things. If the video below doesn't work, click here.

New NBA Commercial Promos

Not sure how many more of these spots the NBA plans to do, but here are six new ones that I just now spotted. Not sure how long they've been in circulation. Perhaps the league will keep doing this round by round as teams continue to be eliminated. These are actually players paired from the current playoff matchups. Anyway, here they are:
Derek Fisher-Marcus Camby

Jason Kidd-Chris Paul

Manu Ginobili-Steve Nash

Tracy McGrady-Carlos Boozer

Paul Pierce-Mike Bibby

Antawn Jamison-Ben Wallace

Kenny Smith Can't Jump Like Kobe

After tonight's Lakers victory over Denver, TNT interviewed Kobe Bryant. At the end of the interview, the TNT crew of Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith showed Kobe a video that Smith had shot earlier in the day, which attempted to recreate what Kobe did here below.

So here's the video that Smith put together. It's so simple yet classic. It's great to hear guys like this crack up as much as they did. It makes them real. They must've replayed the video about five times and it got funnier every time they replayed it. At the end, you can even hear Barkley say that "YouTube is gonna be goin' crazy now." He's probably right, though when I watched the video I was the 100th person to have done so. I bet it climbs into the tens of thousands Thursday.

Barney, Robin Hook Up On HIMYM

If you're a fan of the show "How I Met Your Mother" you no doubt had one of those hand-over-the-mouth moments at the end when you saw Barney and Robin hook up at Robin's apartment. It started innocently enough with Barney consoling Robin at the bar after she was dumped by her hoser Canadian boyfriend. It continued with the two of them watching the video "Sandcastles In The Sand" from Robin's days as a Canadian pop star (Robin Sparkles) in the mold of Debbie Gibson or Tiffany (who actually makes a cameo in the video along with Alan Thicke and James Van Der Beek, who plays the boyfriend in the video and on the show). Anyway, enough explanation. If you don't watch the show, this might not be very funny to you, but the video is a good parody of how those 1980s/early 90s mall singers used to dot the musical landscape. Here is the last few minutes of the show. The link above will take you to the entire Robin Sparkles video. And if you like those, there's the original Robin Sparkles video, "Let's Go To The Mall," which has plenty of great lyrics and a perfect Canadian accent on certain words: "At the mall, having fun is what it's all ah-boot." Plus there's a mention of Gretzky in the song, which automatically qualifies it as classic.

Nightmare Own Goal By Liverpool

In case you missed it, here's the own goal by Liverpool's John Arne Riise during the 95th minute of Tuesday's first-leg Champions League semifinal against Chelsea. Not only did the goal give Chelsea a 1-1 tie but it delivered a crucial away goal for the Stamford Bridgers in their pursuit of a spot in the championship. An away goal is worth so much when it comes to tiebreakers, etc. Own goals in high profile matches are death sentences in soccer circles. Sometimes literally. I have a variety of videos for you to observe. First, we'll start with the play itself from an ESPN highlight. Here's that:


Next, let's show you the clip of the entire sequence as it occurred live on TV.


Finally, this clip is pretty funny of former Liverpool captain Phil Thompson watching the game live in a studio. With the camera trained on him, we get his immediate reaction to the play and he ain't too happy. Not sure what he yells to all those laughing in the studio though. Anyone have some thoughts?

Farmers Insurance Commercials

OK, this is partly a shameless plug but also a legitimate posting. Have you seen these Farmers Insurance commercials that have this artsy feel to them? The one below is old, but it's still a good one. Sends a fairly startling yet rather humorous message actually about what could happen to you if you ever lost everything in a fire or some other disaster. Makes you think, that's for sure. But have you seen the most recent one with the two couples living in the same house after one of them lost their house? That's the one I was really looking for because it makes me laugh every time I see it. I won't go into details until I find it and can post it. The one below will have to do for now though. Also, in the interest of full disclosure, yes, I am a Farmers customer. Go here for more information.


**UPDATE**
OK, I found the commercial I was referring to online but not on YouTube. If you want to see what I was talking about, click this link though it requires QuickTime player. One of my favorite parts is when the soap is dropped in the shower and someone lets out a concerned, "Oh no." ... Which reminds me, "Melon? Anyone?"

Flyers Win Game 7 On Road

Nothing like a Game 7 in the NHL playoffs and there was one on Tuesday night as the Philadelphia Flyers won in double overtime on the road over the Washington Capitals to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals. Former Duck Joffrey Lupul scored the winner. Incidentally, I posted this video as a demonstration to my brother-in-law as to how easy this new video editing website is. He was on the phone with me the whole time it took me to get this found, edited and on my blog. Took about a whole five minutes. Also, this conversation started because he called me to complain that the video service wasn't working (it was).

Red Sox Fan Has Butter Fingers

This is the epitome of mixed emotions. How long have you yearned to catch a foul ball at a Major League Baseball game? I'm sure for most of us who are fans it has been a life-long pursuit. For me, not so much (I caught a foul ball at Dodger Stadium [Steve Sax hit it and Randy St. Clair of the Expos made the pitch] and incidentally, also caught a puck at a Kings game when Gretzky was still on the team, though I digress). Not sure how long the guy in this clip waited to catch one, but he's gotta feel like a total idiot after what happened, and then to top it off the chicks on ESPN laugh at him.

Jayson Werth Inside Park HR

Here is an inside-the-park home run by the Phillies Jayson Werth. By the way, I'm trying a new video service to see if it works. If he were still with the Dodgers, he would have broken his thumb on the head-first slide at home.

Nash-Kidd Promote The NBA

Here is the latest NBA promo video featuring a split screen of two players reciting the same line about the importance of the playoffs. This one features Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns and Jason Kidd of the Dallas Mavericks. To see other promo ads like this, click here.

The Lickable Ana Ivanovic

There's an old line from Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update when Chevy Chase was the host that goes a little something like this: "The Post Office announced today that it is going to issue a stamp commemorating prostitution in the United States. It's a ten-cent stamp, but if you want to lick it, it's a quarter." Uproarious laughter ensues and the news continues. So what does this have to do with Ana Ivanovic? Well, the Serbian postal service has decided to issue a stamp of our favorite tennis player in conjunction with Beijing Olympics this summer. That's an image of the stamp below. Also, here's the full post from SportsByBrooks, where I saw this first. Now, how exactly, do I get a roll of these?

By the way, here's a photo of Ana that I had not seen before. Apparently it was snapped by London's Daily Mail at Wimbledon. Not sure if it was last summer or not, but you gotta love those wacky Brits! Also, here's a bunch of photos of Ana.

New Photos Of Allison Stokke

I hesitated last year to post anything about high school pole vaulter Allison Stokke. You may have heard about Stokke because she was an internet sensation during her senior year at Newport Harbor High School. But therein was the problem: high school. Having a daughter who graduated not too long before Stokke did, I know the line between a girl being a girl or being a woman can be very blurry -- especially in the eyes and minds of perverted old men out there (your blogger notwithstanding). So anyway, the picture above is the one that made Stokke a household name on blogs all over the place. But she has since moved onto compete at UC Berkeley and just recently some new photos of an older, still-hot-looking, but now completely legal Stokke have started to make the rounds. One of the photos is below. But this link will take you to a bunch more though I became aware of them at SportsByBrooks. And if you do a GIS of her you'll find a ton more. Anyway, just wanted to share.

Olivia Munn Has A Nice Look

I always enjoy being pointed in one direction or another so when a close friend of mine recently told me about someone he had seen in the latest edition of Esquire magazine, I was immediately drawn to find out about the person. Her name is Olivia Munn and is quite easy on the eyes, as they say (evidenced by the photo to the right, which to me shows that-hot-but-not-too-hot-that-I-think-I-still-might-have-a-chance-to-score-with-her look). Olivia also has the appearance that she'd be a cool chick to have hanging out in your group. You know, the kind of girl that could watch football and drink beer and punch you in the arm after a joke but also squeak out that lilting, feminine laugh that would draw every male within earshot to her. So because of all this I decided to post a few links and a few photos of Olivia, who is billed on her Wikipedia page as an "American actress, model and television personality" though I'd never heard of her until tonight. It said she was an intern for Fox Sports Net in 2004 and was a sideline reporter for college football and women's basketball. Can't say I remember her though. Even she now says that was a bad experience in her career because she was "trying to be something I'm not." Still, I must say it might be worth following the path of Miss Munn, who was an Air Force brat raised in Japan and has Chinese ancestry on her mother's side. She does have a pleasing look, shall we say. She even has a MySpace page. And then there's this link to some nice photos of Olivia in a bikini. I think those might have been the ones in Esquire, but perhaps my friend can clear up that controversy. There also are these photos that appeared in Men's Health magazine last summer and this gallery from AskMen.com that should keep you busy. I would be remiss to not point out that perhaps Olivia is best known as being a co-host on "Attack of the Show!" on the cable channel, G4. To comment on the other live photo in this post, right above, I must say that though extremely impressive, Olivia looks much older than the 26 years she is purported to be (not that there's anything wrong with that) but perhaps it's bad lighting and such. Kinda has a Demi Moore thing going on actually. Finally, this post from the blog Celebrity Skinned, has some good stuff with Olivia dipping into the past to portray some famous sex pots from 1980s teen flicks, including Phoebe Cates in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and Kelly LeBrock in "Weird Science" as well as others that you might recognize. I'm sure there's plenty more out there on our now dear friend Olivia, but at least this is a start right?

Kobe Jumps Over Aston Martin

Kobe Bryant had some Lakers fans holding their collective breaths when they saw the video below to promote his new Nike shoe. That's teammate Ronny Turiaf coming out to chest-bump with Kobe after he successfully completes the stunt. But don't worry Laker fans, Kobe assures everyone it was all done with special effects (though we probably could have figured that out). For one thing, Kobe's shadow extends toward the buildings in the background yet the car's doesn't.

Kobe, Shaq One In The Same

**UPDATE BELOW**
Here's an interesting promo from the NBA that you surely will see a lot of over the next week or at least until Kobe's Lakers of Shaq's Suns are eliminated from the playoffs. Obviously, they had to get both of them to sign off on it so I guess that's a good thing in terms of the cooling of their feud.

UPDATE: I guess there's a few of these out there. Here's one by Kevin Garnett and LeBron James. I like the fact that Garnett says he remembers seeing "Bird" winning it all and LeBron says "Jordan." Nice touch though there's too much head bobbing in this one, which takes away from the effectiveness.

Here's one from Dwight Howard and Chris Paul. It's well done but it's still not as good as the Kobe-Shaq one.

If there's any others, I'll post them as I come across them. In the meantime, let me know your suggestions on who you'd like to see paired doing one of these spots.

"Hey You With The Face!"

I have no idea which wire in my brain short-circuited to remind me of this, but if you watch the video below and remember golf summers of long ago while tying a few off at the local steer and stein, please, please, please comment to let me know you share my remembrances.

2008 One Shining Moment

In case you missed, here is the "One Shining Moment" from the 2008 NCAA tournament. Not that I'm biased or anything, but you've got to be kidding me that the only shots of UCLA (A No. 1 seed who reached the Final Four for the third consecutive year) are: 1. The band (who cares?). 2 Ben Howland (grimacing no less). 3. The Russell Westbrook dunk against Texas A&M (a play that didn't even count). 4. Kevin Love holding his fist up in triumph (at least they didn't show Chris Douglas-Roberts dunking on him, I guess). I'm not bitter though. :-) If you scroll through this list, you can see many of the past One Shining Moments though some have disappeared since I first uploaded them and I was unable to find them as of yet.

ImprovEverywhere In Little League

The group "Improv Everywhere" strikes again. Kinda cool for the kids though if I was this age and saw all this happening, I'd probably crap my pants. This isn't the typical Improve Everywhere stunt. You can find one of those here. My only beef: Why do this in Hermosa Beach? Why not East L.A. or Compton? Hmmm

Attack On An Umpire

I'm guessing you won't see this very often, if ever, during a major league baseball game, but here is quite a reaction to an umpire's bad call. This would probably get you suspended for the season in MLB. I wonder what this guy will get. And the thing of it is, the play seemed very close as if it could have gone either way. I think this was in Korea.

Remember Korean pitcher Chan Ho Park's karate kick? It comes after about 20 seconds in the video.

Patrick Ewing Jr. Can Dunk

Dunk contests have become a tad passe though Dwight Howard seemed to revitalize the NBA's event during All-Star weekend in February. Here is a highlight from the college version's that was held this weekend in San Antonio. This is a fairly awesome dunk by Georgetown's Patrick Ewing Jr.

Roy Williams Is A Loser

Right now, North Caroling is losing to Kansas, 40-12, in the first half of their national semifinal game. It's an almost unfathomable scenario yet it brings me so much joy to see the 'Heels and Roy Williams fall flat on their faces. Couldn't happen to a better bunch. Which brings to mind the clip below when Williams was still the coach at Kansas and, after a loss, was asked about his interest in the North Carolina job.

A week later, Williams left those 13 kids he loved so much to coach at North Carolina. Just sayin.

David Beckham's First MLS Goal

It took a while, but David Beckham finally scored his first goal in Major League Soccer the other night after a disastrous first season. It was really cool to see and hopefully the first of many more. Beckham also had a brilliant touch assist on a goal by Landon Donovan.

UCLA Loses To Memphis

I'm too depressed to write much, but it's yet another sad ending in the Final Four as the Bruins fail to bring home a title for the third year in a row. It's very hard because you want to feel good about being successful enough to even be in the position for a title, but falling short just turns everything sour. It's going to take awhile to get over this.

The Life Of Matt Leinart

I hesitated posting anything about the latest Matt Leinart photo scandal that you've been seeing just about everywhere the last few days because, frankly, I thought, "What more is there to say?" One of the photos from Matt's wild weekend, courtesy of TheDirty.com, is below.

But after consulting with a high-ranking official in my inner circle, he convinced me to go ahead and at least put it all out there, what with my partiality toward UCLA and all. So I told him I would. Hmmm, what to say about Matt Leinart? There's a side of me -- or any of us I'm sure -- that probably envies his lifestyle (and that of most high-profile sports stars) on the most hedonistic of levels because of all the perks and the lack of consequences that it seems to bring.

To be young, unattached and with a seemingly limitless future has great promise but also potential disaster written all over it. So from that perspective it seems as if it might be a tough juggling act if you don't have your head screwed on straight. But making it doubly complicated in Leinart's case is the fact that he is the father of a young bastard son (and I mean that in most respectful way so no hate mail please since I know of which I speak) so seeing these worlds collide, or even knowing that they exist together tangentially, is enough to cause one's eyebrows to raise or face to scrunch up in a wince when you really think about it.

Everyone is talking about Leinart's responsibility to the Arizona Cardinals, the NFL team that employs him. The coach has already expressed his disappointment in Leinart, even saying that Leinart, himself, called him first to alert that these photos were coming out. Many say a young quarterback, who is seen as the face of the franchise surely can't be as reckless and irresponsible as Leinart seemingly has been since his arrival to pro football and even before while at USC (as you see below. This picture was taken at a party in New York after a Heisman Trophy ceremony while Leinart was still with his baby momma, Brynn Cameron, a USC women's basketball player. That's NOT Brynn in the photo if it wasn't clear already).

Leinart, who missed most of last season with a shoulder injury, seems to be the type that can't, or simply doesn't want to, give up the life of a bachelor and some will say, "Who can blame him?" since he's all of 24 years old. I'm not sure what kind of dad Leinart is, but I can't imagine that spending weekends in hot tubs during the off-season and boozing it up with underage (and I mean under 21) college coeds can be the most beneficial thing to foster the relationship between father and son, let alone what it says about the lack of judgment one must possess to be OK with this. It seems that the off-season would the ideal time for a professional athlete to devote his energy to the upbringing of his children since so much time is focused on the craft of sport during the season and so much attention is used up on oneself. The road to professional sports stardom is littered with families that have suffered and sacrificed in the name of the almighty buck though there are some success stories. But it seems that instead of hoisting a beer bong so a girl on her knees can get every last drop of suds down her throat, a good dad should be living a more, shall we say, less frenetic lifestyle so that he can use his time to take his kid for a walk or read to him, spend time with him in the park, watch a DVD with him. Something! (Incidentally, if you want to see a brilliantly photo shopped image of the one below, click here to go to my friend's site, though it could be considered a not-safe-for-work kinda image so be careful).

What seems to be clear in all this analysis is that Matt Leinart isn't ready to settle down and be a family man. It's obvious. It's also clear he probably isn't very comfortable around kids. Even Brynn seems a little put off (and that's being kind) by Matt's lifestyle. Here's what she said in an article in the Ventura County Star last summer (and obviously things haven't improved since then):

"It's kind of hard for me as the mom — I'm with Cole probably 99.9 percent of the time — to open a magazine or read a newspaper article with Matt saying, Oh, I love being a dad. I love changing diapers. I love doing this. I'm like, Wait, what?' " said Cameron, who added, "I don't know how to word how he is about this, but it's been hard when I'm doing all the work, but he gets all the credit for it."


And what better authority than the mother of the child in question. Here is a link to that entire article if you're interested. Again, did we say, it doesn't seem as if Leinart is comfortable around kids?

Matt's more comfortable around his boys (boyz?). The fellas. His posse. Some might even say that Matt (with his head down on the right in the photo below) is a little too comfortable around his boys. Not to go off on a tangent here, but when I see this image I can't help to wonder why I, or anyone, would ever want to be in position like this with cameras snapping. Even for the homoerotic joke of it. I'm a freakin' NFL quarterback and I'm going to put myself in such a passive-submissive spot? I'm sure this goes over wonderfully in an NFL locker room, one of last bastions of homophobia that goes unchecked for the most part. I wonder what Larry Fitzgerald think of this photo? Or what about ultimate family man (and current Cardinals starting quarterback incidentally) Kurt Warner? I mean can you just smell the leadership oozing from this image?

In closing, perhaps all that we can expect as sports fans and human beings is that eventually Leinart will "grow up" and figure out that life is not one big party. There's more to it than that. It's about substance and influencing your children to be the best they can be to put it in simplest terms. Here's hoping that Leinart finally realizes that his lifestyle is in serious need of an evolution to take place (the sooner the better).

Dodgers At The Coliseum

By now, you've all probably been bombarded with the Dodgers-at-the-Coliseum story from last weekend that saw L.A.'s baseball team (sorry Angels) play host to the Boston Red Sox in an exhibition game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to celebrate the team's 50th season in L.A. where they actually played games at the famous football stadium until Dodger Stadium was built. Back then, the left-field fence was 250 feet away from home plate so they erected a 40-foot high netting to make it a little more difficult to hit home runs though Wally Moon and his Moon Shots found a way around that. Since then, the Coliseum field got even smaller, what with the removal of the track to add more seats. So now when the Dodgers had the bright idea to play a nostalgia game at the same stadium, the left-field fence was a little closer -- an amazing 201 feet from home plate (for the record, that's shorter than the fence at Howard J. Lamade Stadium in Williamsport, PA., site of the Little League World Series). This time, though, they put up a 60-foot high screen. Still, there were a few home runs but not as many as you'd think. Anyway, below are some photos from the game taken by my brother-in-law, who was kind enough to take my son (I couldn't go because I had to work) when he came into some tickets at the last minute. It seemed to be a great event with 115,300 fans in attendance and something that will be remembered for a long time.

Here's the NOW, from the then-and-now package, with the then above:


Amazing how all the players cozied in to their spots. Where those guys are sitting is where the fence curves to left field. Not an optical illusion.


Yes, that's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the mound surrounded by Dodger greats. Kareem apparently bounced his ceremonial pitch and got booed but then asked for another chance whereby he proceeded to do one of his famous sky hooks to win the fans back. Imagine digging in against a guy this tall throwing 95 mph.


This, boys and girls, is the man who is going to lead the Dodgers back to the World Series. Pretty good seats based on the location of this picture.

Thanks again to my brother-in-law for providing the photos from last weekend's game.

Kevin Love's Upper Body Strength

There are many things to marvel at when it comes to UCLA freshman All-American center Kevin Love, but the one thing most point to is his passing ability, particularly when it comes to long outlet passes. Some have said that right now, Love is the best outlet passer ever -- not college, but on ANY level. It's hard to argue when you see him in action. There are passes like this:

And the praise from none other than John Wooden himself:

But watch this video below and you'll see Love's gift on display in a way that seems like it should be bundled with an Xbox. I mean, I know this is edited, and who knows how many tries it took him, but look at how effortless he makes this look. Just amazing!

It almost seems to be a re-creation of the computer-generated LeBron James commercial from a few years ago:

Phil, Jeanie On Dog Whisperer

Here's a clip of Lakers Coach Phil Jackson and his girlfriend, the boss' daughter Jeanie Buss, during a session with Cesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer. If you haven't seen this show, it really is fascinating to watch Cesar cure all that ails these effed-upped dogs and their sometimes effed-upped owners. It's on the National Geographic channel if you're interested. I just thought it was interesting to see someone like Phil on the show. Found the link to this at SportsByBrooks.

Larry Bowa Infuses Dodgers

In case you missed it, below is Larry Bowa's meltdown during the sixth inning of Tuesday night's Dodgers-Giants game (Hopefully, video won't get pulled). Bowa was tossed out of the game by umpire Ed Montague after the ump told Bowa he needed to get back in the third-base coach's box. Apparently this rule is being enforced this season because of the Mike Coolbaugh incident from last year. The coaches already have been forced to wear helmets instead of caps so this could be an on-going theme throughout the season.

Bowa was suspended for three games today and surely will return with his same surliness. But as a Dodgers fan, I think this is the best thing that could have happened. It has been a long time since the Blue has displayed the kind of fire you love to see in a ballclub and that intangible should never be discounted. Perhaps not since Kirk Gibson went apeshit on Jesse Orosco after a spring-training prank in 1988 -- and we all know how THAT season turned out. Here's to MORE Larry Bowa passion.

Hot-Headed Russian Youzhny

You may have seen this from a few days ago where tennis player Mikhail Youzhny gets pissed off after screwing up a point. So what does he do? He smacks himself silly with his racket. Not with the strings but with the frame, which causes a deep gash in his forehead. I crack up when his opponent comes over to see what happened and just chuckles.