The Dream Peanut

There was a seminal moment in my office today when a "fourple" peanut was unveiled at 6:04 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time by one of my colleagues. I had always heard rumors of the fourples' existence but never had I actually laid my eyes on one in the flesh. George Washington Carver is smiling somewhere at this latest incarnation of a true nature's miracle. Once word of the fourple (or as some of us like to call it, the "double sack") spread, people from all over the department were there shooting photos with their cellphone cameras to capture the moment. I apologize for the quality of my photo, but it's the best I could do considering the mob scene that had erupted. I'm just glad I was there to see it and wanted to share it with the world.

'Hey, Numb Nuts!'

Pretty funny moment in the recent National Spelling Bee when eventual winner Sameer Mishra needs a second pronunciation of a word to make sure he's understanding what he's hearing. No wonder the crowd loved this kid.

French Open Photo(s) O' The Day

If there had been anything to post from the Maria Sharapova-Bethanie Mattek match at the French Open, I'd have it here, but there really was nothing. Seems as if Bethanie might be turning conservative so we'll have to wait until other tournaments to see if anything changes. So that's why I posted the picture above, which features Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland on the left, and Alize Cornet of France, after their match. Also, below are a few new photos of EM's favorite player Ana Ivanovic (though I wish she'd mix up the outfits every now and then).

Mattek-Sharapova Update

The fashion statement, if you can call it that, was a tad disappointing but at least the Bethanie Mattek-Maria Sharapova second-round match at the French Open will live to see another day. That's because with Sharapova leading, 6-2, 2-3, on Thursday evening in Paris the match was suspended at Roland Garros because of darkness and will continue today. Mattek didn't sex it up as we thought she might, leaving us a tad disappointed. Perhaps she's headed in a new direction, who knows? Sharapova's outfit choice also was standard fare, so what can you do. Anyway, here are the "best" from both players that are available so far.

First, here's two of Mattek:

Here are two of Sharapova:

Bethanie Mattek-Sharapova Alert

The camera shutters figure to be clicking everywhere on Thursday at the French Open. That's because Maria Sharapova will be playing her second-round match after barely surviving a first-round affair. Photogs seem to love Sharapova but adding to the intrigue Thursday will be her opponent -- American player Bethanie Mattek (pictured above with an roving-eyed ball boy), who gets more attention for what she wears than how she plays. If you don't know her, you can click here to get an idea. And if Mattek shows up to make a fashion statement, in addition to playing tennis, you can bet it will be a spectacle. And what better way to gain attention than by playing the tournament's defending champion. We plan on having some updates later Thursday.

French Open Photo O' The Day

When I found this photo, the caption information was missing, which I took to mean that when you have two women looking as if they're going to kiss, it doesn't really matter what their names are, does it? But my attention to detail took over and after some research, I have discovered that the two ladies in question are from Switzerland: Timea Bacsinszky (in orange) and Patty Schnyder (in blue). Not sure who won. Does anyone really care?

Racist Assault On MLS Player

Be careful what you film, what you say and where you post it. Some fans of the Columbus Crew are finding this out after this video below shows the New England Revolution's Kheli Dube scoring a goal and winning the game as the fans of the Crew (well one in particular at least) launch into a racist rant against Dube. It's pretty disgusting stuff that you wish in 2008 wouldn't be uttered aloud at a sporting event. Below the video is the Associated Press story regarding the incident.


COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Columbus Crew is investigating a racial slur made by a fan toward New England Revolution players that was captured on camera and posted on the video-sharing Web site YouTube.
Forward Kheli Dube scored in the 89th minute of a 1-0 win on Saturday in Columbus. Video from a camera pointed at the field shows Dube, who is black, celebrating with teammates. An off-camera voice can be heard shouting and using a racial epithet while bottles and streamers are thrown at the players.
“We appreciate the energy and support we receive from our fans and understand that emotions run high during games,” the Crew said in a statement. “But there is no excuse for the reprehensible behavior exhibited by the fan heard in the video clip.”
A statement from Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber said it was investigating incidents during the match.

Heineken's Share The Good

I was talking to Matt, I think, the other day about a commercial on TV that I just couldn't remember what it was advertising. Anyway, there is this song in the commercial that, at first, was very annoying to me but now after more than several listenings I kinda like it. I finally realized the commercial is for Heineken beer and the message is "Share the Good." Incidentally, the song in the commercial is called "It's Love" by Chris Knox. Don't worry, I'd never heard of Chris Knox either but I found out a bunch of stuff here, including that he is from New Zealand, was born in 1952 and used to be in a band called Tall Dwarfs.

More Miley Cyrus Trouble

You probably heard about the recent photos of Miley Cyrus that appeared in Vanity Fair, showing the 15-year-old in a rather revealing photo for her age, wrapped in a half-draped sheet and nothing more (pic is below). She has come under scrutiny, and the folks at Disney, who are making a boatload of money from Miley and her Hannah Montana show and concert tour, can't be very pleased. But until I went into this Fark thread, I never realized that young Miley looks a little bit like Cosette from the poster for the musical Les Mierables. Oh, and about the latest controversy, apparently there are some photos from a cellphone that show Miley in a revealing way. Those can be found here with this article if you so choose to seek them out.

'Wow, That's Terrific Bass!'

Another of the all-time great SNL skits though this one goes way back to the original cast when this was a cutting-edge show. All together now: Wow, that's terrific bass!!!

Ashley Harkleroad To Playboy

With the French Open in full swing, I went searching for a Tennis Hottie O' The Day shot and actually came upon this story about American player Ashley Harkleroad, who lost her first-round match at Roland Garros to Serena Williams and used part of her post-match news conference to announce that she had inked a deal to pose in the August issue of Playboy. Many blogs have taken notice already as to be expected. Although I had heard of Ashley before, I'm sure most casual tennis fans had not, considering that she has never won a tournament and only has reached a ranking as high as No. 39 in her career. While she's not a drop-dead beauty, it will be interesting to see what Playboy does with her. Stay tuned.

David Beckham's 60-Yard Goal

As you know, we love David Beckham here (or Becks, as it were). On Saturday, Beckham scored an incredible goal to close out the Galaxy's 3-1 victory over the Kansas City Wizards at the Home Depot Center. Sure, it was into an empty net, but you go ahead and try to kick a ball that far with that much accuracy. He makes it look easy, but believe me, it's not.

The Sinatra Group

One of the best SNL skits of all time. So many good lines in this one, especially from Phil Hartman, who plays Frank Sinatra. "I got chunks of guys like you in my stool."

Peyton Manning And The United Way

Peyton Manning has the reputation for being a goody-two-shoes but after watching this video you might think otherwise. "Cops! Every man for himself." I love it.

Matt Foley -- Motivational Speaker

I really miss Chris Farley, especially when I see him perform as he does in this Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker video. It's all David Spade and Christina Applegate can do to keep from laughing.

Lazy Sunday

Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell doing Lazy Sunday.

Natalie Portman On SNL

One of my favorite SNL Digital Shorts of all time -- the Natalie Portman rap. I got this off another site and wanted to see how it would work on the blog. So this is kind of an experiment.

Peter Griffin Not A Godfather Fan

It's very well known around the Internets and intrawebs that the creators of Family Guy (or perhaps 20th Century Fox) is fiercely protective of its copyright and usually has video clips pulled from sits such as YouTube within a day of their posting. But here is a clip, with audio only and alternate video to accompany of one of my favorite scenes. It's when Peter and the rest of the family debate the merits of the movie, "The Godfather" and how Peter really isn't that impressed. Some great dialogue.

Chris Elliott's Rocket Man

A long time ago, I posted something on William Shatner after he was roasted on Comedy Central. Part of that post had a clip of Shatner doing an "interpretive" version of Elton John's "Rocket Man" at the 1978 Science Fiction Awards. The version is so out there that it was difficult to determine if Shatner was serious. Anyway, it went down as one of the classical bad (which made it great incidentally) covers of all time. Here it is below:

Apparently, a few years later, comedian Chris Elliott took off and ran with the Shatner bit to do one of his own on the David Letterman show. I had never seen this clip before until recently and it was a reminder of when Elliott used to be a regular during Letterman's early days and his off-beat humor could be found frequently. Anyway, I thought it was pretty funny to compare the two so I posted it.

Now That's Funny

Here's a not-safe-for-work (language) clip of veteran New York local news anchor Sue Simmons dropping an F-bomb during a live tease. Apparently, according to a New York Daily news story, Simmons thought the tease was being taped when she blurted out the expletive, which was directed at her co-anchor Chuck Scarborough.

Flagrant Foul On LeBron James

The Cleveland Cavaliers routed the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of their series Saturday and if you saw it, it was a rout from the start. Below is a play in the second quarter when Cleveland was already ahead 39-17. It shows Boston's James Posey commit what was ruled a flagrant foul on LeBron James. What amazes me about this play is that the ABC announcers, including Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy, actually defend and downplay the severity of the foul. This comes about a week after this same crew went crazy when Atlanta Hawks' player Marvin Williams committed a flagrant foul on Boston's Rajon Rondo. Granted, they were correct in their assessment on that one. On this play, where Posey takes James down around the neck as James is coming through the lane at full speed, Jackson actually says it was just a "good, hard foul" and shouldn't be a flagrant. Van Gundy wasn't quite as flip but just as idiotic by saying, "It should have been called a flagrant, but I don't think it was a flagrant foul." Huh!?!?! And the main announcer (his name escapes me) also does some ridiculous downplaying. Basically, it's protect the precious Celtics at all costs, as I see it. I'm sorry, you foul a guy up high like that and it should be a flagrant, no questions asked, every time. Last week, these announcers were practically calling for the Hawks' Williams to be banned from the NBA. You can see that video and commentary here. Compare the reactions of the announcers. Amazing. And hypocritical.

Latest NBA Promo Spots

Here's the latest two NBA playoff promo spots. Derek Fisher of the Lakers is involved again, this time with Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz as the former teammates are paired up.

This one is Euro special as Tony Parker (of the Spurs and France) goes half face to half face with Peja Stojakovic (of the Hornets and Serbia):

Chris Paul Makes MVP-Like Shot

Now don't get me wrong, I'm a Kobe fan and backer all the way, but did you see the shot that Chris Paul made tonight in a Game 3 loss to the Spurs? I think the guy had an amazing season and he's a great player, but it's just not his time yet. But with shots like this, he sure is fun to watch.

Remember Blu Blockers?

Creatures of late nate television (or "telly-vision" as Bruce Springsteen likes to say when he introduces the Mighty Max Weinberg) might remember this, and frankly, I'm really not sure why it occured to me right now. But does anyone remember those informercials for Blu Blockers sunglasses? You know you do. And remember the idiot rapper with the oversized Mariachi hat who actually rhymes his way through what's supposed to pass for an endorsement? Well, here's the commercial below. Not sure if this was a national thing or only in L.A. These nasty glasses still actually exist. But some people really seem to love them, which is fine. Anyway, enjoy:

Another NBA Promo

Just as I predicted, the latest NBA promo for the playoffs features Kevin Garnett and LeBron James to hype the Celtics-Cavaliers series. Not that I actually went out on much of a limb, but still, right? Here's the promo:

Actually, I don't think I saw the one below, which is from the Pistons-76ers series and features Andre Iguodala of Philly and Richard Hamilton of Detroit. So just for posterity's sake, here it is:

Jimmy Kimmel Gets Miguel Tejada'd

A few weeks ago, ESPN busted Houston Astros' shortstop Miguel Tejada for having lied about his age and making himself seem younger than he actually is. As expected, Tejada didn't take this too well, seeming embarrassed and walking off the set in the middle of an interview. So below is that video, followed by one done by Jimmy Kimmel and his fibs about his weight. Good stuff, especially when you watch the Tejada video first and then the Kimmel one.

Here is the Kimmel parody:

More New NBA Commercial Promos

Just as we suspected, it appears the NBA will continue to show those commercials featuring two players on a split screen saying the same thing simultaneously to promote the playoffs. The spots correspond with players from teams playing in a particular round. We came across three more new ones, including one with Kobe Bryant and Carlos Boozer for the Lakers-Utah Jazz series. Like anything, too much of a good thing can be annoying, but I still think these are fairly cool. Only complaint is that there aren't enough different scripts to what these guys say. Guess it's tough to have them do too many. Anyway, here are the new ones:

Dwight Howard-Chauncey Billups (Magic-Pistons)

Tim Duncan-Chris Paul (Spurs-Hornets)

Still nothing for the Boston-Cleveland series (since Celtics-Hawks just ended yesterday), but it's gotta be Garnett and LeBron right? Though Ben Wallace was in the previous Cleveland spot. Maybe LeBron wouldn't agree to do it. I'll keep looking and post it, whomever it ends up being.

David Beckham's Two-Goal Game

Here at EM, we like to track all of David Beckham's milestones now that he's in America, so here is the latest: his first two-goal game in MLS. Beckham brought the Galaxy back from a 2-0 deficit with two very nice goals, including one on a patented free kick. The game was actually really entertaining and provided numerous chances for both teams. The video below has the highlights from the whole game. The Beckham goals can be found from the 1:04 mark to about 1:50.

Italians Are Emotional Over Soccer

Well as you know I'm a soccer fan, but even I can't justify the emotional response by this "announcer" at the AC Milan-Inter Milan game from over the weekend. Now, obviously tensions are going to run high since the teams are from the same I-talian town, but this goes beyond anything you'd ever see here. It's still great to watch though and I have to admire the man's passion. I discovered this video on the RSW Blog based in Pittsburgh via a link from Dan Patrick's radio show blog. BTW, Dan Patrick has the best sports radio talk show on the air. Locally, it's on 570 KLAC from 6-9 a.m. every weekday morning.

Marvin Williams Flagrant On Rajon Rondo

Now I'm the last person in the world who would EVER stick for the Celtics or Boston, in general, for that matter, but even I had to cringe when I saw the foul that Marvin Williams of the Atlanta Hawks committed on Rajon Rondo of the Celtics as the Hawks saw things getting away from them in Game 7 on Sunday. Even Atlanta Coach Mike Woodson seemed embarrassed by the play. The reaction of the announcers was pretty intense.

Peter Griffin And The Bullfrog

For some reason, I watched this scene from Family Guy tonight and I couldn't stop laughing. Peter comes into Chris' room to try and cheer him up by bringing him a bullfrog. But when Peter discovers the bullfrog dead in the box after he "poked some holes in its back so it can breathe" he has to find a way to get rid of the poor creature. Of course, since it's Family Guy, nothing is ever simple -- or tasteful.

Paul Scholes' Amazing Goal

This is the amazing goal from earlier this week by Paul Scholes to lift Manchester United into the final of the European Champions League. ManU will face Chelsea in the first All-English final. The game will be played in Moscow later this month.

More Kerwin Danley Video

If case you were interested in seeing the extended version of the Kerwin Danley incident at Dodger Stadium from last Saturday (Danley, the home plate umpire, was knocked unconscious after being hit by a Brad Penny fastball and had to be taken away in an ambulance) here are two videos for you. The first is about 4 1/2 minutes and takes you through the first commercial break. The second is almost six minutes and takes you through Danley's leaving the field in the ambulance. If nothing else, it's interesting to hear Vin Scully fill time. Anyway, here's the video.

Aftermath

In the final analysis, Kerwin Danley seems to be doing well based on various reports.