Oops

This is not the way to raise a cup.


(2008 Memorial Cup winners the Spokane Chiefs)

The expression on their faces is priceless.

Baseball...with children

Columbus Dispatch sports writer Todd Jones takes his daughters to a baseball game and an interrogation breaks out.

This reminds me of a game I attended in 2006. I was in San Diego for a research project. One of the other researchers had never attended a baseball game. She was from China. The Padres happened to have a homestand, playing the New York Mets. I spent much of the game explaining balls, strikes, outs, and all the other requisites of Baseball 101.

The game was noteworthy for two other reasons. One, there was an inside-the-park home run by Kazuo Matsui (very cool, I had never seen one of those before) and a home run by then 47-year-old Julio Franco, who became the oldest player in Major League Baseball history to hit a home run. Nice.

Cross check unicycle

Sometimes you get lucky. Shooting video and taking pictures, sometimes the unexpected happens in front of the camera's lens. This was one of those times.

(Watch the unicyclist.)

Stanley Cup > Lawn Chairs

Especially ones from the 1970s.

Commercial Parodies

Ahh, rankings. Easy to do, gives people something to talk about. Nerve has come up with the 50 greatest commercial parodies of all time.

Most have a brief analysis of why the commercial "works" -- sometimes its the performance (lots of Will Farrell and Phil Hartman), sometimes its the the comment the parody makes on a genre of advertising.

Of course, I have beefs: "Robot Insurance" is funny, but #3? "Colon Blow" (#19) and "Happy Fun Ball" (#13) don't make the top ten? After, the makers of Happy Fun Ball warn, "Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball." And there is now a product, Colon Blow. Its product information frightens me. The biggest travesty may be "Oops I Crapped My Pants" at #33. Why do I stick up for Oops I Crapped My Pants? Because "I'm wearing them...and I just did."

Hints for #2 and #1: One is fishy, the other is the breakfast of champions.

Every funny NHL commercial ever made.

Not really, but it's a start:

Ballpark evolution

Via UniWatch, I learned of a very cool artist and his website. On Historic Ballparks, Jeff Suntala presents gorgeous images showing the evolution of ballparks in different cities. I am partial to Cleveland and Cincinnati, of course.

The most fascinating part of the site to date is Suntala's discovery on Microsoft Live Search of League Park, the first home of the Cleveland Indians. I'm not sure which is more surreal: The fact that part of the Park is still standing, or that the park has been turned into a subdivision.

Posters are for sale!

The Playoff Beard

Beards are to playoff hockey what peanut butter is to jelly. The Las Vegas Sun features the bearded players of the Las Vegas Wranglers who play in the ECHL, a AA league two steps away from the NHL. The Sun also has video of the (mostly) bearded teams. Fun fact: some players use Just for Men.

Tulip Time 2008

Highlights of Sara's band, the Dutchiest group in the parade:



Pre-parade:

Your Mom's Cadence

One of my best friends, Brian Robey, wrote this cadence for my wife's marching band, Pella Christian Grade School. How cool is that?