What a World Series...

How good is this year’s World Series? The many errors and base running mishaps haven’t resulted in good 'actual' ball but the story lines are fantastic. After one of the craziest games we have seen in ages in Game 4, the Phillies and Rays followed it up with a 2-2 suspended tie in Game 5.

We’re not huge fans of either the Phillies or the Rays but we do like both teams. What we’re really rooting for is a Game 7. No more sweeps! No more sweeps! So we were pumped in Game 5 when, with the Rays down 2-1, the umpires decided to start the 6th inning. B.J. Upton gets a very rain-aided hit, steals second and scores the tying run. Commissioner Bud Selig made us even happier suspending the game to be finished at a later date. No Cole Hamels (likely for the rest of the series) and a possible David Price ‘start’ means that the Rays have a very good shot at forcing a Game 6.

The Phillies? They weren’t as happy as we were (from the blog at the Courier Post Online):

“That (expletive deleted) guy,” one pitcher said as he saw commissioner Bud
Selig before walking out the back door of the clubhouse. “I wouldn’t let him
supervise one of my (bowel movements). He has no clue. Not one (expletive
deleted) clue.”

“(Expletive deleted),” one position player said in the direction of one
television pausing only for a moment before leaving. “He’s a moron. How stupid
can one person be?”

Do you think the Phillies swear more because they hear the fans talking that way? You know, the same kind of thing that happens to sailors. Bud Selig is an idiot but this is a pretty tough situation for him and he managed to only screw it up a little bit.

We just can’t wait to see what is going to happen next in this series? Game winning Grand Slam? Balking home the tying run? Perfect Game by Matt Garza? The way this series has gone anything can happen!

Crazy Awesome...

In Game 4 in Philadelphia on Monday night Shane Victorino hits the game tying two run home run in the 8th inning. Matt Stairs then hits another two run shot in the eight to give the Phillies the lead and the eventual win:

40 year old (Canadian) Matt Stairs! Crazy. No, not crazy...crazy awesome. When we saw the big smash we immediately thought of Kirk Gibson ... and we didn't even know it was the 20th anniversary of the famous HR.

Stair's home run was huge. It gave the Phillies a 3-1 series lead and the eventual win. But since Gibson's home run was twenty years ago you might need some refreshing on how amazing it really was:

• Game 1 1988 World Series
• Bottom of the 9th, 2 out
• Los Angeles is down 4-3 with a man on base
• Gibson (with an injured hamstring and knees) gets called to pinch hit against the best reliever in baseball
• Gibson gets two strikes on him but somehow manages to work the count to 3-2

...and this happens:

Now that is crazy! Seriously ... if we saw that home run in a movie we would start bitching, like we always do, saying "why can't somebody make a realistic baseball movie?" Not only is it a truly unbelievable sporting moment but Gibson's moustache and fist pump in between first and second are Fonzie cool.

Sexson, Sexsoff...

You may have missed the big news last week...Richie Sexson was waived by the Yankees. The move means Sexson's 12 year, 306 home run career could be over.

We really shouldn't like or miss Sexson ... but we do and will.

After hitting 40 bombs with a respectable .263 average in 2006 we picked him up on the cheap in our fantasy baseball team. Sexson struggled on Team Waikiki with only 21 homeruns and a .205 average.

We thought Sexson was going to rebound in 2008 so we grabbed him at an even cheaper price and waited. Nine homeruns and a bottom of the ladder finish (we more than just Sexson problems) and here we are. This is normally where we curse the player and vow never to cheer for them again. Not happening with Richie.

We've always been a distant fan of Richie's ... we're not sure why. Maybe it has something to do with his mashing abilities at the plate (he hit 45 home runs twice) or his giantic stature or because we giggle like a schoolgirl anytime we say his name (this also happens with titmouse). This commercial sums up our feelings on the big fella:

Sigh. It will be hard to find somebody to match Sexson's HR / no average combination. But maybe, just maybe, Sexson will catch on somewhere else next year. We bet Team Waikiki could get him really cheap next year ... he's due.

Holy Cow...

We've looked at some hopeless amateur announcers in our articles "Boom Goes The Dynamite..." and "And That Happened..." so we thought it was the perfect time to look at a professional announcer ... who's just as hopeless but does it with much more style.

The announcer in question is Harold Christopher Carabina or as he's better known....Harry Caray.

Caray got his first gig in 1945 with the Cardinals. In St Louis, Caray developed his taste for Budweiser and gained his reputation of being a big drinker. In 1969, after 24 years of service to the Cardinal organisation Harry was surprisingly fired by owner August Busch Jr. It was rumoured that Caray was let go fired because he had an affair with the owner's daughter-in-law ... although Caray denies it.

He moved on to broadcast games with the Oakland Athletics, but didn't get along with owner Charles Findley and left after only one season.

Next he went to the Chicago White Sox where he quickly became a fan favourite. While working for the Sox he starting singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch which he later became famous for.

When the White Sox decided to switch to a pay cable service (the first team ever) Caray decided to move on to his final destination ... the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs and Caray were broadcast on WGN which was broadcast across American ... for free. Harry Caray fans were now located all across the country.
Harry Caray was a great quote factory ... only problem was most of them were due Harry messing something up. Our favourite would have to be: "Aw, how could he (Jorge Orta) lose the ball in the sun, he's from Mexico."

Caray has as distinctive of a style as an announcer can get:

We love his pronunciation of Isringhausen. Classic Caray. He sounded like he was into the hooch every game which somehow only seemed to add to his charm. His distinctive style encouraged impersonators like:

• Pitchers Ryan Dempster and Will Ohman
• David Draiman from the band Disturbed
• Will Ferrell on Saturday Night Live (full clip with audio only and partial clip video)
• A soldier in Iraq
• Comedian John Caponera, who pretty much made a career out of impersonating Harry:
  

As he got older his "Grampa Simpson" moments increased like in this clip where Caray waxes poetically on Cracker Jacks.

Harry passed away in 1998, but his legend lives on. Since his death, the Cubs bring in special guests to fill in for Harry during the seventh inning stretch ... which didn't work out every time. Nobody does it like Harry:

Everybody Loves Big Papi...

On one of our many research trips through the YouTube jungle we found a clip of David Oritz on Live!...with Regis and Kelly. It's amazing. Put Big Papi next to two dolts like Kelly and whoever the Regis filler is and Ortiz looks even cooler. Love the look on his face around 4:30 when he's talking about how crazy Jon Papelbon is. No idea why Ortiz thinks that:

Not too many athletes like Ortiz out there...in any sport. It's hard to believe that in 2002, after hitting 20 HR in 400 AB's, the Twins gave up on him and tried to trade him. Nobody wanted him, so the Twins released him. He was almost forced to find a job in Mexico or Japan but the Red Sox signed him and he went on to hit 31, 41, 47, and 54 home runs over the next four year. Not a bad pick up.

“He appeals to every demographic,” Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein
says. “People love watching athletes who you can tell enjoy what they’re doing.
And to have a guy who comes to work every day with a smile—that’s especially
huge in our clubhouse, where we had problems in the past.” (Sports Illustrated)

Everybody love Big Papi. It's really surprising he isn't better marketed by the MLB and sponsors. At least we've got:
- A classic SportsCenter promo featuring Jorge Posada and Ortiz
- A New Era ad that doesn't actually include Ortiz but is still pretty decent
- A newish commercial featuring Ortiz and Brian Urlacher playing badminton

On the personal side of things he's got a sweet ride and he likes to cook...appartently in a Yankee Haters Hat.

But our favourite obscure Ortiz clip is of the big guy playing golf with "Neon" Deion Sanders. Seriously.

YouTube's Best Sport Videos of the Week - Aug 4th to Aug 11th

A listing of the best, brightest and most bizarre clips that have been posted in the past week.

• TSN can start us out with one of their patented Top 10 lists. This time out it's Top 10 NHL Awards for the 2008-09 season.
  
• We talked about a potential Slamball comeback 10 days ago now it's official ... Slamball is coming back.
  
• A weird NFL commercial featuring the Touchdown Monkey.
  
• Any video with Spud Webb gets extra points at Waikiki Hockey.
  
• A fantastic catch by a ball girl ... it's a Powerade commercial that didn't make the cut.
  
• You might have missed this ... Brett Favre got traded to the Jets.
  
• Sam Gagner is a human highlight reel. Will this be the year he becomes a good NHL player?
  
• In honour of the Olympics, Nadia Comanci's perfect 10 (the first ever) at the Montreal Olympics in 1975
  
• Twenty years ago, NHL hockey was changed forever. We wish it never happened, but without the trade we would have had to think up another name for this site.
  
• Chris Bosh must have had a lot of spare time leading up to the Olympics. Some people just shouldn't be allowed to use home video editing software:

Next Week >

YouTube's Best Sport Videos of the Week - Jul 28th to Aug 3rd

A look at the most interesting sports videos posted onto YouTube this past week:

- A video & photo tribute to former(?) Leaf Mats Sundin and his big bald head.

- "Top 10 Reverse Lay-ups" from the 2007-08 NBA season. Reverse Lay-ups are much better than the regular kind.

- The breast -- sorry I mean -- BEST fans of the Montreal Canadians. Photos of hot girls wearing Habs gear mixed in with Montreal players. The girls almost make up for having to look at Saku Koivu.

- Some kid showing everybody his favourite hockey cards. I would make fun of how big of a nerd this kid is, but I probably would have done the same thing if YouTube was around when I was 12.

- Boxer Wladimir Klitschko (who currently holds the IBF, WBO, and IBO world heavyweight titles) on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien".

- Highlights of Jason Bay's first game as a member of the Boston Red Sox. I liked him so much more before he was a Sock ... and Manny Ramirez's debut in Dodgers blue, wearing number 99.

- Some crazy street basketball dribbling starring 'Hot Sauce'. That's how we used to play it in the hood.

- A good mix of some classic hockey clips from the last 25 years. Looks like it would have taken a good amount of time to put together.

- A clip from the brand new EASports NHL09. Apparently, it's getting very good reviews.

- Steve Nash and Baron Davis are set to star in the sequel to "Step Brothers".

- The New Zealand basketball team proves the Haka just doesn't work when it's done by tall, lanky, white guys....these guys show how it's really done.

- There are a few sporting moments in the "Top 10 Racist Things Said on Live TV" list. It's amazing how dumb people can be.

- And this week's "Waikiki Hockey" pick for "Clip of the Week" is Angel's pitcher Justin Speier doing his best Mike Tyson impersonation. His impersonation is about as good as his pitching line is this season:


Find something worthy of Waikiki Hockey? Pass it along!