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
We've gotten a few complaints that Waikiki Hockey isn't urban enough. Some of our readers seem to think that we're not street enough for them. Three words should change their minds .... Hip Hop Hockey.
Many people think that if Hip Hop and Hockey were combined you would get some lame white guy rapping with a cheap hockey helmet on.
Ummm, okay ... not the best example of Hip Hop and Hockey working in harmony.
Maybe if we look at what the professionals can do. Other than the odd rap artist wearing a hockey jersey there isn't much out there.
Darkson Tribe is a hip hop group from Edmonton. One of their biggest hits is "Hockey Shuffle". Oiler Georges Laraque even helped out on the track. Go to the two minute mark in this video and see "Big G. Laraque" bust out some phat rhymes:
Impressive. But we think we can do better. Our research department pointed out that the lyrics to "Throw it Up" by Busta Rhymes contains a reference to hockey:
"I'm skatin' on blades like Sidney Crosby (That's hot)"
That one line is right after references made to Ricky Bobby and Whitney's Bobby ... so not the best of company.
That may be the greatest interview we have ever seen. Snoop Dogg likes hockey. Awesome. There is no way we can do better than that. Thanks to Snoop Waikiki Hockey is now officially hip. Fo Shizzle.
Each day of the 2008 Olympics we've found a bizarre clip or story from a past Summer Olympics. Today, in the last day of our series, we'll look at the 1960 Tunisian Modern Pentathlon Team.
We'll finish up our Bizarre Olympic Moments segment with the most obscure story on our list. One of the most unique sports at the Olympics is the Modern Pentathlon. Competitors must demonstrate their skills in five areas: shooting, swimming, fencing, horse riding and running.
"Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the modern pentathlon believing the event would test a man's/woman's moral qualities as much as his physical resources and skills, thereby producing the ideal, complete athlete. " (From www.modern-pentathlon.com)
A complete athlete needs to be an expert at fencing apparently. We won't critique the merits of the sport as we wouldn't want to offend the four or five fans of the Modern Pentathlon.
Our purpose for this post is to look at one of the worse performances of any team in history. At the 1960 Rome Olympics Tunisia sent three athletes to compete in the Pentathlon. In the individual competition they finished in 56th, 57th and 58th. Dead last. One of the Tunisians, Ahmed Ennachi, took more than 17 minutes to finish the riding portion (the next longest was 10 minutes).
Surprisingly, the Tunisians found a way lower the bar even further in the team competition.
First up was the riding portion. Things did not start out well as all three competitors fell off their horses. The team was given a historic score of zero.
The swimming was the second event that the team would need to struggle their way through. The Tunisians scored a 1,260 which is impressive when you consider that one of the team couldn't swim and almost drowned in the competition.
Third up was the shooting. The Tunisians finished with a 1,340 just a 140 points behind Germany. They may have finished ahead of Germany if one of the team wasn't removed from the competition after he almost shot an official.
Things didn't look any more hopeful for the fencing as only one of the three Tunisians knew how to fence. The team hoped nobody would notice if they sent the same team member up three times with his helmet on. Officials did notice and they were awarded a paltry 768 points (second last Great Britain had 1,700).
The final event was the cross-country run. Tunisia finished strong (well, relatively speaking) and scored their highest score of 1,758 ... we guess it's pretty hard to mess a run up. They still finished in last place, but only by 350 points.
Other than Tunisia, every country finished with a score between 10,000 and 15,000. The total score for Team Tunisia was only 5,126 marking one of the worst performance by a team in Olympic history.
Maybe if Tunisia had this guy cheering for them they could have finished in second last. Somebody needs a hobby. Aim, Aim, Shoot!
(Information for this article was taken from a great article in the Herald)
Take a look at the 16 most bizarre Olympic moments in history:
And finally, the Waikiki Hockey Clip o' the Week. This week Cuban Taekwondo athlete Angel Matos was disqualified in the bronze medal match for exceeding the allotted injury time. He disagreed with this judgement and let the referee know of his disappointment by kicking him in the head:
"Waikiki Hockey" is a collection of the most obscure, weird, bizarre sport videos, pictures and stories. The best and brightest make it to the Hall of Fame. If you think we're missing something let us know.
Don't know where the name "Waikiki Hockey" comes from? Find out.
Darkson Tribe is a hip hop group from Edmonton. One of their biggest hits is "
First up was the riding portion. Things did not start out well as all three competitors fell off their horses. The team was given a historic score of zero.
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