Jose Reyes

Jose Reyes is pretty much everything that's great about sports. A couple nights ago, my friend Lee and I were watching the Mets Giants game. At one point Lee says, "Just look at Jose Reyes. He's like a 5 year old. He acts exactly the way a 5 year old would if he were in the MLB." At the time, the Mets were at bat and Reyes was standing up at the edge of the dugout next to Endy Chavez. Jose was dancing and grinning and waving his arms at the pitcher to try to mess him up. If you just said to yourself, "come on, it's the big leagues, there's no place for that," then I hate you. It was absolutely hilarious, and really just perfect.

It reminds me of the kid from the movie Little Big League, when a 12 year old plays for the Chicago Cubs. He gets on first base and starts dancing, making faces at the pitcher, and shouting the imfamous "pitchers got a big butt" chant. Then the pitcher pegs the batter in the back and says "that one was for you kid." I digress.

At the beginningn of the year, my friend Max said that Jose Reyes is the most exciting player in all of sports. I found it hard to believe that such a prestigious title could go to a baseball player, but it's true. He's already a top 5 player in the game. He gets big hit after big hit, has 28 stolen bases (more than several entire teams), has 7 triples already, and fields unbelievably well. Whenever this kid is at bat something ridiculous is about to happen. He can take a standard double and make it a triple, and he can take a single and steal 2 bases to get to third. He drives pitchers crazy. A couple nights ago, he was on first base, with the mets down 1 in the bottom of the 12th. He dances around and fakes a steal, which causes reliever Armando Benitez to balk. Reyes is on second. Then Benitez throws a wild pitch. Reyes is on third. Reyes messes around with Benitez some more and causes him to balk a second time! Reyes scores and the Mets go on to win.

And when he's not doing something amazing, Reyes is dancing and playing around on the field and in the dugout. He's also known for his amazingly creative and elaborate handshakes that he does with the 2 Carlos'. Everything about this guy is great. He's got that competitive edge that lets him be great, that little kid mentality that never left him, and the physical ability that gets you out of your seat on a regular basis.

Surprisingly, I couldn't find any good videos of Jose (youtube failed me for once). But I did stumble onto the greatest playoff catch I have ever seen. I'm sure you remember last year in game 7 of the NLCS, Mets vs Cardinals. It was 1-1 in the 7th and Edmonds hits a shot that shod be a homerun, making it 3-1 i think, and basically ending the season. But out of no where Endy leaps up and makes the most amazing over the wall snow cone grab ive ever seen, keeping the Mets alive. The catch's glory was diminished after the Mets lost the game and got eliminated.

The Catch
The Catch from the Crowd's perspective

Back Soon

Not that I have a large fan base, but for the handful that do check this every now and then, sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have a lot of catching up to do, but it's gonna have to wait another week. I have 4 finals this week, but I'll leave you with these videos in the mean time.
Sports Bloopers 1
Sports Bloopers 2
Just Ridiculous Now

Kentucky Derby

The great thing about the Kentucky Derby is that it's one of the most exciting sporting events we have that you don't have to see live to fully appreciate. There's no regular season, no playoffs, just 2 minutes. And now it's even easier with great sites like youtube. You can spend 2 and a half minutes and watch the complete race on youtube, and get the same entertainment as you would watching it live. Plus, you don't have to worry about avoiding all human contact before you watch it in fear of someone telling you who won. Because you don't know whose racing anyway. And even if you did, it's nearly impossible to tell them apart. All you have to do to enjoy the kentucky derby is get to a computer and watch it on youtube.

Great Season

Rangers lost today 5-4 and the season is done. I'm not gonna be ranting throughout this post; I'm on a pretty stable emotional level right now and I'm gonna be okay.

After the post game phone calls, I was able to really get myself together. I put my Ranger jersey back on, flipped on NHL 07, and played that for a couple hours while listening to James Blunt. I'm not one to brag, but it was at that moment that I realized what a great Ranger fan I am. If I could script what a perfect Ranger fan would do after a season ending loss, it would include playing NHL 07 and listening to James Blunt with a Rangers jersey on.

I feel like today I've become an even bigger Ranger fan than I have been. I honestly didn't think it was possible. But now that we are back in the hunt for the cup every year, I'm really starting to understand everything. My dad told me after the game 5 heartbreaking loss on friday, "Now you're a true Ranger fan." He explained that now I had experienced one of the classic Rangers melt downs with only seconds remaining in an enormous game. He was right.

I'm actually really impressed with all Ranger fans throughout the playoffs. The support was unmatched throughout the league. The garden was rockin every game. The 5 minutes after the final buzzer sounded was a special 5 minutes. I didn't know how the garden would react. It was perfect. After like 20 seconds of silence the garden started going nuts for the Rangers, giving them a huge standing ovation. Throughout the handshakes, as the players consoled one another trying to pick their heads up, the fans helped with a great Lets Go Rangers chant in complete unison.

For the past 2 seasons the Rangers had adopted a great european hockey tradition: after every win on home ice the whole team gathers at center ice and salutes the crowd with their sticks. It's an amazing tradition and the fans love it. Well even after the loss today, the boys stayed on the ice and saluted the crowd one more time as the fans responded with their enormous ovation. I'm gonna try to find the video of the 5 minutes after the game, it was amazing.

We had a great year, and could not have went out with more respect. So, I'll end the post with the 2 greatest words in sports: NEXT YEAR

Game 5 Rangers Sabres (I guess I have to discuss it)

FUCK (I'd like to take a moment to let that sink in).. Well, it was 0-0 after 2 periods and about halfway through the third when the Rangers scored a great goal on a 3-2 break. But it was called off due to a goalie interference penalty that simply didn't happen. That's okay, because with 3 minutes to go we finally got on the board with a great wrister by my boy marty straka. It was amazing. Everything was perfect. The Buffalo fans had pretty much turned on the Sabres. Some people started to leave. The place was amazingly silent.

Okay, throughout the whole game I had been talking to Harry online. With just over a minute to go, I tell Harry that I really really need to poop. He gave me some encouraging words to fight through it. I was pacing around the room, just waiting for the fucking thing to end. I couldn't do it though. (No I didn't poop in my pants). But the Rangers iced the puck causing a stoppage of play with 15 seconds left. I figured that we could hang on and I just had to go poo. So I did...

It was a pretty quick and successful trip to the office, and I came back upstairs, walked down the hall towards my room basically giggling to myself with happiness and joy because the Rangers just took a huge 3-2 series lead vs the number one seed.

I come back into my room and the first thing I hear is the crowd going insane. I thought it was at Buffalo tonight, what's going on? Then I hear the announcer say, something like JUST 7.7 SECONDS AWAY FROM WINNING GAME 5, THE RANGERS NOW FIND THEMSELVES BACK WHERE THEY STARTED AS WE GO INTO OVERTIME.

I frantically said to myself, "What did I do?" They had tied it up with 7.7 to go and later they ended up stealing this fucking game in OT. Now the Rangers go back to NY on the verge of elimination in game 6 on sunday. But I am soooo sorry to every Ranger fan whose heart dropped like mine did when the Sabres tied it up. It was my fault. I took the win for granted. Those who know me well know that this is so uncharacteristic of me. Never again will I let an intestinal desire outweigh the heart's desire. I am never pooping during a Ranger game again. So like I said, FUCK. But we got to put it behind us and come out strong in game 6 and 7.

Recap of text messages and IMs regarding the game last night:

Text messages-
Bohm- "1-0 and should be 2"
Freddy- "ouch"
Bohm- "I'm gonna hang myself now"

IMs-
Icekid99 (9:28:09 PM): you dont want a faceoff in ur own zone late
Sinkit510 (9:28:17 PM): i know its silly
Icekid99 (9:28:21 PM): ah ive got to poop
Sinkit510 (9:28:41 PM): bring your laptop into the toilet
Icekid99 (9:28:48 PM): im gonna be strong
Icekid99 (9:29:29 PM): ah I dont have much time here
Icekid99 (9:29:40 PM): im gonna poop right now
Sinkit510 (9:29:49 PM): no be strong
(I go, Buffalo scores)
Sinkit510 (9:31:45 PM): fuck
(I come back)
Icekid99 (9:35:16 PM): ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Icekid99 (9:35:21 PM): im never pooping again
Icekid99 (9:35:51 PM): ahhhhhhhh

Something else that is very noteworthy. In the great spring of 1994, the Rangers were up 1-0 on the Devils in game 7 of the conference finals, when the Devils scored to tie it up at 1 with 7.7 seconds to go. However, as we all know, the outcome of that game was slightly different. This is my favorite call of any announcer in any sporting event ever. And it's also a top 5 favorite sports moment of mine. It is Stephane Matteau in Double Overtime

Coaches

Today the Yankees fired their conditioning coach after another Yankee player went down with a hamstring injury last night. The league's top pitching prospect, Phil Hughes, had a no hitter going into the 7th inning in just his second start ever. But he had to be taken out of the game and will be side lined for over a month due to a hamstring injury. This after Mussina, Wang, Pavano, and Matsui all went down with injuries in the first month of the season. Rumor has it that the training program this conditioning coach used was causing all of these injuries. So after last night, Cashman and the Boss let him go. All this talk about coaching makes me want to show some classic coaching speeches I've collected:

Bobby Knight Half Time Speech- This is one of my favorite sound clips of all time. I mean to be honest, I wouldn't call it a successful pep talk. Then again he is the most winning college basketball coach of all time. Love him or hate him, this speech is hilarious. Also, parental discretion is advised.

Friday Night Lights Half Time- I have to say, Billy Bob Thornton is kind of a douche bag, but this is the one movie I actually like him in.

Not Sure How to Label This One- I'm not even sure what sport this is. I'm guessing it's rugby, or maybe Aussie Rules Football. Either way, between the accent, the amateur footage, and just the look of these guys, this is a great clip.

Coolest Video On This List- This guy is the man. I'm not gonna lie, the music makes the whole thing much better. But if someone told me this was from a movie, I would completely believe it. I feel like killing someone after hearing this guy talk.

Billy Donovan- This is Billy's speech to the Gaters before their first of back to back national championships. I wish they could put cameras in the locker rooms for every speech. That would really be amazing.

Miracle - This is the best inspirational speech I've ever heard in my life, hands down. This movie, and really this speech, is what made me want to become a hockey coach.

Hoosiers- This is probably the worst speech and the worst acting I've ever seen. I just had to throw this one in. To my shame, I have actually not seen this movie yet. Apparently it's a classic sports movie. But just look at how stupid this clip is.