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So the Sabercats lost yesterday to the Arizona Rattlers, 66-49. Ah, well. This means the Rattlers will head to Tampa to take on the Storm in ArenaBowl XVII in two weeks. I’ll be rooting for the earthquake.
“Rooting for the earthquake” is one of those concepts in sports that everyone understands, but I don’t think it ever had an official name, until I gave it this one. See, for much of my life (well, until Rupert Murdoch bought the team and basically blew it up), I was a HUGE Los Angeles Dodgers fan. And in 1989, the Oakland A’s (who I had a hatred for ‘cuz the Dodgers had just faced them in the previous year’s World Series, plus I was never a big fan of Jose Canseco) and the San Francisco Giants (who I had a hatred for because they were the San Francisco Giants, and dammit, that’s good enough for a Dodger fan) ended up meeting in October to play in the World Series.
Now, there are times when you don’t particularly care about the two teams playing for a sports championship, but even then you can find a reason to root for one team or the other. But I HATED the A’s and Giants. HATED them. No way in HELL could I throw my support behind either team. The same thing would happen today if, say, the Dallas Stars and the Toronto Maple Leafs were to play for the Stanley Cup. Just disgusting.
So I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be great if a giant sinkhole opened up underneath the stadium and swallowed up both teams and put an end to this crap all together?”
As you know, at 5:04 P.M. on October 17, 1989, right as Game Three was about to get underway in San Francisco, an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale struck the Loma Prieta area, about 45 minutes south of both teams’ home stadia. The Series was postponed ten days.
I was ecstatic. (My folks tell me I was also in shock, but what the hell.) This was, and is to this day, the closest thing I have ever had to a religious experience, the closest thing I have seen to bona-fide proof of a benevolent God. This was Someone in a Position of Power telling the planet that this World Series was never meant to happen. Tommy Lasorda was right. God, if there is one, is a Dodger fan.
So, long story short, whenever a Super Bowl or Stanley Cup Final or World Series or what have you rolls around, and two teams are playing that I really dislike, I root for the earthquake.
Final score: 52-14
Your San Jose Sabercats are the 2002 ArenaBowl XVI Champions!
GO CATS GO!
Chick Hearn, the only voice of basketball the Los Angeles Lakers have ever known, has probably called his last game, according to his neurologist. Apparently on Friday he fell in his backyard, and has experienced a couple of brain hemmorages since. Chances for survival are even pretty bleak.
This sucks. He’s 85 years old, and even at 85 he was the best in the business. About fifteen years ago we lost the greatest game show announcer in the world in Johnny Olsen, and I kinda feel like I felt when I learned of his passing – I regret never having been able to attend an event he had worked live. I’ve never been to a taping of The Price Is Right, and I’ve never been to an NBA game.
Wouldn’t have been hard, either – just go to a Laker game. Before the streak was broken last season for heart surgery, he had called 3,338 consecutive Laker games over a period of 36 years. Let’s see Cal Ripken do THAT.
If he should die, maybe we can cryogenically freeze him. It would be appropriate to put HIM in the refrigerator after all of those Laker wins he closed the door on.
“The door’s closed, the light’s out, the eggs are cooling, the butter’s getting hard and the Jell-O is jiggling.”
Indeed. May it jiggle for a long time to come.
So it’s Sunday afternoon, I’m watching ESPN, and they’re presenting the World Breaking Championships. Buncha martial at-teests, each one of whom could kick my ass with but a thought, showing me how intelligent they are by ramming various body parts through stacks of concrete blocks.
Except they keep missing.
Guy stacks up 10 blocks, he gets maybe 4. Next guy brings 15, clears seven. To be fair, one contestant was a man of his word: ten blocks stood when he started, and ten blocks were in pieces when he finished.
I wanna be in the crowd to heckle these people. Never mind that I would snap a limb trying ONE block, these guys are pros.
“Hey, buddy, you couldn’t break a SWEAT! You couldn’t break WIND!”
I’m a Laker fan. Have been for twenty years now. I even persevered through Randy Pfund, Del Harris, and Magic’s 47 comebacks.
If you’re a Laker fan, you’ll enjoy this:
http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?SID=3016802
And if not, watch it anyhow, and eat my shorts. :)
I love hockey. Love it to death. It’s 1:36 on Sunday morning, and I’m up watching a rebroadcast of a Canadiens / USSR game from 1976 on CBC. Not a spot of advertising to be seen anywhere on the rink. Two Habs wearing helmets, the rest bare. Amazing.
I finally have season tickets this year. Not for my beloved San Jose Sharks, unfortunately, but for the local Seattle Thunderbirds. 16-20-year-olds trying their hearts out to make it to the bigs. Makes for most interesting hockey.
There’s something about having a season ticket that takes being a sports fan to another level. Walking to the arena, you feel just a bit more important than the other folks going to the game. Total crap, of course, but it’s fun to indulge. If you have the means and live in an area with a local sports club that offers season tickets for a reasonable amount, I recommend taking the plunge just once, so you get a better idea of what I mean.
And Go Sharks. :)
I was present at the WWF SmackDown tapings tonight in Tacoma with my buddy Mike. I may not have many vices, but professional wrestling is one of them. (Before you roll your eyes and start in on me, yes, I know it’s fake.) Anyhow, they taped for this Thursday’s SmackDown broadcast on UPN, as well as this Sunday’s Heat on MTV. Had a good time. Look for me if you happen to be watching UPN on Thursday at 8. I’m the big guy in the green shirt at the bottom of the upper deck. :)
Me and Mike were displeased with the crowd for much of the night, they weren’t reacting to the matches the way a “good” wrestling audience was supposed to. I’d go into details, but I’d be trying your patience.
I don’t expect to convert you overnight, so instead I’ll list a few wrestling sites I like to read, and maybe it’ll give you a glimpse into pro wrestling from an “adult” point of view:
Wrestleline
Pro Wrestling Torch
Our So-Called Sport
CRZ’s Slash Wrestling
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