Pizza Hut grants Michael Phelps free pizza for a year

August 20th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

Pizza Hut, part of Yum Brands Inc., is giving Phelps and his teammates on the men’s and women’s U.S. swim team free pizza and pasta for a year. The company didn’t say if it would do any advertisements with the team but said it would be willing to join in public appearances.

Man, Pizza Hut is smart. See, what they’re doing here is not paying Phelps a cent, but using his uber-fame at the moment to get their name out a bit. And hey, he apparently likes to eat a lot, so of course he wants some of their delicious pizza. (Aside: how good are the P’Zones from Pizza Hut? Seriously: it’s like heaven in your mouth.)

What I’m hoping here is that there is an intern compiling blog mentions of this story so that the marketing whizzes at the company see how smart they are and how much chatter it drummed up today. Intern, are you there? If so, is there some sort of way myself and E can get free P’Zones for a year? We may not have eight gold medals between us, but we pretty much have eight different blogs between us — which is like, way more important.

Usain Bolt is from another planet

August 20th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

Let us get one thing straight: it is not so much that Usain Bolt is setting world records and winning golds. These things happen at the Olympic Games. It is the fact that in races that last but a scant few seconds, he is absolutely destroying the competition.

At the top level of sprinting competition, everyone is so close; the skill sets of athletes are near identical and it’s the little things (like taking PEDs!) that give you that tenth of a second edge against your competition. But with Bolt, this does not exist. I’m pretty confident he could have crawled in the last 10 meters of his 200 meter run last night and still won (video probably down by the time you read this):

Say what you want about Michael Phelps — his records and medals are an amazing feat — but I was much more entranced and fascinated by Bolt’s Olympic endeavors than Phelps’. Dude is a flat out FREAK.

{HT: The Sporting Blog.}

Help Wanted: In need of a quality, hard-working indivdual who blogs for the love, son

August 19th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

So, rumor has it the two swell gentleman that currently blog on this site may in fact be moving to another blogging locale on the Internet. (Perez Hilton has been all over this shizz.)

The one writing this post may — and I stress may — have an opportunity for some sports blogging for you — yes you! or your friend or loved one — reading this very post right now. It will even involve getting a check in the mail every month with an agreed upon amount of US currency. (Wow: money!)

However, I don’t want you because you want to get paid; I want you because you are good at what you do and love to blog.

All interested parties can e-mail me at rcorazza at gmail dot com.

Kobe and LBJ are zuperfans

August 19th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

Hey, notice those two basketball stars in the above photo. (Come on, the picture quality isn’t that bad.) If you guessed Kobe Bryant and LeBron James … you are correct, sir! (Or madam.) They were in the stands  at the Kerri Walsh-Misty May vs. the Brazilians match last evening. (Or yesterday morning, or however the hell the time difference works out.)

And look! They saw Michael Phelps swim for gold the other day — or night — too:

They are apparently fanboys of America’s other top athletes, and who can blame them? We are all in a state of Olympic fevor; why women’s gymnastics has kept me up late at night, for Jimmy’s sake. (Don’t get any ideas, it’s for the competition of it all, obvi.)

I like to imagine them giving awkward high fives in the stands. But then I realize they are Kobe Bryant and LeBron James and they are better, much better, than that.

The only way to fix Barkley’s swing? A reality show.

August 14th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

Have you guys ever seen that Pussycat Dolls reality show? I don’t know what it’s called or who’s in it or what’s at stake, but I kept it on for three minutes last night because two girls were in the bathtub together at the same time. AND I BET THAT WAS TOTALLY NOT STAGED.

Apparently, Charles Barkley is getting his own reality show to help fix his swing on the Golf Channel and Tiger Wood’s swing coach,  Hank Haley, is getting the call to correct it. I hope it does not feature him and another dude in a bathtub. (Unless it is Dwyane Wade.) The details:

The goal: “Fix Charles Barkley’s swing,’’ says Sir Charles, who took Woods’ suggestion and called Haney. “It’s some ugly (stuff), isn’t it? It’s not only terrible, it’s embarrassing.’’

“I was telling Hank (Tuesday) that when I’m standing over the ball, I’m (expletive deleted) terrified. I have no idea what’s going to happen. He told me he used to have the yips, but not as bad as me. That’s what makes me think he can fix what’s wrong.’’

I used to have the yips too. But I went to this golf outing on Tuesday, and this guy that used to play for the Yankees and then went on to the PGA Tour gave me lessons the whole day and now I only have half a case of the yips. So if I half-cured my yips in one day, I think a whole reality series is going to straighten Charles out.

Yips-ee!

Prepubescent looking Chinese gymnasts are quite possibly actually prepubescent

August 14th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

So, as we all saw, the Chinese women’s gymnastics team didn’t all really look 16. But hey: people look older and younger than they are. It’s a fact of life. For instance: I think this last week of work has aged me 30 years. I’m bald and have a chronic arthritic condition. Also, my back hurts and I’m sick of mowing the lawn.

BUT ANYWAY, it looks like the speculation has turned into fact, or pretty effin’ close to it:

Just nine months before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government’s news agency, Xinhua, reported that gymnast He Kexin was 13, which would have made her ineligible to be on the team that won a gold medal this week.

A report in China’s official Xinhua news agency nine months ago listed gymnast He Kexin as being 13 years old. But she told reporters Wednesday that her real age is 16.

In its report Nov. 3, Xinhua identified He as one of “10 big new stars” who made a splash at China’s Cities Games. It gave her age as 13 and reported that she beat Yang Yilin on the uneven bars at those games. In the final, “this little girl” pulled off a difficult release move on the bars known as the Li Na, named for another Chinese gymnast, Xinhua said in the report, which appeared on one of its Web sites, www.hb.xinhuanet.com

The Associated Press found the Xinhua report on the site Thursday morning and saved a copy of the page. Later that afternoon, the Web site was still working but the page was no longer accessible. Sports editors at the state-run news agency would not comment for publication.

Whoopsies! Well, the one good thing that comes out of this if it is indeed true? The American team would likely move up from silver to gold. (I would think that’s how it works, anyways.) So, Alicia Sacramone, the-are-you-hot-it’s-hard-to-tell-if you’re-hot-let’s-just-say-you’re-attractive girl is vindicated of her awful feelings for the two falls and America goes home winners.

Come to think of it, this whole story is about as American as it gets. Other countries failures got us where we are today. Take that, British Empire!

Bela Karolyi is an enthusiastic fellow

August 13th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

This video is probably already going to be down by the time I hit publish on this post, but hot damn: look at the enthusiasm dripping off Bela Karolyi during last night’s gymnastics competition. It’s really remarkable this dude agreed to do coverage with Bob Costas and not actually be in Beijing.

I suppose this is sort of akin to Bob Villa having to watch someone building a house without him there actively instructing. (Was that the worst analogy ever? Yes. Yes, it was.)

Either way, It’s good to see someone get excited about something they love so much. Unless it’s murder. Then, that wouldn’t be so cool.

(Vid HT to AA, as if I had to even tell you that.)

On FanHouse and their Fantasy Sports Girl collaboration

July 29th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

Setting aside the fact that John Ness and Miss G both left their FanHouse producer roles within a matter of weeks — and really, this is something that should not be set aside in this discussion, but for brevity’s sake, I’ll leave that be — this whole Fantasy Sports Girl spot on FanHouse is just awful.

I understand that sex sells. I understand more page views equals more money. It’s a business; I get it. I understand you have to do this kind of thing as a corporate entity to generate some revenue. But sweet Jesus: there’s a better way to display tits on your site than this. This is tasteless, it’s banal, it’s embarrassing. It’s target audience seems to be below the lowest common denominator.

Try Ufford’s Attractive Olympian bit. He plays around with it and self-mocks, knowing it’s for the AOL Welcome Screen and its ease of page views. And at least there’s some intelligence to it. This Fantasy Sports Girl bit is just bad. Really, really bad.

FanHouse was built by Jamie Mottram as an intelligent, all-encompassing sports blog. Sure it may be vanilla at times, but that’s because it’s housed by AOL — not a place where you can drop f-bombs at will. I respect Tom Ziller, Will Brinson, Pat Lackey, Matt Watson and all the other bloggers that have built the brand that everyone has come to know there. Hell, me and E were and are a part of that as well.

Everyone’s high-quality work doesn’t deserve to be displayed next to this tripe. Yeesh.

See also: Mr. I | The Sporting Blog

Update: Tom Fornelli is a GOLDEN GOD. Also, because I wrote this in about 10 minutes before lunch, I forgot to mention E is also no stranger to the AOL page view shilling.

Alexander Ovechkin is a swell fellow

July 23rd, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

I should really be following the Washington Capitals, if only for the exploits of funny Russian Alexander Ovechkin. He golfs weird, he has fun on segways, and now, he’s handing out free Capitals tickets to the cops to get out of tickets and signing girls’ chests.

Did you get a fine?

I’ve exceeded the speed limit in more than three times, for that in the United States a fine is not enough. They take your license and put you in jail. But I was lucky. The police recognized me and let me go. I gave them 10 tickets that I had with me to the Washington Capitals game.

[ … ]

The girls often write on the posters “Alex, will you marry me!”

All the time. Got used to it and don’t feel shy anymore. Sometimes after the game, they pull up T-shirts and ask to sign on the chest. I am all for it. Never asked to sign on the passport. When someone asks to sign on the money I always refuse. Bad omen.

A couple of years ago you were asked why do you change your girlfriends so often? Do you remember what you’ve answered?

No.

I want to live and have fun.

I could not say that for sure! It was all made up. On the contrary I’ve always hoped that I would have the one and only girl. But for now my record in relationships is 2 years. However I don’t want to talk about my personal life. The newspapers write so much nonsense! For example, as soon as I showed up with the designer Lena Lenskaya at the presentation for Bilan, the rumors about our relationship started flowing. Isn’t it delirious?

It is delirious, Alex. Although, after reading the entire interview and all your answers, I’m starting to think I’m delirious. OMG I THINK I SEE A LIFE-SIZE RABBIT OVER THERE

{HT:  Puck Daddy.}

Get your veggie hot dog

July 22nd, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

Tired of traditional hot dogs made from beef or pork? Want something new, interesting, totally tubular to the MAXXXX? Well if you frequent the veggie dog serving half of MLB ballparks, you can taste one of these veggie dogs made from meat analogue. YES!

Eight years into her mission, the 43-year-old actress and Duke graduate is halfway there, with Dodger Stadium among the first to sign on and Angel Stadium still a holdout. Fielder’s decision to give up meat has been a welcome shot in the arm to the cause, which has encountered pockets of hostile resistance.

[ … ]
McCloy says she was equally dumbfounded when, during an appearance on a Denver radio station, her efforts were labeled un-American. Her only objective, she says, is to give fans a choice.

“I said, ‘How more American can you get?’ ” McCloy says of her Denver radio experience. “This is a nation of immigrants, this is a nation of diversity, this is a nation of opportunity, this is a nation of saying ‘yes’ to everybody. How are you threatened by a couple of people to your left at a baseball game choosing to eat something other than what you’re eating?”

This presents an interesting quandary: America is the land of freedom and opportunity, BUT it’s also the land where meat, gluttony and beer rule all. If you’re at an A’s game though, you’re straight: just go to the all-you-can-eat section and wolf down as many veggie dogs as you can.

Problem solved.