We have on good authority that the Chief has finally come to terms with end of the Los Angeles Kings' season and is finally ready to get things back up and running at full speed here in the GameTime, TBD© offices. As such, we spent the better part of Wednesday and Thursday bouncing around ideas for the introduction for this week's Link Dump. And, obviously, the topic we kept coming back to is the death of Osama bin Laden. Now, we, like everyone else, are ready to never hear that man's name uttered ever again, but with his death, and the subsequent news coverage, we have all been reminded of just how far reaching the impact of September 11th was. And, so we thought we would take this opportunity to share one of the many sports-related stories you may not have heard before.
Whenever someone attends their first Los Angeles Kings' game at the Staples Center, a lot of times you hear them ask this question: "Why is the Kings' mascot named Bailey?" I am not surprised by the question; Bailey does seem like an odd name for a lion (the King of beasts) mascot. I am more surprised with how few Kings fans actually know the answer. So here we go:
Garnet "Ace" Bailey won two Stanley Cups with the Boston Bruins (1970 and 1972). But his real impact in the NHL came from his career after his playing days, as a scout. His keen eye for talent helped build the great Edmonton Oilers' dynasty of the mid-to-late 1980s. During his time in Edmonton, he had become a mentor and close friend to the NHL's greatest ambassador, Wayne Gretzky. In 1994, he was hired by the Kings to serve as their Director of Pro Scouting, a position he held until 2001.
On a warmer-than-average September morning in Boston, Massachusetts, Ace Bailey and fellow-Kings scout Mark Bavis meet at Logan International Airport in preparation for their flight to Los Angeles for the start of the Kings' training camp and the beginning of the season. They board their flight with fifty-four other passengers, push back from the gate at 7:58 a.m., and officially depart for Los Angeles at 8:14 a.m. Unfortunately, Bailey and Bavis will never make it to Los Angeles. That is because, at the direction of Osama bin Laden, five hijackers will take over United Airlines flight 175 and, at 9:03 a.m., with the world watching live on television, fly the plane into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
Since the President announced that the U.S. had finally tracked down and killed the most wanted in the world last Sunday, news organizations far and wide began tracking down both survivors and the families of those who lost their life in the attacks of September 11th, to get their response to news. ESPN's Scott Burnside had the opportunity to catch up with the Bailey family, who have carried on Ace's legacy through a foundation helping children battling serious illnesses. Burnside also took the time to catch up with current-Washington Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau, who, at the time, was the head coach of the Kings' AHL affiliate in Manchester, New Hampshire and had his own connection to Bailey. And for those of us who cheer on the Kings every season, we are reminded of Garnet "Ace" Bailey with the presence of a lion, the Kings' mascot Bailey.
I am not going to lie, there are exactly zero good ways to transition from a story of 9/11 to the entertaining part of the Link Dump, the links. I will say this, if you have not been following this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs, you have been missing out on the best playoffs of recent memory, games that are head and shoulders ahead of anything the NBA can produce in terms of drama and excitement. Seriously, I can not recommend strongly enough that you try to check out some of the action this weekend. I promise it will be worth your time. Speaking of worth your time:
- Men in green tights have not been this entertaining since Mel Brooks did his thing. So, NHL, stop trying to ruin a good thing.
- Please add "Wayne Gretzky Rookie Card" to your "Things That Are Recession Proof" list.
- Flutie did it! Flutie did it!
- What? Police using racial profiling? Get right out of town.
- Just a friendly reminder that, while the First Amendment gives you the right to speak your mind freely, it does not protect you from the consequences of exercising that right poorly.
- Only with the Browns.
- "We're not moving to Toronto." But Los Angeles sure is nice in the winter.
- Heartbreak city.
- For the talent portion of the competition, Miss Michigan will demonstrate her skill with a blade.
- Your "Horrible Person of the Week" award goes to . . .
- Anyone know when Amazon.com will be accepting pre-orders for this one?
- The biggest mover up my list of favorite sports is cricket; twenty-fifth and climbing. [Editor's Note: make sure you enjoy the audio portion of the story.]
The video portion of the Link Dump is always an interesting process. Some weeks the idiots stay home so we have to dig through our archives for yet-to-be-shown entertaining videos. Other weeks it is like there is an idiot convention on the internet and every one is rushing to one-up each other with videos. Well, thankfully for you, this week was the latter of the two:
- Nut shot + "I pooped myself a little" = #WINNING. [Editor's Note: normally nut shots don't require sound to be entertaining . . . watch this one without sound first, and then discover how it is eleventy billion times funnier with sound.]
- I like a man who is not afraid to put his
money kidney where his mouth is.
- At what point, exactly, does one come to the decision that it is a good idea to get in front of a snowmobile rolling down a hill? 1:35 apparently . . .
- Security guard, FTW!
- Pull-up Bar 1, Jag-Bag Trainer 0.
- You have to be awfully confident in your job performance to pull off this office prank.
- Smashville, population camera guy.
- I thought I heard a Rebecca Black reference in Obama's speech last Sunday.
- Is it lazy of us to post Jimmy Kimmel's "This Week in Unnecessary Censorship" every week? Probably. Will we stop? [Censored] no!
Have a great weekend everyone!
It has been a tough year for the . . . err . . . "family jewels" so far. No, I am not talking about my "family jewels" (though they have been known to take an arrant knee every now and then from my Better Half), but rather those of many professional athletes.
This epidemic of testicle-related injuries (wow, never thought I would ever type the phrase "epidemic of testicle-related injuries" . . . I'm starting to feel a little sick to my stomach) began back in baseball's string training. That is when we first learned of the tragic tale of Chicago Cubs' outfielder Felix Pie (pronounced P-eh) and his twisted testicle. Apparently the twist was so severe that Pie had to have corrective surgery to fix the problem. I can bring myself to even type a brief description of the procedure, so you can go read about it yourself.
A little over a month later, Patrick Thoresen became a household name for a different reason than he would have preferred:
If you had the stomach to watch the video, two observations: (1) you have to feel bad for Mr. Thoresen (more on that in a moment); and (b) I do not think those male fans would be cheering if they knew why Thoresen was not getting up. As this Deadspin post (appropriately titled "Do Protective Cups Even Help Anymore?") notes, "Thoresen got hit with the puck right in the peach basket, which dented his "protective" cup and left severe bruising" and almost result in the removal of his right testicle. Ye-owzers! [editor's note: if you have not seen the demonstration video for the Nutty Buddy, do yourself a favor and check it out . . . if you dare.]
Of course, in soccer, the nut shot is not very uncommon. You likely recall this video from a prior Link Dump, and you may have seen this video of David Beckham making another player question his manhood. It is about the only time in soccer you do not think someone is flopping.
So why I am I bringing this up now you ask? Because in the past twenty-four hours we have had two more confirmed cases of this terrible epidemic. First is the sad story of Yadir . . . no wait, Benji . . . Jose? There is three of them? . . . the sad story of Jose Molina getting crossed up on a Mariano Rivera fastball and catching it (get it, catching it? He's a catcher, and he "catches it" . . . ah, nevermind) where it hurts:
Though there have been no reports on the injury, other than to his pride, I can only imagine how Molina feels this morning.
But then, my dear readers, there is the most tragic tale of them all. If you are aspiring to be a major league catcher, you might want to consider changing your mind. Arizona Diamondbacks' catcher Chris Snyder was placed on the 15-day disabled list yesterday because of something I cannot even bring myself to type. So I'll just copy and past the following quote: "the Arizona Diamondbacks put left fielder Eric Byrnes and catcher Chris Snyder on the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday. Byrnes is out with a strained left hamstring, Snyder with a left testicular fracture." I did not even know it was possible to fracture a testicle. But I guess when you take a foul-tip to the groin, bad things are going to happen. Snyder is scheduled to have surgery today, but is unclear whether we will wake up half the man he used to be.
Since Congress has been all to eager to stick its nose into sports lately, I think they should form a commission to look into this new epidemic. The future of our race may be in danger. Sorry if I have ruined your day.
Once again, I found myself traveling on business all week. I must say, it is hard to keep up with the daily going-ons of the sports world when you are living out of a hotel room for a week, using your travel budget to buy drinks for you and all of your college buddies. I was, however, able to keep up fairly well this week because I take my responsibilities as Editor-in-Chief and Lead Writer for GameTime, TBD© very seriously and I did not want to let you all down this week.
Because I was away, I have yet to have a chance to put together my thoughts on the Los Angeles Kings' firing of Marc Crawford. While my previously-mentioned college buddies and I were watching game three of the NBA Finals, my eyes were drawn to the sports ticker announcing Crawford's untimely departure. Rest assured, I have my fair share of opinions on this recent development and the comments that have been made by the organization since then. And rest assured that those opinions will find there way to GameTime, TBD© sooner, rather than later.
Speaking of the NBA Finals, what happened to the Lakers last night? I was enjoying dinner and some drinks at the airport before my flight, watching the Lakers build a comfortable eighteen-point halftime lead. By the time I boarded the plane, flew from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and turned on mu CrackBerry, the eighteen-point lead had turned into a six-point loss. Now that is impressive. I hoped to get the low down from Kurt at Starbucks this morning, but he was nowhere to be found. So, while I try to figure out what I missed during the second half of last nights game, here are some things you might have missed:
- Speaking of Lakers-Celtics game four, Bill Simmons certainly did choose the right game for one of his famous running-diaries.
- Oh, and there is something going around about a Laker Girl who used to be a Celtic Dancer. What, was she traded for three pairs of hot pants and a sports bra or something?
- Oh, and if you have a couple extra tickets to game six in Boston, this guy is willing to offer you his wife. Stay classy Celtic fans.
- And since we are talking about Boston, a GameTime, TBD© congratulations goes out to Big Papi on becoming an American citizen. I guess that just makes him Big Daddy now.
- My invitation must have gotten lost in the mail or blocked by my spam-filter.
- If you see a decidedly un-athletic-looking character parading around town with a Giants Super Bowl ring — and it's not Eli Manning — please call your local authorities immediately.
- Pop Quiz: What does eight earned runs on three hits earn you?
- Hey taxpayers of New York, I know times are tough, but would you mind giving me $400 million?
Before I present to you with your clips for your Friday viewing pleasuring, I would like to remind you that quality is more important than quantity. That being said, here are two videos that best sum up how Laker fans are feeling today:
- What would we do without replays? (listen with sound if possible).
- I knew there was a reason I never got into skateboarding.
Have a great weekend everyone!
