Saturday, August 29, 2015

Awesome Old Song of the Week: "Smelly Cat" by Phoebe Buffay (with Taylor Swift)

Phoebe Buffay's Smelly Cat made its national TV debut on November 2, 1995.



A few months later, a Milli Vanilli-esque music video was released:



A year after that, a kitty litter commercial jingle appeared:



Earlier this week during a concert at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Taylor Swift invited Lisa Kudrow on stage for a duet of Smelly Cat:




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From September 22, 2014 - The first-ever episode of "Friends" aired 20 years ago today


Friday, August 28, 2015

The 'high five' was invented in 1977 by a gay baseball player?

I saw a feature on SportsCenter tonight that blew my mind a little bit.  First, I don't for one second believe that in the history of history, no two people every slapped hands above their heads before the summer of 1977.

That's just impossible.

And second, I'm even more shocked by the fact that somehow I managed to go these past 38 years without ever hearing who Glenn Burke was.  If you don't know this story, it's worth investing nine minutes to watch the video.



Thursday, August 27, 2015

Are triples the most random thing in baseball? (I bet you can't name the MLB leaders)

Most baseball stats are an indication of something.  There's usually a correlation between stuff like batting average, on-base percentage, home runs, RBI, etc. and how good a hitter somebody is.  In general, players also tend to put up similar numbers from one year to the next.

Triples, however, make no sense whatsoever and are entirely unpredictable.  Being fast helps, but that is a lose connection at best.  Take a look at MLB's top three triples leaders for 2015:


Kevin Kiermaier makes some sense because he has speed (15 steals), but he's also just a .257 hitter with a .290 OBP.  Similarly, Eddie Rosario (9 steals) is a rookie who's batting .275 with a .297 OBP.  Rosario also has only 331 at-bats, so it's pretty ridiculous for him to rank among the league leaders in anything.

But craziest of all is Evan Gattis (.276 OBP), a slow-footed power-hitter converted from catcher to DH.  Gattis had just one triple in his career prior to this season, and he's never stolen a base.


Wednesday, August 26, 2015

In case you were wondering, Celtics rookie Terry Rozier is really pumped to see 'The Visit'

Along with being a Vegas Summer League legend, Terry Rozier has some unusual tastes.  First his spaghetti-sugar-ranch sandwich raised a few eyebrows, then this tweet got me wondering about his entertainment choices:





For the past several weeks, Rozier has been encouraging fans on Twitter to ask him questions every Tuesday:


It doesn't hit theaters until September 11, but somebody really ought to get Rozier an advanced copy of The Visit:


Sadly, I can't say I share Terry's enthusiasm for the film--I'm guessing it's the latest in a long line of M. Night Shyamalan flicks that are each not quite as good as the one before.


Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Barney Stinson's theory about 'The Karate Kid' appears to be gaining momentum


On How I Met Your Mother, Barney Stinson made a point of saying that he believed Johnny, not Daniel, was the real hero in The Karate Kid:



In the show's final season, Billy Zabka even played himself as the best man at Barney's wedding.  Now it looks as though the Stinson theory on what was really going on in The Karate Kid is picking up some steam.  Check out this video (it's long, but I promise it's worth it):



"Daniel is granted unnatural strength by the demon sorcerer Miagi."   Classic.  I can't wait to see how they make Sato's angry nephew look like the good guy in The Karate Kid, Part II.


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Monday, August 24, 2015

Why don't you see more hair pulling in the NFL?

Every season there are more and more NFL players with long hair.  To me, that just seems stupid.  I feel as though it's a very easy thing to grab on to, and I'm shocked hair-pull tackles aren't a more frequent occurrence.

Why do so many football players take the risk of having long hair in the first place?  Couldn't it get caught in somebody else's helmet during all the collisions?  That must hurt a ton.  And why give your opponents something extra to get their hands on?

As far as I know, it's perfectly legal to tackle a guy by his hair--but I don't recall ever actually seeing it myself.  Why is that?  Is there an unwritten rule that says you don't do it?  I feel as though it's likely to happen several times per game, and I don't even have one memory of it.  What am I missing?


Sunday, August 23, 2015

When the Ronda Rousey movie comes out, she has to be played by Julia Stiles, right?

Rousey (left) and Stiles (right).

I realize these may not be the best pictures to make the comparison, but I'm writing this blog functioning on the assumption that my readers already know who both of these women are.  If not, here are google image searches for Ronda Rousey and Julia Stiles.

Rousey is a ground-breaking female athlete certain to eventually become the subject of a feature film.  Stiles is her movie doppleganger who already has bad-ass dance-acting experience.  It's a perfect fit.


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