I love baseball. I do. Most of my most exciting and crushingly depressing moments in sports revolve around my Yankees, but the summer of baseball is long. 82 days long, not that I’ve counted or anything. Thankfully though, there is a light at the end of the tunnel less than a week away. Seems like as good a YTT as any to peek in on the Tour de France. Yes, it’s as gripping as you thought it might be.
Archive for July, 2007
Going for a bike ride? Jagshemash!
Tuesday, July 17th, 2007RUWTbot plotting invasion of Canada
Wednesday, July 11th, 2007One of my favorite features on RUWT? are the videos that are imported every day. There was the humorous dust up when the NHL temporarily blocked YouTube embeds, but RUWT? is the only sports site where you can watch NHL video recaps (with no ads!), while reading NHL news recaps.
You can’t talk hockey though, without talking Canada. Yes, I know that not all Canadians like Hockey, but my market research consisted of renting Strange Brew—forgive me. Our benevolent neighbors from the North have made their feelings known that they’d love to join the party, so I’m psyched to announce that in time for the NHL season, RUWT? will support Canadian TV listings at the end of next month.
In a perfect world I’d be announcing Canadian support today, but my funding is from American Express and Capital One, not Austin Ventures.
If you’re wishing there was a way to get Canada on board faster than 6 weeks…well…there is: get 100 Canucks to email us. That’s right, take it to the streets. Tell a friend. Post it on your blog. Heck, post it on MySpace, if you’re still using that crazy thing. If we get 100 Canadians to email ruwtbot-should-invade-canada@areyouwatchingthis.com, I’ll suck it up, go back to a Ramen diet, and you’ll be seeing TSN logos post-haste.
update: we have a facebook group now! join us and help spread the word!
Steroids? Bad! Drowning All-Stars? Eh.
Tuesday, July 10th, 2007We’ll be starting this week’s YouTube Tuesday with a few facts care of Wikipedia.
- Cable cars are about 12 feet tall
- Cable cars weigh roughly 8 tons
RUWT? is all about being fair and balanced, so I’ll follow those up with some “facts” from my brain.
- McCovey Cove is more than 12 feet deep
- Few 8 ton objects driven by a man in a funny hat float
Given these indisputable truths, anyone see anything wrong with this commercial?
Larry Smith Phillip has a nice ring to it. ESPN, bitches!
Friday, July 6th, 2007Another step was taken today towards RUWTbot’s Global Domination Plan™ as the July 16th issue of ESPN the Magazine hits newsstands. Flip to pagina 38 and you’ll see how big time we are. It’s small, yet incomprehensibly awesome.
After sending a post-article bribe to Larry Smith over at SMITH Magazine (naming my first-born after him was the pre-article bribe), I’ll be heading to Barnes & Noble and buying every freakin’ copy they have.
Chestnut takes title, Nathan’s stock price plummets
Wednesday, July 4th, 2007Well. That was a thing.
I hope you watched the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Competition today. I’ve been looking forward to it for weeks now, and it wasn’t the least bit disappointing. As always, the commentary was brutal as they vamp for 48 minutes, but the 12 minutes of professional-level gluttony was worth it.
All eyes were on Chestnut and Kobayashi, and as expected Chestnut jumped out to an early lead. These Willis Reed and Curt Schilling comparisions were wholly ridiculous, but Kobayashi made a really impressive showing, and the two were deadlocked for the last 2:30. They blew past the old record by a full afternoon of dogs, topping out at an impressive 66.
It was a photo finish they said. They might have to go to the video they said. But as the announcer counted down from 10, everyone watching live saw the pivotal moment. We didn’t need replay—Kobayashi had a “reversal”. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat a Hot Dog again.
Some of my favorite quotes from the broadcast:
Former bologna champion of the world
The houdini of cuisine-y
They are not chanting his name [Boone], they are actually booing this man. He’s the biggest trash talker in the sport.
They call Iverson the answer, I call this guy [Philbin] the question
Undisputed pig’s feet champion of the world
He is a vegetarian
For Kobayashi to come out here and eat like this is a singluar moment of valor
Curt Schilling be damned, Kobayashi is bringing it
The entire free world is focussed on these two men
Bertoletti is dedicating his performance to Nikki Hilton—Nikki lives in Paris’ shadow and he lives in Chesnut’s shadow
This is unbelievable—absolute “dog”-fight
This will be the greatest moment in the history of professional sports
Just an emotional win, a great win for America
Well said Mr. Commentator man. Well said.
Ryan Gomes? Sign me up! YTT21
Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007Every year the NBA runs a Summer League for rookies, rehabbing pros, and wild cards looking for a roster spot. Usually the best players they have to market are of the Randy Foye and Ryan Gomes ilk, but this year there’ll be some interesting participants…like China. And even larger, Oden and Durant.
The full schedule sports 50+ games, and although it’ll be good to see the Memphis versus China rivalry renewed this week, the one to circle on the calendar is Portland playing Seattle next Friday. All of the games are available via NBA webcast, and some of them will be broadcast on NBA TV. I know it’s been a while since we’ve seen guys like Durant actually playing a game, so if you can’t wait, here’s a fun highlight reel of Baby KG.