Best L.A. Kings mustache?

Kudos to LAKings.com, for focusing on what really is important in hockey…. the best mustaches in Kings history!! The L.A. Kings, for some reason, have had some awesome hockey mustache-ness in their past….The new Mike Myers flick, the “Love Guru, has a fictional L.A. Kings hockey goalie named “Jacques Grande” (played by Justin Timberlake) who has, obviously, an awesome mustache.

Here’s Mr. Grande:

This brought forward the debate, “Who has the best Kings mustache of all-time?” Let me know what you guys think!!

Dave Lewis:

George Parros:

Terry Ruskowski:

Charlie Simmer:

Juha Widing:

Pretty awesome competition!!!!

My vote is for…. dun dun dunnn….

Terry Ruskowski!! For extremely high marks on the “old-school-pornability” scale!!!

-Johnny

How ’bout those Celtics!?

What a game last night, especially if you are a Laker-hater like myself. I consider the game to be one of the greatest comebacks in both NBA and Celtics history. There are also a few points (10) I’d like to make, as an observer of the 4th game of the NBA Finals.

#1- Enough of the Kobe vs. MJ talk!!! If I need to explain to you why, after game 4, Kobe Bryant is no Michael Jordan, then you need to take up a hobby other than talking about NBA basketball.

#2- I’m sure there are some good, hardcore Laker fans out there… but I didn’t see any last night. Their crowd was a joke. I firmly believe that if this game was the other way around (In Boston, with a huge Celtic lead at the half), the Celtics wouldn’t have blown it. The Celtics fans actually give a crap. I also think there is a bit of a “Yankee-bandwagon” thing going on with these Lakers. Ie: I enjoy pickup basketball games at the local rec. Nearly every over-confident, cocky, “not-as-good-as-he-thinks-he-is” basketball player out there (mind you, this is Southwest Virginia), is a self-proclaimed Laker fan. I find it odd that all of a sudden, there’s this diehard Laker fanbase in the hills of Virginia. Probably 60-70% of the people I’ve played with over the last month are “Laker fans”. I find the 2008 “Laker Nation” to be extremely annoying, and seeing them all go down in flames last night was a beautiful, beautiful thing.

#3- How cool was it to see Sasha Vujacic fight back tears?

#4- Did I really just see Doc Rivers out-coach the Zen Master? Really?

#5- This Laker team has acted throughout the playoffs like winning a ring was a sure thing. Now, let’s see how they handle the adversity… because I have pinned this team as a bunch of talented, yet, annoying whiners…and annoying whiners usually don’t show the grit to come back.

#6- How about Ray Allen!? This is a guy we all thought was done… and now he’s arguably been the MVP on the 2008 NBA Finals. Ray Allen stands for everything that is NOT purple and gold.

#7- So much for the “greatest conference ever” talk. The best in the west is about to get eliminated by the beast of the east. (side note: This series makes the Atlanta Hawks look like a pretty good basketball team all of a sudden, doesn’t it?)

#8- Pau Gasol has officially really gotten on my nerves. As a member of the Grizz, I didn’t really care about him. He seemed like a nice player on a small stage. However, since he’s been “Laker-ized”, he can do no wrong.

#9- Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen may all be joining the “clink your championship ring against your beer-mug club” soon. All 3 deserve it.

#10- I know I’ve said it already, but I really, really, really hate the 2008 L.A. Lakers. And I’m not even a Celtics fan.

Is there more to the nickname “The Rocket”?

According to ESPN’s Stephanie Bell, Roger “The Rocket” Clemens stored Viagra in his locker in Yankee Stadium. She goes on to say this:

“New York Daily News report linked Roger Clemens to Viagra, citing a “source familiar with the clubhouse” as saying the pitching ace kept the “clearly marked, diamond-shaped pills” in his locker.

So is there any validity to the notion that Viagra could be used to enhance athletic performance? As is typical in the medical world, there is no simple black-and-white answer. We do know that no definitive, well-controlled, randomized clinical trial studies exist that have specifically examined the effects of sildenafil — the active ingredient in Viagra — on athletic performance.”

Anybody have any more information to add to this? We all know Roger is a bit of an odd-ball, a cheater, and would do just about anything for an edge… but Viagra for sports enhancement? Weird! My original thought was that he used Viagra to curb the side-effects of steroids..maybe it’s more than that?

Enter your poor “rocket” jokes here..

-Johnny

Croatia soccer!

I was flipping through the sports channels during a commercial break in the 2008 U.S. Open @ Torrey Pines (which I will do a brief write up on at a later time), and came across a live 2008 Euro Cup soccer game pitting Germany vs. Croatia. I have to say, I think the Croatians have the best soccer kits in the world!! The blue ones are what they are sporting today. Check out the socks! The whole Croatian fan base is checkered! Tell me what you think. Go Croatia!

How sweet are these?

-Johnny

Make sure you catch some of the Cubs-Braves game today!

They will be wearing 1948 throwbacks, to mark the 60th anniversary of WGN carrying Cubs games. The game will also be seen in a “1948-style broadcast” according to Cubs.com. It’s the first ever “throwback” game at Wrigley, and should be very cool to see. Both teams represent interesting baseball history, and some pretty nice looking uniforms. I’m looking forward to it…I’ll post pics when I get ‘em! The pic following this post is from the 1997 Cubs-White Sox throwback game, to get us in the “old-school baseball” mood. Tune in @ 2:20pm EST on WGN.

-Johnny

Should Milton Bradley quit the MLB for the UFC?

It seems that our buddy Milton Bradley, after DH’ing for the Texas Rangers in a winning effort (I know….it was the Royals…but a win should make you happy!), decided he was pissed at the Royals T.V. announcer. Naturally, he ran like a bat-out-of-hell up four flights of stairs looking to pick a fight.

Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Milton Bradley stormed out of the Texas Rangers clubhouse after an 11-5 victory Wednesday night over Kansas City and bounded up four flights of stairs looking for Royals television announcer Ryan Lefebvre.

Bradley, who was the designated hitter, heard what he considered derogative remarks made by Lefebvre on a TV in the Rangers clubhouse. General manager Jon Daniels and manager Ron Washington were close behind and intercepted Bradley before he reached Lefebvre. “I don’t want to get necessarily into the details,” Daniels said. “He was upset. Someone who doesn’t know him was passing judgment on TV. It was obvious he was hurt by the comments.” Bradley never reached Lefebvre, although he was within about 20 feet of him in the TV booth before being led back down to the clubhouse. “There was no incident,” Daniels said. Upon returning to the clubhouse, Bradley screamed at teammates and broke down in tears. “I’m tired of people bringing me down,” Bradley said. “It wears on you. I love you guys, all you guys. I’m strong, but I’m not that strong. All I want to do is play baseball and make a better life for my kid than I had.”

Wouldn’t it be nice to see this guy get his ass handed to him in the UFC octagon? That way, he could make a few bucks for his kid, and we could all see him get pummeled by some real tough guys. Tough guys don’t pick fights with t.v. announcers. Do you think this is all pent up anger from being named after a board game company?

-Johnny

What’s with the green hats?

The Washington Nationals took the field the other day, sporting, you guessed it: green hats. Having done some research, I’ve found out that the hats were worn to support a “go green theme” according to the ballclub. Further research revealed that the event was sponsored by the Discovery Channel, which is launching a “Planet Green” channel. While I think “going green” is a nice idea, the green hats are a definite miss with me. Instead of wasting the resources to create a new hat (to be used once), wouldn’t it have been a “greener idea” to wear a green recycled ribbon/patch, instead? Not to mention the fact that the green hat just doesn’t look good with that uni. Let me know what you guys think!

-Johnny

Welcome to “The Foul Pole”

First and foremost, I would like to welcome you to my little corner of the sports blogging ballpark. I will touch on all sports-related stories that seem interesting, and will specifically be trying to bring to the forefront some of the quirkier, odd and funnier things. If you think baseball mullets, punters, awful uniforms, Keith Hernandez’s mustache, NHL players with no teeth, 1970’s NBA short shorts, and the fact that the foul pole should actually be a “fair pole” are fun discussion topics, then you have come to the right place. Please feel free to check in regularly, as I intend on providing frequent updates loaded with tidbits, fun facts, weird sports-related stories, fantasy sports talk and much more.

Thanks for finding me!!

-Johnny