So, here's the deal; its been requested that we make a concerned effort to focus on the local sports scene more in 2010.  Ergo, along with some trusted local partners, two weeks ago, we began delivering a weekly "web show" tailored specifically for the fine people of St. Louis.  However, even if you don't enjoy laughing ABOUT the state of St. Louis sports, perhaps you'll enjoy laughing AT our current sports landscape.  We make sure to do plenty of both.

But, enough with logistics.  Let's get this party started, shall we?

This week we delve into the top St. Louis sports headlines (as determined by us; it's a very complicated process)...as well as introduce you to a recurring feature we like to call "Thoughts from a Message Board."



Top Stories and Embedded Linkage:

• "CUBS SUCK" in the Busch Stadium snow (link)


• The Royals 25th Anniversary of World Championship promotion (link)


• The Cardinals 2010 Promotional Schedule (link)


• Renaming "Mark McGwire Memorial Highway" (link)


• John Marecek's "Busch Basement" blog (link)


• The Rams Sign DT Fred Robbins (link)


• Where to find St. Louis Sports Magazine (link)

Episode 2 Song Credits:

"Get What You Give" by The New Radicals
"Aint no Stoppin' Us Now" by McFadden and Whitehead
"The Luckiest" by Ben Folds
"Everything's Magic" by Angels and Airwaves

IMPORTANT Reminders:

We graciously encourage you to subscribe to our (free) iTunes feed, which ensures that our weekly episodes will be automatically downloaded to your computer and/or your mobile device.  For those that already describe to our podcast, this feed will be kept separate.

You can find our iTunes page right here.

According to Scott Boras, this day in 2005 marked the official unveiling of the second Babe Ruth. 

We are speaking of course of Rick Ankiel, the former Cardinals pitcher who, after a very public meltdown on the mound in the 2000 playoffs, made the unlikely transition to becoming a Major League outfielder. 

On March 10, 2005, Ankiel made his debut in spring training as a position player and went 1-2 singling off Brad Thompson in an inter-squad game.  While Ankiel's switch to position player at first seemed like nothing more than a pet project to keep Tony LaRussa from getting bored during spring training, it actually led to Ankiel working his way through the minor league system and eventually debuting with the Cardinals in August of 2007.  He even went yard in his first game.

During preparation for his first arbitration hearing, his agent Scott Boras - never one to exaggerate - went ahead and compared him to arguably the best baseball player of all time in Babe Ruth, since both were former pitchers turned sluggers.  Three years into his odyssey, it's probably a safe bet to say that Rick isn't going to have the upside that the Babe did.

Plus he plays for the Royals now which sort of guarantees that he'll suck this year...

Dear Sports World,

I'm writing this letter to let you know that I am not happy.  I'm not happy because the way I've been treated over the past few years has made me feel like I am a relic in this brave, new world full of sports celebrations. 

Over the past thirty years I've carved out a pretty substantial legacy that includes being the go-to celebration of teams like the Redskins Fun Bunch and even video games like Tecmo Bowl. Yeah that's right, freaking Tecmo Bowl.

Over the last three decades, if you pumped in a goal, scored a touchdown or hit a homerun, you were pretty much guaranteed to see me.  Everyone was doing it.  I remember getting choked up when Maverick and Goose did their personalized variation after a huge spike in their beach volleyball game versus Slider and Iceman.  I was not only big in the real sports world, I was even big in homoerotic rec sports as depicted by Hollywood.

Hell, I even have my own Wikipedia page. 

But apparently that hard-earned legacy has been tossed aside for crap like the fist bump or even worse, this "jump and bump" mess.  Now I constantly get to see players jumping up like they're going for a high five only to ram into each other like cavemen.  Even douchebag coaches are getting in on that action. 

I want you, sports world, to know that I don't need you.  I can and will move on to be the exclusive celebration of people in politics, Hollywood and the business world, no matter how awkward they are when trying to execute me.  The handshake better watch it's back, because I'm coming for it.

So it's decision time, sports world.  Am I the number one celebration of choice or not?   

No one leaves me hanging.

Sincerely,

The High Five

Doing some digital house-cleaning this week at the JoeSportsFan.com headquarters and came across this little nugget of personalized jersey goodness.



We've covered the phenomenon of "his/her personalized jerseys" in the past and this is, well, taking spousal game attire to another level.

One thing that REALLY surprises us: from the picture on the left, it looks like the couple got married in a traditional setting....and slapped on the jerseys at some point for a signature photo op.  Surprising.  Frankly, if you're going to go through with the whole BRIDE/GROOM jersey investment, you might as well get married at a hockey game with 20,000 drunken, mulleted friends.

Although, we're guessing that their traditional wedding setting may not have been much different.

One thing we would NOT surprise us: we're guessing that the couple wore their respective jerseys at their bachelor/bachelorette parties.  Seems logical.  Our fan hunters didn't send in frontal pictures, but we're guessing that the GROOM jersey has a Captain "C" patch and his best man has a jersey with an Alternate/Assistant Captain "A" patch.

Much like the sports media industry, the machine that is Hollywood is no stranger to the use of snappy lines to get the reader's attention.  And in case you hadn't heard, the movie industry's Super Bowl took place last night, with the small film "The Hurt Locker" beating out James Cameron's mammoth Dances with Wolves ripoff, "Avatar" for Best Picture. 

When a movie with such a pun-friendly name runs off with the big award, it becomes prime territory for headline savants like the New York Post to go to work.  Which, to the surprise of no one, they did...

 

But this site isn't JoeHollywoodFan.com, we focus on the sports world here (well, sort of).  And we'll put sports headlines up against Hollywood, politics, tech sites, whoever wants a piece of the action.  One reason is because of the crossover appeal.  You will rarely see a movie site dropping sports references in their puns, but sports isn't afraid to dip into movieland for material. 

While the font size may be unusually small for a winner of the Monday Morning Sports Headline Challenge, we applaud FoxSports.com for having the foresight to create a can't miss formula:

The name of one of the 37 movies nominated for Best Picture + a photo that suits it (even if said photo shows a potentially life threatening situation) = Monday Morning's award winning headline. 



For that reason, even though they put their chips on a movie that didn't take home any significant awards, we still give FoxSports credit for finding some way to work the Oscars into a sports story that had literally nothing to do with them.

(And don't you dare tell us that the headline writers didn't know exactly what they were doing.  That's insulting to their craft.)