Archive for June, 2009

Favorite Sports Promotion: The O’s Floppy Hat

My favorite sports promotion of all-time is Orioles Floppy Hat night, which just happens to be tonight! If I was anywhere near Camden Yards, I would be heading over there to score this cherished memento. Tonights version is black (I prefer orange) because the O’s always wear black during Friday night home games.

These hats were great for fishing trips and just generally hanging out and drinking. I always circled Floppy Hat night on the schedule at the beginning of every year. I wish I still had my old ones, but they are all lost, stolen, or fell apart.

While other promotions may have more glamour or appeal, for my money the floppy hat will always be my favorite.

Apologies to bobble heads, player T’s, and all you can eat!

Oh, this seems like a good time to post the greatest 7th inning stretch song ever!Kick it John.

Cheers and Hail

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

Over the next few weeks I will be randomly posting about my favorite things. For instance, this post is about my favorite all-time NCAA basketball player, Juan Dixon. Moving forward you’ll see my favorites in all walks of sports. But enough about that, lets talk about Juan.

Dixon was the 2002 ACC Player of the Year award winner on his way to leading my beloved Terps to the 2002 title. Despite being undersized at a billed 6’3” and 164 lbs, Dixon overcompensated by having “the heart of a tiger” as quoted by his Coach Gary Williams. He holds countless career and single season records at Maryland.

Dixon played a role that I always find myself rooting for, a true underdog. He overcame family tragedy on his way to College Park. It’s well documented that both his parents died from the AIDS virus. He was also lightly recruited out of high school despite a stellar career.

I will never forget the big wins over Duke, and the way he led the underdog Terps to their only title. He turned around so many games with a clutch shot or a big steal. I remember jumping for joy when Michael Jordan made him a first round pick for the Wizards.

Although Juan’s pro career has never reached the heights it did in college, he will always have a special place in my heart as my all-time favorite NCAA player.

Apologies to Len Bias, Patrick Ewing, Nik Caner-Medley, Keith Booth, Alonzo Mourning

Trivia: Juan Dixon’s older brother Phil lived in the dorm room directly beside Fatpickle in college. Phil was a D-III All-American.

Cheers and Hail

Famous Redskin Fans

Here is a list of the top 5 famous Washington Redskins fans, and a few that were thought to be but are not. Do you know any more? Post in the comment section or email me.

Rumored Fan - Matthew Mccognahay- Actor
Confirmation…YES - HUGE FAN. Interviewed on MTV wearing a #24 Redskins Champ Bailey uni. Interviewed on Barbara Walters special where they filmed his bedroom, which had a Skins helmet on the dresser. Seen at Redskin’s games including first game @ Fedex. Seen spitting dip directly onto stadium during first game.

Rumored Fan - Dale Earnhardt Jr - NASCAR Driver
Confirmation…YES - HUGE FAN. In the movie Dale, about his father, JR does his entire interview dressed from head to toe in Skins gear. Seen on the sidelines at games and training camp. Often checks on the score of the Skins game during races. Said he would give up everything he’s done in racing to be Chris Cooley for a year.

Rumored Fan - Sandra Bullock - Actress
Confirmation…YES Grew up in Arlington, Va and has been spotted at Redskin’s games (including the first game at Raljon with MM.)

Rumored Fan - Greg Garcia - Creator “Yes, Dear” “My Name Is Earl”
Confirmation…YES Grew up in Arlington, VA and attended Frostburg State. Frequently has characters in his TV shows wear Redskins paraphernalia. Attends at least 1 game a year and has been a guest in Dan Snyder’s private box.

Rumored Fan - Wanda Sykes - Actress/Comedian
Confirmation…YES Grew up in Gambrills, MD rooting for the Skins. And I thank Wanda for giving us this.

Rumored Fan - Gene Hackman - Actor
Confirmation…NO! I love Gene Hackman, in my opinion one of the greatest actors ever. He wore a Redskins jacket the entire movie Loose Cannons. He also portrayed the Joe Gibbs role in The Replacements, so I thought the rumors maybe true. Alas, after further review I found out Gene is a Cowboys fan!

Rumored Fan - Ron Jeremy - Legendary Porn Star

Confirmation…NO! I wanted this one to be true, but I could not find any proof to back it up. So, I got in touch with Ron’s people (yes, Ron has people.) The exact quote I received “He doesn’t care much about sports or follow them.”

WELL THAT MAKES SENSE, HE’S GOT HIS HANDS FULL WITH OTHER THINGS…

Cheers and Hail

The Redskins…What’s In A Name?

This post originally appeared at The Cooley Zone

Thanks to a court ruling last week, I’m still a fan of the Washington Redskins. Not the Washington Presidents, or the Washington Johnny Rockets, or some other name that I could never imagine.

Taking A Rip At Ripken

We all have a professional athlete that’s our favorite, one that’s just on a different level from all the rest. For me, it’s Cal Ripken, hands down. So when I was surfing the web a few years ago and stumbled across Ripken Baseball’s fantasy camp, I knew I had to go.

So that’s how it came to be that I dug in to the box to bat against Cal Ripken. He wasn’t throwing batting practice puss. No, Cal was mixing it up. Our count ran to 3-2 before I laced my frozen rope down the 3rd base line. Fastballs and curveballs up and down, in and out. And then…boom. Being the competitor that Cal is, my second time up he threw me change up that almost made me throw my back out. The double comes around the 15 sec mark, and check out the stache on my teammate.

And I came back the following year to have that catch with Cal. I guess all he needed was a good battery mate to fix his pitching problems. He pitched a two hit shutout.

Round trip airfare from Tampa to Baltimore…$250

Cheers and Hail