Monday, February 21, 2011

Introducing .giffy Lube




It's time to try something new here on The Fairweather Channel. There's plenty moments on TV out there you may just want (or don't want) to see over and over again. And thanks to the modern day concept of watching television on computers, you will be able to do just that.

If you haven't done so already, just follow me on Twitter and check out some of the interesting .giffable moments in your sports (and regular TV) viewing lives. Perhaps you don't do the Twitter thing or don't like to sift through plenty of babble, so I'll do you a favor and post some of the great .giffable moments here.

1. Bill Walton banging a drum on Grateful Dead Night
(Originally posted: http://twitpic.com/3y6d19)

Once reviled by many in the Sacramento Kings' tightly knit clique of fans, Bill Walton is starting to strike a soft spot with some. Looking back, the broadcasting crew of Tom Hammond, Steve Snapper Jones, and Bill Walton on NBC was some of the best sportscasting to the fringe sports viewer. If you want to get someone mildly interested in sports to watch a game, you don't bore them with copious amounts of statistics or shallow sports generalisms (that's what blogs and newspapers are for), you bring in the talking heads that can bring up interesting factoids about the other facets of the game.

Good job Maloofs on hiring Bill Walton, but no thanks on hiring Jim Gray. He can remain in the past and on Raiders Preseason Telecasts.

2. Spike Lee Bringing Wild Wild West To LA

I don't remember being so bored with an NBA All Star Game since maybe the last one. But at least you can trust Los Angeles to be gracious hosts and invite local acts like Josh Groban to sing the American National Anthem. They also had the courtesy to not invite local acts like the Black Eyed Peas to perform at halftime. I think plenty of Americans are still mad at the Super Bowl organizers in Arlington over that.

Anyway, Spike Lee knows how to dress for a good time. Hope you enjoy Carmelo there in New York, Denver enjoyed his antics too, very much so.



3. Dwight Howard: The Human GIF Machine

I can't say I've heard anyone calling Dwight "chocolate shoulders" before, except maybe Dwight Howard himself. But when you're doing the things you do as Dwight Howard, I expect you to create your own nicknames for yourself. Once Howard becomes an aging commodity the likes of Chris Webber, I hope to see him entertaining the masses on a color commentary or intermission report near myself.

(Boom! I had to post this here, http://yfrog.com/hsh40g, totally exceeded my TwitPic limits)

I haven't had a Gatorade beverage since maybe 2007, and I'm not missing any of the electrolytes I could be regaining with it. That does not mean I cannot enjoy any of the fine advertisements for free. Dwight Howard really is just an animated character who plays basketball, like Doug Funnie.

4. Kissing Cousins

Demarcus Cousins has been a lot of things this rookie year. If I were to put his antics to one word (and if you know me well you know what I'd say) it'd be "silly". He's the brooding star the Sacramento Kings were expecting him to be one night, another night he's Jamarcus Russell with a stronger work ethic and destructive tendencies. Either way I like where the Sacramento Kings are going with their young core of players. I cannot say I like where the Kings may be going physically (and spiritually), but the franchise should be entertaining to watch regardless where they may be someday.

5. Caroline Wozniacki Solid Effort

I'm going to be honest, I did not know who Caroline Wozniacki was until the 2011 Australian Open. If you ask me who ended up winning the singles, I did not pay that much attention to that detail. But thanks to the big events such as the Aussie Open, fringe sports guys like me can watch and get a good feel for who these up and coming greats are on an international stage. Also, thank you slow motion.

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Hope these moving pictures moved you to enjoy the Fringe Side of Sports...

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

It's (Not So) Hard To Say Goodbye to Arco Arena




When I found out from the Sacramento Kings were going to remove the letters from Arco
Arena's facade, I had to drop by and check it out.

I also managed to get some tickets to WWE Smackdown coming to Arco Arena 2/22. The product these days may be for the kids, but whenever the promotion comes to your town, you have to stop by and pay tribute to the greatness it once had. There were actually a few people in the parking lot walking toward the box office to buy tickets to Arco's Non-Basketball events, i.e. Disney on Ice.

Thanks to Sacramento's Cake for the song Arco Arena. Has any other building had a local band of high caliber create a song for it?



Something to think about, FairWeather Federation.


Hopefully better things will come when people drive through these welcoming columns at the Power Balance Sports Complex.




See more things over at the Davis Sports Deli...

Sunday, February 6, 2011

What You Could Have Watched During Super Bowl XLV




Welcome back again to the The Fairweather Channel. Congratulations are in order to The Green Bay Packers who once again proved that you don't need a quarterback who's unafraid to make racy texts to win a Super Bowl in the NFL's modern era. Aaron Rodgers posing with another California guy and a World Heavyweight Championship Belt. I bet he was a WCW guy back in the day.

At the time of writing this, I don't know the overnight ratings of the Super Bowl available most of Sunday on FOX, but you can probably be sure it will be in the range of plenty of people watched. In case you were wondering (you probably weren't and wasted off your wagon), I took a look at my DirecTV guide while watching the game and here's some interesting things you could have watched instead. Each show somehow reminded me of the game sports people care about.

(Note: my local TV stations could have decided to air something completely different from your neck of the woods.)


News10 (ABC Sacramento)
4pm - Storm Stories
A show originally syndicated on The Weather Channel somehow airing locally talks to survivors who lived through some of nature's worst disasters.

You know what's a real storm to live through? The influx of Steelers fans in Northern California since the turn of the Millennium.

KVIE 6 (PBS Sacramento)
4:30PM - Road Trip Huell Houser: California's Northwest Corner
Not much is known about extreme Northern California. Everyone assumes it ends right around Sacramento and the Bay Area, which in reality is near the center of the entire state.

If you can tolerate the serious levels of camp Huell Houser produces on this publicly funded show, this is a great way to escape the rigors of watching the Super Bowl.

ESPN2
4-6PM WPBA Tour Championship, Niagara Falls, NY
If you're into the fringe sports like I am from time to time, ESPN2 is your place. Without tuning into this I thought it was about bowling, later when I actually searched it did I find out it was Women's Professional Billiards. Sure it was a rerun, but leave it to ESPN2 to give it airtime on Super Bowl Sunday. Super Bowl? Super Pool.

The Golf Channel
The Haney Project: Rush Limbaugh Marathon
People can choose to hate on Rushbo all they want, but the man makes money selling books and entertaining the masses. Isn't that what America is all about? Keith Olbermann was in this similar vein too, but he just became too serious with his politics that he was the rallying cry of the left and MSNBC (or was he?).

If you really hate the NFL, Super Bowl, and wanted a good laugh or two, you should have watched Rush Limbaugh try a more conventional golf swing. (Unlike that Charles Barkley guy...)

FX
Kung Fu Panda
For a network with raunchy night programming, it surprises me with a family friendly selection at the heart of Super Bowl Sunday.

By the way, I hear Pablo Sandoval lost some weight?

The antics of the San Francisco Giants next year will just be as fun to keep track of compared to their 2010 World Series title defense. At least it won't be all Yankees, all Red Sox, all the time...

E! Network Television
Sex in the City Marathon
I suppose there's no such thing as too much Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda. Unless it's a marathon on the E! Network.

I don't recommend putting your TV on any of that during the Super Bowl, you'd probably lose your man card.



Animal Planet
Puppy Bowl VII
There were puppies on a small synthetic field that probably felt a lot better to the touch than Jerry Jones' playhouse.

If you were lucky enough to control the remote during the game at any point, you could have seen those sons of bitches duke it out.
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I guess there just isn't much else to watch instead of the Super Bowl. Unless I physically couldn't be near a TV on this day, I'm just doomed to watch the big game regardless of the teams lacing up the shoes and pads.


Just remember, any more of these and I think people will just be turned off to the idea of watching halftime shows involving the Super Bowl.