Deadspin: fan culture

The Lady Fans Congregate

Leitch — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 09:34:17 EDT

Since the NFL shut down the infamous "NFL4Her" portion of its Web site, it has been difficult to find a place where women sports fans can congregate. Fortunate, the fine folks at FemmeFan have alerted us to their presence. Like many gay/women sports fan sites, it's pretty much a straightforward sports commentary site with occasional comments about abs and crotches. For example:

We re heading south as we travel the NFL world, and global warming seems to have heated up the action in the AFC South. Ah, southern accents, southern cooking, mint juleps and oh yes, big men in tight uniforms.

Though the picture of the FemmeFan home page, the above photo of Lance Armstrong, may titillate some readers, we gotta say, it kind of
freaks us out a little.

FemmeFan [Official Site]

Human Hamster Races. Yep

Leitch — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 11:56:31 EDT

From the fine folks at Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer comes the concept of human hamster races at Wake Forest.

You have to be careful, though, or Chris Paul will return to campus and start punching all the balls.

Human Hamster Racing [Wake Forest] (via Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer)
Paul Meets Hodge [WRAL.com] (VIDEO)

Hopefully They Don't Change Logos Sometime Before, Oh, Eternity

Leitch — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 10:25:40 EDT

From the great sports fan behavior chroniclers at Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer comes the tale of James Henry Smith. He is — or, was, rather — "one of the biggest Steelers fans in the universe," say his friends. As if to prove it, he was buried in his recliner, all decked up in his Steelers garb. How decked up?

His feet are crossed, his pack of cigarettes and a beer by his side. Steelers highlights are playing on a high-definition TV screen nearby. With the TV remote in his hand, leaning back in his recliner, a Steelers blanket across his legs, it's like a game-day Sunday.

Highlight of this story: The beleaguered funeral director who had to put this all together. "I didn't know if I'd be ready to meet this request." Fortunately, the family made the request a week before Smith died. Which helps.

A Fan's Farewell [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette] (via Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer)

Oh, Yes, We Can Definitely Hear You Now

Leitch — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 11:59:50 EDT

Right now, half the country is looking at this picture and saying, "Hey ... did I go to college with that guy?

Streaker Tackled On His Mobile Phone During Rugby Match [Yahoo Sports]

Brad And Grace

Leitch — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 11:28:09 EDT

Meet Brad Wackerlin. He lives in Lake of the Hills, Ill., is 33 years old and hey, sorry ladies, he just got married. He is also unnaturally obsessed with former Cubs first baseman Mark Grace. How obsessed? Well, he has 2,000 different Mark Grace baseball cards, runs two Mark Grace Web sites — MarkGrace.com and Grace Collector — and even details Grace's cameo appearances on other people's cards.

As would prove inevitable, Wackerlin had the opportunity to meet his precious in 2003. He details it thusly:

"I took great pride to hear him say that he had seen my sites and found them flattering. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet my sports hero made all the effort I put into maintaining the web sites seem worthwhile."

At which point Grace called security and slowly backed away from the convention center, dialing his lawyer for a restraining order on the way out. No need to waste time.

Collector Of The Month [Trading Card Central]
MarkGrace.com ["Official" Site]
Grace Collector ["Official" Site]

Do Not Make A Montreal Expo Mad

Leitch — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 10:33:30 EDT

Remember Ken Hill? The Expos/Cardinals/Rangers/Red Sox pitcher was the type of guy who always destroyed your fantasy team; the year you drafted him high, he collapsed, and the year you didn't draft him, he'd rock on somebody else's team. (He was also the ace on that great 1994 Expos team.)

Well, now he threatens to kill other parents.

According to The Dallas Morning News, Hill "threatened to beat up three different people and had to be restrained by three or four people to avoid fulfilling that threat" at a youth-league game in Texas last week. Hill was the opposing team manager and, according to other parents, threatened several children as well. Which is always nice.

Former Ranger Accused Of Rage [Dallas Morning News]
Ken Hill [ESPN.com]

Where Else To Take The Kids But Hooters?

Leitch — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 11:53:46 EDT

Following up on a story in the Louisville Channel, ESPN's Darren Rovell digs into the news that Hooters might be sponsoring Little League teams. A Hooters rep — we wonder if the spokesperson has to wear those tanktops — said very few parents have complained; in fact, since the story broke, restaurants have been flooded with horny dads wanting the company to sponsor their kid's team.

McNeil said that, as a result of the story, Hooters restaurants across the country have been inundated with requests from little leagues. "This is not controversy for us," McNeil said. "Now if it were bad chicken wings — that would be devastating."

We disagree: Most of the people we grew up with, they would go to Hooters if they served arsenic on a stick.

Hooters and Little League [ESPN Insider] (subscription required)
Parents Protest Little League Hooters Connection [The Louisville Channel]

Somewhere, Mark Cuban Is Smiling

Leitch — Thu, 19 May 2005 14:46:33 EDT

Charges Dropped Against Hockey Owner Who Punched Referee [Danbury News-Times]

Pujols Resists Temptation To Kill Fan

Leitch — Wed, 18 May 2005 10:33:57 EDT

Here's a perfect example of how powerful ESPN is. Last night, Albert Pujols, while chasing a foul ball down the first base line, was grasped by a drunken Philadelphia fan in the front row. Pujols kept his cool, glowering at and lecturing the man before giving the ball to a kid next to him, because Pujols is a great guy who, as ESPN always reminds us, loves the Down Syndrome kids. But where's the news reports about the incident? There aren't any. We've yet to find a mention of it in any newspaper or blog this morning. Either the whole press box missed it or it was a much smaller deal than this morning's SportsCenter thought.

Of course, now that SportsCenter has featured the "incident" and Peter Gammons has intoned weightily, expect second-day stories in every paper in the country. Sigh.

Cards Fail To Capitalize [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Kicking and Screaming

Leitch — Mon, 16 May 2005 14:03:35 EDT

This is always fun: At a girl's rugby game — little girls are playing rugby? — in Rohnert Park, Calif. on Saturday, a parent punched a referee in the face when he was told to move his Camcorder off the field. Not a big deal, right? Refs are getting decked at kid's games all the time; that's why we have kid's sports! Well, thing is, the opposing team's coach held the crazed parents down, ostensibly until police could arrive, when he was attacked and kicked by his opposing coach and "six to eight bystanders." He was treated for "several head injuries" and was knocked unconscious. "I never saw them coming," Craig Stewart, the coach, said. "They took the boots to me. They just started kicking me in the head and the face." In a completely unrelated story, right afterwards, the opposing teams started fighting, a rugby cat fight. And you know the funny thing? They didn't even televise the game! What's the point of fighting, kids?

Girls Rugby Game Turns Violent (San Francisco Chronicle)

You Know, That's What They Got Capone For, In The End

Leitch — Mon, 16 May 2005 11:39:27 EDT

One would think Oakland would be the only place they would be nice to Jason Giambi. Nope! Authorities have announced that Eric Anduri, the fan who dumped a beer on Giambi during a game Saturday, will be charged with battery, public intoxication and — our favorite — "throwing an object on the field." (We're not sure what the maximum sentence for that "crime" is; we imagine it involving a dunking booth.) Giambi handled the situation "admirably," says his manager, which was probably wise; heading into the stands and bashing a fan with his bat is probably the only thing that could hurt Giambi's image right now.

Fan Faces Charge For Dousing Giambi (Inside Bay Area)