Will Clark Was The Best, Part I

The scene: the 1989 NLCS. Giants v. Cubs. Will Clark at the plate versus Mitch “the Wild Thing” Williams. 1-1 tie ballgame.

Robby Thompson! Brett Butler! Candy Maldonado! Roger Craig! Real Fans! The ‘Stick! Hummm baby!

The game seemed so much more pure back then, no?

Warriors’ Nation Sheds A Single Tear: Sarunas Jasikevicius Is No Longer A Warrior

It’s official: the Warriors will place Sarunas Jasikevicius on waivers after agreeing on a buyout with the backup point guard. It’s a shame, because Sarunas never really fit in with the team and seemed like a swell former Communist.

In the end, despite the Warriors’ dire need for a backup point guard, Sarunas’ leadership abilities, Sarunas’ shooting touch and his, ahem, undying enthusiasm (read: excellent cheerleading skills), the Lithuanian guard lacked the athleticism (and perhaps the willingness to throw discipline out the window ) to run in Nellie’s system.

Along with the loss of Adonal Foyle, this means that the Warriors have a serious shortage of towel-wavers.

From the moment he arrived in Oakland, Sarunas has been one of our favorite players (both in seriousness and in jest) so as our farewell to Sarunas, here’s Cabbages showcasing his American Idol skill, singing what can only be the Lithuanian version of Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer.”

[video via The FanHouse]

Rod Beck, Remembered.

This is probably the best tribute to Rod Beck we’ve seen. It’s just from Fox Bay Area’s feed from the Giants’ own tribute earlier this summer. Watching those highlights makes us feel warm and cozy. Seems like a lifetime ago.

Mike Krukow said it well: “A good friend, a great Giant.”

Of course, then Duane Kuiper chimed in: “Rod Beck! No longer with us.”

Yes, Shooter was certainly one of a kind.

Nick Swisher Is Awesome.

During the first inning of Sunday’s game against the Rangers, Nick Swisher showcased one of the better mound assaults we’ve ever seen.

The background: Swisher hit a home run in each of the first three games of the four-game series. When Vicente Padilla hit him in his first at-bat on Sunday, it was the third time in the last three games that Swisher had been hit, so Nick being a real man, he charged the mound like no other.

The dropping of the shoulder really makes it special.

UPDATE: Padilla suspended seven games; Swisher three.

Our Friend JP, Still At It

What’s good people?

As seen above, our boy JP over at FRiSCOFiTTEDTV has continued to pump out those game recaps. He actually has a lot of valiant points, and because we want him to succeed, we’d like to offer some words of advice for our aspiring mini-Gary Radnich.

1. These are the Youtubes. Five minutes is way too long for the A.D.H.D.-riddled folks that are trying their best to escape their meaningless lives while surfing about the interwebs. Take a cue from the master: keep the clips concise, direct and pithy.

2. Turn up the volume on the commentary. We can barely hear you speak, especially after the music.

3. Keep rocking the fly gear, especially the throwbacks. [Sidenote: we still cannot get over how awesome the Niners' throwbacks looked on Monday.]

4. Keep the highlights.

5. When in a news lull, it never hurts to reveal what happens behind the scenes. In fact, you should maybe even purchase some wood paneling.

Nostalgia: Nancy Reagan Has A Cannon For An Arm

Yeah, we’re sticking with the 1988 World Series nostalgia clips. Here we have the First Lady delivering a very important message to the youth of America and then tossing out the ceremonial first pitch.

Seeing that “pitch” makes us realize that Nancy Reagan was almost a real-life, female version of Mr. Burns (albeit not evil … probably).

[Kidding aside, we think she did a very nice thing in bringing the whole "Say no to drugs" campaign to the country and we wouldn't wish to imply otherwise.]

Tennis Players Are Funny, Foreign

If you’ve been watching the U.S. Open–and we have been, religiously–then you are familiar with Novak Djokovic. The 20-year-old Serb has been quickly winning the hearts of tennis fans across the globe.

His second-round match with Radek Stepanek is still probably the best men’s match of the Open thus far, but after his victory last night to propel him into the semifinals, Djokovic did something that has never been seen in any sporting event ever.

Watch the above video of his post-match interview. The guy is brilliant.

Nostalgia: The 1988 Oakland A’s World Series Lineup

There’s something about old baseball footage that just makes you tingle.

Other thoughts: Dave Stewart was a badass.

Glenn Hubbard!

Two Jose Canseco cameos today? Yeah, we’re scared too …

By the way, how did Game One of the ‘88 series turn out?

Jose Canseco Was An Idiot, Is An Idiot

When we get depressed with life, we take some delight in remembering that there’s always a Jose Canseco or two (get it? his twin Ozzie? eh?) out there, roaming the empty streets of a Miami suburb, trying desperately to remember where he got “those awesome hamburger tacos” last Tuesday.

And then we remember that he’s a best-selling author with another book on the way.

[Via the good folks at 100% Injury Rate]

At Long Last: Kanye West’s “Barry Bonds”

Because we know you’ve been waiting for it, here is Kanye West’s song “Barry Bonds.”

Nothing makes sense about it. We’re even more out of touch with pop culture than originally thought.

“Here’s another hit, Barry Bonds…”

And That’s The Preseason. Finally.

Thank god the preseason is over. With the preseason too long to begin with as it is, the 2007 version could not end soon enough. Let’s get this thing started and turn the page from the 49ers’ woeful August.

The 49ers looked terrible once again in last night’s 16-13 loss to the San Diego Chargers.

In particular, it was another ugly performance by Alex Smith; in almost two quarters of play, he compiled a 6.2 passer rating (23 yards, interception, fumble, one first down).

Vernon Davis, meanwhile, mocked Shawne Merriman’s “sack dance” after a reception, garnering boos from the crowd and groans from Niners fans with still-fresh memories of TO.

To make matters even worse, The Brain Trust Behind YouTube Sports didn’t even pick the Niners to make the Super Bowl. He did, however, spend all damn day putting quarters into the little machines at the local Kentucky Safeway, trying desperately to get the correct mini-helmets. Excellent props, Kige. Shake those helmets! It means you’re serious!

[Sidenote on our man-crush on Kige Ramsey: if you haven't done so, you should probably check out his blog. He writes like he speaks. According to his Monday post, Alberto Gonzalez was forced out by the liberals (aka left-wing mo-rons) in Congress!]

A Cameo On The Blog Show

We’re happy to announce that Say Hey got a nice shout-out on the 20th episode of the Washington Post Live’s Blog Show. Since it’s the last episode before Labor Day, Jamie Mottram and Dan Steinberg–two blogfathers of the sports interwebs–looked back on the best of the summer that was. Among the myriad estival highlights was our little Stomper breakdancing clip (2:35 mark). Who said that Oakland never contributed anything to civilization?

Other highlights include Mr. Met getting his bhangra on, Brady Quinn’s photo gallery of beauty and the lost YouTube of Chris Farley’s Christian Laettner recreation reimagining.

Blog Show No. 20: ‘The Summer of Blog’ [Mister Irrelevant]

Earlier: Clip Of The Day: Stomper The Elephant, Breakdance Fighting [Say Hey]

Ashley Goes For A Run … “Careful Ashley Stop!”

This clip from a CFL game isn’t exactly Bay Area-related, but, uh, the CFL’s first American franchise was the Sacramento Gold Miners. So there you go.

In any event, nothing is more entertaining than a blindfolded and possibly deaf woman sprinting like there’s no tomorrow (seriously, look at those arms pumping) for a trip to … the Dominican Republic! The fact that she’s a bit, well, rotund adds no humor* to the situation whatsoever.

Along with Doug Flutie doing something and Warren Moon doing something else, “Careful Ashley Stop!” now resides in the pantheon of great, great moments in CFL history.

[Via With Leather]

*adds a good deal of humor.

Barry Bonds Gives A Nice Speech

Barry Bonds doesn’t care much about his national reputation, especially with the media, but there’s no denying he’s always been grateful to his city. Last week, Mayor Newsom awarded Bonds the (a?) key to the city, and Bonds gave a really nice speech at Justin Herman Plaza, acknowledging everyone from Omar Vizquel to the hopefully-inspired children of San Francisco. It was just a really humanizing, heartwarming–dare we say sweet?–moment from him.

Also, worst fireworks show ever. And an awful lot of confetti.

Adonal Foyle: A Video Appreciation

If you haven’t heard, Adonal Foyle signed with the Orlando Magic today. We originally ran the following “video appreciation” back in April. We feel the least we can do to commemorate Adonal’s storied tenure in the Bay is to resurrect it for a day.

With all this playoff buzz and beard talk, everyone has seemed to forget about Adonal Foyle, probably the truest Warrior of all-time (sorry Ron Ron). He’s a real humanitarian and a great guy all around. As for his basketball prowess, well, he averaged two points this year and is currently mired on the bench. Since he’s not “playing” these days, we scoured the youtubes for the finest Adonal moments of all time. Consider it a reminder of those halcyon lottery days of yesteryear.

The best parts might be Jim Barnett’s matter-of-fact commentary, like “We’ve seen that a couple of times from Adonal this year” and “Well, it looked worse than it actually was.”