Kansas City’s Jeff Francoeur has a strong arm in right. Detroit’s Victor Martinez is not fast. Dude’s 34 years old, you know? He wasn’t fast a decade ago. But here he is being waved home, kicking up dirt behind the also-not-fast Prince Fielder, en route to a home plate collision. What’s a guy to do in a situation like this? Plow through the catcher and try to score? Try to jump him? Slide?

If you’re Victor Martinez, you do your best impression of Grandpa Simpson at La Maison Derrière and book it to the dugout. Compare and contrast the above video with the following GIF:

Read the rest of this entry »

One of the best perks of this gig, behind only working in my underwear and making Photoshops of Channing Tatum, is that people often send me very strange links, images and videos under the assumption that I’m into that kind of stuff. And they’re almost always right, because I love crazy sh*t. Then sometimes people also send me porn and it’s too strange, because it just is.

Right in the middle of that spectrum, though, is an email I received the other day from a reader who insisted I get hip to the world of “Hooping”. It seems that there is a whole world out there of competitive and freestyle hula hoops that I have never been even the slightest bit aware of, and it’s probably because I’m not a hippy. Specifically, I’m not a female hippy with dreadlocks. As always, though, I’m trying hard not to judge people, even when they follow up emails about competitive “Hooping” with hooping porn. But again, I’m not judging.

That said, my curiosity for hooping sent me on one of my classic YouTube and Tumblr journeys and I ended up falling into a wormhole that I almost never came out of. What I came back with is a collection of mostly SFW videos and GIFs that are downright hypnotic. Seriously, if this hooping thing is a cult, I could totally see how people could fall for it.

Read the rest of this entry »

Imagine yourself winning your first grand slam victory. Imagine that it comes after you’ve lost four times in the final of a major and six times in the semis. Now imagine yourself spinning around and catching a glimpse of the crowd. What’s the best thing that could happen here? The best thing in the entire world. What would it be?

If you answered, “Sean Connery pumping his fist”, you are correct.

In addition to his relentless defence, his unyielding will to win and the support of a sympathetic crowd, Andy Murray had one other slight advantage over Novak Djokovic in Monday’s US Open final.

Only Murray had the original James Bond on his side.

Actor Sean Connery watched from courtside, clapping, yelling and even fist-pumping each time his fellow Scotsman won a crucial point. Murray rewarded Connery by eking out a five-set win in nearly five hours, his long-awaited first Grand Slam victory after four previous losses in the final of a Major and six in the semi-finals. (via Tramlines)

The only way it could’ve been better is if the Earth had suddenly split open, and Murray had to choose between saving his U.S. Open trophy or getting out of the stadium alive. Or if cops had rushed in to find Connery, only to have Murray tell them he “vaporized” and been blown out to sea.

Anyway, if that wasn’t the most delightfully Scottish thing you’ve ever heard, check out this conversation between Murray, Murray’s mom and Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson. It is so European, Keira Knightley may drift into the middle of it in a bonnet.

Murray [to his mom]: “You smell of wine”

Judy [nodding at Ferguson]: “He made me have wine. He’s just been telling me that Scotland invented the world.”

Sir Alex replied: “Hands up, I did.”

While you recover from that, here is the legendary fist pump, in both GIF and “recorded with a calculator” forms.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday we shared with you a clip of Philadelphia Phillies ballgirl Genevieve Haney snagging a foul ball and paired it with a dozen or so Instagram photos of her sunbathing or hanging out with the Phillie Phanatic. Genevieve loved the post and shared it with her friends, because that’s how she rolls.

Now, on the opposite end of that coolness spectrum we have Tuesday night’s Minnesota Twins ballboy. In this GIF (courtesy of the always stellar Tom Fornelli at South Side Asylum), the poor guy is tasked with taking Ryan Doumit’s bat and royally eats it, slipping on the grass and nearly taking Doumit down with him. He gets a pat on the butt for his troubles, and sad Charlie Brown walks back to the dugout knowing only Doumit, the people in the stands, the people watching at home and everyone on the Internet noticed it.

Much like the lovely Geneieve, Minnesota Twins bat boy is a big fan of Instagram, so I’ve put together a collection of my favorite snaps from his collection. You’ll really want to see these.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday afternoon we shared with you the video of 19-year old Australian track and field star Michelle Jenneke winning the 100m hurdles at the 14th IAAF World Junior Championships in Barcelona, and while that in itself is not necessarily the recipe for viral video success, a beautiful woman go-go dancing before destroying everybody at hurdles is. The video was quickly taken down (because even track and field doesn’t think you should watch track and field) but just as quickly replaced with dance music and slow motion versions.

Yes, here’s the slow motion version:

Read the rest of this entry »

One of the best part of our popular The Best And Worst Of WWE Raw column is the amazing collection of animated GIFs from Casey at Hammerlock Dialectic. They’re so good, in fact, that I’m sad when people who don’t read the column (or like pro wrestling) miss out on them. Trust me, there is some colossally ridiculous looking stuff happening in the world of pro wrestling and you don’t need the ability to pretend it’s real to appreciate it.

Combine that truth with what Jon Bois is doing to improve GIF art awareness at SB Nation and a “best wrestling gifs of the month” feature sounded like a no-brainer. So here are my 21 favorite animated GIFs from the world of pro wrestling for June, keeping in mind that:

1. The July 4 weekend messed up everybody’s schedule, so go along with me and pretend June just ended.
2. So far we only do a WWE column on the site, so June’s GIFs will be WWE heavy. With GIFs Of The Month becoming a regular feature, we’ll move forward with more of an emphasis on giffing everything that happens in the world of wrestling, and oh my god you are not ready for Japan.
3. A lot of GIFs appeared in the Raw column, but a lot of them are being seen for the first time.
4. We’ll try to get a more uniform GIF size in the future.

Anyway, enough qualifiers. Check out the 20 best pro wrestling GIFs for June, with little-to-no context provided.

Read the rest of this entry »