if you don’t understand why he’s doing this, then you don’t understand tennis.

That’s a comment from YouTube user thefinnman92, describing this video of Cyprian tennis player Marcos Baghdatis destroying four consecutive tennis racquets between sets to help him emotionally get through an impending round two Australian Open loss to Stanislas Wawrinka. The lesson here? I don’t understand tennis. Also, it sucks to lose anything to a guy named Stanislas.

Not that I don’t understand losing control of your good mind and Nard-dogging a hole in the wall, but those things are expensive. Maybe when you’re the 44th best player in the world they send them to you in the mail with samples of Tide. Regardless, as a longtime baseball fan my first thought when a pitcher wanders into the dugout and starts lobbing Gatorade coolers and whipping bats is to side-eye the hell out of him and cut him from my fantasy team before he breaks his hand.

Set analysis courtesy of Bill Hanstock at SB Nation:

Baghdatis went on to lose the match in four sets, 7-6, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1. I can only assume that the final set was 6-1 because Baghdatis was out of racquets and had to go bare-handed.

/cuts Baghdatis from tennis fantasy team

Umpire arguments are each timeless classics in their own way, and this next video featuring minor league manager Wally Backman is no exception. The South Georgia Peanuts skipper takes umbrage with a home run call in this undated video (“THAT AIN’T EVEN F*CKING CLOSE!”) and the umpire wastes no time in throwing Backman out of the game. Backman would later claim that the ball was “legitimately…probably ten feet foul.” But the argument was legitimately probably awesome.

Via Playing For Peanuts.

This is Cleveland Indians TV broadcaster Bruce Drennan, who apparently hasn’t realize that the Indians have spent the last few years selling off every decent player that the team has had. But that doesn’t stop him from ripping the team another posterior cavity on air.

To call this not-quite-angry tirade “magical” seems like such an understatement. The Indians, whose 10 wins are third from last in the bigs with 10 wins on the season, weren’t exactly expected to contend for the AL Central. That makes this blowup from Drennan–barely a month into the regular season–all the more hilarious. It’s going to be a long year, Bruce. Take a pill. Read the rest of this entry »

This is the beautifully named coach of minor league hockey’s Abbotsford Heat, Jim Playfair, and you’re about to watch him lose his mind. This video is still making the rounds, and now you can also enjoy it here. Roll to the 2:50-ish mark of the video after the jump, and then watch the best reason to never be an ice hockey referee. Or a composite hockey stick. I like the wooden sticks better, personally. It’s hard to play when it feels like you’re carrying around a curtain rod. Read the rest of this entry »

This is Tuukka Rask (in white) of minor league hockey’s Providence Bruins, and I haven’t put on my hockey pants for quite a while, but I’m pretty sure that calling that first shot a goal is the worst call ever. And maybe that second goal hit the post, but that’s not why you should care. Just enjoy the Finn’s meltdown after the loss. I had a little brother that was playing kickball once and got hit by a motorcycle. Remembering that gives me the same fuzzy feeling I get from watching this.

Read the rest of this entry »

Listening to Lee Elia's 1983 meltdown is one of my spring training rituals.  It was passed down to me by Buddy, my Little League manager.  We used to gather around Buddy's '78 gold Trans Am, and he would pop the cassette into the tape deck saying, "Now, I can't say dese things to ya, so that's why we're going to listen to dis here tape."  After the gentle poetry of Elia's delicate word-smithing entered our ears, Buddy would say, "Now ya don't want me to fly off da handle like dat because you're sucking it up like da Cubs, do ya?  Do ya?  Of course ya don't.  So get out dere and play some frickin' ball!"  

I like listening to this because it prepares me for the long grind of an upcoming MLB season, it makes me think of Buddy (I think he's up for parole soon -I should buy a card), and it reminds me that the Cubs suck. -KD