Damn you, Cincinnati Cyclones. Just when I thought I’d make it through a day free of allergies, you had to go and surprise the Gallardo family before Saturday night’s game against the Evansville Icemen by bringing out their father and Army sergeant Phillip Gallardo. His 12-year old daughter and 11-year old son thought they had been randomly selected to drop the puck before the ECHL game in Covington, Kentucky, but they were surprised when their father joined them at center ice, as he had returned from Afghanistan.

Gallardo hadn’t seen his family in more than a year, so naturally the reaction was eye-watering. Good lord, I don’t ever get tired of turning into a pile of sentimental mush from watching these videos. I would watch just about any sport in the world if I was promised that I’d get to see a family surprised by a soldier coming home. The soldier doesn’t even have to be related to that family, he can just walk up and be like, “Hey, I’m back from hell, how’s it going?” and I’d have to cover my eyes and run out of the room.

Well done, Cyclones.

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I can’t decide what my favorite part of TABLE TENNIS SURPRISE is — the amazing return shot, the guy who loses’ stunned reaction and awed sportsmanship, or the fact that it sounds like the worst side dish ever. “Here honey, we’re having pot roast, green beans and Table Tennis Surprise.” (via NESN)

Programming Note: Biggest-ever thank you to Burnsy, Danger Guerrero and Maske for holding down the fort yesterday. My return from New Orleans went from “I’ll work in the morning and then leave” to “I’ll leave super early because the Megabus says they have WiFi WHOOPS THE MEGABUS IS LYING, ENJOY 12 HOURS OF TRYING TO WRITE WRESTLING JOKES ON YOUR PHONE” and it delayed the Raw report. That’s coming today. Sorry for any inconvenience. I’ll be happy to send you a refund.

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Links

Rejected Viagra Commercials Are Real And They’re Spectacular |UPROXX|

Talking To Jacob Pitts About ‘Justified,’ How Tim Sees Raylan, And ‘EuroTrip’ |Warming Glow|

Wesley Snipes & Diamond Dallas Page as zombie-fighting cowboys |Film Drunk|

Move Over Danica Patrick, The Daytona 500 Is All About Christmas Abbott |With Leather|

Funny, Sexy, And Awesome Cosplay Of The Week |Gamma Squad|

10 De La Soul Songs Everyone Should Know |Smoking Section|

NFL Logos With A Wee Touch Of The Brit |Kissing Suzy Kolber|

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Seriously, I don’t ever get tired of videos of American troops coming home and surprising their families at baseball games. The latest such act happened yesterday at Fluor Field, the home of the Boston Red Sox Single-A affiliate, the Greenville Drive in South Carolina. In the middle of the third inning, airman Trey Murphy, dressed as a Drive player, stood behind his mother and brother as they were interviewed on the field. Mom thought Trey was still in Afghanistan until he grabbed her by the shoulders to surprise her.

“Oh my God! Trey!” Sarah shouted as her son grabbed her by the shoulders, gently turned her around and gave her a tremendous bear hug.

She burst into tears. “But I haven’t baked for you yet.” (Via The State; unfortunately, not the one with $240 worth of pudding)

IT’S DUSTY IN HERE! THE EYE SPRINKLERS ARE SET TO WATER NOW!

So how did Trey come up with this allergy-inducing idea to surprise his mom for his homecoming? He saw plenty of other soldiers do it at other ballparks and thought it was pretty cool. Once again, I strongly encourage the U.S. government and every professional and minor league sports team that it might take to organize approximately 1.4 million more of these surprises as soon as possible.

Video of a local news report and the surprise after the jump.

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