Man, time sure does fly. It seems like just yesterday I was praising Drew Brees. Actually, it was just yesterday, but I was referring to when I named Brees and the New Orleans Saints winning Super Bowl XLIV the top Sports Moment of 2010. And you know what? That was a boring, predictable pick and it left nothing to the imagination of you, our beloved readers. You deserve more than just the run-of-the-mill year end list, because With Leatherites are smarter than the average sports blog reader, and I know that because I was called an idiot by you guys plenty this year.

You also have a better sense of humor than the average sports blog reader, so when I was entering the qualifications for this year’s Best Sports Moments into my sophisticated super computer (read: old yellow notepad) I wanted to kick the sentimental crap to the curb and really focus on what makes us all tick – namely, poop jokes and hot models. But mostly fun sports moments. As always, I don’t expect everyone to agree, and I’m sure that I left out a few moments here and there (sorry hockey). So feel free to school us on your biggest moments of the year, and let’s all hope that 2012 is a little more sex scandal free…

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"Hey Darlene, I found your panties, eh?"

It’s been just over 6 months since the city of Vancouver showed the rest of the world the ugly side of sports, as thousands of pissed off, brain dead sociopaths ransacked their city under the guise of being Vancouver Canucks fans upset that their team lost in the Stanley Cup Finals. The result was hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to local businesses and city property all because they’re the angry youth and they’ve had it with the man or whatever. I assume Hollywood North isn’t what Time Magazine had in mind when it named “The Protester” the Person of the Year.

But I’m not here to rehash a city’s shameful night, because much credit is due to the Vancouver Police Department, which handed down another 80 charges on 20 more rioters yesterday, bringing the grand total to 80 rioters arrested for 215 charges. And Les Yeo, head of the riot investigation Mounties, says this is far from over.

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I didn’t make the video of this bench-clearing brawl between the Class A Spokane Indians and Vancouver Canadians the header because I need to warn you — it not only contains violence and strong language, but a group of people yelling WAHHHHHHHHHHHH at the top of their lungs because that or chanting “fight” are how people deal with sudden fighting. I recommend turning your volume down, possibly all the way, then enjoying a couple of minutes of minor leaguers throwing hands. Man, people in Vancouver sure to have a lot of pent up aggression, don’t they? At least the players didn’t start smashing storefronts and setting people on fire.

Anyway,

WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH FOCKEM UP

Apologies are already being issued, including one from the Texas Rangers, the Major League affiliate of Spokane. The Canadians will start apologizing in a few weeks when people on Facebook start ratting them out.

All it needed was “Down With the Sickness” or some rap hype song like that steel cage lacrosse brawl to make it truly and acceptably viral. And maybe some lens flares. Lens flares make everything look cooler.

[video courtesy of Deadspin]

If you don’t watch pro wrestling, you’re missing out on athletic moments like this, when a Hawaiian Tropic model jumps in the air and takes down one half of a set of twins with nothing but her crotch and gravity. Two other things you’re missing: fake fighting, and my weekly Best and Worst reports about Raw. This week’s was pretty good, and if I don’t shill it to people who don’t like wrestling, I’m never going to have someone get upset about my “Mark David Chapman shot on John Lennon” joke.

Sports

The Best and Worst of Raw: Power to the People - For those of you who read Best and Worst, I’m looking for some survey feedback. Should I do more of these? Cover Smackdown or maybe (gasp) Impact Wrestling presents IMPACT? Maybe Best and Worst of older shows? Would anybody read that? [With Leather]

Dana White Loves Sunglasses, Prince Valiant Haircuts - In the event that you hate wrestling too much to even laugh at it, here’s a bunch of pictures of the President of Ultimate Fighting Championship looking like a member of my family in 1978. [Cage Potato]

Vancouver Riots Kissing Couple on ‘The Today Show’ - If the Internet had been around 70 years ago, that kissing sailor would’ve been dissected for patriarchal normativism (or whatever) and put on every Flour Brand Presents Radio Hour in the country. I just wanted the guy to be like “I saw they was breaking stuff, and I just got so horny”. [Uproxx]

Jack McKeon is Old - He sure is! Read all about it! That old guy, I mean honestly! [Pineriders]

Not Sports

Christina Hendricks as Wonder Woman? - I hate to be the one to say it, but for as cool as Joan is, an nonathletic 36-year old with huge boobs is not the ideal Wonder Woman. At the same time, neither are those waifish plastic surgery cases like Megan Fox people are always suggesting. For once, give me a “butt kicking heroine” who actually looks and acts like she could kick someone’s butt. [Gamma Squad]

Insane Clown Posse Will Sue You If You Make Fun of Them - F**king litigation, how does it work? I’m surprised that anybody who booked Vampiro to wrestle at their clown-themed rap music soda convention for like ten years can do anything more complex than flail around in their own urine. [Uproxx]

This Week in Statutory Everything - Percy Wetmore from The Green Mile marries a pop singing 16-year old who looks like the hooker with the saggy boobs from “Futurama”. I mean, I believe she’s 16, I just don’t believe IT. [Warming Glow]

Paul Blart: Zookeeper Rocks the Rom-Com Lean - That lean is the number one way to keep me from seeing your movie. For about five years I thought Matthew McConaughey grew up in Yogi’s Cave and just walked around leaning like the Smooth Criminal all day. [Film Drunk]

The Legend of Zelda and the death of Len Bias are both pushing 30 years old. I should’ve filled today’s Morning Links to articles about the Challenger Explosion and Hands Across America and called it a meme. Are things that happened a long time ago a “meme”? Oh who am I kidding, everything is a meme. Everything’s collectable, and everything’s a meme.

Sports

The Heartbreaking Potential of Len Bias - I remember how sad this was when it happened, even if I was barely old enough to know what “basketball” was. The only thing funny to come from it is those reports of people being all, “he’s like the new Michael Jordan!” when Jordan had been playing for like 20 minutes. [Smoking Section]

‘Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum’ Live Results and Commentary - Well, they aren’t really live results now, but you get the idea. Here’s my review for Strikeforce: “the guy started fighting, and now he’s lying down. Hup, it’s over.” And that would STILL be better than WWE Capitol Punishment. [Cage Potato]

Your Guide to the 2011 Pick-Up Basketball Season - I just wanted to note for public record that the one time Jon and I actually got out to a park and played basketball, I won. I have also beaten him at Words With Friends and RBI Baseball. [SBN]

Who is to Blame for the Rioting? - Because Mondays are always sort of drab and exhausting, go back to the middle of last week and read a thought-provoking piece from Burnsy. Thoughts provoked include “what the hell is wrong with these people?” [Brandon's Website dot Org]

Not Sports

Robin Williams Sells Zelda - Three things to know: (1) Robin Williams has a colossal beard for some reason, (2) there is a new version of Ocarina of Time coming out, because money, and (3) Robin Williams has the cutest f**king daughter ever. [Gamma Squad]

The Hyper-Minimal Movie Posters of John Taylor - This minimalism thing is for the birds. I didn’t complain when everything on Cartoon Network started looking like Powerpuff Girls, so I guess I won’t complain now that the Jurassic Park poster is just a black square with a yellow circle in the middle. James Franco’s imaginary art isn’t that far from the truth. [Gamma Squad]

‘The Last Circus’ Looks Insane - Theory: Vince hated Super 8 for the same reasons he thinks this movie looks great. I find that my Killer Klowns From Outer Space aren’t really receptive when I show them Field of Dreams, either. [Film Drunk]

Mac from ‘It’s Always Sunny’ Gains 50 Pounds - …because “fat people are funnier”. Hey Mac, you want to be funnier? Put down the cheeseburger and write funnier episodes. [Warming Glow]

I received some strong feedback from yesterday’s gallery of the rioting in Vancouver in the wake of the Canucks’ Game 7 loss in the Stanley Cup Finals. My original intention wasn’t to blame hockey fans for the disgusting display of violence and societal breakdown, because I know that there’s a deeper reason behind this riot and others that we’ve seen over the years. It’s not about sports as much as it’s about people just being generally unhappy.

Hold on, someone just threw a brick covered in feces through my window. Ah, apparently I’m wrong and the rioting is indeed the fault of sports fans. Male sports fans with tiny penises, to be precise.

“People invest themselves, their identity, very much in the sports clubs,” explained Professor Ervin Staub, a psychologist and the founder of the program in Psychology of Peace and Violence at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “There is evidence that when a team loses, fans get a little depressed and when the team wins, they get a little high.”

Such biological effects, Staub explained, are directly linked to behaviors. Losers feel “diminished” and “powerless,” he said, and people then become tempted to “use destructive means rather than constructive means to regain one’s sense of effectiveness.” So they lash out. (Maybe the team lost, but I can bust a department store window!) (MSNBC)

To blame Vancouver’s riot solely on sports fans is lazy and unfair. This isn’t about thousands of young people being pissed off that the Canucks lost. Sure, it doesn’t help that they lost and it certainly gives people a good excuse to go out and get stupid, but this is about something so much bigger. All those people flipping cars, lighting fires, fighting each other, smashing windows and pillaging stores don’t give a crap about a hockey game. They’re pissed off at life.

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