I Get To Do Cool Things

Three years ago I was lucky enough to attend a Mets game and spend pre-game on the field, and take one of my favorite pictures ever, with Mr. and Mrs. Met.
The experience I had before Friday's game against the Twins was even better. Thanks to the dogged persistence of a friend we were invited for a behind-the-scenes tour of the stadium by the Mets PR team.

We entered at the Hodges gate, where right through that door is the press room where we often see Terry Collins discussing Mets injuries.

From there we were led down a back hallway, where the clubhouse is. And at the moment we passed by, Brandon Nimmo emerged on his way to the video room.

He stopped and chatted with us briefly about money and investing and the rapid depreciation of expensive automobiles.

To our left in that hallway is the batting cage where players can take some in-game cuts.

Lined up along the walls, where the bats and other equipment for every Met.

And in the best part of it all, we were led out onto the field, THROUGH THE DUGOUT!!!!!

Don't I look happy?

We were offered a piece of Major League gum. I brought two pieces home for the boys, who were initially unimpressed until they realized, that later that day the Mets had stuck their hands in that same bucket. They asked if the Mets get a new bucket of gum every day. I said yes. They decided the Mets must be rich to afford new gum.
They chewed it and decided it tasted better than the regular dubble bubble available to the public.

After a few more moments sitting on the dugout bench, and taking pictures we were escorted onto the field to enjoy batting practice.
Unfortunately, the Mets had concluded and the Twins were hitting (Kennys Vargas hit some bombs).

After a while we were asked to leave the field and head back to our seats, which we purchased ourselves, which explains the view from the 500 level.

But from that vantage point I got to see a masterpiece from Bartolo Colon, back to back homers from Jose Reys and Asdrubal Cabrera, and a 3-0 Mets win, topping off another memorable experience I was fortunate enough to enjoy. Note: Please forgive the lousy way this displays. I wanted pictures to be as big as possible, which doesn't work well with this template. For best experience click on the first picture and use the viewer to peruse them all.

Three Things You May Not Have Known About Body by Jake

Remember "Body by Jake" the 1990s fitness show? Well, Jake, whose real last name is Steinfeld, has had an interesting life.

Here are three things you might not have known about him:

1) He was the cab driver who picked up Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall in "Coming to America"



2) He founded Major League Lacrosse

3) His niece, Hailee Steinfeld is an actress and pop star and her song "Love Myself" is blowing up big right now



Bonus thing you may not have known: the song is about masturbation.

Here's a sampling of the lyrics:

"When I get chills at night
I feel it deep inside without you, yeah
Know how to satisfy"

"I'm gonna touch the pain away
I know how to scream my own name"

"I'll take it nice and slow
Feeling good on my phone without you, yeah"

"The beautiful, it comes without you"

"I'm gonna put my body first
And love me so hard 'til it hurts"

Listen to Vin Scully Describe an Earthquake

Even an earthquake sounds pleasant and relaxing when described by legendary Dodgers announcer Vin Scully.

Reaction Shots

The great thing about the internet is that it gives a home to so much content we might never have seen before. But even with all that increased content, and increased access, there are still some things that are usually off limits, such locker rooms and team meetings. But recently we've gotten some good glimpses behind the scenes.

Let's start with the Wisconsin Badgers football team watching the Packers beat the Bears in the last game of the regular season, specifically the moment of Randall Cobb's game-winning touchdown catch.



Next, we go inside the San Diego Chargers locker room after they survived the final regular season against Kansas City's backup to earn a spot in the playoffs against the Cincinnati Bengals. When Mike McCoy finishes talking you can hear a player say "we owe Cincy" and one mocks the "who dey" chant. Clearly this motivated the Bengals to kick the Chargers asses.



The coolest of these is Ric Flair speaking to the San Francisco 49ers the night before their game against the Packers. Entrance music and all.



But my favorite one is from an NBATV show following the Toronto Raptors. Here you can see their initial reaction to the Rudy Gay trade, which also sent Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray to Sacramento.

Cool Story I Never Knew

There's a little noticed show on MSG Network called "Four Courses with JB Smoove." It features JB Smoove (Leon Black from "Curb") sitting down for dinner with four athletes and entertainers. In this particular episode he is joined by John Salley, Larry Johnson, Black Thought from the Roots and Judah Friedlander.
During the episode Larry Johnson told this amazing story:



To think, we were this close to never seeing Grandmama. Disappointing because I really like that "Larry," "No, Johnson," "ok, Larry Johnson" ad concept.