In the very short lifespan of That Fan I have managed to spend most of my time discussing football and basketball (and Jenn Brown) with a small amount of coverage of the other sports. However, with pitchers and catchers scheduled to report next week, you can expect a good amount of baseball fan coverage throughout the season. Baseball is actually my favorite sport, so I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for fans that go crazy at baseball games.
I want to kick off the baseball season with my two favorite instances of fans in the stands catching baseballs in 2009. The first comes from a Milwaukee Brewer fan who saved a sunbathing beauty by catching a Corey Hart home run before it gave her a tan-line on her stomach (let the video go for a few seconds and make sure to watch the replay).
I sure hope this guy got her phone number! I couldn’t get this next video to embed correctly so I’ll just give you the link. This kid not only caught one Josh Hamilton foul ball, but two! And that’s not it, he caught them both during the same at bat!
Wow. Let me put this into perspective for all of you out there that might not be baseball fans. I’ve been to a couple hundred MLB games in my life, and I have never caught a ball in the stands. Many baseball fans go their entire life without doing so. This kid caught two balls during the same at bat and I can’t get over how amazing that is.
What are the odds of this happening? That website pegged the odds at 3,300,000 to 1. Let’s compare this to some other random occurrences:
Odds of catching one ball at an MLB game: 563 to 1
Odds of dying in an airplane crash: 354,319 to 1
Odds of me becoming a New York Yankees fan: 1,000,000 to 1
Odds of being killed by a lightning strike: 2,320,000 to 1
I’m not sure if the first guy got the bikini girl’s number or not, but surely this young kid can use catching these two foul balls as a pickup line, right?
See a funny fan-related sign, picture, video, or link? Send us a tip to info@thatfan.com!
ESPN College GameDay was live from Champaign, Illinois yesterday at Assembly Hall, the site of the showdown between Illinois and #5 Michigan State. The crowd was pretty good and looked like a complete sea of orange, but the attendance of 4,143 was nearly doubled by Kansas State from last week with 8,159 in the stands (a College GameDay record). That record won’t likely last much longer because Kentucky hosts GameDay this week and tickets sold out fast. I definitely have to give credit to the student section, “The Orange Krush”, for some of their choreographed moves…you can get a glimpse in the video at the end of this article.
Digger went with the yellow tie/highlighter combo for all the fashion nerds out there. The Illinois student who shot the half-court shot for a scholarship missed pretty bad, but not nearly as bad as the K-State student missed last week. That makes twelve straight shows with a miss. On to the signs!
First up, the Michigan State humor:
"Michigan State is a BAD basketball team"
Possibly my favorite sign of the day:
"Izzo likes Nickelback"
Here is a solid group of four different signs. The first says “Bieber, let’s win one time”. I have absolutely no clue if there is a hidden meaning behind this that I don’t know about, but I looked it up and Justin Bieber is a Canadian singer, and he released a song named “One Time”. The next sign is also one of my favorite’s of the day: “Kalin is a girl’s name” (directed towards MSU senior guard Kalin Lucas). I’m not sure I really get the third sign: “Get hungry for some Billy Cole-slaw”, other than Bill Cole being a forward on the Illini team. The last sign is also pretty good: “E.S.P.N. – Every Spartan Picks his Nose”.
This guy woke up at Assembly Hall not knowing where he was or how he got there (also notice Jay Bilas getting some love with the “Jay Bilas is my hero” sign!). By the look on the guy’s face I don’t think this was a joke…I truly believe he had no clue where he was at.
"Where am I?"
Speaking of Jay Bilas, this guy was impressed with how he looked yesterday. I could make a variety of jokes right now, but I’ll refrain:
"Lookin' Good Jay"
The color green is apparently Bruce Weber’s kryptonite:
"Bruce Weber + Green = Angry Bruce! You wouldn't like it when he's angry!"
Is anyone out there hiring? My good friend here seems to have quit his job (also notice the “Muck Fichigan” shirt to the right):
"Quit my job 2 be on ESPN and witness Sparty get smashed"
There was a future great in the crowd:
"Future great"
Speaking of future greats, vote for Jeff Bober for President…in 18 years:
"Jeff Bober for President - 2028"
I know that State Farm sponsors the basketball version of College GameDay, but there were at least ten signs that were State Farm related, and they weren’t even that funny (and they all pretty much said the same thing). Here is one example of the State Farm signs (if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all):
"Like a good neighbor, we're gonna Krush you"
Another State Farm sign (special thanks to IllinoisLoyalty.com…be sure to check them out for more pictures from GameDay):
"Better call your State Farm agent cuz...you've been KRUSHED!"
There were multiple mentions of Michigan State feeling some “Paign” yesterday:
"E.S.P.N. - Every Spartan is in for Paignful night"
"E.S.P.N. - Expect Some Paign Tonight"
I have no clue why Lil’ Wayne cares about Illinois basketball, but he must be a big fan:
"Lil' Wayne says Make it Rain"
You can’t go to Illinois and not represent for Abraham Lincoln…hmm, Lincoln was actually born in Kentucky, could we see a Lincoln sign two weeks in a row?
Last but not least, Tom Izzo, Hugh Hefner, and Bobby Knight all walk into a bar (thanks again to IllinoisLoyalty.com)…
That’s all for the signs from this week. Here is Digger’s lovely yellow tie/highlighter combo:
We had a Jenn Brown sighting on College GameDay and she is sporting a new hairstyle…
Here is a great video with a little more of the action from yesterday:
Be sure to vote in the poll below for your favorite sign. At the end of the season we will have a tournament of all the best signs. If you haven’t voted for last week you can do so HERE. As of right now “Sherron – put some pants on, we find it a little weird we have to ask twice“ and “KU – disappointing the state of Kansas since 1865“ are in the lead.
Next week College GameDay will be in Lexington, Kentucky for Kentucky vs. Tennessee, and we will be back with all the signs! If you’re going to be there let us know!
Spike TV is a solid channel 99% of the time. With shows like The Ultimate Fighter and Pros vs. Joes, how could you go wrong? Well don’t ask me but they sure found a way to get called out by That Fan! A recent article ranks the top 10 teams with the most annoying fans…the funny thing is, I could have put this same list together under the title “Top 10 Teams With the Best Fans”. I’ll let you be the judge…click HERE for the list.
Duke fans made the list? I mean come on, those guys have the best student section in college basketball and are the root of what this website is all about. This site supports the fan that goes above the norm and makes people say “Hey, look at that fan!” Well in the case of the Cameron Crazies, it should be “Hey, look at those fans!”
And Raider Nation? Come on, those guys haven’t had a winning season in years and they have Bernie from Weekend at Bernies as an owner. For those fans to still come out every week like they do, they deserve some praise in my book.
I dare you to tell this Raider fan he isn't "That Fan"
For those of you that think the crowds don’t impact baseball games, think again. In case you’ve been under a rock, last night Matt Holliday made an ugly error that cost the St. Louis Cardinals game 2 of their playoff series with the Dodgers. There were two outs in the ninth inning and all Holliday needed to do was make a rather easy catch to close the game out. James Loney hit a liner to Holliday and thought the game was over the second it left his bat, yet the Dodger Nation had other thoughts. The ball hit Holliday right in the gut and dropped to the ground, eventually allowing the Dodgers to win the game and take a 2-0 lead in the series.
How could this happen? Here is what Holliday’s teammate Adam Wainwright said:
“That ball got lost in 50,000 white towels shaking in front of Matt’s face. It doesn’t really seem fair that an opposing team should be able to allow their fans to shake white towels when there’s a white baseball flying through the air. How about Dodger Blue towels?”
What a great idea for baseball fans. I’m actually surprised that we don’t see more of that…maybe it is outlawed at some stadiums (sounds like another research project for the blog…I’ll get on that one). The Pittsburgh Steelers have perfected the towel wave…maybe they should start waving brown towels when opposing QB’s throw the ball? All you crazy baseball fans out there wanting to impact the game and be hailed as That Fan, get your white towels out and start impacting games!
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