The Greatest Week in Sports

This week is undoubtedly the greatest week in sports. Beginning last Saturday with the Final Four, arguably the most exciting amateur sporting event in the world (fuck you Winter Olympics). Sunday night hosted the first game of the 2009 MLB regular season prior to Opening Day, Monday. The close timing of these events is truly a blessing. If your team wasn't invited to the NCAA tourney or if they were one of the vanquished 59, you didn't need to wait long to focus your attention on something else. If baseball is not your bag, then surely the arrival of the Masters today is something you can get into. All of this is capped off by the end of the NHL regular season and the Opening Day of sorts for the 2nd/better NHL season; the Stanley Cup Playoffs. With the expansion of Masters coverage to the Web, the early rounds of the Masters have slipped into the Top 3 Weekday Sporting Events to Watch Rather than Doing Work/Greatest use of Streaming Video Besides Porn. It shares the list with, coincidentally, the first 2 rounds of the NCAA Tournament and MLB Opening Day.

As a NY Mets fan who lives in Philadelphia, I understand the significance of baseball's Opening Day and have been awaiting its arrival since October 29, 2008 when the Phillies clinched the World Series. As a twist of the dagger, celebratory chants of "Let's go Phillies" rang out just outside my bedroom window well into the early morning 10/30. Phillies fans, on the other hand, wish this day never came. Opening Day is the end of an off season of gloating as they are now just another team off to a slow start. For the rest of us fans, Mets fans especially, this is the start of the road to redemption. Every year, fans come into the MLB season full of hope; certain this year is their turn to win it all. The Brooklyn Dodgers said it best, "Wait til next year!"

Once the excitement of Opening Day winds down, the day I look forward to more than any other arrives: Thursday at Augusta. The Masters, like Opening Day is a chance for redemption or another chance to build on a legacy. Like the stunning greenness of a MLB outfield, the beauty of Augusta National is something that fades from memory in the off season only to be brought back in all it's glory this week. There are memories from the Masters that I will have forever and I'm certain that come Sunday, there will be a few more.

If you like your sports a little tougher and with some grit, then surely you're pumped for the conclusion of the NHL regular season and the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. No longer do we need to hear commentators say, "This is like a playoff game" because finally, IT IS! The playoffs have their own traditions. Up there with the National Champs cutting down the nets or sliding into the Green Jacket on Sunday are the playoff beards, not touching the conference trophy and the best of all drinking from the Cup.

I'll be on the lookout this week for the best fistpumps. Be sure to check back and see what made the cut and keep sending us your favorites.

Champs until dethroned!

This really is a wonderful week of sports as Jim has pointed out. We should revel equally during these fine days, but I just can't help myself:


Look at Jimmy fistpumpin' with that ring! KRod's pitches are gonna go sailin' to the backstop when he catches the glare of that beauty.

Fistpump of the Day - 4/6/2009

Now that the NCAAs are moving on without Villanova there's only one thing to do:

Fistpump of the Day - Final Four Edition

HERE COME THE CATS!!!!!

This weekend promises to be a truly special weekend for college basketball. Fistpumps.com favorites, the Villanova Wildcats, take on the presumptive national champs UNC in what will certainly be an offensive treat. Hopefully Jay Wright's sweet suits and talented guards will shine under the Ford Field lights.

Fistpump of the Day 4/3/2009

I haven't watched ER since circa 1995, however, I did actually watch the series finale last night. Why you say? One last opportunity to see my main man George Clooney? (SPOILER ALERT! - didn't happen)...the last hurrah of John Stamos?...Hoping they bring back Anthony Edwards from the dead for a saaaaaweeeeet high five?...



No, nope, nah...the real reason was for hopes of them showing Eriq La Salle's executing of one of the greatest TV fistpumps of all time (at the 30 second mark in ER's opening credits above).

How did they go about coming up with that in 1994, though? Were they just like...uhhh ok, Eriq, look we need to film an opening credits scene for you...I think we have enough shots of Julianna Marguilies looking intense pushing a hospital bed around...ummmm why don't you just randomly walk down the middle of a hospital aisle and just unleash a monster fistpump! The rest, my friends, is history.

Fistpump of the Day - 4/2/09

After looking at the all of the entries from around the globe for today's Pump of the Day, it was

as easy giving Ronny Turiaf the award as it is equally as easy to simply refer to Nels Cline as "avant-garde" in every rock article ever written about the man. Not only is Turiaf executing here a double fist pump with a chest pound for flair, but he also continues to prove that he is a stylish gentleman as his choice of wearing a sock on his arm compliments his long corn rows quite sharply. Bravo sir!

In other exciting news from yesterday's (huge!) Warriors / Kings, Don Nelson finally took it upon himself to reprise his popular role from the Bulls Versus Blazers Sega game.

Shoot it!

Man, Ho Grant even looks sweet in those Rec Specs as a video game dude.

Fistpump of the Day - 4/1/09

Happy April 1st everyone! April showers bring more fistpumps, as the saying goes. That old adage is especially true this time of year in Venezuela as one can see below:

WHAT??????????????


APRIL FOOLS DOOODS!

Rafa delivers another meaty one

Fistpump of the Day - 3/27/2009

As wrestling great Rick Flair would say, Nova Wins! Whewwwwwwww!

Fistpump (Montage) of the Day - 3/26/2009

Fistpump of the Day - 3/19/09 - Non-NCAA Tournament Edition

Because NCAA basketball will be oozing out of every orifice for the next few weeks (nice or eww, depending on personal taste)...


...today we give you these two Japanese guys as Pump of the Day, winning based on a solid microjoules execution from the gentleman on the left (and a slacking overall effort by Getty Images). The Japanese defeated Cuba 5-0 yesterday, knocking those evil, red, Communist loving nogoodniks out of the World Baseball Classic. Oh my God, Cuba is so terrible that we should continue to embargo them for another million years. They are such a horrible threat to everything!

Anyway, it is onto to basketball and all of the wonderful and spastic fistpumps that will debut from the white guys at the end of the bench. Here's to hoping that their pumps will be as tenacious and hardworking as some of their more celebrated teammates. Fistpumps.com will be monitoring the activity to bring you some of the classics. At least that's my excuse when I get caught watching the games in my cube today. What's yours?

Hardest Working Fist in the ACC

What he lacks in skill, he makes up for in toughness and unyielding effort. Unfortunately, I still don't like Tyler Hansbrough and this unremarkable fistpump should give you a good reason why not.

Fistpump of the Day (Celebrity ? Pumping Edition) - 3/17/09

The NBA regular season is a rather mundane affair, especially for the Charlotte Bobcats. Normally we won't get excited about NBA pumps unless something really amazing or intriguing is going on. This fistpump fulfills these two aforementioned requirements in that 1) somebody is actually fistpumping at a Charlotte Bobcats game and 2) the person who is fistpumping appears to be none other than comedian Richard Lewis!!! If you wish to call shenanigans on this claim because 1) R. Lew is still probably recovering from kidney transplant surgery from that Curb episode or 2) he would never show is face at a Charlotte Bobcats game, please make your final decision based on this comparison.

Fistpump of the Day - Weekend Edition

Martin Brodeur tied Patrick Roy's Career Wins record (551) on Saturday by helping his Devils defeat the Montreal Canadiens in Montreal. Things looked ugly late in the game when the hometown crowd turned on their beloved Habs; the boos were so thick you could smell them, or maybe that was just the Canadiens' fans. Their thirst for blood turned to praised after the final siren sounded as Brodeur was joined by his teammates to celebrate his latest accomplishment. I'll let ESPN.com take it from here:

"Surrounded by his teammates after the final siren, Brodeur did a double fist pump and raised his stick to the crowd in appreciation after his 986th regular-season NHL game."

Fistpump of the Day - 3/11/2009

Once again Pedro Martinez suffered a tough loss despite being on the "team to beat." He pitched great so you can't blame it on him and when he fistpumps like this, how could you?

Fistpump of the Day - 3/10/2009

I must inquire, Wilson, can you still fistpump?

Sorry for the gap in posts. Fistpumps.com has been in Hampton, VA covering the Phish reunion. I'm glad to say that the band and their phans most certainly can still fistpump.

FISTPUMPS BREAKING NEWS: Ghanian National Team Loses Power to Fistpump...story at 11

Horrifying news this morning from the Ivory Coast at the first African Nations Football Championship Tournament . According to stunned witnesses, during the Ghana/Senegal match, a mysterious Papa Shango-like voodoo master made his way towards the pitch...

And with extraordinary and mystifying powers cast a portentous spell on the Ghanian team, which essentially vanquished them of all fistpumping abilities and replaced their urge to fistpump with the compulsion to perform the Thriller Dance...

More on this gruesome scene as it develops.

Poor Product Placement

As I perused the web for information and educational content this morning, I noticed arguably the greatest ad ever created...

Why would the creators of such a beautiful, artistic ad not buy space to market this amazing public notice on Fistpumps.com? I mean, seems to really hit their target market, no?

Oh right...Ticketmaster...that's about right.

At least I know there will always be a spot for me at Ticketmaster's advertising design department.

Fistpump of the Day 3/4/2009

In what is the equivalent to the Lambeau Leap for Blackhawks' fans, Martin Havlat gave into his most animalistic urges by netting the OT game winner against the Ducks and then attempting to fistpump his way into the stands...

Luckily for Martin, the NHL constructed plexi glass surrounding the rink to separate the players from the fans. Many believe this was due to the need for fan protection from body checks and blistering pucks that may lead to injury or even death, as witnessed in the major motion picture Happy Gilmore.

I believe, however, that the NHL had the foresight, 60 some odd years ago, to construct this transparent boundary to keep players safe from ravenous fans possessed by the shear prominence of an unadulterated fistpump.

Fistpump of the Day 3/3/09

Player A: 41 points, 7 rebounds, team scored 100 in loss

Player B: 42 points, 8 rebounds, team scored 107 in win

Player A:

Player B:

I rest my case.

Fistpumps Separated at Birth...

Kim Kallstrom of Lyon, if you were trying to be noticed by the American media via the premier website for fistpump related news by perfectly depicting art's imitation of life...

Then you Sir, shall be rewarded...

Let us now celebrate this fistpump with the adding of chocolate to milk!