Now that the replacement refs have been sent back to their respective jobs at Foot Locker, TGIFriday’s and Applebee’s, we can breathe a sigh of relief and go back to complaining about the normal refs and how they screw someone’s team each and every week.

While there was an unparalleled outrage over the result of Sunday’s Green Bay vs. Seattle game where a “Fail Mary” was ruled a TD rather than an interception, no one was more succinct to get his point across than Packers guard TJ Lang.

Apparently TJ got himself about 90,000 new followers thanks to that Tweet, and the one he sent directly after:

I mean…98,000 retweets?  That is impressive, sir.  I have to give this guy props.  Most athletes (cough cough LeBron cough cough) just TwitPic the food they’re eating at the restaurant you’ll never be able to afford to go to or the $300 sneakers they just designed, which will sadly not bring you the glory you’re hoping for.  It’s nice to see genuine emotion rather than PR-related fluff.  He wasn’t afraid to just lay it out there, and we should applaud him for that.

Oh, and by the way, the league will not be fining any players, we hear, and order has been restored in the form of Ed Hochuli’s biceps.

With the regular NFL referees in the labor dispute, we have been forced to deal with the replacement refs. While they are doing their best to officiate games, it just isn’t working out so well. Monday night was probably the culmination of the awfulness. Since then, many videos and photos have been circulating the internet. Heck, even Google got in the act with replacementgoogle.com. Here are some of the ones I thought were pretty hilarious.

This one is from our Buckeye’s writer, Krista.

And this video gem is from Minnesota’s KFAN FM 100.3.

And now for Part II…

Cincinnati Reds

Joey Votto

» Continue reading “Monday Morning Motivation: The Division Clinching Edition Part II”

Since the Cincinnati Reds and the San Francisco Giants each clinched their divisions over the past week, we at The Pulse thought it would be nice to have these fine gentlemen as this week’s Monday Motivation.  Enjoy!

The first part…

San Francisco Giants

Marco Scutaro

» Continue reading “Monday Morning Motivation: The Division Clinching Edition Part I”

The season premiere of Saturday Night Live was last Saturday night (obviously). Seth MacFarlane parodies Ryan Lochte talking about the fall tv line up. Let’s have a look:

I thought Seth did a good Ryan Lochte impression but Lochte himself did not. Entertainment Weekly reported this is what he thought of the parody:

 “Well, I gotta admit that was a pretty harsh one, but it’s cool to have Seth parody me. I think he pegged me wrong, but when I heard he did a skit I knew I was in for it!”

What do you all think. Was Seth MacFarland’s Ryan Lochte impression spot on?

Good morning everyone!

Since we didn’t have a Monday Morning Motivation post last week, we at The Pulse figured we’d reward you with two for the price of one. So without further ado, today’s motivation(s), if you will, are Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants and Brett Jackson of the Chicago Cubs.

Both are adorable and both are definitely worthy of being featured on The Pulse. Enjoy!

First up: Buster Posey

From Buster’s Twitter account profile

From fantasybaseballportal.com

Okay, I’m not quite sure what he’s doing in this picture but I thought it was totally adorkable.

Courtesy of cbs997now

Next up: Brett Jackson

Courtesy of Scout.com

Courtesy of ESPN

And in case you like them when they’re not so clean cut:

Courtesy of mlblogminors

Happy Monday!!

WFAN’s Mike Francesa

If you’re from the Tri-State Area, and listen to WFAN, you know Mike Francesa very well.  He’s the almighty numbah wun rated spawts pope from New Yawk.  For his sake thank goodness he’s on radio and no one has to watch him do his six hour sports banter on the FAN, right?

….wrong.

I guess good old Mike forgot that the YES Network (Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network) films him during his radio blocks.  What’s so significant about this one?

On Wednesday while at work someone notices this tweet from the FAKE Francesa account (which you should follow because it’s fantastic):

So of course we had to do our investigation since we were LISTENING and not watching.  We came across a fantastic video.

Francesa was interviewing WFAN’s Sweeny Murti about the New York Yankees’ current pennant race with the Baltimore Orioles and it appears the almighty was dozing into dreamland.  Watch him closely as he nods further and further away and then wakes up as if he saw a ghost:

Francesa seems to be fading away faster than the Yankees pennant chances.

He probably wasted all of his energy ranting and raving about da Mets (brace yourselves, I felt like he was personally attacking me):

On Thursday Francesa claimed on the air that he did not fall asleep during the Murti interview, but sorry, I think it’s pretty apparent that he did.  Or at least was almost there.

If he really did fall asleep, let’s hope he dreamed about Brandon Inge, because in case you didn’t know, he likes Inge.  He likes Inge a lot.  I mean really.  He likes Inge a lot.

Follow Kelsey O’Donnell on Twitter @KelsODonnell

And follow the Fake Francesa account @MikeFrancesaNY Because the real Mike Francesa doesn’t like the Tweetuh.

Last Wednesday, in what can only be described as one of the scariest things that can happen during a baseball game, Oakland A’s pitcher Brandon McCarthy took a comebacker to the head.  Needless to say, the result was a pretty serious, potentially life-threatening brain injury.  The injuries included an epidural hemorrhage, brain contusion and skull fracture.  Later that day, McCarthy underwent 2 hours of surgery.  Definitely scary. 

Now, it’s no secret that McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) is easily one of my favorite athlete tweeters.  He’s funny and smart, a combination you don’t necessarily find among most athletes on the Twitters.  So I was happy to see that during his recovery he was still up to his old antics (and keeping us sort of informed on his recovery)…

» Continue reading “Twitter Thursday: The Healing Process”

UL Monroe beat Arkansas over the weekend. Everyone was pretty pumped about the victory. Even the cop on the sidelines was excited, so excited he needed to hug the UL Monroe head coach.

We also had some over excited UL Monroe fans and players. I love the gifs that keep on giving.

So we’re running just a tad bit behind with today’s motivation, but we promise the wait today is worth it. Really, really worth it.

Photo via Outsports.com

If you’re a regular Monday Morning Motivation reader, you know that we like to put the spotlight on athletes who are as smokin’ off the field as they are on. This week’s object of our adoration, Ravens linebacker  Brendon Ayanbadejo, is no exception. From his muscles to that adorable smile, Ayanbadejo would be worthy of this feature any old day.

But as you’ve likely heard by now, there’s another reason we think Ayanbadejo is sexy as all get out. The linebacker has taken some intense heat from a local politician for his vocal support of marriage equality, both in Maryland and nationwide, but he hasn’t let it ruffle him, instead standing up for his beliefs and his right to free speech.

Despite politician Emmett C. Burns Jr.’s statement that fans object to his stance on marriage rights, Ayanbadejo has received an overwhelming amount of support from existing Ravens fans, has made new fans and even softened some Ravens haters. » Continue reading “Monday Motivation: Brendon Ayanbadejo”