Well, I guess NBC is going to have to bring in some censors for their coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals, because these hockey player just don’t seem to give a flying f*@% what you are and are not allowed to say on live national television.

Last year it was Dustin Brown letting loose with the f-bombs after winning the Cup, and this year after Game One’s triple overtime winner, it was the Blackhawks’ Andrew Shaw busting out the f-word.

Now we have Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask. Thankfully, he didn’t drop another f-bomb on poor Pierre McGuire last night. But he did complain about how sh**ty the ice got toward the end of the periods.

Take a look:

Look, I don’t have any problem with grown men using some adult language. But NBC is going to have to figure something out here before some overly protective parents start writing letters to their Congressmen. My suggestion? Employ a three-second delay on the post-game coverage and use funny cartoon sounds to block out the bad words.

I’m sure it won’t come to that, though. The league and/or the government will probably just start fining the players or the network.

Last year, the big hit song of the summer was “Call Me Maybe” by some singer whose name I’ve already forgotten.  And before long, pretty much everyone was doing their own “Call Me Maybe” videos and putting them on YouTube–including the Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders.

This year I don’t know if we have an official “Song of the Summer” just yet, but it seems as though the New Orleans Saints Cheerleaders—a.k.a. The Saintsations—are betting on “22″ by Taylor Swift.

Now personally, I’d never heard the song until I watched this video. It’s not so much that I’m one of those “cool kids” Taylor likes to rag on; it’s just that I’m not a 12-year-old girl. But hey, the song sure sounds catchy enough to be a huge hit. And, gosh darn it, I really am a sucker for videos of hot chicks dancing around in their bikinis. So I’m going to say, yes, this will be the song of the summer.

Don’t take my word for it though. Have a look and decide for yourself:

Go Saints!

Have you found yourself wondering recently how Toronto Blue Jays hilarious utility infielder/outfielder Munenori Kawasaki stays limber while riding the pine and waiting for his chance to get in the game?

Well, it’s all about the pregame stretching, apparently. And yesterday, Muno took time out of his busy pregame schedule (which I assume mostly involves practicing his postgame interview catchphrases) to show Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista his routine.

Fortuntely, Bautista was kind enough to post the vaguely erotic workout on Vine for the world to see in all its endless looping glory. Take a look:

So there you go, kids. If you want to be a big league ball player, get yourself a foam roll, put it on the ground, and hump the living begeezus out of it.

Thank you. That is all.

Hat Tip – [@JoeyBats19]

The Pittsburgh Pirates do not have an explosive offense. However, they do boast a very good pitching staff and some excellent defense, and that’s got baseball fans in Pittsburgh thinking this might finally be the year that the franchise ends its two decade-long streak of losing seasons.

It’s also got to have the Cincinnati Reds a little concerned. They were a favorite to win the Central Division and return to the postseason again this year, but they’ve found themselves behind a strong St. Louis team all season. And now they don’t just have to worry about catching the Cardinals. They have to worry about being caught by the plucky Bucs.

Would you like to see an example of why the Reds might be concerned? Then check out this play. Last night in Cincinnati, Pirates left fielder Starling Marte made an absolutely incredible catch to rob Brandon Phillips of an extra base hit:

The Reds would go on to win the game, 4-1, but the Pirates reminded everybody that they are more than capable of making game-changing plays.

Keep an eye on the NL Central, baseball fans. This could get interesting.

I’m starting to wonder if some big shot at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has a niece or nephew working in the editing department on Hockey Night in Canada or something, because those people are producing some pretty epic intro montages to each game of the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals. I mean, I can understand going all out for a general “YAY PLAYOFF HOCKEY!” montage advertising the entire playoffs, or even one just for the Finals. But for every game? That just seems like overkill.

I’m not saying these montages aren’t good. They’re actually great—which is why they’re overkill. Do I want some kind of dramatic recap of the series when tuning in to Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals? Sure I do. But thirty or forty seconds will suffice. Hell, maybe even a whole minute.

Last night, however, HNIC gave Canadian hockey fans (and Americans living near the Canada-U.S. border) an epic three-minute intro set to the classic Neil Young rocker, “Hey Hey, My My.”

See what I mean? It’s very well done, but what the hell are these things going to look like if this series goes to seven games?

I guess if they need the extra time, they can always set their Game 7 intro to the entire eight minutes of Led Zepplin’s, “Stairway to Heaven.”

It was on this day in 1979 that George Steinbrenner re-hired Billy Martin to manage the New York Yankees.  This was Martin’s second of an incredible five stints as manager of the Yankees.

Martin first began managing New York in 1975, when he took over for the fired Bill Virdon, and led the Yankees to a 30-26 record in their final 56 games.  In his first full season, Martin managed New York to the World Series, where they would meet the reigning World Series Champion Cincinnati Reds.  The Reds proved too powerful for the Yankees, sweeping the series in four games.

However, the Yankees made it back to the World Series the very next season, where they faced the Los Angeles Dodgers.  New York took the series in six games in what would be Billy Martin’s only World Series title as manager of the New York Yankees.

Here is a beer commercial featuring Steinbrennner and Martin

Notable Birthdays

Andres Galarraga, MLB – Born June 17th 1961 (age 52) in Caracas, Venezuela

Bruce Smith, NFL – Born June 17th 1963 (age 50) in Norfolk, Virginia

Antonio Gates, NFL – Born June 17th 1980 (age 33) in Detroit, Michigan

Tahiti is an island nation of just 178,000 inhabitants, and it is obviously known more for its tropical beaches and gorgeous ocean vistas than its ability to field a competitive international soccer team. Oh sure, there is a Tahitian National Team, but there is just one professional player on it. The rest all make livings as truck drivers, teachers, delivery boys, accountants, and the like.

Nevertheless, right now, you can indeed find that very Tahitian National Soccer Team in Brazil playing against some of the world’s soccer superpowers.

How did this come to be? Well, the year before every FIFA World Cup, the WC host nation holds a tune-up event called the Confederations Cup. What makes this event unique is that, unlike the World Cup, each of FIFA’s six continental soccer confederations—AFC, CAF, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, OFC, and UEFA—is guaranteed at least one spot.

Tahiti, of course, belongs to the Oceania Football Confederation, or OFC. We rarely see teams from this confederation in the World Cup because this is the only region that does not get at least three teams. The only way countries like New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, or Tahiti could ever make the World Cup is by winning a playoff against a team from the Asian Football Confederation.

But this isn’t 2014. It’s 2013. And while it’s yet to be seen whether an Oceania team is able to qualify for the World Cup, the Tahitians—with their truck drivers and delivery boys and one professional soccer player—are in the 2013 Confederations Cup against Spain, Brazil, Italy, Uruguay, Japan, Mexico, and Nigeria.

So how are they doing? Well, Tahiti finds themselves in Group B with Uruguay, Nigeria, and Spain. They played their first game yesterday against Nigeria and, as you would expect, it was a rout. The 2013 African Cup of Nations Champions torched the Pacific Islanders for six goals, which only makes you wonder what on earth is going to happen when Tahiti takes on the reigning World Cup and Euro Cup champions from Spain this Thursday.

However, it was not all doom and gloom for the Tahitians. They played with spirit and pride and, most importantly, they actually scored a goal.

Take a look:

Simply scoring one goal in a major tournament wouldn’t be a huge deal for most nations, but for Tahiti it is. You can bet people back home were jumping up and down on their couches when they saw that. And why not? The goal scorer wasn’t even Marama Vahirua, the lone Tahitian pro. It was a kid named Jonathan Tehau.

You know he’ll be talking about this one for the rest of his life.

Hat Tip – [CNN]

Should the Boston Bruins go on to win the Stanley Cup, Gary Bettman and company could have a hard time deciding who to hand the Conn Smythe Trophy to as the playoff MVP.  The entire line of David Krejci, Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic could garner plenty of consideration, as they currently sit in first, second and third, respectively, in playoff scoring.  And let’s not forget about Bruins captain Zdeno Chara, who has been averaging over 30 minutes of ice time each game while accumulating 12 points and a plus-13 rating in 19 games thus far.

Those four players would all make strong candidates, but they’d be hard pressed to beat out Tuukka Rask for playoff MVP honors.

Rask has been impressive all playoffs, and that continued last night, as he stopped all 28 shots he faced from the Blackhawks, en route to the 2-0 victory in Game 3 and a 2-1 series lead in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Following that performance, Rask now leads all playoff goaltenders (who have played at least one full game) in wins (14), save percentage (.946), goals against average (1.64) and shutouts (3).  Those numbers should make him a Conn Smythe favorite, but for now he earns “The Stat Line of the Night” for Monday, June 17, 2013.

If you watch enough basketball, you may be tempted to suggest that no one knows the art of flopping quite as well as LeBron James, but you’d be wrong.

You see, James wasn’t born with an inherent ability to flop.  Just like Luke Skywalker learned “the force” from Obi-Wan Kenobi, King James also had a mentor.  And in this case, playing the role of Obi-Wan was professional flopping coach Frank Calhoun.

Calhoun claims to have developed many of the NBA’s best floppers, including Manu Ginobili and Paul Pierce, but the biggest name on his list of proteges is clearly LeBron James.

You can take a closer look at some of Calhoun’s work via the video below:

So there you have it, folks.  The next time you see LeBron flop during the NBA Finals, don’t blame him.  Blame Calhoun!