07.19.2010

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Fascinating chart porn for Doctor Who fans

This doesn’t have squat to do with sports in science-fiction, but BuckBokai’s got a couple of minutes and io9 just keeps refusing to publish the fascinating work of “Many Eyes,” an IBM-based outfit dedicated to “democratiz[ing] visualization and to enabl[ing] a new social kind of data analysis.”

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07.17.2010

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Peter Fernandez, of English-language TV’s Speed Racer, dies at 83

An era has passed in science-fiction sports land, as Peter Fernandez, he who voiced Speed Racer for Anglophone audiences, died Thursday night at age 83.

For the 1967-68 series, Fernandez dubbed the voice of Speed Racer himself as well as those of Racer X and some minor characters.

The English-language cast of Mahha Go Go Go also included Corinne Orr, Jack Curtis and Jack Grimes.

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07.15.2010

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The brilliant, albeit brief, science-fiction career of Sir Charles Barkley

Charles Barkley is a two-time NBA MVP (well, they *did* rook him out of it that one year), a Hall of Famer, an Emmy winner, a future governor of Alabama and/or general manager of the Atlanta Hawks, and the greatest interview subject of all-time – but Buck Bokai loves his acting the best of all.

A brief look at the short-yet-inspiring science-fiction career of the coolest man in existence, Charles Barkley.

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07.11.2010

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Le Coup de Boule vs. the Empire

With the 2010 World Cup final less than two hours away, Buck Bokai still can’t help thinking about Zinedine Zidane four years ago in what is certainly one of the most egregious exits from an international soccer career ever via Le Grand Coup de Boule, the headbutt of Marco Materazzi that got Zizou tossed in the second half of the 2006 championship match against Italy.

As Zidane was red carded out of the last match of his professional career, there came a moment as though produced out of Greek tragedy. Here’s the familiar video again; check out what happens at about 3:24 or so in this clip; just as the camera’s cutting away, Buck Bokai might add.

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07.11.2010

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Briefly remembering Tecmo Bo Jackson

Just a quick one to pass on here. Thanks to the most excellent Sports Pickle column Today in Revisionist Sports History, we are reminded that on this day in 1991:

Bo Jackson signs a five-year contract to play football for the Los Angeles Raiders. Jackson would go on to become the all-time leading rusher in Tecmo Bowl history.

What’s that? Tecmo Bowl? Sure, Buck Bokai’s got the video – one of the two or three funniest online. Enjoy the superhuman speed of Tecmo Bo (after the break)!

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07.07.2010

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Dispatch from parallel universe: Remembering Super Bowl XXV (Bills 22, Giants 20)

Norwood: Synonymous with "clutch"

O sure, this piece is completely untimely with the World Cup coming to a head, baseball in full gear, and everyone hype on both sides of the ocean about which basketball free agents are going where.

Nevertheless, it’s Buck Bokai’s blog and Buck Bokai pretty much misses NFL football whenever the regular Sunday dosage isn’t forthcoming. For this writer, the love of this game all goes back to 1991 and Super Bowl XXV or, as Buck Bokai prefers to think of it, The Perfect Game.

Wow, remember the Buffalo Bills…?

Those of us who saw this classic matchup of the Bills’ revolutionary hurry-up offense vs. Bill Parcells and defensive coordinator Bill Belichick’s soon-to-be revolutionary defensive schemes will never forget a moment.

There was MVP Thurman Thomas’ 31-yard pinball-bouncing TD run and the Giants’ masterful 9-1/2 minute fourth-quarter drive. There were QBs Jim Kelly and Phil Simms, piling up workman lines: 18-of-30 for 212 yards against 20-of-32 for 222 yards and one TD. Neither threw a pick. Neither offense turned the ball over.

And the game was won the only way it could have been: With a last-second field goal that made the words “Scott Norwood” synonymous with “clutch.”

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07.03.2010

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Sports of the 21st century: Cat weightlifting

Buck Bokai really does love io9 – a sizable proportion of inspiration for this ‘site is due those wonderful folks – but it should be admitted that, like most other things outside of verb tenses, they ain’t perfect.

Case in point: That website’s recent reportage of an intriguing competition, the 21st century sports-looking “Cat Weightlifting.”

Hailing from (naturally) Japan, Cat Weightlifting does not in actuality involve hoisting a stack of felines or even one massive beast, but rather is the sport of  Vasily Alexeyev adapted *for* cats. Grammatically speaking, then, a better title for this event might be “Cats’ Weightlifting” – after all, one doesn’t say “Woman Tennis,” do you?

In any case, combine the Olympic contest of strength with a bit of “Japan’s Funniest Home Videos” and you get “Cat Weightlifting.” Go ahead, watch the clip below the break and tell Buck Bokai you don’t find it scintillating – just look at that flawless lift of 1.6 kilos.

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07.01.2010

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Who’s on First: The Doctor’s great moments in sport

Thanks to the performance contributed on the football pitch by the increasingly awesome Matt Smith in this season’s Doctor Who episode “The Lodger,” BuckBokai was inspired enough to delve the ol’ matrix memory banks for other great sporting moments from this frankly mostly cerebral Time Lord.

Some sports in which the Doctor has taken part through his 11 lives and 900-some odd years include the following.

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06.30.2010

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“What if?” sports moments (or Without “Without Bias”)

One sphere wherein science-fiction and sports meet nicely is in the realm of alternate universes. O sure, in sports they call it the “What If” game, but endlessly do fans debate what might have been…

Infinite are the parallel universes that splintered off from reality when Bobby Thompson missed Ralph Branca’s inside fastball for strike two, when Harry Frazee took the Chicago White Sox’ offer of $60,000 and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson for Babe Ruth; when Scott Norwood makes the field goal; when the Portland Trail Blazers draft Michael Jordan at no. 2.

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