Tyler Farrar wins Giro Stage

Keeping with bicycle month let's take a look at how Wenatchee, Washington native Tyler Farrar is doing.

Yesterday, early in the second stage of the Giro d'Italia Tyler Farrar was involved in an crash. However, he was able to bounce back and make a late charge during the final sprint to win the stage.

He covered the 130-mile stage in 4 hours 56 minutes 46 seconds. Over all Farrar sits in second place one second back of Cadel Evans of Australia.

Check out the video from the second stage on Universal Sports.

Today in Stage Three, Farrar's Garmin-Transitions teammate Christian Vande Velde had to withdraw after a serious crash which injured his right shoulder.

Farrar got caught up in the crowd after Vande Velde's crash and finished 33rd. He currently sits at 25th 0ver all.

(This is from Just Northwest)

Lets make fun of people! Cause it makes us feel better about ourselves!

A reporter screws up and does her own take on Tiger Woods' injury

See the horrific on-air mishap here.

Remember Yuniesky Betancourt and how much he sucks?

Here's proof he still sucks, just for the Royals now.

Enjoy, and remember, it's Monday, so we have the right to make fun of people.

Reasons why you're still single... you look like this

Ahhh! Steve Nash either just got done with a playoff game involving Tonya Harding's body guard or he just started a royal rumble at a bar. Either or.

Grandpa Griffey?

Get set for some serious drama, there's a bombshell about to drop in Seattle... Griffey hasn't been the "Mr. Teammate" this year that everyone expected. Now you can forgive his pitiful performance at the plate if he added something to the clubhouse but right now, he's not even doing that. Right now, he sells bobbleheads and that's about it.

That the rocking chair days are creeping near for Griffey doesn't come as much of a surprise. He's hitting .208/.265/.234 with no home runs and only two doubles in 83 plate appearances this season. He has struggled to recover from the left-knee surgery he had in the offseason and that he's 40 years old is evident to anybody who looks at him.

But what is surprising is that it's being reported that Griffey hasn't exactly been the teammate he has continually been touted to be. LaRue writes that there "have been times during games when [Griffey has] retired to the clubhouse, texted friends [and] watched the TV broadcast." Two players also told LaRue that Griffey wasn't available for a pinch-hit opportunity last week because he was asleep in the Mariners clubhouse. Yikes.

Falling asleep in the clubhouse? Was he getting too tired from giving out hugs along with Mike Sweeney. That's ridiculous and it's just in time to really make a poor season in Seattle even worse. Oh woe is the Mariners.

Outdoor Photo of the Week: Happy Mother's Day

In honor of Mother's Day we have a special Outdoor Photo of the Week today.

Here's some flowers to all the Mom readers we have! Happy Mother's Day!


Photos by Al Knopik, Buckley, WA.

Think you've got a great outdoor photo? Want to see it hosted on Just South of North? Send your submissions to justsouthofnorth@gmail.com.

Please include your name, a short caption about the photo (date, location, and what makes it special) and your location.

Check back each Sunday for a new Outdoor Photo of the Week.

Dallas Braden - future owner of the Mariners lineup

Oakland A's pitcher Dallas Braden, most famous for throwing a tissy fit after A-Rod crossed over the pitcher's mound to get to first base, has made history. Braden has just pitched the 19th perfect game in the history of the MLB.

What's that mean? Well just be glad it was against the Tampa Bay Rays and not the Mariners. Although after watching SportsCenter and seeing the Mariners getting no-hit through six and then cheering when Griffey broke up the no-hitter in an 8-0 loss... yeah it's going to be a long season, and perhaps the lineup getting no-hit or perfect gamed would be the most memorable thing this season for the Mariners. That or Cliff Lee wearing a jet pack out on the mound so he can jettison to his next big contract team after his last start for the M's. It's going to happen. Trust me.

As for A-Rod? Well Braden's grandmother has apparently told him to go "stick it."

I love old people.

Good Morning and Happy Mother's Day!

Find Magic Johnson in this photo!

Sounders get trounced by LA

This one was brutal, ladies and gentlemen.

The Seattle Sounders suffered their worst ever loss at the hands of the LA Galaxy, dropping today's match 4-0 at Qwest Field in front of a record crowd of 36,273 fans. Most of those people promptly went to Puget Sound and jumped in with their scarves.

LA improved to a league-leading 7-0-1 in the MLS, which is pretty good, in case you hadn't noticed. However, that's not important because nobody on this blog cares about Los Angeles. There's smog. Seattle drops to fifth place in the Western Conference at 2-2-3. Ack!

It's panic time, as another professional sports team in Seattle is struggling heavily.

Hockey fans are odd.

And thanks for showing us your packages guys. That's wonderful. I think Casey wears one of these when he goes to the bowling alley.

I love wiffleball

The greatest wiffleball movie ever made.

I didn't know frats and sororities did this sort of thing!

Bravo Greek System

Miami University Had The Pukiest, Poopiest, Sexiest Spring Formal Ever

You stay classy.

More tasered fans! Oh goody!

I hope we have more tasering during sports. In fact, lets start tasering players. If a closer blows a save, tase his butt. If somebody gets PI during a big football game, zap the heck out of him. Although lets not do it too much because I still want people to heckle Tiger Woods.

A drunken golf fan got the shock of his life Friday when cops Tasered him after he refused to stop heckling Tiger Woods on the 11th hole of The Players Championship.

Travis Parmelee, 36, of Jacksonville, Fla., was charged with disorderly intoxication and resisting arrest, officials said.

Security guards at the Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., tournament told Parmelee to stop yelling several times before calling the sheriff, who dispatched deputies to make an arrest.

Capt. Dave Messenger said officers attempted to calm Parmelee down, but he became more combative. When they tried to take Parmelee into custody, he resisted - and was Tasered once.

Oh and Tiger is -4, tied for 45th place. FAAANTASTIC.

All-NBA teams. WOO-HOO!

Breaking down the All-NBA teams for you. Seriously, this is big-time analysis.

First Team
C - Dwight Howard - Shoulders are wider than Rosanne Barr.
F - LeBron James - Also a first-teamer on the Not-Human Squad.
F - Kevin Durant - Seattle fans should stay away from sharp objects.
G - Kobe Bryant - Still can't get Kobe's photoshoot out of my head.
G - Dwyane Wade - Charles Barkley should also be mentioned for the assist with this naming. He makes Dwayne Wade in those T-Mobile commercials.

Second Team
C - Amar'e Stoudemire - Now if he could stop calling everybody part of the 12 tribes of Israel.
F - Dirk Nowitzki - I'm glad Dirk Nowitzki is alive and well after his latest choke job.
F - Carmelo Anthony - His first name sounds like a candy bar.
G - Deron Williams - Might be the holder of the "worst hair in the NBA" award.
G - Steve Nash - Wait, nevermind.

Third Team
C - Andrew Bogut - Sadly, his elbow was not named to the third team, since it disintegrated in Bogut's horrible season-ending injury.
F - Tim Duncan - (Staring blankly at the screen with nothing to say)
F - Pau Gasol - If Pau ever comes out with a rap video, we will all be for the better.
G - Joe Johnson - He'd be cooler if his name was John Johnson.
G - Brandon Roy - Wish Brandon Roy was higher on this list. What the hell?

World Series ring finds its way back to its rightful owner

We're all about the heart-warming stories here at Just South of North. Here's an excellent story about how an 11-year old returned a World Series ring to its rightful owner using the internet.

Merrill Hess, a former Pittsburgh Pirates scout who's now 83, recently lost the ring he was awarded after the Bucs won the 1960 World Series. He wasn't quite sure where he had misplaced it, but it turned up when 11-year-old Kate Drury found it on the floor of a snack bar at a New Jersey ice rink. She immediately alerted the rink manager of the find, but no one showed up to claim it. (Hess was thinking he might have left it in Florida while on vacation.)

A curious Kate then posted a question about the ring on Yahoo! Answers, which led to Hess' daughter Arlan finding her through an Internet search. The two parties soon connected and Kate was only too happy to return the jewelry to its rightful owner. 

I know what you're thinking, somebody still uses Yahoo! and the Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series? Shocking on all levels but it does make for an excellent story.

Epic Video: I'm Awesome

This is Brandon's and my theme song.

Yes, we have accepted this.

2010 Felt F95

Here's the new bike. I'm pretty stoked to start adding the miles! Happy bike month!

Don't tase me bro!

You've probably heard about the teen that was tasered by Phillies security for running out on the field. There has been some question brought up whether or not he should have actually been tasered.

Now I understand that perhaps the guard didn't have to go to that length, you really don't know the situation until after the fact. I know it's a teenager, but he could still be dangerous, you just don't know. The taser is an effective non-lethal method to bring him down. Is that more violent than say tackling the kid? I don't think so.

How about this. DONT RUN OUT ONTO THE FIELD.

Tyler Farrar profile

May is National Bike Month and I celebrated by buying a new bike, but I'll post more about that later.

For now, check out this awesome profile of Washington native Tyler Farrar with his team Garmin-Transitions.



We'll be featuring a lot of bike posts not only to celebrate National Bike month, but also since I am still training for the People's Coast Classic.

(This is from Just Northwest)

A true hero

Every now and then the media really comes across an incredible story. I saw this in the Seattle Times last week and this is one of those stories. As a fellow journalist, I tip my hat to Katherine Long. Great job!

Thursday was shaping up to be just another school day for 13-year-old Erik Martin, but then something extraordinary happened: Spider-Man called.

Spider-Man happens to be one of the few people who knows that Erik, too, has a secret identity — he's Electron Boy, a superhero who fights the powers of evil with light.

And Spider-Man needed Erik's help.

Erik, who is living with liver cancer, has always wanted to be a superhero. On Thursday, the regional chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation granted him that wish with an elaborate event that involved hundreds of volunteers in Bellevue and Seattle.

Read the rest of the article on the Seattle Times site.

Um, what the hell Kobe?

Kobe Bryant recently did a story with LA Times Magazine and they though that this would be the perfect way to showcase the Los Angeles Lakers star. Um okay.