The Tweener - Inaugural Edition

In tennis, a player will use a tweener to get out of a tough position. It is a shot that requires a precise amount of timing, coordination, and luck. The tweener bridges the gap between net play, recovery, and a ground-stroke rally. In this new, hopefully weekly piece, I will attempt to "bridge the gap" between things that are not at all sports related and sports themselves. If you're reading between the lines, you'll understand that what that really means is, "I want to comment on things besides sports, as well as specific things in sports that I find either hilarious or interesting. And in order to do so, I'll find a way to connect them that probably doesn't make sense at all." These pieces will be quick-hitters, and therefore should come much more often. I'll list something not related to sports, and something sports related, and do my best to connect them somewhat coherently. Enjoy.

• Snowfall in Kansas City ---- FC Barcelona's 2013 Alternate Jerseys Starting last Wednesday, February 20, Kansas City has seen over a foot and a half of snow (with more expected overnight tonight). My sisters have had more than their fair share of snowdays, that much is certain. These storms come on the heels of one of the more shocking incidents the city has seen, as a gas leak produced a massive explosion last week, completely leveling J.J.'s Restaurant, a local favorite. My heart goes out to those individuals and families affected by this explosion. The colors in the pictures of the explosion, and the colors of murals (by Mike Savage) across the street, constantly reminded me of Barca's jerseys. Maybe because these jerseys look like fire. I don't know.

What is left of J.J.'s and the murals across the street. 
Click to enlarge.

• Jennifer Lawrence's Famous Trip ---- Seattle Sounders' Goon Goalie At this point, everyone has seen and heard all about Jennifer Lawrence's trip on her dress at the Oscars. For the record, I loved her performance in Silver Linings Playbook, and I think she is incredible...but I would have gone with Jessica Chastain or the 9 year old. At any rate, scroll down on that page to the Gif of her stumbling. My favorite part is Hugh Jackman who has leaped from his chair to come to her rescue. Let's be real, we all would have done the same thing. Jackman played Wolverine in a lot of movies, at least one of which includes his nemesis Sabretooth. Liev Schreiber plays Sabretooth, and easily turned in one of the more awkward red carpet interviews with his love Naomi Watts. The entire time he stood there awkwardly, all I could think was, "Wow he reminds me of Seattle's goalie. Or maybe it's the other way around?"
• Those AT&T commercials ---- Montana's Men's Basketball Head Coach I've linked to my favorite of these commercials, but nearly all of them made me laugh the first time I saw them. They probably took hours of sitting and talking to kids to make, but I'm completely for it. Kids are always good for coming up with weird ideas that make sense in very rudimentary ways (taping a cheetah to her back, after all, would make her move very fast), or coming up with funny names for something. When I was younger I used the euphemisms "tinkle" to mean going #1, and "workin'-on-sumthin" (pronounced as one word) to mean going #2. To this day, I still smile to myself every time someone says they have to "work on something". Of course, it was near impossible to watch the Davidson-Montana Bracket Buster game over the weekend and not giggle every time the announcers mentioned Montana's head coach, Wayne Tinkle. "Tinkle all over his guards for that one," "Tinkle applauds his team's defense," "Tinkle..." well...you get the point.

Are there things you'd like to see covered in The Tweener? Send recommendations to japedaco@gmail.com.