JAFO's NEWS - the FUN in FunKo: 2013-03-03

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Yankee NEWS - Mo to Retire after End of 2013 Season

TAMPA, Fla. — New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera says this will be his final season.

Cue the Music .. !!

Rivera made the announcement Saturday at the team’s spring training complex. There was word this week that he will retire after the season, and he made it official at a news conference.

Asked how he wanted to end his career, Rivera said, “The last game I hope will be throwing the last pitch in the World Series.

“Winning the World Series, that would be my ambition.”

The 43-year-old Rivera holds the career saves record with 608 and has helped the Yankees win five World Series titles. He is regarded as the greatest closer of all time, whether he’s throwing his cut fastball in the regular season or postseason.

Rivera missed most of last year after tearing his right knee while shagging flyballs during batting practice in early May.

He began the news conference by playfully thanking the Yankees for giving him a new contract for two additional years through 2015 — which would break a team policy of not negotiating new deals before the old ones expire.

“It’s not too easy when you come to a decision like this,” Rivera said, turning serious. “After this year, I will be retired. ... Now you’re hearing it from me. It’s official now.”

Rivera said he would have retired at the end of last season if he had not gotten hurt.

“I didn’t want to leave like that,” he said. “I felt like I wanted to give everything.”

While others have proclaimed him the best closer in baseball history, Rivera wouldn’t put that label on himself.

Ok Mo .. Let Me .. !!

“I don’t feel myself, the greatest of all time. I’m a team player,” he said. “I would love to be remembered as a player who was always there for others.”

Rivera has not pitched in an exhibition game this spring. He usually goes at his own pace in camp, working in the bullpen and throwing in simulated games.

The 12-time All-Star has earned a record 42 saves in the postseason while putting up an 0.70 ERA. He began his major league career in 1995 and has spent his entire time with the Yankees.

Rivera made just nine appearances last season before he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee on May 3. He had surgery on June 12.

Rivera returned to his native Panama earlier this week on a personal matter. His wife and two children were by his side for the news conference.

Funko Collection Update - ECCC 2013 Exclusive : Phoenix POP!

Thanx to Eddie for picking it up ..

& to Stacey + Scotty for having him send it to me !!

Saturday Morning .. you sure look Fine ..!!

Bugs will always be the King for me !!

This was what I watched last week ..

what will it be today ???

Go Go Gophers is a western/comedy animated series that originally appeared on the Underdog series from 1966 to 1968 before being briefly spun off as a separate series on CBS in 1968 and 1969. It was apparently created as a parody of F Troop, a western/comedy series that aired from 1965-1967.

The series is set in the late nineteenth century in the American west. There the commandant of a local United States Army fort, one Colonel Kit Coyote (voiced by Kenny Delmar) and his Sergeant Okey Homa (voiced by Sandy Becker) who is rarely called by his name. They make attempts to secure the town of Gopher Gulch by wiping out the last two surviving Gopher Indians (depicted as upright, personified gophers): Ruffled Feathers (also voiced by Becker) and Running Board (voiced by George S. Irving). However, the Gophers prove to be very clever and always manage to foil Coyote's plans.

Usually Ruffled Feathers would be the Gopher who would devise the plan to waylay the U.S. Army. The plan was communicated to Running Board in supposed Indian language. Running Board would smile and get excited as the plan was revealed to him and utter one of two catch-phrases: "Whoopee Doopee! We have fun!!" or "Whoopee Doopee! You-um genius!!". The uttering of the catch-phrase signaled a scene transition to the Gophers building of the trap to foil Colonel Kit Coyote and his men.

The Impossibles was a series of animated cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera in 1966 and aired on American television by CBS. The series of shorts (6 minutes) appeared as part of Frankenstein, Jr. and The Impossibles.

The Impossibles were a trio of rock and roll musicians. When contacted by "Big D" (voiced by Paul Frees) about criminal activities in Empire City, they became superheroes. Like the Monkees, the group’s appearance (in their musician form) was based on 1960s pop star stereotypes, which included somewhat long hair, brightly colored (and matching) outfits, high-heeled boots, screaming female fans and, unlike the Monkees, no percussion or bass instruments. Nothing is known about their personal lives, although Fluid-Man once mentioned having an Aunt Tilly. They seemed to have secret identities though even a little child would have no trouble connecting the singing Impossibles to the hero Impossibles on appearance alone. They also seemed to change to their "secret identities" in front of the crowds they were playing to when given a mission.