Posted: Sunday April 22, 2012 6:03PM ; Updated: Monday April 23, 2012 12:58PM
Most Memorable Moments
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The first edition of Hot Clicks was posted on April 23, 2007. For five years, with the help of your e-mail submissions, we have covered announcer gaffes, betting, Blake Griffin's dunks, Craigslist nonsense, crazy concession items, feuds, hairdos, local news mishaps, ridiculous products, song parodies, Taiwanese animation, tattoos, wacky minor league promotions, WAGs, the world of Twitter, and on a much more specific level, Friday Night Lights, Gus Johnson and Erin Andrews.
In other words, we've had a lot of fun, and for that I'm very appreciative and need to thank the people responsible.
First and foremost, I want to thank the readers, whose loyalty blows me away on a daily basis. Extra thanks to those readers who have submitted links/ideas/suggestions. I'd also like to thank all the writers and bloggers who provide the content Hot Clicks links out to each day. There are so many good sites out there, so hopefully I've helped you discover some of them. Lastly, I have to thank all of the athletes/celebrities who have let me interview them, which has helped spread the word about Hot Clicks. Over the five years, certain people have become Hot Clicks regulars, including Paul "BizNasty" Bissonnette, Chris Cooley and C.J. Wilson, because they're always fun to talk to. Along the way, however, Hot Clicks has brought you interviews with superstars, including Shaquille O'Neal, Derek Jeter and Adrian Peterson. And, in what has been the most fun for me, we've gotten to chat with random celebrities, such as Jon Bon Jovi, Gary Dell'Abate, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Minka Kelly and The Rock.
In honor of Hot Clicks' five-year anniversary, this edition is comprised of two elements: First, I'm looking back at my 10 most memorable Hot Clicks moments. Then, we have 20 of the best videos Hot Clicks has posted, as submitted by the readers. Hopefully you have as much fun reminiscing as I did putting this together.
No. 10: Jon Bon Jovi Holds Up This Sign
Jon Bon Jovi
When New Jersey's MetLife Stadium opened in 2010, it was announced that Bon Jovi would christen the building with three concerts. I was lucky enough to attend the press conference and interview Jon Bon Jovi. I somehow convinced him that he should hold up this sign, which combined the worlds of the iconic Livin' On a Prayer and Hot Clicks.
No. 9: Beating Tiger Woods & Dan Patrick
The Big Lead
Most people think the downfall of Tiger Woods started with his Thanksgiving accident in 2009. Those people are wrong. Every year, TheBigLead.com holds a Culture Bracket Tournament. In 2008, Hot Clicks made the field as an 8-seed, and took out Tiger and Dan Patrick before losing to Jessica Simpson in the Elite Eight.
No. 8: Carmen Electra Shaves A Hot Clicks Reader
Carmen Electra
Two years ago, Norelco came to me with probably the strangest contest offer over the past five years: Would a lucky Hot Clicks reader want his chest shaved by Carmen Electra? Reader Newman Granger, of Virginia, submitted the best entry letter and won the contest. Unfortunately, Electra shaved off only a small patch of chest hair, but Granger said he was still happy to be touched by her.
No. 7: Hot Clicks Interviews Derek Jeter
Derek Jeter
In 2008, I did my first interview (in person) with Derek Jeter. I know most of you don't care about this, but for someone who has been a diehard Yankees fan since he was 7, this remains a career highlight. Plus, it was a fun challenge to get the reserved shortstop to open up and give us some insight into his off-the-field life. He even picked the lovely ladies who were featured in that edition of Hot Clicks. Oh, and that picture above isn't from the interview. It was taken a couple of years earlier. I'm posting it, though, so you guys can make fun of how excited I look and how clearly disturbed Jeter is by it.
No. 6: John Clayton Gets Mad At Us
John Clayton
When the Raiders foolishly gave up two first-round draft picks for Carson Palmer last season, I went on Twitter and said the team also traded star running back Darren McFadden AND draft picks to the Jets for just-out-of-prison Plaxico Burress. A radio station in Seattle totally missed the sarcasm and asked ESPN's John Clayton about the "trade" during an interview. Clayton was taken aback by the particulars because the deal was so absurd. Later in the interview, the hosts told Clayton that I had been kidding around. Clayton was not amused and said, "Doesn't he realize on Twitter there are no jokes?"
No. 5: Brandon McCarthy Fills In
Brandon McCarthy
The A's pitcher had long been one of my favorite athletes to follow on Twitter, so after becoming "Twitter friends" with him, I begged him to write an edition of Hot Clicks. He finally relented this year and the result was tremendous. Response to McCarthy's edition was overwhelmingly positive (and not just because of his stunning wife, Amanda, whom he made the Lovely Lady of the Day), and readers continue to ask that he write another edition.
No. 4: Hot Clicks Breaks Super Bowl News
Tori Praver
Breaking news isn't exactly a staple of Hot Clicks, as I'm usually busy searching for a Lovely Lady of the Day and finding YouTube videos of people getting kicked in the nuts. But in 2009, we were the first to report that The Who would be performing at the Super Bowl halftime show that season.
No. 3: The Clicksy Awards
Clicksy Awards
In 2008, the first and only Clicksy Awards were held. We polled Hot Clicks readers to determine a winner in a variety of categories, including the most bizarre off-field story, most bizarre on-field incident, wackiest minor league promotion, most ridiculous injury, hottest WAG and much more. We even got Brooklyn Decker, Stacy Keibler and Heidi Klum to publicly accept their awards.
No. 2: Jaime Edmondson Week
Jaime Edmondson
It started on Monday -- Oct. 4, 2010. TheSmokingJacket.com published a gallery of Playboy Playmate and former Amazing Race contestant Jaime Edmondson wearing NFL apparel, and Hot Clicks linked to it. Readers flooded my mailbox in a way never scene before and demanded Edmonson make another Hot Clicks appearance the following day. She did. But readers still weren't satisfied. They wanted to see Edmondson again on Wednesday. I obliged. That still wasn't enough. Hot Clicks Nation insisted Edmonson get top billing on Thursday. So it happened again. Naturally, Hot Clicks Nation said there was no choice but to make it Jaime Edmondson Week. It was up to me to be like Mariano Rivera and close things out the right way, so there she was on Friday, too.
No. 1: Erin Andrews Loves Hot Clicks
Erin Andrews
Hot Clicks debuted on April 23, 2007. In those early days, I assumed the only people who read the column were four of my friends, two co-workers and the Sports Illustrated lawyers. But then on Oct. 29, 2007, it happened. As I was surfing the web for the day's best stories, I came across an interview that Erin Andrews had done with the blog One More Dying Quail. And right there on the monitor were the words, "I love the Extra Mustard web site on CNN SI." That day was the first of many, many, many, many appearances by Andrews in Hot Clicks.
And Now For The Videos...
Throughout the past couple of weeks, I've asked readers to let me know what video that appeared in Hot Clicks is their favorite. Below, in no particular order, are the top 20.
No. 20
Joe Gunter, of Thomasville, Ga.: "The best Hot Click of all time was the stumbling young reporter saying 'Boom Goes The Dynamite.' Even though nobody has any idea what that means, for some reason it was hysterical, and what it 'means' is irrelevant."
No. 19
Bob Anderson, of Kelowna, British Columbia: "My favourite video was the guy who built the water slide from the roof of his house and then overshot the pool. It would be awesome if that made some kind of 'best of.' "
No. 18
Stevie Olsen, of Columbus, Ohio: "The best video I've ever seen in Hot Clicks was the guy who went down a long water slide and landed in a kiddie pool."
No. 17
Jeff, of Corpus Christi, Texas: "Jimmy, thanks for being the only place on the Internet I can get my sports idiocy coverage, LLOD and, most important, live local-news gaffes. It's time you brought back my all-time favorite, and possibly the most underrated YouTube video ever: LORCHCAST!"
No. 16
Jeff, of West Chester, Pa: "I still show friends and laugh with them every time watching the Wendy's hot drinks training video."
No. 15
Kevin Simons, of Elmhurst, N.Y.: "I think you linked to a video from Australia featuring some guy who kept stopping bouncers from entering stores or using public restrooms. That was sensational."
No. 14
Kevin Simons, of Elmhurst, N.Y.: "The recent car commercial featuring Catrinel Menghia didn't suck, either."
No. 13
Chris Toth, of Birmingham, Ala.: "The one that always comes to mind and brings a chuckle is one I saw when I first started reading Clicks. It was of a dog in the road in front of a car whose driver became impatient and started honking his horn. The dog, having enough of that, proceeded to tear the license plate off the front of the car. Great!"
No. 12
Rob, of Royal Oak, Mich.: "Jimmy, I think I have read almost every edition of Hot Clicks over the past five years. Thank you for making me so unproductive at work. My favorite video is the video below of a pizza being thrown at Fenway a few years ago."
No. 11
Dan K., of Atlanta, and Mark Thompson, of San Rafael, Calif.: "My Wife Knows Everything" vs. "The Wife Doesn't Know."
No. 10
John Westbrook, of Corsicana, Texas: "A horse named Arrrrr."
No. 9
Scott McKinzie, of Oakland: "You cannot properly celebrate Hot Clicks' 5th anniversary without peeking at Harry Baals!"
No. 8
David Haring, of Perkasie, Pa.: "Nothing was better than the French skier who took a gate in the groin. The best part was the announcer. I think the skier was Yannick Bertrand."
No. 7
Tim Weaver, of Las Vegas: "Has to be Kate Upton on the catwalk."
No. 6
Wendy M., of New York: "My favorite Hot Clicks video in recent memory was the announcer call on the bowler who slipped."
No. 5
Derek Gonwa, of Green Bay, Wis.: "One of my favorite Hot Clicks videos is I Love Jerseys."
No. 4
Jim, of Cleveland: "Best Hot Clicks video of all time is without a doubt the local sportscaster who had the wrong tape of the guy in the wheelchair. He was referring to a paralyzed football player, and the video clip was of an inmate being wheeled into court who suddenly started kicking and screaming."
No. 3
Dan, of Portland: "The best video I've ever seen in Hot Clicks -- by FAR -- was the news guy running into a skateboarder and getting CRUSHED and making that awesome sound."
No. 2
Connor, of Houston: "Jimmy, I know you've posted it many times before in Hot Clicks, but the coolest video I remember from Hot Clicks was Chris Cooley running his fantasy league with other Redskins. It was cool to see his draft is just like the ones with me and my friends."
No. 1
Eric, of New York: "The video I saw in Hot Clicks that is still my top bookmark is the Gisele dance."
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