FRENCH FRIED

Could the rumors be true? Can the French not hang? The pic comes from a couple of dudes checkin out the Paris bar scene. This guy isn't helping the French rep by passing out in the back of the bar. And where are his amigos? CKC is pretty sure these two passers-by ain't friends with him. Perfect timing though. One fella is trying to wake him and check his vitals while the other kat is craning him, we all know who the rational one is here. Hey sportcoat, nice work outta you. Interestingly enough, the guy in the picture on the wall looks very disappointed in our sleepy friend.

IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR

Check out this amazing craner from Game 5 of the 2009 NLCS. I am sure Dodger's fans remember this one, it's the game when their season ended. This lovely lady was able to get a pic with a Manny Ramirez look-a-like, complete with pregnant belly. As you will recall, Manny took steroids and then took a female fertility drug to mask his use. So Manny you can officially hit the showers now, it's time for the Phillies to put another saucehead to bed. Hello A-Rod.

WHERE'S CRANER?

Another installment of Where's Craner? comes to you from the final walkthrough at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. Cruising around this place was like walking through a Walmart in the Bible Belt. Given all the 'People of Walmart' photos popping up, CKC is sure you can picture some of the people here. And that little punk's red balloon was mysteriously popped seconds later. Wasn't us. Now go find craner.

HOLLYWOULD.......

........be NL champs if it weren't for those dang Phillies. Thanks to our friends in La-La Land we get what appears to be the last look at the Dodger Stadium entrance for the 2009 season. After a riveting 9th inning, comeback win by the Phillies in game 4, CKC thought it was a good time to post this flawless craner in memory of all the Dodger fans across the globe. Can this guy see the future? Did he know it was the end? Hey pal, who's gonna win the Super Bowl this year? We wanna put money on it. Steeze.

SELF PORTRAIT

So I ask this guy on the street in Paris to draw a picture of me to take home to the States as a keepsake from my trip and this is what I get?? I mean the resemblance is uncanny, with the facial features and the cigarette. But he drew it on the friggin sidewalk! How the heck am I suppose to get that home? Then he claimed to not speak English. So I forced him to take this picture and only paid him half. What a sucker.

BANK JOB

Earlier this week, TD Bank and their computers decided to piss off all of their customers with a little glitch that made all account information unattainable. Chaos ensued.

Well, our pal Gwen (twitter.com/AllThingsGwen) had enough of their BS and decided to crane kick the place where it hurts the most, in their landscaping.

Hey - TD Bank - YOU GOT CRANED! Would you like to make another transaction?

GOOD AIR

From Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina whose name means good air but in fact has rather poor air quality, comes a craner from the past. Our man Jose, who is from Mexico, stopped by Crane Kick Chronicles for a peek and recalled a vacation he had in the BA back in 2004. Clearly Jose knew that his "superkick" would one day become a part of an international phenomenon, he just didn't know when or how. Well the stars finally aligned for our compadre, and thanks to the powers of the World Wide Web, Jose's craner is now a part of the CKC family.

Jose....muy bueno amigo. Gracias.

THE 12TH MAN

Direct from College Station, TX - Home of the Aggies and their awesome fan base known as "The 12th Man" - comes this image of craner perfection. The following words arrived along with this beauty:

"My name is Jason and I'm a 18 year old freshman at Texas A&M University. This crane kick is on a fence post in a park, the balance, the sunset, the concentration, perfect crane kick picture in my mind. "

Jason, we couldn't have said it better ourselves. We're tearing up over here, you've made us proud. Keep up the good work, and remember - never, NEVER, schedule classes on Fridays.

PLAYOFF FEVER WITH SOME HELP FROM SPECIAL K

The postseason begins today and the quest for the repeat is so on. These ladies are all smiles and they know exactly what is at stake. What a great view from above you have provided us girls, great work. And with a little help from the man in your pictures, the Phillies should soon be sending the Rockies 'Outtaaa Heeeeerrre'. Oh and lady in the middle, great improvising on holding the poster and getting that craner up, with beer in hand no less. Kudos to all of you. And if you look close enough, we think that is the Phillie Phanatic riding his ATV out by second base. Just sayin. Go Phils!

LAZY DAYS OF SUMMER

In front of the golden gates at the beautiful palace of Versailles comes one of the laziest craners we have ever seen. Versailles was the unofficial capital of France for almost a century. It was the brainchild of King Louis XIV and was used by him and his cronies as their personal hunting grounds. Ok enough history and back to lazy bones here. Where's the leg lift? Did you just fly into France and boy are your arms tired? We know you can get them higher than that. With that said, CKC recognizes the beauty with which you have graced us and, after all, its always the thought that counts. So thank you pal. Keep 'em coming.

THEY MAY TAKE OUR LIVES, BUT THEY'LL NEVER TAKE OUR FREEDOM!

From high atop the Scotish Isles, tucked neatly in the beauty of the Glencoe Mountains comes this majestic craner that William Wallace himself would be proud of. Too bad for our Gaelic friend here, the filming for Harry Potter had already ended so the trek to the top was all for nought. Sorry pal, but thanks for thinking of CKC even in your depression. Go forth young lad and continue to keep that crane kick form. Tapadh leat!

ON THE WAY TO CAPE MAY

Irish Weekend in Wildwood, NJ has joined the ranks of the craned. That beautiful structure you see to the left of the craner (your right) is the statue dedicated to the great Cozy Morley. Cozy popularized the Jersey Shore summertime anthem "On the way to Cape May" and we are all very grateful he did. You can be certain that if you've ever had the sea salt air running through your bones, you've sang this tune at the top of your lungs.

"On the way to cape may I fell in love with you...On the way to cape may, I saw my dreams come true..."

WHERE'S CRANER?

This is the first installment of a new addition to the Crane Kick Chronicles portfolio entitled Where's Craner?

This one comes from The Stockyards in Fort Worth, TX during an afternoon of frozen Jack and Cokes and a little something called the Red Dirt Roundup.

Find the craner - good luck!

25.5 AND COUNTING....

Background: euphoria and the beginning of the celebration season....
Sub-background: euphoria and a plethera o' rally towel gettin' their swang on
Main-ground: euphoria and the first NL East Division Champ 3peat craner ever* (thats a tongue twister at its finest)
Foreground: euphoria and one of the greatest curly 'fros to grace this site yet.

Things we know: Cousin Pedro is somewhere in that mob with his Doughboy** 'fro drippin' all over Grampy Moyer

Things we'd all like to hear: Harry the K's call of the final out from above***

Things we long to hear again: Uncle Charlie telling us 'this is for Philadelphia!'

*Lets notice the cranee giving the champion 'shocker' behind his beer
**FYI--Doughboy from 'Boyz N the Hood'
***Goosebumps dont get any better than hearing Harry singing 'High Hopes'

Now let CKC explain the title of this craner. Its rather simple. The Mets are 25 and 1/2 games out of first place and counting. Euphoria.