FanHouse RallyMonkey

Let's go on a trip back in time to the year 2002. It was the month of October and while people all over the country were falling in love with Good Charlotte's "Young and the Restless" and flocking to local theaters to see "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," there were new cultural phenomenons taking place in southern California. The Los Angeles Angels were on their way to winning the World Series, and introducing us all to the Rally Monkey and the Thunderstick in the process.

In my entire life as a baseball fan I have never seen fans do anything more annoying than bang those two inflated sticks together repeatedly for hours. Joe Morgan and Tim McCarver included. It was a plague that had been unleashed on the sport -- in 2005 they were handing them out at White Sox playoff games -- and thankfully they've since died out. For one man in Los Angeles, though, they didn't die out soon enough.

Back in 2004 when the Angels and Red Sox were facing each other in the playoffs, then 29-year old Daniel Slama was in attendance at a game rooting for his Angels. He also took the time to make sure he chanted "Boston sucks" repeatedly, which is fine, but he then made a fatal mistake. He hit a Red Sox fan in the head with a thunderstick.

As if you needed further proof that Torii Hunter has established a newfound love affair with his new team's mascot, here's the video. The stuffed animal sure is nice, but I can't help but feel a little disappointed that Hunter didn't bust out a real, live monkey. Maybe the trust just isn't there yet.

(HT: SportsByBrooks)

Torii Hunter is not shy. He conducted his free agency like a teenage girl: At any given moment, he was in love with one place; the next, he loved another. And after his contract with the Angels was announced, he wasn't afraid to indict his mother for potential child abuse, though I'm not sure it still qualifies if the child is full-grown. (These are the things I spend my time thinking about.)

And today, during his introductory press conference, Hunter revealed his latest love affair: the Angels' rally monkey.

"I told myself years ago that if I ever become a free agent, I'm going over here with the Angels," Hunter said. "But at the time of my free agency, they had a center fielder already, so I kind of threw them on the back burner and looked at other teams -- and then they came out of nowhere.

"Then I thought about 2002, and the rally monkey. This rally monkey has been a thorn in my side and in my nightmares, so I'm just happy to be a part of this organization and be a part of the monkey. I thought about kidnapping him plenty of times, but now the monkey's going to be my friend. I'm really going to like this monkey. We're going to be in the malls together, walking the beach, everything. So that's my buddy and my new best friend -- and [broadcaster] Rex Hudler."

There was some other stuff in the press conference about the Angels not being concerned about Gary Matthews, Jr., but whatever: this is the real news. Can't you picture Hunter and the rally monkey at the mall, holding hands, texting each other, snuggling? Ah, young love. It's beautiful.