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Rally Monkey is talk of World Series

The message boards are frightening.

"The best thing to happen to the Angels since they hired Gene Autry!!!" one post reads.

A fan from overseas writes: "I was just wondering if he was going to be doing any World or European tours, 'cos there will always be a home for him here in Britain."

They're not raving about slugger Troy Glaus or sparkplug David Eckstein or rookie phenom Francisco Rodriguez. They're talking about the Rally Monkey, and the lovable primate's online following is the envy of mascots across the league.

The phenomenon, for any lingering monkey neophytes, started two years ago when a clip of a monkey jumping from Ace Ventura: Pet Detective was shown on the Angels' outfield video screen, setting off a late-inning rally. Other baseball crazes haven't caught on as well -- you won't find a backwardscap.com, and if you type in homerhanky.com, it takes you to a site that sells Rally Monkey dolls.

The unofficial Monkey Central is at rallymonkey.com, where the intro page has the monkey hopping continuously (okay, on a loop) to House of Pain's "Jump Around." There are countless pictures of Angels fans with monkeys velcroed to their heads, and many (hopefully) doctored photos of ex-Angel Mo Vaughn in drag.

The site's message boards have even commented on Sprint's new monkey-with-a-cold commercial, with conspiracy theorists astutely noticing that it's only played after the sixth inning, thus following "rally monkey etiquette." A word of warning: While youngsters might like the dancing monkey, they ought to stay away from the message boards, which are unmonitored and taking full advantage of it, unfortunately.

The Angels' official site (angels.mlb.com) has Rally Monkey wallpaper to download, $25 plush monkeys available in blue and black and message boards flooded with "Virtual Bananas" sent by fans to feed the monkey and build on whatever karma can be pulled together.

In the monkey see, monkey do world of the Internet, plenty of sites are getting in on the fun. MSNBC.com got an exclusive interview with the monkey (on working with Dustin Hoffman in Outbreak: "Now there's a professional.") and satire site sportspickle.com chimed in with a story about PETA protesting the cruelty. "(Monkeys) are not to be shaken and clapped on for the benefit of a sports team," a fake spokesperson says. "Monkeys are precious living things and deserve to be treated as such.

Other sites, seeing the monkey's following, are chimping at the bit at the chance to sell ugly T-shirts. Rallymonkey02.com has one showing a halo-wearing monkey grabbing the chicken by the throat, while spanktherallymonkey.com has the sheer lunacy to offer discounts to fans interested in buying bulk quantities -- 10,000 shirts and the priceless domain for $100,000.

What most validates the monkey's following, however, is the fervor with which opposing fans hate it. To wit: rallychicken.com, a spontaneous creation by Giants fans that boasts a song (Die, Monkey, Die, recorded by R.U. Chicken) and an inning-by-inning World Series recap of how the Angels rarely are bold enough to pitch to Barry Bonds.

TID-BYTES: Traffic to the NFL Internet Network, comprised of NFL.com, related sites and the 32 official team sites, topped 9.8-million unique users in September, up 47 percent from a year ago. ... Stpeteparrots.com has a "Name the Parrot" contest for its fledgling mascot, but the initial responses are promising. Once you scroll down past dozens of clever Petes and St. Peteys, there are some strong ones. Best seen yet: Parrot Top, Pollyester and H. Ross. ... An ESPN.com poll asked which new manager would have the biggest impact on his new team, and potential Rays skipper Lou Piniella finished second, behind Mets choice Art Howe but ahead of Rangers manager Buck Showalter.

-- If you have a question or comment about the Internet or a site to suggest, e-mail staff writer Greg Auman at auman@sptimes.com .

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