October 16, 2008

Link-O-Rama

  • You'd probably freak out like this too if your dad just got knocked out by this guy.
  • George Costanza was lord of the idiots and not much of a latex salesman, but evidence suggests that the "short, stocky, slow-witted bald man" was one of his generation's greatest overachievers.
  • Not only is The Big Lebowski a great movie, it contains an impressive number of life lessons.
  • Shockingly, Official Fantasy Girl of AG.com fourth runner-up Mila Kunis looks great in magazines and on red carpets. She also revealed recently that she's addicted to video games and is "a true, true fan of Office Space," both of which bring her closer to being the perfect woman.
  • Over at MinnPost, my colleague David Brauer penned a nice piece about why labels like "journalist" and "blogger" are becoming increasingly pointless.
  • One glance at this list may have been enough to stop me from being expelled from Hebrew school.
  • Sure, a 5,000-word profile in New York Magazine is very impressive, but when it comes to Baseball Prospectus boss Nate Silver's foray into politics nothing will beat five minutes with Stephen Colbert:


    Those jet packs in 2036 are going to be awesome.
  • As the St. Louis Post Dispatch notes, since taking over as general manager last year John Mozeliak has led the Cardinals to a "heavier reliance on sabermetrics and fantasy baseball consultants." Most recently he hired former BaseballHQ.com writer Deric McKamey as an adviser and MLB scout.
  • Ike Hilliard was the No. 7 overall pick in the 1997 draft, ranks 82nd all time in career receptions, and loves Rotoworld:

    What Web site do you visit the most?

    Rotoworld.com, because I like to see what's going on in fantasy basketball. That's usually the first page that I go to once I see what's going on in the world. Fantasy basketball is my thing. I'm big on that.

    Luckily for me there's no indication that LenDale White is a Rotoworld reader.

  • Speaking of fantasy basketball, CBSSports.com was kind enough to invite me back for the second annual 30-team "CBS Sports vs. The World" league. My LeBron James-led squad made the final four last season, but sadly the No. 1 pick didn't fall my way again this year.
  • Many of you were as impressed as me with Ed Thoma's recent column in the Mankato Free Press, so here's a link to his baseball-only blog.
  • Official Fantasy Girl of AG.com third runner-up Kate Beckinsale is so good looking that ... well, insert your own punchline.
  • First he landed a spot covering the Twins for MLB.com and now friend of AG.com Thor Nystrom has won Rolling Stone's annual College Journalism Competition. The lesson? Reading this blog makes people successful, or at least more successful than the guy writing the blog.
  • In honor of their 10th birthday, Google recently turned back the clock to show what the search engine contained in 2001. For instance, whereas today a search for "Aaron Gleeman" produces over 72,000 results, the same search in 2001 came up with exactly two things.
  • On the Scale of Really Bad Ideas, a Bull Durham sequel ranks somewhere between Dan Orlovsky scrambling out the back of the end zone and Jamie Lynn Spears deciding that one kid isn't enough.
  • Leave it to ESPN to hire the guy who brings TNT's otherwise great NBA studio show to a screeching halt each time he speaks.
  • Motorcycles never really did much for me until now. Oh, and there's video:


    Incidentally, someone who looks like Marisa Miller really shouldn't have that accent.
  • Linda Hogan (also known as Hulk Hogan's ex-wife) isn't much of a Bubba The Love Sponge fan.
  • Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star Tribune makes several valid points about on-field delays in his recent column headlined: "Games drag on in era that rewards the walk." However, he misses the mark when it comes to blaming the longer games on increased walks:

    [Tom] Kelly played only briefly in the big leagues in the 1970s. He was around long enough to know that hitters were expected to swing the bat. ... This is an era when the on-base percentage guys are running many front offices, including Boston's.

    They have been assisted in their success by cowering plate umpires, intimidated both by the whining of hitters such as David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis over every called strike. For 100 years, a double was a good at-bat, and now in this century it is drawing a nine-pitch walk.

    Reusse certainly isn't the first over-50 baseball fan to suggest that the game was better back when he was younger and he's also not the first media member to decry the new-fangled focus on OBP, but the notion that more walks are leading to longer games simply isn't true:

    YEAR     PA/BB     BB/G
    1987     11.25     6.84
    1991     11.49     6.64
    2008     11.49     6.73

    Tom Kelly may "know that hitters were expected to swing the bat" back before the supposed "era that rewards the walk," but when he was managing the Twins to World Series titles in 1987 and 1991 there were just as many walks as this year. In fact, the MLB-wide walk rate has remained amazingly constant over the past two decades, with a free pass every 11-12 trips to the plate and 6-7 total walks per game.

  • Adam Carolla got an opportunity to fawn over Marshall Faulk while on NFL Network this week, which hopefully makes up for Ray Oldhafer filling his beloved Rams beanie with feces back in high school. Speaking of Carolla, he was one of my two favorite couples to attend Howard Stern's wedding.
  • Elizabeth Banks is officially on the Official Fantasy Girl of AG.com radar.
  • After looking over some of these beauties, perhaps my various head shots aren't so bad.
  • Technorati's annual "State of the Blogosphere Report" details tons of random facts about bloggers.
  • Finally, this week's AG.com-approved music video is John Mayer's live version of "Stop This Train":


    • Once you're done here, check out my latest "Daily Dose" column over at Rotoworld.

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