AaronGleeman.com

• Kevin Goldstein left Baseball Prospectus to become the Astros' pro scouting coordinator, which is all kinds of great even if it means he'll no longer be a power tweeter.

• For anyone curious, my blog-mate Craig Calcaterra described the inner workings of Hardball Talk and how our virtual office operates.

• It took nearly six years, but it's good to see that Elisha Cuthbert has finally gotten over being stripped of her Official Fantasy Girl of AG.com title in late 2006.

• Ozzie Guillen returned to Twitter after saying "Twitter is stupid" and "everybody following me can [expletive] his pants" when he angrily quit in May. That's easily one of my favorite quotes ever and in thinking it over I'm not even certain which "expletive" he used.

• Apparently the Red Sox are counting on Bill James to help turn things around.

• Good times on KFAN with Paul Allen yesterday morning, as we talked Twins, football, dating, Stephen Strasburg, Bobby Valentine, and other random stuff. Click here to listen.

• As someone who deals with anxiety and various other weirdness, Grantland's documentary about Royce White gave me a totally different view of his personality and issues:

I'm now officially a Royce White fan.

• Sarah Hyland seems nice.

• Artie Lange, Dave Attell, Amy Schumer, and Jim Norton are coming together to Mystic Lake in November, which is basically a must-attend for any stand-up comedy fans.

• Shane Spencer is still taking advantage of that big September for the Yankees in 1998.

• Sad news about one of the original baseball bloggers. We lost a good one.

• I saw Lawless and it was about as good as a Shia LaBeouf movie can possibly be, which is to say C-plus. Also, it turns out Tom Hardy's actual voice when he's doing an American accent sounds not totally unlike his Bain voice. Oh, and Jessica Chastain seems nice.

• I also saw the classic movie Bullitt and liked it a lot, but don't quite get the fuss about Steve McQueen. On the other hand, Jacqueline Bisset circa 1968 ain't no joke. Mercy.

• It remains to be seen if Tony Levine can coach, but his saxophone skills aren't in doubt:

I'll be rooting for my old JCC basketball referee in his first full season at the University of Houston.

• Speaking of St. Paul and members of the tribe, oh the stories I could tell regarding this bit of news from my days growing up in Highland Park.

• Nicole Richie's appearance on The Champs with Neal Brennan and Moshe Kasher totally changed my opinion of her and made me realize she's not just another Paris Hilton.

• Obviously this is what happens when I do live radio there twice in the same week.

• Netflix instant recommendation: I don't eat sushi or speak Japanese, but Jiro Dreams of Sushi was a very compelling documentary about work ethic, greatness, and routine.

• For some reason this makes me sadder than most divorces.

• On a related note, I love Parks and Recreation blooper reels even more than the actual show:

As usual Chris Pratt steals every scene even when he's screwing everything up.

• Speaking of which, if this kid isn't funny then genetics are useless.

• I ate at the original, downtown location during the SABR convention this summer and liked it a lot, so I'm glad to hear Ike's Food & Cocktails is opening a second place near me.

• After five months on the radio Gleeman and The Geek returned to its podcast-only roots, which meant no more commercial breaks and way more beer. And also Jacqueline Bisset.

• Back by popular demand, this week's most amusing, weird, and random search engine queries that brought people here:

- "Delmon Young fat"
- "Jon Taffer salary"
- "Terry Francona new girlfriend"
- "Aaron Gleeman elliptical"
- "Why isn't Michael Cuddyer playing?"
- "Joe Frazier sings to Robin Quivers"
- "Low angle shot Kim Kardashian"
- "Anthony Slama stuff"
- "How old is Roy Smalley?"
- "How does Fat-O-Meter work?"

• Finally, in honor of his daughter changing my perception of her through the magic of podcasting this week's AG.com-approved music video is "All Night Long" by Lionel Richie:

This week's episode of Gleeman and The Geek was recorded live in front of an audience from the KFAN booth at the Minnesota State Fair and topics included the Twins' slide, September call-ups, reports that the Dodgers pursued Justin Morneau, the aftermath of "Girls Gone Gleeman," living in the MLB Fan Cave and trying to build a media career with special guest Lindsay Guentzel, Sweet Martha's Cookies, and why I shouldn't lead with my hair on first dates.

Gleeman and The Geek: Episode 56

In addition to the direct download link above you can also subscribe to the podcast via iTunes.

Interested in sponsoring a week of AG.com? Click here for details.

• Sunday starting at 3:00 p.m. John Bonnes and I will be doing a two-hour version of Gleeman and The Geek live from the KFAN booth at the Minnesota state fair. I learned yesterday morning how much fun it is to do live radio in front of an actual audience and I'd love to see a bunch of AG.com readers and Gleeman and The Geek listeners there. We'll take questions from the crowd and you can watch us argue in person, so come hang out and say hello.

• On a related note, yesterday's "Girls Gone Gleeman" bit at the state fair went a lot better than I expected, which is to say it wasn't a total disaster. There was a big crowd at the KFAN booth, Paul Allen was a great ringleader, Joe Nelson worked his magic behind the scenes, and the women were way too nice, way too normal, and way too pretty to be involved in something so silly. And based on the reaction I've gotten, it made for some interesting radio.

This was my view from the KFAN booth (that's me in the middle):

You can listen to my initial hour-long appearance and the whole dating game part of the show by clicking here. And then later, after going on a hour-plus quasi-date (and eating fried pickles) with one of the women, we returned to the KFAN booth and recapped everything with PA and Marney Gellner from FSN, which you can listen to by clicking here. And yes, underneath the hoodie I was wearing my tuxedo t-shirt.

• Miguel Sano is trying to steal my tuxedo t-shirt look.

• Just when I was getting sick of constantly hearing my own Bane impression, this exists.

• Everyone always says this, but I really mean it: They're perfect for each other.

• Thomas Golianopoulos at Grantland put together an oral history of one of my favorite movies, White Men Can't Jump. Among the many interesting tidbits revealed: Sidney Deane and Billy Hoyle were almost played by Denzel Washington and Keanu Reeves.

• It takes an incredible amount of effort to ruin a picture of Official Fantasy Girl of AG.com Mila Kunis at a baseball game in a Dodgers jersey.

• Jeff Kent is going to be on the new season of Survivor, presumably with his mustache and without Barry Bonds.

• If you're a stand-up comedy fan and don't already know the greatness of Joan Rivers, listen to her be an amazing guest on Nerdist with Chris Hardwick. At age 79!

• Melky Cabrera was a big investor in Jukt Micronics.

• This starts off with a story about throwing up in public and then pretty much goes downhill from there.

• As someone who liked the book and mostly disliked the movie, Screen Junkies' "honest trailer" for The Hunger Games hit the spot:

And it made $700 million, so what the hell do I know.

• Nick Blackburn, worst pitcher in baseball.

• I couldn't even bring myself to mention this on last week's show. So much shame.

• Never underestimate the power of Seinfeld, even decades later.

• On a related note, YouTube has a full version of Jerry Seinfeld's documentary Comedian and it's just as good as I remember from watching it the first time in 2002.

• After nine seasons The Office is coming to an end. It was never as good as the British version and declined in recent years, but the show was pretty damn funny for a long time. And served as the launching pad for Jenna Fischer's ongoing Official Fantasy Girl of AG.com candidacy.

• Most of these responses were dumb and/or ignorant, but Death Cab For Cutie frontman (and Zooey Deschanel ex-husband) Ben Gibbard made stat-heads proud.

• Showtime canceled the Marlins despite their new ballpark, offseason spending, and Ozzie Guillen's best efforts to make a last-place team interesting.

• This comment is so amazing that I'm half-convinced it's parody. AG.com commenters aren't so bad after all!

• Two great tastes that taste great together: Julie Klausner podcasts it up with Marc Maron.

• How adorable: My blog-mates Craig Calcaterra and D.J. Short met in person for the first time and wore matching outfits.

• Not exactly the lightest read in terms of subject matter or style, but The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison by Pete Earley is one of the best non-fiction books I've ever read.

• Jay Boller at the Minneapolis Star Tribune's sister website Vita.mn wrote a nice little article about this blog's 10th anniversary, although because I didn't have time for a new photo shoot they used an on-file picture of me from 100 pounds, six years, and three laptops ago.

• Back by popular demand, this week's most amusing, weird, and random search engine queries that brought people here:

- "Is Glen Perkins a viable setup man?"
- "Tsuyoshi Nishioka KFAN porn"
- "Gordon Ramsay baseball"
- "Elisha Cuthbert baseball"
- "Jimmy Pardo fantasy baseball"
- "Why did Francisco Liriano get traded?"
- "Delmon Young ugly mustache"
- "Who is Lew Ford's girlfriend?"
- "Eric Chavez handsome"
- "Why can't you use big gloves for infield?"
- "A.J. Pierzynski boxers or briefs?
- "Minnesota Twins why they stink"

• Finally, this week's AG.com-approved music video is "Happy Song" by Otis Redding:

Interested in sponsoring a week of AG.com? Click here for details.

As a hermit I like to get my money's worth when I actually leave the house, so I've got a busy Thursday planned and want to invite AG.com readers and Gleeman and The Geek listeners to be part of it. Thursday morning I'll be doing radio live from the Minnesota State Fair and then Thursday evening I'll be co-hosting a little Twins viewing party/get-together at a bar. I'm officially inviting you all to both things, so here are some details:

Thursday morning:

Thursday morning starting at 9:00 a.m. I'll be on Paul Allen's show live from the KFAN booth at the Minnesota State Fair. I'm sure we'll be talking Twins, but the main focus will be on a dating game-style show called "Girls Gone Gleeman" that's intended to either find me a nice woman to date or embarrass me to death trying. You can come see me find love and/or be humiliated, all in front of an audience and live on the radio. Click here for more details.

Thursday night:

Thursday night starting at 7:00 p.m. I'll be at Park Tavern in St. Louis Park, eating and drinking and watching the Twins-Rangers game with John Bonnes, Parker Hageman, Nick Nelson, Lindsay Guentzel, and some other familiar names from the local blogging and social media world. We're basically just going to hang out for a few hours, so the more the merrier and all you need to do is show up, say hello, and grab a chair. Click here for directions.

Topics for this week's episode of Gleeman and The Geek included Brian Dozier's demotion to Triple-A, Nick Blackburn's ongoing awfulness, whether the Twins are collapsing down the stretch again, the latest "day-to-day" injury proving anything but, where and when Chris Parmelee will play, puking in public, comparing Sam Deduno to a UFO, State Fair details, and preparing for the return to full-time podcasting.

Note: Next week's Gleeman on The Geek show will be a special two-hour edition, live from the KFAN booth at the Minnesota state fair from 3-5 p.m. on Sunday, August 26.

Gleeman and The Geek: Episode 55

In addition to the direct download link above you can also subscribe to the podcast via iTunes.

Interested in sponsoring a week of AG.com? Click here for details.