September 14, 2012

Link-O-Rama

• It took a while, but someone finally put all this newfangled strike zone technology to good use and produced some meaty, worthwhile analysis. Ground-breaking, really.

• In fairness to Mike Francesa, most of the time radio is a lot less exciting than you might think and all of the time napping is amazing.

• Between this story and this story it was a banner week for my Alison Pill crush.

• This should be required reading for any Twins fans/Minnesotans/sane people.

• For my purposes this New York Times headline might as well be "breathing is bad for you."

• As a lifelong Howard Stern fan, this was a big thrill. Seriously.

• Ah, rookie hazing: Bryce Harper is McKayla Maroney. And also one of the best 19-year-olds in baseball history.

• My favorite headline of the week: "DMX says he would beat up Drake in an elevator if it were 10 years ago." Is there room to open up shop in an elevator?

• After reading about how few people are watching the Astros on television I'm thinking maybe they should just start a podcast.

• My advice for this week's Gleeman and The Geek? Fast forward through the 90 minutes of Twins talk for the last 15 minutes of philosophical discussion about aging and life lessons.

• This week's AG.com sponsor is Darrell Roehl, a fiction writer who wrote a book about personal redemption, nostalgia, and the Minnesota Twins during the Calvin Griffith era. And not only that, his sons are longtime AG.com readers. Check it out.

• If you're into mixed martial arts, this roundtable show with Ariel Helwani, Mike Chiappetta, and Luke Thomas is a must-watch:

I used to work with Chiappetta at NBCSports.com and the few times we met in person he was very nice and very willing to talk MMA with me, so it's great to see him getting to shine.

• As a kid I used to listen to The Fabulous Sports Babe, so Michael Kruse's lengthy Grantland profile of the former nationally syndicated radio host was equal parts interesting and sad.

• Speaking of Grantland, they lured one of my favorite basketball writers, Zach Lowe, away from Sports Illustrated. Bill Simmons has built quite a stable of talent over there.

• I'm in favor of making Chelsea Peretti all-time podcast guest, much like all-time quarterback in playground football, so her appearance on NBA.com with Roy Hibbert was spectacular.

Brandon McCarthy is out of the hospital and joking about threesomes, which is great news.

• My latest weekly chat with Paul Allen on KFAN was filled with a shocking amount of baseball.

Mike Trout is the first player with a double-digit Wins Above Replacement total since Barry Bonds in 2004. He's also a 21-year-old rookie.

• If you've ever wanted to play baseball scout--or maybe just go on record with your opinion of Ben Revere's arm strength and Josh Willingham's range--this is your big chance.

• I used to have nightmares about this happening to me in little league, so my condolences to Josh Beckett. Carlos Beltran is such a meanie.

• I can't imagine this movie not being great, just based on the ad.

• Someone please give friend of AG.com and fellow Twins blogger Nick Nelson a new job, if only so he'll quit giving me foot rubs.

Dan LeBatard and friend of AG.com Jon Sciambi were joined by Jeff Van Gundy and Stan Van Gundy for a great discussion about sports media, coaching, and Dwight Howard.

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

- "Tom Kelly Zubaz"
- "Maddie Bisanz age"
- "Brian Dozier is so cute"
- "Who is the father of Diora Baird's baby?"
- "Aaron Gleeman recipe"
- "Darin Mastroianni girlfriend"
- "Liam Hendriks girlfriend"
- "Lizzy Caplan looks like Zooey Deschanel"
- "Minka Kelly baseball hat"
- "Anthony LaPanta hair"
- "What a pound of rice looks like"

• Finally, just because I had a random memory about a kid named Ryan buying me Craig Mack's Project: Funk Da World for my 12th birthday this week's AG.com-approved music video is one of the songs from that CD to blow my 12-year-old mind, "Flava In Ya Ear":