September 10, 2010

Link-O-Rama

• A new season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia begins next week and after reading this I'm really looking forward to the "Sweet Dee Gives Birth at a Phillies Game" episode. So realistic!

• In fairness, she's really, really good looking.

• You might think someone who graduated from medical school would recognize the difference between the legend of Santa Claus and the reality of basic masonry, but apparently not.

• My bid of a gazillion dollars was rejected, for some reason.

• In case you thought MLB teams only disliked dealing with bloggers, check out the anti-media e-mail Mariners boss Howard Lincoln sent to team employees (at least one of whom leaked it to the media).

• In theory this is an amazing idea, but I'm sure it'll just lead to more people running over kids.

• If you watch the Twins on FSN you might recognize Kate Bilo as the attractive meteorologist who gives weather reports during games. She has sort of a cult following among certain fans, so Ben Collin interviewed her about her job and effective weather-related pickup lines.

• Sure, the story about his getting arrested for stealing drugs is sad, but I'm most upset about the state of Jim Neidhart's once-spectacular facial hair.

• Official Fantasy Girl of AG.com candidate Kate Beckinsale looks good enough that I'm willing to ignore the stupid hat.

• I've never seen this happen in a baseball game before, at least not unintentionally.

• Someone to keep in mind in case the Twins need rotation help next season.

• My cousin, Amy Gallop, is one of six finalists for the National Scholastic Press Association's "story of the year" contest in the "feature story" category, which is sponsored by the American Society of News Editors. In related news, the first "Top 25 Writers in My Immediate Family" poll of the season just came out and I'm in the "others receiving votes" group.

Kent Hrbek left his mark on Target Field while playing in the Twins' "legends game."

• I'm not really sure how to describe this video, but I'm definitely sure you should watch it:

I never realized hip hop had so many rules. Or such amazing uniforms.

• If you're a fan of Mad Men, photo-shopping, and crying ad executives it's your lucky day.

• For whatever reasons Robert Schimmel never quite reached the level of stardom his talent warranted before dying last week at age 60 following a car accident, but he ranks among my favorite stand-up comedians and was one of the greatest radio guests of all time.

• Not a single girl from my Hebrew school made this list. In related news, I worked yesterday.

Tiffany Simons may or may not live in Craig Calcaterra's basement.

• All joking aside, I bet everyone did think it was fly when girls stopped by for the summer. For the summer.

• Tweets about Justin Bieber take up three percent of Twitter's servers. I'll assume the other 97 percent is for my tweets about Bert Blyleven's announcing and Delmon Young's defense.

Crazy stat of the week: Zack Greinke has a 3.77 ERA over 165 career starts and the Royals are 68-97 in those games.

• On a related note, Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times explains why assuming a pitcher with a great record "knows how to win" is bullshit.

Buck Showalter apparently likes lying a whole lot more than he likes Keith Olbermann.

Livan Hernandez narrowly missed the cut for this list by Joe Posnanski, ranking 14,582nd.

• I once owned a Nick Van Exel jersey, so this makes me feel old and happy simultaneously.

• At this point, I'm looking forward to Kimbo Slice's inevitable fight with James Toney.

• MinnPost will soon be celebrating its third anniversary and I'm proud to be a very small part of what is a great website.

Sidney Crosby can hit a little bit too.

Alan Sepinwall put together a handy list of all the fall television premiere dates for new and old shows.

• Happy one-year blogiversary to On the road with ... Shawn Berg.

• Here are some highlights from my NBCSports.com blogging this week:

- Jim Thome ties Frank Robinson for eighth place with 586 homers
- Hells Bells: Trevor Hoffman notches 600th career save
- Chris Sale is thriving in the White Sox's bullpen three months after being drafted
- Domonic Brown isn't playing for the Phillies, so he'll likely play winter ball
- Cubs owner Todd Ricketts films "Undercover Boss" episode
- Jeremy Hellickson named Baseball America's minor league player of the year
- Shin-Soo Choo hoping to avoid military service by playing for South Korea in Asian Games
- Homefield advantage and drawn-out NLDS schedule would be huge for the Phillies
- Travis Hafner quietly having a good, healthy year in Cleveland

• Finally, this week's AG.com-approved music video (sort of) is Sam Cooke performing a cover version of "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" by Duke Ellington: