Link-O-Rama
It's nice to know that in addition to being one of the worst acquisitions in Twins history, Bret Boone is also a dick.
I have an account set up with Amazon.com so that I can link to products and get a commission when you guys click on the link and buy something. I was going over my "earnings report" for last month (I made $9.69 in November, so it's not exactly something to retire on) when I noticed that I made $0.07 when one of you ending up buying a three-pack of "Durex Pleasure Pack Lubricated Condoms" after clicking on a link I posted for The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2006.
Beyond wondering why anyone would buy condoms online, I don't really have anything to add here. I basically just wanted to say thank you to whoever bought them. And congratulations.
Speaking of the THT Annual, Stick and Ball Guy got his copy earlier this week and wrote a nice review.
One of my favorite courses at the University of Minnesota was a "Magazine Writing" class taught by Pamela Hill Nettleton. In addition to being an all-around awesome person and someone from whom you can learn a lot about the writing business, Pam used to tell us interesting things like the fact that magazines love to feature lists with random numbers.
For instance, how many times have you seen "Seven secrets to losing weight" or "17 ways to improve your sex life" on some cover while waiting in line at the grocery store? Have you ever wondered why there are 17 secrets and not, say, 20? Anyway, I bring this up because the single best thing I read this week was "52 Reasons ESPN/ABC/Disney Sucks."
My thoughts about the decline of ESPN are well known to anyone who reads this blog regularly, and the 52 reasons covered many of them despite focusing mostly on football-related stuff. Like Kevin over at BFLOBLOG.com, this one is my favorite:
21. Ron Jaworski's backseat role. His explanation of schemes and coverages is pure, elegant analysis. So he's forced to do it at 11:30 with a concussed madman and a very cute lesbian. That's a push, we suppose.
And there are 51 more where that came from!
A comparison for the ages: Jessica Alba versus Maria Sharapova. And we're not talking acting ability versus athletic ability here, folks. (Hey, at least I didn't use "Waffle Crapper" this week.)
I'm a casual fan of The Rolling Stones, but are they really the best the NFL could come up with to play at halftime of the Super Bowl this year? I realize the league is trying to provide a "family friendly" halftime show now, but at this point has anyone who wanted to see The Rolling Stones in concert not done so over the past 40 years?
It's amusing that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are now considered a tame halftime show and it's amazing how quickly the Super Bowl went from Kid Rock, Britney Spears, and Justin Timberlake all lipsyncing on stage at the same time to Paul McCartney alone with a guitar. But how about something in between, like some decent music for the non-AARP crowd?
As blogs become more and more popular, bloggers occasionally get to meet the people they write about. For instance, a while back a few of my fellow Twins bloggers got to meet Ron Coomer at the state fair. And then you have Trent Vanegas from Pink is the New Blog, who hung out with Lindsay Lohan this week. Same thing, really.
On the subject of bloggers becoming more accepted, I had several little birdies e-mail me about the Twins going after Luis Castillo yesterday morning. So far nothing is confirmed, but the Official Twins Beat Writer of AG.com, La Velle E. Neal, officially breaks the story locally in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune:
The Twins are pursuing a deal for Florida Marlins second baseman Luis Castillo, according to a source familiar with negotiations.
[...]
Indications are the Marlins want to dump Castillo's $5 million salary for next season and are looking at minor leaguers or inexpensive major leaguers. Pitchers such as Boof Bonser, Travis Bowyer or J.D. Durbin could be part of the deal. The Twins are unwilling to trade top pitching prospects Scott Baker and Francisco Liriano.
See, this is why I get upset when the Star Tribune goes a couple weeks without something new from LEN3, who also reports that the Twins "are seriously considering a push for two-time AL MVP Frank Thomas." I approve, and hopefully I'll have a write-up of a new player or two here Monday morning.
UPDATE: Castillo is officially a Twin. I will have several thousand words on this deal first thing Monday. In the meantime, join everyone else by tossing in your two cents in the comments section.
Finally, we have visual evidence that Reggie Bush is really good.
Here's an enjoyable article from ESPN.com's Steve Rosenbloom on World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up Steve Dannenmann.
For those of you who still haven't made FoxSports.com a daily stop (and why not?!), here are the links to my Football Daily Dose articles this week: Monday ... Tuesday ... Wednesday ... Thursday.
I'm not sure the world is ready for this (or needed it), but there is now a blog about baseball blogs. It's a good read too, although I'm pretty sure we are now soaring high above sharks.
It was due mostly to me arguing with people all day, but I'm pretty sure this blog set a record with 153 comments during the first four days of this week. I was very hesitant to open up a comments section here, but for the most part I am glad I finally did. To celebrate, I guess you can say something in today's comments section.
Today at The Hardball Times:
- Do Batters Try to Hit Sacrifice Flies? (by John Walsh)
- The Sun is Bright; Will Bud be an Eclipse? (by John Brattain)
Pick of the Day (146-124, +$2,145):
Cleveland -2.5 (-110) over Seattle
Saturday's Pick:
Virginia Tech -14 (-110) over Florida State
Sunday's Pick:
Arizona -3 (-110) over San Francisco
