December 3, 2009

Link-O-Rama

  • My mom threatens this constantly, but SportsPickle.com says it best in a "man bites dog" sort of way: "Mother Lives in Blogger's Basement."
  • Lions rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford was mic'd up for one of the most improbably fantastic games of the season and the result is six must-watch minutes.
  • Placido Polanco can be crossed off the list of potential Twins infield targets, but now that he's willing to play third base perhaps Miguel Tejada is an option.
  • TBS has mercifully fired Chip Caray after he single-handedly forced millions of baseball fans to wear out their remote's mute button during the playoffs. Richard Sandomir of the New York Times rightfully described his postseason performance as a "high-volume style ... mixed with a penchant for bad play calls, embellishments, and factual errors," but my question is why the person who hired Caray as the channel's lead announcer isn't following him out the door. At the end of the day, who did a worse job?
  • Not satisfied with simply being an Official Fantasy Girl of AG.com candidate, Mila Kunis is now living out my fantasies with "a nerd's idea of heaven."
  • After plowing through all 39 episodes of Mad Men in under a month it's tough to pinpoint my favorite character from what is an amazing cast, but Roger Sterling is definitely in the running:


    And that's just from Season 3.
  • Don Draper's many words of wisdom aren't bad either.
  • One of my fellow NBCSports.com bloggers was profiled recently by the New York Times.
  • Good from The Onion: "The Office Ends As Documentary Crew Gets All The Footage It Needs":

    In retrospect, we really over-shot this thing by an enormous margin. We would have finished much earlier if one employee or another didn't insist on being interviewed every three minutes. And I have no idea why we were invited to Jim and Pam's wedding. All of that stuff is totally unusable.

    Most people watching The Office at this point likely don't even know about the initial premise involving a documentary, especially now that multiple shows use that same approach, but that's pretty funny.

  • My favorite story of the week involves Sammy Sosa, Vin Diesel, and a $203,000 lawsuit. Incidentally, did you know that Diesel's real name is Mark Vincent? Well, now you do.
  • I'm proud to say that the original idea leading to this good news was hashed out in my hotel room at approximately midnight by a bunch of people drinking booze from foam cups. Seriously. As a wise man once said, "From makeshift bars set up in hotel bathroom sinks come great things."
  • This exchange from an interview with the bloggers behind River Ave. Blues made my ego feel good:

    What compelled you to start a Yankee blog, what was the date of your first-ever blog post and what was it about?

    My first blog actually wasn't a Yankee-centric one. In December 2003, after watching Aaron Gleeman turn into a successful Internet writer, three of my friends and I decided to start a group blog called Talking Baseball. For me, a veteran of news reporting throughout high school and college, the new venture gave me a chance to explore sportswriting.

    Of course, maybe he meant it like "if Aaron Gleeman could do it ..."

  • Nice to know that one of my childhood favorites, Lori Loughlin, has avoided The Wall for 45 years.
  • After watching The Foot Fist Way last week this scene still cracks me up:


    Several people suggested the movie to me, but it was good rather than great. Definitely worth watching if you like Eastbound and Down.
  • I'm putting together the content outline for Rotoworld's annual fantasy baseball draft guide and we're always looking for ideas about article topics, so if there's a fantasy baseball angle that you'd like to see in the magazine e-mail me. For instance, last year we covered topics like keeper leagues, non-closer relievers, the impact of defense on pitchers, how to approach the whole draft process, and the top 25 offseason moves in addition to the usual stuff about sleepers, busts, prospects, and mock drafts.
  • In case anyone cares about my computer problem from earlier this week: I ended up simply sending my laptop to the NBC offices in Connecticut, where they scrubbed the hard drive clean and got it back to me around 36 hours later with a new keyboard, fresh touch pad, double the memory, and a suped-up battery. Score one for corporate America.
  • A new blog to check out: UnDomed.
  • Some of the highlights from my NBCSports.com blogging this week:

    - Orioles interested in Japanese lefty Takahashi
    - Schneider jumps from Mets to hometown Phillies
    - Cardinals offer arbitration to Holliday, Pineiro, and DeRosa
    - Teams pursuing Washburn are making a mistake
    - Wagner shows Red Sox are smarter than Mets
    - White Sox not seeking Jenks deal, but may listen
    - Padres first-round pick Tate breaks jaw in ATV accident
    - Toronto stuck with Wells, so Wells stuck in center
    - MVP voting confirms Utley as most underrated
    - Agent says Lincecum not pursuing multi-year deal

  • Finally, this week's AG.com-approved music video is Mat Kearney doing a solo, acoustic version of "Closer to Love":


  • Once you're done here, check out my NBCSports.com blog and Twitter updates.

    No Comments

    No comments yet.

    Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.