After more than seven years of using Blogger to run AG.com, last week's disaster-inspired switch to WordPress has gone pretty smoothly thanks to Than Tibbetts' hard work behind the scenes. Still a few kinks to work out, but I'm happy with how things are looking and the new setup should allow me to eventually do a lot more interesting stuff in terms of content presentation. Plus, now the RSS feed is actually fully functional.
We're definitely still in overhaul mode and some stuff isn't quite right yet, but if anyone has suggestions for ways to improve the blog's layout, look, presentation, or basically anything aside from "write better" please let me know.
Sure, the actual games are nice and all, but my favorite part of this year's NCAA basketball tournament might be the Gus Johnsonsoundboard. "Rise and fire!"
Mila Kunis has not let her recent ascension to Official Fantasy Girl of AG.com go to her head and continuing to give 100 percent after receiving the greatest honor of her life provides an excellent example for Joe Mauer to follow after signing his $184 million contract.
Would any Lost fans not watch a buddy cop spin-off show featuring Sawyer and Miles?
Actually, some sort of high school drama starring Ben Linus wouldn't be bad either.
I've likely spent several thousand dollars on lemon chicken from Leeann Chin, so the actual Leeann Chindying at age 77 made me sad.
As someone in the midst of yet another weight-loss effort, this news got my attention: After tipping the scales at 340 pounds Jets coach Rex Ryan recently underwent surgery to shrink his stomach. I've actually thought about doing that, but am literally too lazy and clueless to go through the necessarily steps. So far, so good losing weight the old-fashioned way this time around, as I'm down 50 pounds since February 1.
One of my favorite stories this week is MLB.com beat writers Anthony DiComo and Jordan Bastianchallenging each other to a half-mile race, which turned into a mini-event called the "Dot Com Dash" that raised some money for charity. You'd think the competition might have inspired me to challenge a fellow baseball writer to something, but even down 50 pounds I got winded just watching the video of their race.
Surprisingly, there's apparently a limit to how excited people are about the new ballpark.
UFC president Dana White recently shot a video blog while flying to Canada on a private jet and the star was former Rookie of the Year and Twins outfielder Marty Cordova, who forgot his passport because he didn't realize Toronto was in another country:
I've spotted Cordova in White's videos before and they're apparently close enough friends that White feels free to goof on him non-stop for an entire flight.
It sounds like HBO is cancelingJoe Buck Live, which technically ran for nine months but might be the shortest-lived talk show of all time with a grand total of three episodes. Joe Buck is the only person who could make Chevy Chase feel good about his hosting career.
Friend of AG.com and former KFAN staffer Phil Mackeyofficially joined KSTP-1500 as Patrick Reusse's sidekick this week. I was skeptical about the pairing, since they're about 40 years apart with an even bigger gap in preferred styles of baseball analysis, but after listening to the first show I think it could actually work. KSTP also hiredTom Pelissero of the Green Bay Press-Gazette to run its soon-to-be-revamped website and he comes with a good rep.
I'm a huge fan of Scott Huff, Joe Stapleton, Jackie Bray, and the always entertaining "Two Jacks In The Hole" podcast, so check out the show's recently re-launched website for tons of good content.
Here's what happens when two good, legitimately funny talk-show hosts discuss Jay Leno:
Of course Leno still beats both of them in the ratings, which makes me sad about mankind.
If you have a fantasy draft over the weekend please check out Rotoworld's award-winning Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide, which has up-to-date rankings, projections, and write-ups for 1,000 players along with a couple dozen strategy columns and all kinds of other good stuff.
Though the logistics of two characters on a TV show about a mystical island would be hard to hammer down as to why they’re in LA…but I would love to see Sawyer and Miles together in a buddy cop movie OR TV show.
Both are sardonic, acerbic, and can toss out pop culture references as easily as Peter from Family Guy.
It was a very good scene that shows what could be!
Craig Fergusson is the funniest now that Conan is gone.
It is disappointing that Leno gets the ratings. I’ve never laughed at a single Leno joke. When I catch any of his show, his audience politely applauds after punchlines and the band makes some noise to cover up the lack of laughing. Fergusson improvises most of his show and he’s actually funny. There must be a lot of dumb people out there who like bad jokes spoon-fed to them.
I’m pretty sure that you didn’t need your passport to get into Canada in 2000. I’ve been to Canada many times, all before 2001, and I’ve never needed my passport. In fact, I once went on a concert bus to Winnipeg and I took my passport with, just in case. Due to the nature of our entry (going to see a rock concert), the agents were much more strict than normal. When asked for identification, I handed the border patrol officer my passport — the official document provided by the U.S. Government. That did not satisfy him. He wanted to see my North Dakota driver’s license. WTF???
So, yeah, playing for Toronto in 2000 may not have prepared Cordova for the new reality of traveling between Canada and the US. If he really thought that Toronto was in the US, hmmm.
There must be a lot of dumb people out there who like bad jokes spoon-fed to them.
Duh. Look around. This is what makes up most of our population.
Comment by Son of Shane Mack — March 26, 2010 @ 3:59 pm
One quick suggestion on the design. The tags at the end of each post aren’t very easy to see with the white text on light gray. Overall, I have to say it looks better.
If Leno ratings make you “sad about mankind”, you must be down right suicidal whan you see the crap that “mankind” puts into political office & the WH!!
Re: Podcasts to Check Out: You’re not a soccer guy I know, but the Spurs Show with Phil Cornwell is hilarious (Cornwell is a d-list celebrity in the UK and a former stand-up comedian who specializes in impressions mostly.
It won Best Club Podcast and Cornwell won Best Podcast Presenter in the EPL Talk (biggest US soccer blog)’s reader awards last season.
Marty Cordova played 62 games for the Blue Jays in 2000 lol. Too funny.
Comment by Steve B — March 26, 2010 @ 12:21 am
AG –
Podcasts:
-Never Not Funny
-The Nerdist Podcast
-Jordan, Jesse Go
all have been guests on Carolla, though Jordan and Jesse did not seem to develop a great rapport with Adam, in my opinion.
Also, This American Life – though I would guess you have heard of that before.
Comment by Matt — March 26, 2010 @ 6:49 am
Letterman is not funny at all. Kimmel is, but even that shouldn’t be enough to make you feel sad for mankind.
Comment by Army of Dad — March 26, 2010 @ 8:35 am
Though the logistics of two characters on a TV show about a mystical island would be hard to hammer down as to why they’re in LA…but I would love to see Sawyer and Miles together in a buddy cop movie OR TV show.
Both are sardonic, acerbic, and can toss out pop culture references as easily as Peter from Family Guy.
It was a very good scene that shows what could be!
Comment by Eric — March 26, 2010 @ 9:04 am
Craig Fergusson is the funniest now that Conan is gone.
It is disappointing that Leno gets the ratings. I’ve never laughed at a single Leno joke. When I catch any of his show, his audience politely applauds after punchlines and the band makes some noise to cover up the lack of laughing. Fergusson improvises most of his show and he’s actually funny. There must be a lot of dumb people out there who like bad jokes spoon-fed to them.
Comment by ben — March 26, 2010 @ 9:08 am
All of Matt’s podcasts suggestions are very funny.
I’d also recommend Comedy Death Ray Radio and I Love Movies.
Comment by Jake — March 26, 2010 @ 9:28 am
@Steve B
I’m pretty sure that you didn’t need your passport to get into Canada in 2000. I’ve been to Canada many times, all before 2001, and I’ve never needed my passport. In fact, I once went on a concert bus to Winnipeg and I took my passport with, just in case. Due to the nature of our entry (going to see a rock concert), the agents were much more strict than normal. When asked for identification, I handed the border patrol officer my passport — the official document provided by the U.S. Government. That did not satisfy him. He wanted to see my North Dakota driver’s license. WTF???
So, yeah, playing for Toronto in 2000 may not have prepared Cordova for the new reality of traveling between Canada and the US. If he really thought that Toronto was in the US, hmmm.
Comment by SBG — March 26, 2010 @ 11:32 am
Congrats to Tom Pelissero and ESPN Twin Cities is lucky to have him, I can attest to the good rep mentioned.
Comment by Paul — March 26, 2010 @ 11:55 am
50 pounds since Feb 1!?? Holy crap.
Comment by Erik — March 26, 2010 @ 12:42 pm
My favorite from the soundboard: “THE CATCH!”
Comment by Dan — March 26, 2010 @ 3:51 pm
There must be a lot of dumb people out there who like bad jokes spoon-fed to them.
Duh. Look around. This is what makes up most of our population.
Comment by Son of Shane Mack — March 26, 2010 @ 3:59 pm
One quick suggestion on the design. The tags at the end of each post aren’t very easy to see with the white text on light gray. Overall, I have to say it looks better.
Comment by Ryan — March 26, 2010 @ 11:52 pm
If Leno ratings make you “sad about mankind”, you must be down right suicidal whan you see the crap that “mankind” puts into political office & the WH!!
Comment by BO — March 27, 2010 @ 12:14 am
Re: Podcasts to Check Out: You’re not a soccer guy I know, but the Spurs Show with Phil Cornwell is hilarious (Cornwell is a d-list celebrity in the UK and a former stand-up comedian who specializes in impressions mostly.
It won Best Club Podcast and Cornwell won Best Podcast Presenter in the EPL Talk (biggest US soccer blog)’s reader awards last season.
Comment by Jonathan — March 27, 2010 @ 2:03 am
I know you said “might have inspired” but, i vote aaron vs. seth in a 1/2 miler.
Comment by brock — March 27, 2010 @ 7:44 am