March 2, 2012
Link-O-Rama
• Monday night John Bonnes and I are hosting a get-together/meet-up/viewing party.
• Who among us hasn't tried to steal hash browns by putting them in our pants?
• Jonathan Abrams' "oral history of the scariest moment in NBA history" at Grantland is one of the best things I've read so far this year.
• I'd pay big money for a set of these wind-up action figures of The Wire characters, but sadly they're apparently not for sale.
• Of course, if a certain The Wire fan took up the cause he could probably change that.
• A's right-hander Brandon McCarthy got hardcore into sabermetrics because he "didn't want to suck at baseball anymore" and turned into one of the best pitchers in the league.
• Billy Beane wasn't the only MLB general manager at the Oscars, as Ned Colletti snagged a seat right behind Michelle Williams despite the fact that Brad Pitt has never portrayed him.
• I suppose Fez from That '70s Show is basically a lateral move from Derek Jeter.
• Ozzie Guillen has one rule: Don't be late for the f***ing National Anthem.
• After months of waiting and way too much online research I finally bought a new car.
• Bill Baer of Crashburn Alley passes along this old video about Steve Carlton's sick slider:
"I hold it like this and I throw the s*** out of it."
• Congrats to Jim Souhan for becoming the one millionth mainstream media member to make a parents' basement joke about bloggers.
• Mike Pomeranz is leaving his news anchor job at KARE-11 to become the Padres' new pregame show host on FOX Sports San Diego.
• Jessica Alba lost her Official Fantasy Girl of AG.com title in 2004 and has since had two kids, but she's still getting the job done.
• After years of tireless research I finally found the perfect podcast and it's Jen Kirkman's recent appearance on Todd Glass' show.
• Luke Scott brought seven-foot-long, pig-killing spears into the Rays' clubhouse and then the next day he called Red Sox fans "ruthless and vulgar." Should be a fun season in Tampa Bay.
• In fairness, the straw man was really asking for it. Oof.
• The story of how a little-read 16-year-old blogger broke the Ryan Braun news weeks ahead of everyone else is pretty amazing.
• Being known as the world's most famous urine sample collector must be weird.
• Not only is Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post Dispatch one of baseball's best beat reporters, he's a hell of an artist too.
• According to Chris Broussard of ESPN the Lakers turned down a trade for Michael Beasley.
• Barely anyone is watching Luck on HBO, but I'm there every week for the slow burn.
• I watched the premiere episode of Awake on NBC and it hooked me, although I agree with Alan Sepinwall that there's reason to be skeptical long term.
• Delmon Young remains as graceful as ever.
• Even the scariest baseball team of my childhood couldn't defeat time.
• My fellow Howard Stern fans will enjoy Artie Lange's appearance on Adam Carolla's show.
• Finally, this week's AG.com-approved music video is John Mayer's new song "Shadow Days":
I’m also watching Luck weekly, but even though I am a bettor of ponies, I’m still not completely sure what’s going on in the show. I agree though, even so, I keep watching every week.
Comment by Matt W. — March 2, 2012 @ 12:05 am
I have high hopes for Born and Raised. Battle Studies was pretty much a big disappointment.
Comment by Kevin A — March 2, 2012 @ 12:19 am
John Mayer? Really?
Comment by (the other) Neil — March 2, 2012 @ 5:36 am
Lefty’s ’72 season ranks as one of the best ever, winning 27 of team’s 59 that year. It was a strike shortened season too. Amazing stuff. He had completely lost it though by the time he joined the Twins in ’87. He couldn’t get anyone out then.
Comment by curt — March 2, 2012 @ 9:31 am
I’m still watching Luck too, though my HBO is probably getting cancelled after Eastbound and Down is over. Luck is very esoteric to horse racing. I like when you watch it on demand they have a segment afterward explaining one or two terms mentioned on the show. A horse claim process is not an easy concept to understand, so extracting drama from it doesn’t exactly come naturally to a wide audience.
Jerry’s poker scenes are brutal. He is a god-awful player with a huge bankroll. So basically my favorite player in the world to play with. It’s difficult to believable that someone so perceptive at the track could be that lost on the felt.
Comment by TMW — March 2, 2012 @ 9:51 am
Congratulations to Aaron for making the millionth joke about Jim Souhan being a massive tool. I don’t think anything Souhan has ever written was as bad as that Joe Nelson article. Oof is right. That might be the worst Minnesota sports column I’ve ever read.
Comment by Pedro Munoz — March 2, 2012 @ 12:22 pm
I watched every episode of John from Cincinnati and learned that hard way that some HBO shows aren’t just slow starters, but are actually just terrible. I cut my losses early on Treme, but that is still a few hours of my life I won’t get back. Luck was one show and out for me.
Comment by Pedro Munoz — March 2, 2012 @ 12:27 pm
This disclaimer was added to the Joe Nelson article:
“**NOTE** – This was meant to be a comical piece, stats geeks calm down. Joe Nelson is well aware that PER is a valid statistic in the NBA.”
That’s hilarious! You’re doing it wrong, Joe! There has to be something to *get* if you’re going to claim that everyone missed the point.
Comment by Dubby — March 2, 2012 @ 12:45 pm
It looks like your car’s a Honda Fit.
One of my friends has one and loves it. I do as well.
It’s an excellent choice. It’ll still be running and probably doing just fine in 15 years.
Comment by Son of Shane Mack — March 2, 2012 @ 1:38 pm
Jim Souhan is the biggest hack idiot in Minnesota that isn’t on KFAN. Souhan is a crappy dumber version of Dan Barriero who I consider one of the dumbest crappiest people to ever give his opinion over the radio. Like if Dan Barriero was a baseball player he would be Drew Butera to me and Souhan would be an even crappier version of Drew Butera, so like an average high school catcher or something. To me nothing better illustrates the irrevealance of newspapers better than the fact the idiots at the Star and Tribune pay Souhan big bucks for his stupidity while Gleeman here has to run the best Twin’s website on his own. Lavelle and some of the other beat writers are fine but who the Star and Tribune chooses to push as its columnists over the years baffles me. (Barrerio, Zulgad, Souhan, and Soucheray are all just horrible stupid troll morons.)
Comment by Bachmann — March 2, 2012 @ 8:19 pm
Nice work AG. That post on lefty is awesome. I wish Frankie’s slider could get back to something in the same ballpark near Carleton’s….2006 is a distant memory. Thanks for a nice link-o-rama.
Comment by Craig — March 4, 2012 @ 9:29 pm