October 17, 2014
Link-O-Rama
• Approximately one million people sent me the New York Times' "brunch is for jerks" article, but here's the thing: Combining breakfast food and booze is undeniably great. End of story.
• UFC announcer Mike Goldberg did play-by-play for the Vikings-Lions game and it was a mess, with botched names and confused calls throughout. Afterward he cursed out people on Twitter who were criticizing his performance, at which point FOX removed him from their NFL schedule.
• If this is true about Kate Mara ... well, then I quit.
• How much payroll space do the Twins have and, more importantly, will they actually spend it?
• Martha Stewart vs. Gwyneth Paltrow is this generation's Notorious B.I.G. vs. Tupac.
• Congrats to friend of AG.com Dana Wessel for winning "Mrs. Arkansas International, 2014."
• On this week's "Gleeman and The Geek" episode we drank beer at 612 Brew and revisited our preseason predictions to see just how terrible they were.
• We also had Twins beat reporter Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press as our guest on "Gleeman and The Geek" two episodes ago and lots of listeners enjoyed it more than usual.
• Imagine if someone from England looked just like Aaron Rodgers and hung around Green Bay:
Tom Wrigglesworth is a quality name, too.
• I "took issue" with something a local newspaper columnist wrote about Joe Mauer and brain injuries, leading to City Pages' amusing recap and this brilliant "Douse Mauer in Gasoline and Chase Him with Matches" parody by Steve "Randball's Stu" Neuman.
• Speaking of which, one year ago Neuman wrote my favorite parody ever, including this opening line: "As night-life emissaries go, one could do better than Aaron Gleeman."
• Maggie "Boss Lady Yung Mags" LaMaack is one of the most underrated writers in Minnesota, this time on the subject of using Tinder to date.
• The local chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America gave Ron Gardenhire their "media good guy" award on his way out.
• Andrew Friedman left the $50 million payrolls in Tampa Bay for the $250 million payrolls in Los Angeles and sent a goodbye letter to a Rays blog.
• I went to a high school journalism conference when the Final Four was here in 2001 and Bob Ryan's storytelling mesmerized me, so I enjoyed Grantland's profile of the Boston sportswriter.
• Believe it or not the Twins had many valuable players this season and I ranked them on my hypothetical team MVP ballot.
• Two all-time greats, Bill Murray and Howard Stern, had a nice long chat and it was very fun.
• You may not think so, but you'll definitely want to watch a little kid recreate Patrick Swayze's dance moves from the final scene of "Dirty Dancing":
I can do the same thing, except with Elaine Benes' dance moves in "Seinfeld."
• Dax Shepard is one of the most underrated actors/funny people around and he was predictably funny/charming chatting with Marc Maron.
• I spent a week reading "Gone Girl" and wherever I put it down--on the bed, on the floor, on random places around the house--she immediately slept on it.
• On a related note, my power rankings of David Fincher movies:
1. "Seven"
2. "Fight Club"
3. "The Social Network"
4. "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button"
5. "The Game"
6. "Gone Girl"
7. "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo"
8. "Panic Room"
9. "Zodiac"
10. "Alien 3"
I apologize in advance for not liking "Zodiac" more. I realize that will bother many people.
• J.J. Hardy, whom the Twins basically gave away to the Orioles in 2011, signed a three-year, $40 million contract extension to remain in Baltimore.
• Thrilled that Tom Scharpling is bringing back "The Best Show" after reconsidering retirement.
• I agree with Rick Nelson's review in the Minneapolis Star Tribune: Libertine has quickly become one of my favorite restaurants for dinner and brunch.
• Some of this week's weird and random search engine queries that brought people here:
- "Man who couldn't stop laughing at his own twin"
- "Sweet Martha's Cookies revenue"
- "Sylvester Stallone young beard"
- "What will happen to Rick Anderson?"
- "Jerome Felton's girlfriend"
- "What was Aaron Burr's sidekick's name?"
- "Jon Taffer pumpkin carving stencil"
- "Naked twins"
• Finally, this week's AG.com-approved music video is "Take Me To Church" by Hozier:
