June 3, 2011
Link-O-Rama
• Reminder: I'm taking questions via Twitter for a mailbag column next week.
• Not everyone on Facebook knows The Onion is parody and the results are fantastic. Literally!
• My only question after reading this story? Who ended up with the five dollars?
• Speaking of an "aspiring rapper" ... as always I'm a sucker for rap lyrics in graphical form.
• Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of Rod Carew announcing his retirement.
• As a big Friday Night Lights fan I'm certainly not complaining, but Coach Taylor isn't going to be very happy about this.
• Speaking of which, seeing Friday Night Lights rank 124 out of 133 shows on the season-long list of television ratings makes me sad, especially considering some of the dreck near the top.
• Peter Moylan's fiancee looks just slightly better in a little black dress than he does, although the ability to simultaneously be sleeveless and fully sleeved is quite a skill.
• Next year the World Series of Poker is planning a $1 million buy-in tournament, so hopefully Phil Ivey will be finished protesting the event by then.
• It's currently a moot point, but now that they're business partners baseball has banned Jim Joyce from umpiring games involving Armando Galarraga's team whether he's pitching or not.
• Blake Lively seems fun, but at this point has any famous person ever taken nude pictures of themselves that didn't end up on the internet?
• This week I learned that angry Avril Lavigne fans are hilarious.
• I'm starting the AG.com "Sponsor of the Week" program Monday and the first few weeks are already booked, but there are still some future weeks available if you're looking to promote a product, service, website, or local business while also supporting the free content on this blog.
• I actually think this is an improved look for Snooki.
• Donald Trump offends me, not as an American, but as a fat guy who loves pizza:
And his explanation makes it even worse.
• While watching The Next Great Restaurant my favorite was always the grilled cheese concept. It ended up finishing seventh on the show, but a similar idea just got $10 million in funding.
• Ricky Rubio finally looks headed to the NBA, so Timberwolves fans can stop worrying about whether he'll come to America and start worrying about whether he'll actually be any good.
• Darin Erstad is the new head baseball coach at the University of Nebraska, ensuring they'll lead the conference in scrappiness and yards per punt.
• Can you imagine what this columnist would write if the Mariners ever signed Nick Punto?
• Twitter bought Tweetdeck for $40 million and now they're pushing out photo-sharing sites by creating their own platform. This might be good for Twitter, but probably not for Twitter users.
• I'm biased, but the idea of the UFC on an NBC-owned channel sounds intriguing even though their partnership with Spike has been great for everyone involved.
• Health problems forced Rocco Baldelli into retirement at age 28, so now he's a scout.
• When it comes to a former Official Fantasy Girl of AG.com, some things can't been unseen.
• Being an MLB beat reporter has lots of perks. This isn't one of them.
• When is 431 years not long enough?
• My fellow Community fans will enjoy listening to the show's creator, Dan Harmon, talk about his creative process and a whole bunch of other interesting stuff on Marc Maron's podcast.
• Tom Scharpling and his great radio show got some love from New York magazine.
• Last week's Link-O-Rama included me asking a question about shorts and praising podcaster Jesse Thorn, but it turns out I should have simply gotten the answer from Thorn.
• He was going to face the Twins until the company ruled that would only be worth $50.
• Congratulations to Josh Gallop, Sam Niedorf, and the rest of the Hopkins team for winning last weekend's Wayzata Classic Tournament, which I enjoyed watching more than most Twins games this season (and not just because I saw an umpire throw out an opposing player and a parent at the same time Sunday, although that was the highlight).
• Finally, this week's AG.com-approved music video is "Sunday Kind Of Love" by Etta James:
