March 1, 2013
Link-O-Rama
• I also carefully considered my options before deciding to move out and buy my own house.
• Every student in a Johns Hopkins University class boycotted the final exam, so based on the established grading curve they all got a perfect score.
• I was conflicted seeing all the good-looking movie stars sporting beards at the Oscars, but ultimately they can't be blamed for believing in science.
• Nikola Pekovic and Zach Galifianakis are besties now. Lotta respect in the beard game.
• Never forget: Kelsey Grammer was the original Jennifer Lawrence.
• Tough to decide between Lawrence and Jack Nicholson or Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Sally Field for cutest Oscar couple.
• It was a good run, but after nearly three years as Official Fantasy Girl of AG.com this might be the end of us. I've got a committee putting together a list of potential candidates.
• And don't feel too bad for Mila Kunis. She's used to it.
• Just to be clear, I'm still willing to marry into Kate Mara's family.
• My annual series ranking the Twins' top prospects will conclude next week, but in the meantime here's the first installment of the top 10.
• Ricky Rubio to Alexey Shved on TNT last night: "Change your face. Be happy. Enjoy it."
• On this week's "Gleeman and The Geek" episode one of my family members was randomly at the bar we chose for the recording and I also compared myself to Jennifer Lawrence.
• Locking yourself out of a hotel room naked is essentially my worst nightmare:
And based on that amazing video it's the worst nightmare of everyone around him too.
• Wright Thompson's lengthy ESPN.com piece about Michael Jordan on his 50th birthday is a must-read, if only for the part about Jordan's security code name being a Hebrew word.
• I kind of want to go to New Mexico and take this "Breaking Bad" tour, even if Bryan Cranston isn't around to pose for pictures with everyone.
• Congrats to friend of AG.com and two-time "Gleeman and The Geek" guest Lindsay Guentzel for her new gig on K-TWIN, where she'll co-host a show with Ron Coomer and Mark Rider.
• I've always been a big believer in naps, so I loved the Boston Globe's "how to nap" guide that illustrates the best methods for napping and explains why napping is a good thing. My personal recommendations: Try to nap immediately after finishing work for the day and buy a sleep mask to block out any sunlight for daytime napping (and also to look really cool, obviously).
• Erin Andrews had no interest in going to the candy shop.
• Zach Lowe of Grantland wrote a really interesting analysis of stat-head general manager Daryl Morey building the Rockets into a high-powered, statistically ideal offense.
• Reading this interview with Linda Cardellini it occurred to me that she's 37 years old, which seemed impossible considering she brilliantly played a teenage Lindsay Weir in 2000. My crush has not dissipated since then and I recommend spending 99 cents to watch Cardellini co-star with John Slattery in the 2011 independent movie "Return."
• Hey, it's spring training for national anthem singers too.
• Now that we know Ron Gardenhire texts I imagine him as a heavy emoticon user.
• Stephen Curry had a crazy degree of difficulty while scoring 54 points on 28 shots.
• I first saw Haralabos Voulgaris when he made the final table of a World Poker Tour event in 2007, but poker is just a hobby. He's gotten rich from betting on basketball and as Scott Eden of ESPN.com chronicles that makes him arguably the most successful statistical analysis in sports.
• UFC president Dana White's buddy challenged unassuming lightweight Joe Lauzon to a grappling match and the results were amusingly predictable:
Any weight advantage was canceled out by the scarf.
• Fictional players from my "Hardball Dynasty" league are now being interviewed on Fan Graphs.
• Sure, it's only March 1, but it's hard to believe you'll see a better catch this year.
• Jim Thome is still looking for work, so I'll make a standing offer: $20 per episode to co-host the podcast and I'll do the best I can to keep John Bonnes from hugging him.
• It took Joe Posnanski all of two posts on HardballTalk to write something better than anything I've ever written on there.
• In addition to Posnanski we also added Bill Baer of Crashburn Alley to the HardballTalk crew.
• My mom tried to get the inside scoop about the Baer hiring before anyone else.
• There's a podcast about embarrassing pooping stories and it's actually pretty good. "How I Met Your Mother" writer Doug Mand is the host and he's joined on "Doodie Calls" by lots of funny guests, like "Happy Endings" actress Eliza Coupe and Twitter must-follow Alison Agosti.
• Adele is great and all, but Paul F. Tompkins does the best version of "Skyfall."
• Louis C.K.'s latest stand-up special, which I happily bought for $5 on his website last year, is now available on Netflix online. Here's a screenshot of me watching it for the third time.
• In addition to being an age-old debate Blondes vs. Brunettes is also a female flag football game to raise money for Alzheimer's awareness, so check out a good, fun cause and go to their happy hour at Brit's downtown next week.
• Some of this week's weird and random search engine queries that brought people here:
- "Father of Diora Baird's child"
- "Aaron Gleeman dating Linda Cardellini rumors"
- "Carlos Gutierrez baseball agent"
- "Ear lump"
- "Shecky Souhan"
- "Aaron is fat and mental"
- "NBA players wearing teeth braces"
- "How do I lay my leg with a broken fibula?"
- "Alexey Shved shirtless"
- "Kate Mara ugly"
• Finally, in honor of Cardellini still being great at 37 and Ronda Rousey using it for her entrance at UFC 157 this week's AG.com-approved music video is "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett:
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