September 16, 2011

Link-O-Rama

This week's Link-O-Rama is sponsored by the Minnesota law firm Snyder Gislason Frasier LLC, so please help support AG.com by considering them for your legal needs ...

• I'd like to have seen the FBI agent's face when this case landed on his desk.

• Three words: Amish beard mugshots. And the reason for their arrests is funny too.

• It looks like Pablo Sandoval found all the weight I lost. And last night he hit for the cycle.

• Congrats to Tina Fey and Sarah Silverman for being exactly as cool as my mother.

• More importantly: How does Rob Pelinka fit into all of this?

• Hardball Talk "fan fiction" is kind of freaking me out, although at least Craig Calcaterra and Tiffany Simons appear to be the focus.

• I attended an advance screening of Moneyball and wrote a review of the movie, which comes out on September 23 and stars Brad Pitt as Billy Beane. We also spent the first 20 minutes of this week's "Gleeman and The Geek" podcast discussing the film immediately after seeing it.

• On a related note: It seems like there's a pretty decent chance Pitt and Angelina Jolie have had a conversation about Wins Above Replacement. Talk about fan fiction.

• Breaking news: Male sex symbol from 2010s sort of resembles male sex symbol from 1990s.

• What does a 19-year-old guy ask for from Make-A-Wish? Christina Hendricks, of course.

• Former big leaguer Curtis Leskanic got really, really, really drunk and drove around with his 5-year-old daughter before passing out at the wheel.

• Sadly, this weird story didn't get the "woman dies of hot beef injection" headline it deserved.

• I think we should all pool our money together and buy Ted Williams' MVP award.

• This cinematic history of "shut up" is pretty great:

In the interest of accuracy, many of them have two other words between the "shut" and "up."

Jimmy McNulty and Lester Freamon, together again.

• It turns out Mariano Rivera doesn't even like Metallica or "Enter Sandman" and the Yankees only picked it for him because they wanted to copy Trevor Hoffman's entrance in San Diego.

Robb Quinlan's eight-year career in the big leagues ended last season, so he's headed back to the University of Minnesota as a volunteer hitting instructor for the Gophers. If nothing else, Quinlan should be able to teach the hitters how to mash lefties.

• It sounds as though Rick Adelman thinks about as much of general manager David Kahn as Timberwolves fans do. My prediction: Adelman outlasts Kahn in Minnesota.

• It wasn't the most uplifting movie, but I recommend Down to the Bone on Netflix instant. Vera Farmiga plays an excellent drug addict and is still less depressing than the Twins' season.

• Congrats to Tom Pelissero for taking over the 6-8 pm show on 1500-ESPN. Competition has turned this into a great era for local sports radio.

• Next year's Society for American Baseball Research convention is in Minnesota and yesterday SABR announced the dates: June 27 to July 1. I'll definitely be there, because I haven't missed a convention since going to my first one way back in 2004, and I'm hoping a bunch of AG.com readers and my fellow Twins bloggers will check it out. If you like baseball, drinking, poker, and shooting the shit it isn't to be missed. More later, obviously, but for now save the date.

• Speaking of which: "He was one of the most laid back characters I've ever met" is maybe the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me. And the part about beer is right too.

Anthony Bourdain was a guest on Joe Rogan's podcast earlier this week and was every bit as great as expected, talking food and fame and drugs and tons of other interesting stuff.

• Marlins prospect Matt Dominguez's father is a Los Angeles Times copy editor and wrote a fun article about attending his son's big-league debut last week.

John Bonnes, Seth Stohs, Nick Nelson, and Parker Hageman have planned a TwinsCentric get-together for September 24 (which is next Saturday) at Manitou Station in White Bear Lake. Not the most convenient location, but there's a Twins-Indians doubleheader that day and their meetups are always a good time, so I'll be making the trek and we'll likely record an episode of "Gleeman and The Geek" there while everyone hangs out. For more details, click here.

• Finally, in honor of the 15th anniversary of his death in 1996 this week's AG.com-approved music video is "Changes" by Tupac Shakur: