February 20, 2015
Link-O-Rama
• Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs examined the video of every Ben Revere assist and it's great.
• Pablo Torre of ESPN wrote an interesting, lengthy article about how the Philadelphia 76ers are trying to innovate during a scorched-earth rebuild.
• Harris Wittels, who wrote for "Parks and Recreation," made "humblebrag" famous, and was a hilarious podcast guest, died at age 30.
• Celebrity chef Geoffrey Zakarian went to McDonald's for the first time and it was amusing.
• JNCO jeans are making a comeback.
• My fellow "Bar Rescue" fans will hopefully appreciate this Instagram account devoted exclusively to pictures of Jon Taffer.
• Headline of the week: "Casual dating has millennials confused."
• Maggie LaMaack wrote a good piece for Vita.mn about Twin Cities couples that met online.
• Timberwolves fans still giddy from Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine making headlines during All-Star weekend should check out these "Bounce Bros" t-shirts.
• Speaking of which, on this week's "Gleeman and The Geek" episode we tried to determine whether Wiggins or Byron Buxton is the superior prospect.
• Now that the Twins have re-signed Torii Hunter and the Timberwolves have traded for Kevin Garnett, it seems only fair that the Vikings talk Randy Moss out of retirement. To get in the mood for Garnett's return to Minnesota, here are some highlights from his fist go-around:
It's not shown in the above video, but I've missed that thing where Garnett stubbornly refuses to let opponents make dead-ball shots after whistles and catches them all.
• Minnesotans need constant validation from non-Minnesotans that we're good and nice and not at all insane for living in this weather, so this The Atlantic article is a big hit locally.
• According to the Wall Street Journal "vodka sales fall as drinkers opt for whiskey."
• Legal marijuana is already a billion dollar per year industry in Colorado.
• Apparently you can be "jailed for months" if Mankato police mistake your vitamins for drugs.
• If you believe Baseball Prospectus' new pitch-framing numbers, Joe Mauer should have won two and possibly three MVP awards in a four-season span.
• On a related note: Of all the No. 1 ranked prospects in Baseball America history, Mauer has turned out to be the third-best player.
• WNBA star Diana Taurasi makes 15 times her WNBA salary to play in Russia, so she's sitting out the WNBA season.
• Kevin Durant is the latest athlete to get sick of being a quote machine for reporters.
• It's often said that stat-heads are rude and insulting to those who disagree with them, but these columns in mainstream publications are still common. Also, "you go girl"?
• Someone bought Josh Hartnett's house on Lake of the Isles for $2.4 million.
• Kerry Washington was once engaged for three years to the guy who played the kid in "Big."
• Sam Miller of Baseball Prospectus wrote a fun post showing that basically every star player in baseball was once a shortstop prospect.
• Jared Burton, whose $3.6 million option for 2015 was declined by the Twins, signed a minor-league deal with the Yankees.
• Jack Morris has a new job in Detroit as one of the Tigers' television analysts.
• Barb Abney, whose firing by The Current last month led to lots of listeners being angry, has a new gig with the Pohlad family-owned GO-96.3.
• John Mulaney is at the State Theatre on March 20. I saw him in 2013 and he was amazing.
• Some of this week's weird and random search engine queries that brought people here:
- "Ricky Rubio tattoo 79"
- "Twin Cities morning show rankings"
- "Brian Duensing fastball speed"
- "People staring at their phone"
- "Dick Bremer foul ball stories"
- "Tommy Herr reputation"
- "What position did Roy Smalley play?"
- "What happens in arbitration hearings?"
- "Dana Wessel superstar"
• Finally, in honor of Valentine's Day this week's AG.com-approved music video is my favorite love song, "How To Love" by Lil Wayne:
This week's blog content is sponsored by Uber, which is offering a free ride to first-time users who sign up with the promo code "UberGleeman."
