-Well I've ready a Michael Lewis book about football and baseball...and now it seems like he's getting ready to write one about basketball as well.
-I still think that the Yankees should use their "Type A advantage" (having signed three Type A's already, all they would have to give up to sign a Type A would be a fourth round draft pick) and do a sign-and-trade with another team. This article seems to think that a sign-and-trade directly with the team who owns the Type A rights directly would be the best course of action, but those people would want to be compensated close to a 1st round pick while the Yankees would be looking to be compensated close to a 4th round pick...just throwing that out there.
-Before I had said that John Smoltz was a lock for the Hall of Fame. I still believe that. Jack Curry of the New York Times agrees with me. Smoltz may actually get hurt by Maddux and Glavine getting in. But he should be a no-doubt first-ballot Hall of Famer.
-I don't know why they're doing this while he's still alive (it looks way too much like a dead man's tribute), but this is a really cool look back at the life of Senator Edward Kennedy. Definitely worth looking through some of the awesome pictures and videos from the Kennedy boys' youth throughout the article. Looks like quite a book.
-Also, they have the front page from the day Kathleen Kennedy was killed in a plane crash. It's also the day Israel declared it's independence. Pretty crazy.
-Speaking of Jews, in the end, Joe Lieberman stepped up for the Dems. It almost seems like a movie where the guy does something wrong, but in the end, comes back and redeems himself.
-Speaking some more about Jews, we have some all-stars going to our Hall of Fame it seems...and some athletes who are still discriminated against
-So that's how baseball players get in shape! (H/T Rob Neyer)
-A list of the worst contracts in the American League and National League. Amazingly the Yankees don't make one of those lists for once. I guess Jason Giambi, Carl Pavano, Kyle Farnsworth and the like coming off the books would do that...
-A look at the New York Football Giants' Free Agents. No potential big losses besides Derrick Ward now that they've slapped the franchise tag on Brandon Jacobs...and they seem quite content to go with Ahmad Bradshaw as the #2 and Danny Ware as the #3. Sad that Amani Toomer's tenure has to end like this...Another bit in that article linked to this Daily News piece which says (buried within the article): "Amani Toomer is right: The Giants don't want him. His recent whining only solidified the organization's stance. Truth is, the Giants grew tired of him a couple of years ago, when they started questioning his dedication and attitude, according to a person familiar with the team's thinking."
-Freakonomics pointed me to this interesting article about not subsidizing shareholders for insolvent banks. He does make a lot of interesting and thought-provoking points. The article ends with this: "The present practice of subsidizing shareholders and debt holders of large insolvent bank holding companies is unprecedented, improper, and unwise. It is time to take strong capitalist action — and that requires wiping out the existing owners of the insolvent banks and giving the system much needed new equity capital, which, at this time, can come only from the government."
-Deadspin is pretty funny sometimes.
-So is this link about Pokey (H/T Jay)
-So maybe Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind will actually come true...scary. I'll start with 8th grade, thank you.
-I have a turtle quite like this. We call her Pam. I would recommend that Tyler Kepner and Pete Abraham wash their hands because they are quite full of salmonella.
-Let her fight!
-I don't even want to talk about the Rangers. When you allow a 3 on 5 shorthanded goal, you don't deserve to win a Stanley Cup.
-Peter Gammons on A-Ro[i]d
-I don't think I've seen a story that can get any more ridiculous than this one in England. When do we find out it's all made up?
-Good thing the Yankees didn't make this trade
-One guy I'm counting on for the Yanks 'pen this year: Mark Melancon (H/T Pete Abraham)
-CC looks [relatively] thin
-Wow...way to ruin your public image, Jim Leyritz
-From journalist to strip club owner.
-In Buster Olney's latest blog entry, he brings up an interesting part of the Torre book that I've heard from a few other people is one of his more objectionable parts:
• Carl Pavano doesn't want to address Joe Torre's book, but many others in the game are appalled by the manager's seeming willingness to cast blame or disparagement in the pages while taking very little responsibility for what went wrong when the Yankees lost.
In the book, Mariano Rivera is blamed, in part, for the postseason defeats in 2001 and 2004. But there is nothing about Torre's handling of the Yankees' bullpen from 2001 to 2007, which consistently resulted in late-season burnout for a parade of set-up men: Steve Karsay, Paul Quantrill, Tom Gordon, Tanyon Sturtze, Ron Villone, Scott Proctor, etc.
Part of the reason Rivera pitched less than his best at the end of the 2004 season was that Quantrill and Gordon were flat-out gassed by mid-September, and Rivera was asked to shoulder a heavier burden than usual. For Torre to write a book about his tenure as Yankee manager and not address the bullpen problems after the departure of Jeff Nelson would be like if George Bush were to write a book about his presidency and not mention the economy.
And remember Torre's version of Dave Roberts' pivotal steal in the 2004 playoffs against Rivera, how he thought Rivera aided Roberts' stolen-base attempt by throwing to first base repeatedly before making his first pitch? Well, in response to this, numerous coaches and executives have asked this question: If Torre was sure Roberts would steal, why didn't he call for a pitch-out?
-Bipartisanship isn't so easy. Wall Street gets some new bonus limits
-The Japanese Madoff and his "Yen From Heaven"
-I liked when Shaq and Kobe were fighting. It's just not fun anymore. This from Shaqtus' (how did you get all those Q's?) Twitter: THE_REAL_SHAQ Kobe is the best, he told me to take the trophy hm for my sons, class act, thanks bro. Though I do love this commercial:
-Lastly, this is amazing:
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