This Week's Links (6/23-6/27)

Now this is happening. The interwebs just exploded.

Bruce Weber: "Indiana will suck."

Great moments in assault and battery.

Posnanski has a theory, and it's a good one.

The Futures Game rosters were announced (US, World).

So, how about that improved NL?

This Week's Links (4/7-4/11)

Scott's excellent Deadspin post, his reward for winning their NCAA tournament pool.

The 10 funniest MLB profile pictures on Yahoo!.

An FJM post this week linked to the "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks. Good stuff.

Bruce Bochy screwed up.

Proof that Ichiro doesn't pad his SB totals after the game has been decided.

FJM fisks "The Most Ridiculous Article In The History Of Everything Ever".

Extended (eight minutes) highlights from Kansas' glorious victory.

This Week's Links (3/17-3/21)

Here's the video of the end of the WKU-Drake game.

A great Posnanski post about his three favorite professional screw-ups.

Live-blogging a re-reading of Moneyball.

Hank Steinbrenner is ridiculous.

Bob Costas called up Leitch to clarify some things.

Silver details some of the additions to PECOTA.

Some MLB predictions from Braves Journal:

Worst token All-Star: Brian Wilson, Giants
Dusty Baker throws Homer Bailey under the bus: April 17
Dusty throws Joey Votto under the bus: May 22
Braves clinch: Saturday, Sept. 27, in Houston.
Last out: Brad Ausmus

The Nuggets played excellent defense in their 168-116 win last week.

NCAA Tournament Pool Compilation

There is no shortage of tournament pools in the blogosphere. I have listed the ones I have found thus far below. If you are running one, or know of others, please add them in the comments.

RMMB Pool (run by MoneyLine; $10 entry fee)

Cuse Country NIT Bracket Challenge

$11,000,000 Bracket Challenge (Sportsbook)
$1,000,000 March Mayhem Bracket Contest (BetUS)
$1,000,000 Hoops Madness (SportsBetting)
NCAA March Madness Contest (Bodog)

With Leather (now with prizes) (Yahoo!)
Awful Announcing Pick 'Em (Yahoo!)
STF Bracket Challenge (Yahoo!)
Rush the Court (Yahoo!)
Intentional Foul Has Brackets Too: Free Beer (Yahoo!)

Real Clear Sports (ESPN)
Deadspin Pants Party (ESPN)
The Big Lead Crew (ESPN)

Luke Winn's Tourney Blog Pool (Facebook)
Seth Davis Bracket Challenge (FanNation)

Bracket Mania (AOL Sports)

Epic Carnival (Armchair GM)

McCain Basketball Brackets (JohnMcCain.com)

It's Madness (NBC Sports)

This Week's Links (2/11-2/15)

Mr. I: "If there was ever a Douchebag Smurf, this is what he would've looked like."

Guesses on the lines for tomorrow's college basketball games.

More projected standings, this time using CHONE. 89 wins for the Rays?

Pomeroy:

Louisville probably won't win the Big East regular season title, but don't let that fool you. They're the best team in the conference.

A very flattering picture of Josh Beckett.

YouTube was forced to delete all the Berman videos. Deadspin wasn't.

NL Spring Training previews from Sheehan: East, Central, West. On the Giants:

Winter grade: F
They took a 71-91 team and replaced its best position player with a guy coming off a career year who’s had two above-average seasons in his life. For $60 million. Good luck with that.
One move to make: Release half the roster. And the general manager.

Indeed.

Wednesday Links?

I don't have time to write much of anything (and there's not much of note to write about anyway, except maybe Purdue), so I figured I'd post some links from the past few days.

Excellent Sheehan chat last Friday. My favorite part (I know, it would be):

erbacaine (Milwaukee): Eric Gagne over/under 35 saves

Joe Sheehan: Under, and I'll take out a loan to make that bet.

erbacaine (Milwaukee): rickie weeks over/under 30 Homeruns

Joe Sheehan: Under, parlayed with Gagne's saves.

If you want to read 4800 words on the 2008 Kansas City Royals' lineup, Posnanski's got you covered.

Early 2008 projected standings. How are the Indians +220 to win the Central at VIP? That is nonsense.

Shyster reviews Leitch's God Save the Fan. Good book, I recommend it.

Will Carroll begins his Team Health Reports with the Indians. I think I would sign up for Carmona only missing a month mid-year right now.

Football Outsiders pegs the Giants' odds at winning the SB when the playoffs began at 143:1.

Vanderbilt beat Kentucky by 41. No, seriously.

I have been meaning to do a NCAAB futures post, but don't 35:1 and 100:1 seem high for Stanford and Purdue, respectively? (Both at Sportsbook.)

Looks like Indiana might be in some trouble.

This Week's Links (12/10-12/14)

I should probably link to MJD's Smorgasbord every week.

Doesn't it seem like Santana could be asking for more than this?

The entire list of BBWAA members.

Gasaway on the four super freshmen.

Two excellent Dugouts this week; Thome and Fukudome, and the "MeTrain".

Sheehan (with added Mr. Irrelevant link):

"The commission’s original work consists of passing along enough hearsay to keep a team of defense lawyers in business until the Rapture."

I had not realized Joba Chamberlain had a 1192 ERA+ least year. That is incredible.

Because they clearly don't have more important things to be thinking about, MLB bought FireKennyWilliams.com.

Deadspin:

"The World Pie Eating Championships have been canceled because the dog who was supposed to be guarding the pies instead ate them."

This Week's Links (12/3-12/7)

An interview with Indians' AGM Chris Antonetti.

A website dedicated to Tim Raines' HOF campaign.

FJM tried out the whole user comments thing. This didn't last long.

Sadly, new Pirates' GM Neal Huntington is very smart, and doesn't want to trade Jason Bay to the Indians for Lee and Shoppach. This is unfortunate.

Doug Gottlieb is upset.

"Long Live the Boom King". Indeed.

I thought this Unfiltered post (by Sheehan) was fantastic:

"The notions of “clutch” and “choke” are post-facto labels we use to create narratives, not skills that actually impact the game on the field.

Writers, however…boy, can we choke."

This Week's Links (11/26-11/30)

First of all, the Mets are about to trade Lastings Milledge for Brian Schneider and Ryan Church (or, if you prefer, Ryan Schneider)? How is this a good idea?


I think it might be time to hang it up, Bill Conlin. Although the Thome/Conlin combo is quite something.

This is pretty cool: pitch f/x cards for everyone in the majors.

Is it really too much to ask to not irresponsibly speculate and jump to conclusions about the cause of Sean Taylor's death?

"College is for losers- in football, and in life". Sure is, Carl.

Tim Raines should be in the Hall of Fame.

Posnanski's excessively long (4200 words) but brilliant post on Herschel Walker's college career.
Someone should probably tell St. Paul Pioneer Press writer Bob Sansevere that the Twins aren't exactly in a position to trade Carlos Silva.

I don't know how to quote this and have it actually make sense, but I'm going to try anyway:

"[Kurt Streeter, L.A. Times:] Arte Moreno, be careful. Don't be tempted by Miguel Tejada. I don't like his downward trend.

[KT, FJM] I hear you, Kurt. Look at this guy's stats. I mean, he's 32, he doesn't walk much, he plays a high-stress position which makes him prone to break down...yikes. Stay away. Stick to Torii Hunter."

This Week's Links (11/12-11/16)

The Colts' radio announcer was a little confused about the result of Vinatieri's kick.

Posnanski looks at some more undeserving MVPs.

Keith Law, ESPN.com's "voice of reason", talks to Sabernomics.

Like we needed another reason to dislike the '72 Dolphins.

The Dugout is excited about Tampa Bay's name change.

Apparently, 3 years $45MM isn't enough for Mariano. Unbelievable. I enjoyed this:

"Rivera has apparently told his agents to shop him around, as he's annoyed by Hank Steinbrenner's public comments about his age. Hank seems to make a lot of public comments that don't seem professional or well thought-out. "

Leitch:

"[W]e're not too comfortable living in a world in which fish can grow to 359 pounds. Heck, that thing could pitch for the Indians at this rate."

Storming the Floor collected the Final Four picks of 28 bloggers (including myself; Indiana, Memphis, Tennessee, UCLA). Starting next week I'll also be participating in the blogpoll, which should be fun.

This Week's Links (9/17-9/21)

The original Dingle-Berry post was great, but Skeets' reaction may have been even better.

Brilliant post over at KSK about the Browns-Bengals shootout: "Coach, man, dawg, we gotta do something. We're gonna lose to the goddamn Browns. You know embarassing this is?"

HoopWise talks to Fran Fraschilla.

Andy Katz with an interesting look at the non-conference schedules for some of the nations top CBB teams.

I don't know how Stan and Rupert conned Will Carroll into doing an interview for EC, but somehow they did.

Ufford can always be counted on to put things in proper perspective. On Shelley Duncan's prank, his response to the kid's mother's protest: "His mom is a dumb cow."

BP interviews Indians' assistant GM Chris Antonetti, who understands that 40 saves doesn't mean Joe Borowski is good: "I think some of that’s a function of opportunity, you know obviously the more opportunities you have for saves, the more saves you’re likely to accrue. "

What's wrong with Eric Gagne? Nothing, really. Seriously, calm down people.

Joe Sheehan has a column about how Ned Yost managed his bullpen on Wednesday night, concluding:

"If you can’t recognize that 'tied in the tenth inning, other team’s best guys up, a half-game out of first place, 12 days left' is about the highest-leverage situation you’re going to come across, and act accordingly, it’s possible that you’re not the best person for your job."

Finally, some music news. 50 lost, of course. And Jay-Z announced he'll be releasing a new album in November- the first song he leaked is here. (All music links via Nah Right, which is a great blog- if you like hip hop, check it out.)

This Week's Links (9/10-9/14)

The best place to find analysis on the Oden situation? DraftKevinDurant, of course.

An interesting discussion about John Hollinger's PER ratings at Free Darko.

BP's Postseason Odds now include the 1-day and 7-day changes.

Check out this absurd picture from the now infamous Marlins-Nationals game (via Knuckle Curve).

Gilbert Arenas goes "on strike" against his wife, sleeps in the gym for a week.

An interesting study looking at which out is the toughest to get (via Neyer).

OMDQ interviews NESN reporter Tina Cervasio.

So the Rockies ended up losing last night, which was unfortunate. But VIP continues to be very kind, as they've actually changed Colorado's odds to 250:1 (WS) and 100:1 (NL).

Oh, and by the way, David Wright is still 3:1 to win the NL MVP at SB.

This Week's Links (9/3-9/7)

If you read one thing on Ankiel/HGH, Will's Deadspin post has to be it.

At one point I was considering writing a long profile on Clay Buchholz, but SOX & Dawgs has a pretty good summary, certainly more concise than mine would have been. Although I don't quite understand all the "where did this guy come from" angle; he was Boston's #2 prospect coming into the season, and had 171 Ks in 126 minor league innings this year.

FanHouse continues its takeover, as they've now acquired The Dugout. As a send off, The Dugout is doing a series of farewell posts, starring Farnsworth, The Young brothers, and PECOTA.

I am constantly referring to the BP Playoff Odds; if you're curious as to how they're computed, Derek Jacques has a (free) article explaining what goes into them.

Snuck into the end of Neyer's blog post (Insider) yesterday: "P.S. By all measures I can find -- both numbers and media buzz -- if the Mets finish in first place, David Wright is a lock in the National League. Book it." I generally agree with this, although I think it's far from a lock. Knuckle Curve points out that the voters may be blinded by all the HRs of Fielder and Howard. This is true, but I think that will only allow them to overtake Wright if one of their teams reaches the playoffs.

I understand this isn't how the world works, but right now CC Sabathia should win the AL Cy Young. A big reason for this is he leads MLB in innings. Beckett is going to be right up there with the voters because of his 17 wins, but Sabathia has pitched thirty six more innings. This is partially because he has made four more starts (which has value in itself), but he also goes deeper into games, averaging 7.0 innings per start to Beckett's 6.7.

In notching his 16th win last night, Kelvim Escobar jumps up to third in Cy Young Predictor- he would be a deserving choice as well. Sadly, it looks like Bedard's season might be done. This means that the MLB strikeout leader is one again up for grabs, with the top contenders being Peavy (210), Johan (203), and Kazmir (199).