I participated in the ALS ice bucket challenge and want to thank all of my friends and all of the people who I’ve never met who did likewise. Despite the best attempts of the trolls this viral phenomenon has raised over $15 million dollars for research into the cure for ALS. I really don’t what causes people to take a big, steaming dump on anything good that others try to do, but I sincerely hope that every person who took the time to complain about other people trying to do a tiny something positive at least put their money where their mouth is and donated (SPOILER ALERT: They didn’t). However, since the whole point of this blog it to not get too negative, I’m not going to dwell on that, but, instead, provide you to the links where you can make a donation to this incredibly worthy cause.
- Korean baseball players turn the bat flip into an art form, sometimes to a ridiculous degree, and it starts at a young age. Did you know that,every time a Korean kid flips a bat, Brian McCann’s eye twitches?
- This might be one of the biggest waste of pixels I’ve come across in a while. As much as I love the internet, the forum it gives twits to nitpick things to death is exhausting. Also, Awesome Mix Vol. 1 is awesome.
- This is one of the more stunning buildings I’ve ever seen, with just a little geek to kick it up a notch. And I should know, I majored in architecture for one quarter.
- Though I do try to avoid getting to serious around here, you should really read this account of one night in Ferguson.
- I don’t care how good of a magician you are, I wouldn’t recommend selling weed to a cop, well, anywhere. But, it’s still funny as hell.
- Then read the new Zen Pencils to give yourself a little hope.
- Oh, just some folks giving a koala CPR. Actually, as cute as that is, the real takeaway from that article is that there is a koala named Sir Chompsalot.
- Not exactly Cubs related, but my new favorite non-Cub is Aaron Nola. Not only did he pitch at LSU and not only was he my preferred pick if the Cubs drafted a pitcher this year, but he signed an autograph for my daughter, who shares one of his names (last for him, first for her).
I strongly endorse any Jed or Theo related activity that ends up with Nola in blue pinstripes.
- Might Jacob Turner be the next Jake Arrieta? We should be so lucky, right?
- Just a fantastic read on Grantland about how the Cubs are exploiting market inefficiency to build (potentially) an offensive juggernaut.
- Sahadev Sharma is one of my favorite writers covering the Cubs and, as a bonus, he is wonderfully prolific. That’s him writing about Jacob Turner a couple of links ago; here he writes about Mike Olt’s resurgence and here he writes about Edwin Jackson’s struggles. As poorly as Jackson has pitched, for the most part, you really get the sense from that last article about what a high character guy he is. It’s certainly enough for me to keep rooting for him. And I can’t help but wonder how Jackson would fare in relief, where he could max out his stuff and simply his approach.
- This is a surprisingly funny rundown of baseball’s biggest fashion debates. For the record: high, low, curved, bare, colored.
- I was really sad to hear about Robin Williams, more than with most celebrity deaths. Williams brought a lot of joy and laughter into a lot of lives, whether they knew him personally or not (I did not). This is one of the neatest tidbits that I came across in the avalanche of stories that came out after his passing.
- OK, this is ludicrous, but really funny – a couple hired a photographer to take “baby pictures” of their new puppy.
- I like reading (some) fan theories about what movies really mean or what a character’s real motivation is, like this one about Lord of the Rings and this one about Harry Potter.
- These Westerosi transit maps are marvelous.
- I’m still so geeked out about Guardians of the Galaxy, I just watched this video compilation of all of the user interface graphics used in the movie. For, um, work.
- By the way,
Peter QuillChris Pratt is an awesome dude. - Forbes magazine ranked the best NFL fan bases and Who Dat’s are not impressed.
- There is just so much Saints info out there right now I can’t process it, at least not in bullet form. I’ll be doing a bigger post on the team before the season, but here are five veterans and five rookies to watch in tomorrow night’s game against the Colts.
- Conversely, not much news on the Wizards, other than the fact that they’re on national TV ten freaking times next season!
- After a little research, it turns out that I, in fact, haven’t used Moonage Daydream as a Song of the Week. So, um, you’re welcome!
