Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Cool look at the type of person Gary Woodland is. Be sure to watch the first video. Gary's a good guy.

- A good list

- So this Navy veteran dies with no known family...

- Honestly this thread got me a little upset. And if you've been paying attention it should upset you too.

- 29 James Altucher quotes worthy of contemplation. Some are rehashed cliches but still worthwhile.

- If I owned a bar I'd make sure this photo got a prominent position on one of the walls

New Year's Day

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Wayne Gretzky

"You regret 100% of the New Year's Eve shots you take on New Year's Day." Chris Lynch

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- I can see why support for President Trump is so high among members of the military

- Heh heh

- Heh heh (seriously get well President Carter)

- Good for Tim Tebow. I'll never understand all the hate he gets.

- His sense of humor is among the reasons Terry Francona is so beloved in baseball.

- I've completely forgotten who Andre Wadsworth was

- Heh heh

Joey Moss and the Oilers

Such a great article. My respect for Wayne Gretzky was already high but now through the roof. I'm also now rooting for the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup. I think if Edmonton came out with an official NHL Joey Moss jersey then it would easily become one of the top 100 selling jerseys in the US and Canada.

My respect for Steven Tyler has also gone up several notches.

NHL Mount Rushmore

I know the "Mount Rushmore of" whatever memes are tiresome in general but I have to admit the NHL Mount Rushmore has gotten me thinking. The first three are no-brainers - Wayne Greztky, Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr. But who would be the Teddy Roosevelt of the NHL Mount Rushmore?

Would it be Mario Lemieux? What about having a goalie on the list? Martin Brodeur is the all-time NHL wins leader as a goalie. Brodeur also has one more Stanley Cup as a player than Super Mario. But if its Stanley Cups you want - how about Maurice Rocket Richard who had 8 with the Canadiens and was the first player to have 500 goals. Personally I would like to see Cam Neely but I'm a parochial Boston Bruins fans.

Who should be that forth person on the NHL Mount Rushmore?

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Just a reminder but when President Obama took office he was boasting about being able to stop the oceans from rising. Now three years in he's down to bragging about making it easier to clean up milk spills... Canadian teens launch Lego man into (near) space... Paul Newman would have been 87 today... Just saying but Boston College will have more players in the Super Bowl (6) than any other college... As a reminder - Rex Ryan will have to go 7-9 next season to equal Herm Edwards record in his first 4 years as New York Jets coach (35-29)... Very cool - FDR's 52nd birthday party was a Toga Party... The world's largest feet belong to Brahim Takioullah who sports a size 58 shoe (making my size 13's look pretty puny in comparison)... On this day in 1978 - New England was buried in snow as the great Blizzard of 78 was underway... Tweet of the Day from @pourmecoffee - "Goodnight Moon. Goodnight Newt colonizing the moon." I just find that so very clever and funny... Happy 51st birthday to Wayne Gretzky - the best hockey player who ever lived...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Today is JaMarcus Russell's 26th birthday. I think it speaks volumes to just how big of an NFL bust he was to the fact that you don't even see a sniff of a rumor of any team having interest in him... 10 Incredibly Cool Staircases... I wonder how much money California could save if it passed a law saying no public employee can be paid more than President of US? The President is paid $400,000 a year and I really can't see a justification for any public employee being paid more than that... Betty Boop turns 81 today. She looks great for 81... Who knew? Red Sox third base coach Tim Bogar is actually three months younger than Tim Wakefield... Happy 83rd birthday to Boston Celtics and NBA legend Bob Cousy... 16 Sequels Nobody Has Ever Heard Of... Interesting stat from ESPN's Gordon Edes; "If either Sox and Yanks play .500 ball rest of way, they'll have 94 wins. Angels would have to go 32-16, a .667 clip, to tie for wild card"... It was 23-years ago today that Wayne Gretzky was traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the LA Kings... Tweet of the day from @_otis_

Brazilians use the same word for "thank you" & "congratulations," which I think would make for some really interesting pillow talk.

I think languages that use the same word for both "Thank you" and "You're welcome" have the same issue after climax.

Red Sox Magic Number - 99



If you asked me to do a free association with the number 99 - my first thought might be of the song 99 Red Balloons by Nena which became in the US an anti-war, anti-Reagan anthem but with a pretty upbeat beat. I've always thought the people who held the song in high esteem as an anthem were just plain silly. As if it wasn't the East Germans and the Russians who were suppressing freedom in the most barbaric ways imaginable who were the problem. No the person who was the real threat to world peace was Ronald Reagan. Hey let's make a giant paper mache head of him to protest and then lets talk about giving Marxism another shot!

Another song associated with the number 99 is Bruce Springsteen's Johnny 99. This song was a turning point for me in regard to being a fan of Springsteen. My first reaction to hearing the song was WTF? I was genuinely puzzled and had to listen to the song and lyrics a couple of times. Why was Bruce making this guy out to be a hero? He's a murderer. What about the family of the convenience store clerk who was killed? What the hell is wrong with Springsteen? What the hell is wrong with me for being a fan of a guy glorifying thugs? Don't get me wrong - I still love the old stuff but once I figured out that the darkness wasn't on the edge of town - it was between Springsteen's ears - it was tough to become emotionally invested in his music. I loved Born in the USA and some later works but it just was never the same.

Of course if you told me to free associate the number 99 in regards to sports - I would immediately think of Wayne Gretzky. But with the Bruins losing last night I'd almost prefer not to think about hockey.

One thing I did find when looking at the number 99 was the Jaguar B99 concept car. I really would like to own one (but I wouldn't kill a convenience store clerk to get it).

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

The Dallas Mavericks were simply the better team - why all the fawning over the Lakers? They lost - get over it. Nobody seems to be giving the Mavericks any credit this morning... In the Sketchers commercial with Wayne Gretzky, I may be wrong but it looks like he misses the open net with his shot. Why would you want guy who can't hit open net to make comeback?... Happy 51st birthday to the classy Tony Gwynn... Never thought of it this way before but Moses may have been the world's first great middleman (in the business sense)... Quote of the Day: "My wife was afraid of the dark - then she saw me naked and now she's afraid of the light." Rodney Dangerfield... For what it's worth - Iraq has a 0 migration rate which means people aren't fleeing or flocking to the country. This is normally an indication of stability. That's something Detroit or the State of Michigan can't claim... As great as Phil Jackson was - he wasn't in the same area code of greatness as Red Auerbach.

30 for 30 - Kings Ransom

Not sure if I'll do a review for each of the 30 for 30 shows but I wanted to do one for the first in the series - Peter Berg's Kings Ransom.

It can be argued that the trade of Wayne Gretzky was the most important thing to happen to professional hockey since Lord Stanley donated a silver cup in 1882 to the hockey champion of Canada. It can be argued that Wayne Gretzky was as important to the NHL as Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were to the NBA combined. It can't be argued that the Gretzky / Jones wedding wasn't as big in Canada as the Prince Charles / Lady Di wedding was in the rest of the world. It can't be argued that Gretzky in LA wasn't as big a celebrity as anyone in the 80's. However, it can also be argued that nobody really cares now because it is after all only hockey.

But that's the potential charm and power of this 30 for 30 series from ESPN. They will be recapping events that mattered at the time through the eyes of people who were effected by the events but who are now artistically talented enough to tell the story in a compelling and different manner.

Let me confess to two things; I'm not familiar with Peter Berg and secondly I stopped following hockey a couple of years ago.

I'm not really familiar with Peter Berg because I've never watched Friday Night Lights. I know - my bad. In my defense - I didn't see the movie because I wanted to read the book first and then I never watched the TV show because I had other things to do. I enjoyed the show tonight but I wasn't overly impressed. I thought the golf course scenes were lazy and indulgent. I would have much preferred if information about the financial state of the Oilers at the time of the trade was covered and why that $15 million was so important to Peter Pocklington. Instead we got Peter Berg and his hobo beard.

Bill Simmons stopped watching hockey pretty much for the same reason as me - we both became disgusted with Jeremy Jacobs and his cheapness in running the Boston Bruins. I probably held out a little longer than the Sports Guy. The trade of Joe Thornton was the last straw for me. I lost so much interest that I had to double check to see if Edmonton still had a team (they do).

Three final thoughts about the show:

1. I bet ESPN and Bill Simmons must have been real happy that the Twins / Tigers playoff game went to extra innings drawing off a bunch of viewers from the debut of the first 30 for 30 show. Real happy.

2. A number of times during the show people would say that Wayne Gretzky put Edmonton on the map. I don't think that's true. I think that even back when Edmonton was winning all those Stanley Cups that the average person wouldn't have been able to find the city on a map (Canadians excluded).

3. Going back to my original point about the trade being the most important thing to happen to hockey - it was rumored that Detroit was also in the running for Gretzky. I would have liked to see this angle explored in the show. If Gretzky went to Detroit or any of the original six for that matter - hockey today would look much different. Never mind the Stanley Cups he could have won with a better team like the Red Wings. There most likely wouldn't be any teams in warm weather states if Gretzky doesn't go to LA specifically.

All in all - a good first show for 30 for 30. I can't wait for the next one.

Red Sox Magic Number - 88

With the Red Sox victory and the Yankee loss last night - the Red Sox new magic number is now 88.

In my mind I associate the number 88 mostly with Eric Lindros who chose the number 88 to foster comparisons to Wayne Gretzky who wore number 99. For our purposes of discussing the Red Sox magic number - a Eric Lindros comparison [with Lindros equating the New York Yankees] is perfect.

Lindros was dubbed "the next one" and had to weather constant comparisons to Wayne Gretzky - the Great One. Likewise these current Yankees have had to weather constant comparisons to Joe Torre's championship teams - like the team who won it all in 99. Yankee fans keep waiting for "the next one" but this Eric Lindros of a team won't be bringing home any championships any time soon.

Eric Lindros was a highly talented player but also a player who proved to be fragile. He was talented enough to put his teams in contention but there was always something lacking. As highly paid as he was - he never was able to win a championship.

Just like this current New York Yankees team.