Okay, before I get started, let me pimp my blog real quick.  There, that was harmless, wasn’t it?  Oh, and if you haven’t listened to my podcast with Trenni Kusnierek last week, there is a hole in your life.

Before I expose my links, a few thoughts:

If you’re a Brewers fan, you have no doubt seen videos of Yovani Gallardo’s family sitting in the front row of his games against the Astros, enthusiastically cheering him on.  They, honest to God, seem like the most fun group of brothers ever.  They all look exactly alike, each with a more outrageous mustache than the other.   I demand that the Brewers start leasing them out to events – you’re telling me your kids’ birthday party wouldn’t be 80% more fun with the crazy Gallardo Brothers party in attendance?  Bring the Flying Gallardo Brothers to your next keg party, and you could charge 20 bucks a head, easy.  This is my plea to the Brewers organization – THINK ABOUT THIS.

I learned on the Twitter that the MLB All Star game was Tuesday night.  Seemed to be a decent showing for Prince Fielder and Trevor Hoffman, but after going 0-for3, Ryan Braun ran into the dugout and demanded that the NL All Stars trade for better pitching.

After the game, the Twins’ Justin Morneau whined that the Canadian National Anthem was played via audio recording.  SUCK IT UP, FRENCHIE – Isn’t that reasonable payback for us having to watch Michael J. Fox on those MLB commercials?  We made Seth Rogen a millionaire, but they just want more, more, more.

This caption contest for a Braunie and Prince picture will depress you.

Tom Haudricourt stops the presses with this molten hot scoop: The Brewers are looking to play well in the second half of the season.  In the meantime, Buster Olney is hiding out in Doug Melvin’s mustache, waiting for trade news.

I know the new Republican talking point is that President Obama throws like a girl (FYI, THIS is how you throw out a first pitch), but I think we need to be more critical of his attire.  I mean, seriously – ’80s-style baggy jeans?  Who told Obama that it was appropriate to throw out the first pitch dressed as Sinbad?

Since I’m a politics guy, I have to throw this in: Obama says Supreme Court Justice Nominee Sonya Sotomayor “saved baseball” by ordering MLB players back on to the field in 1995, following the players’ strike that cost us a 1994 World Series.  Not so fast, says Bob Costas:

Oh, and having solved the economy, job losses, home foreclosures, health care, and the wars in the middle east, Congress is going to fix the BCS system.

I have two NFL jerseys hanging in my closet: Brett Favre and Michael Vick.  Which is more embarrassing to wear in public?  Discuss.

Speaking of Favre, I am rooting for John David Booty to bleed him dry for the right to wear number 4 for the Vikings.  Make him pay more than $100,000, and we’ll forget all about the fact that you have a serial killer name, John David Booty.

From what I understand, during the tailgating for one of the Twins-Brewers games at Miller Park, one moron was spotted wearing a Favre #4 Vikings jersey.  There is no judge in Wisconsin that would convict anyone arrested for beating that idiot to a pulp.  As my friend Stephen Thompson routinely says, the whole Favre saga is akin to your parents getting divorced, and your dad filming porn with your mom\’s worst enemy and making you watch.  I actually think that’s a bit understated.

The NBA’s summer league is underway, and if you want to watch it, you have to buy some kind of internet package at NBA.com.  Young Money is turning some heads early.  In watching the video, his body language is clearly influenced by Allen Iverson – of course, that might be a byproduct of the fact that he wears #3.  (Which I thought the Bucks retired out of respect for Shawn Respert for being the worst draft pick in franchise history.)


Here’s a list of players in the league – of local note, Jerel McNeal, Wes Matthews, Joe Krabbenhoft, Marcus Landry, Clay Tucker, and Alando Tucker are all on teams.  It appears former Badger Greg Stiemsma is on the list too, but I\’m not sure if that means he’s on a team, or he was the first viewer to subscribe to the internet package.

If you have to publicly declare something you do isn’t racist, it’s at the very least a little racistey.

The British Open starts today, but wait – you’re only supposed to call it “The Open.”  Maybe Justin Morneau complained that calling it the British Open left Canadians out.

If you managed the Cubs once, getting the job managing the hapless Washington Nationals would seem like a dream job to you, too.

Friday Night Lights is only going 2 more seasons, and Connie Britton says they’re not even starting to film Season 4 until this September.  Oh, and please God, let Mad Men start again. (It does on August 16th.)

From an article discussing the gay community’s reaction to the movie Brüno:

“There were many gay people in the audience, some notable Washington gays and lesbians, some of whom are involved, peripherally or otherwise, in “the movement.”

From now on, I demand to be identified as “notable heterosexual.”

If you’re playing golf with this guy, you may want to make sure you’re hitting your own ball.

Incredibly, alcohol may have been involved.

I might be the most potent man alive.

I SAID A TIGER RIDING A HORSE, PEOPLE!



Today’s fun fact: In 1949, both the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox sent scouts down to Birmingham to watch a promising youngster named Willie Mays.  Both declined to sign him because he was black.  In fact, the Birmingham Black Barons were actually affiliated with the Red Sox, but they refused to purchase his contract, as pitching coach Larry Woodall said Mays wasn’t the “Red Sox type.”  And thus, Mays was denied the chance to play in the outfield with either Ted Williams or Joe Dimaggio because he was black.  If we continue to praise teams like the Brooklyn Dodgers for being so “open minded,” shouldn’t we also continue to deride the teams that were the most notoriously racist?  Maybe ESPN should throw this fact in when they devote every minute of their air time to covering Boston and New York.

Finally, today’s music: Considered by some to be the worst video ever made. On the other hand, in case you missed the ’80s, it sums the whole decade up in about 3 minutes.