Linkz of the Week: Batman, The Harlem Globetrotters, and Repeated Punches to the Head
Friday, July 25, 2008 at 07:06PM T.J. Donegan 1. ESPN To Do Live Ads With Rookie Actor
According to USA Today columnist Michael Hiestand, ESPN will apparently begin airing at least 25 live 30-second ads featuring Steve Braband daily, for 15 days. This could be a colossal failure or a great thing for the network. ESPN is always at its best when it’s being kooky and self-deprecating (think: classic Sportscenter ads) and it sounds like this will be similar.
2. Father Chooses Batman Over Son; Thoroughly Enjoys Movie
Not sports related, at all, but still funny horrifying. Cars can easily reach 120 degrees on a hot day. How dumb can some people be? To be fair, though, have you seen The Dark Knight. That's almost worth infanticide.
3. Coach Uses Violent Sport of Rugby to Help Inner-City Youth be Less Violent...Somehow Succeeds
Only joking about the title, this is a great story from Martin Bashir of Nightline that delves into a program outside of Los Angeles that uses rugby to help kids stay out of gangs. I play rugby myself and can tell you that it really does bring people together from all kinds of backgrounds, more so than any other sport, in my opinion.
4. Madden TD Celebrations Make Me Want Game… NOW (With Leather via Awful Announcing)
Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I love video games…but I haven’t bought a Madden game in almost six years. Traitorous, I know. I was already planning on buying Madden before I saw this. Now I’m preordering it. I can't wait.
5. CBS To Stick To MMA Plan: Hopes For More Blood, Less Bulbous Ear Explosions
If you saw the last time CBS and MMA got together for the Kimbo Slice coming out party, you know that watching a man get punched in the head and having his disgusting bulbous ear explode is not that exciting. Nor is having the marquee fighter get punched in the top of the head and lose about two years off his life before “winning” by TKO. This time should go a little better as Robbie Lawler, an extremely competent fighter unlike Kimbo Slice, goes up against Scott Smith. Less exciting names, but probably an infinitely better fight. Check it out.
6. Harold Reynolds Makes Triumphant Return
After being summarily ousted from ESPN for what ended up being a far less serious offense than was originally thought, Reynolds will return by broadcasting for TBS this weekend. He’s calling the Marlins-Cubs game, but if you like baseball, it’ll be a fun game to watch. Reynolds is one of my favorite analysts and I’m glad he’s back in the game. Also in the linked post at Awful Announcing is the rest of your announcing schedule for the weekend.
7. David Ortiz Makes Return
Jim Caple from ESPN.com has a pretty nice article here, discussing the Red Sox and what they’ve done since Ortiz was hurt and what their prospects are with the big man back.
8. Man Gets Traded From Worst Team Ever to Best Team Ever
From Punchline to Powerhouse, Tom Friend for ESPN.com writes about Harold Williams, the man who was traded from the Washington Generals to the Harlem Globetrotters.
Seriously.
9. Classic Link of the Week: Pure Heart by William Nack
Pure Heart is the story about William Nack and his relationship to the horse Secretariat, which he covered through his career. I always distinctly remember it for this little half a paragraph:
“Sixteen years had come and gone since then, and I had never attended a Kentucky Derby or a yearling sale at Keeneland without driving out to Claiborne to visit Secretariat, often in the company of friends who had never seen him. On the long ride from Louisville, I would regale them with stories about the horse—how on that early morning in March of '73 he had materialized out of the quickening blue darkness in the upper stretch at Belmont Park, his ears pinned back, running as fast as horses run.”
Sometimes that’s all it takes.
10. Link of the Week: Coolbaughs Keep Memories Close by Elizabeth Merrill
It seems like Merrill has become ESPN’s go-to for interviewing people who have gone through heart-wrenching loss. At least that's how it seems to me after reading her features on people such as USA Softball’s coach who lost his wife and now the family of that minor league base coach who was killed by a foul ball last year.
These stories are always tough to get but Merrill really gets her subjects to open up well. It's extremely well-written work from a talented young writer. The part about Coolbaugh's widow keeping photos knee-high so her young kids can see and remember their dad really got to me.
What can I say? I’m a big softie sometimes.
Until next week, Mahalo.
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