Borderline Fantastic

Crabtree - Harrell 08
Texas Tech has put together a campaign for their QB Graham Harrell and WR Michael Crabtree for award season. They are calling it Pass or Catch 2008. Crabtree’s video asks what happens if he doesn’t grab the ball out of the air? Harrell’s video asks how those balls that Crabtree catches get in the air? Right now I would vote for Harrell because of his superior slogan: ‘Footballs don’t magically fly. Its Science.’

I hope they do a few more rounds of this back and forth. The first two videos are very enjoyable. I haven’t seen anything like this before. There usually isn’t a lot of campaigning by the schools for awards. I’m pretty sure all the Joey Harrington hype was generated by Nike.

Fives: Lou Marson
On Sunday the Phillies sent out quite a lineup. Really, check the box score. I wasn’t sure if a few of those players were even on the roster. It didn’t matter much, the division was clinched on Saturday. During the game, 3rd-string catcher and Olympian Lou Marson hit his first major league home run. He received the traditional greeting in the dugout from his teammates for a first home run. The video captures the entire thing.

Yankees Batboy
I heard about a podcast called The Moth. It posts stories that are read on stage at one of their locations. One of the first ones I heard was by Matthew McGrough. He is a writer on Law & Order and wrote a book called ‘Batboy: Coming of Age with the New York Yankees.’ The story he tells on the podcast is about getting the job of batboy for the Yankees and his first day, opening day. There isn’t a page for the individual show, here is the mp3 audio. I really enjoyed it and recommend a listen to any baseball fan.

I decided with my tons of links to split off the sports ones in their own separate post.

Amazing Tailgating Trailer - Only 3 TVs included?

J-Roll’s Sportscenter commercial

Looking back at the Mariners’ futuristic night - You might forget about the original Turn Ahead the Clock game. All sorts of fun facts I wasn’t aware of.

Let’s Play The Feud: The WNBA Edition - The fight in the WNBA game. In case you are the one person that hasn’t seen it.

Please, I Beg You, Make It Stop - A post about the green sticker on the back of QB’s helmets in the NFL. This year they added a graphic.

Agent Aloha - Some great Philly shirts. The best of the bunch.

This year’s Penn State video

There is nothing worse than getting mocked by the Nationals - I hate the kiss cam, but this is funny.

Game of the century The story behind the 1912 Carlisle vs. Army battle

Rare cancer took Ruth, dentist says

Baseball star John Kruk one of many fooled by bank robber

Ticket Stumbler - Pulls together listings from the various ticket sites.

Passing the Torch: An Evolution of Form - The Olympic Torch over the years.

Skip Caray Tributes …
Baseball mourns loss of Skip Caray
Ernie Johnson And Turner Sports’ Tribute To Skip Caray

I’ve been getting sick of worthless baseball lists. Here are some decent ones …
Top 20 Baseball Quotes of All Time
The Worst Seats in the House
THN.com’s NHL Logo Rankings

Last week’s posting didn’t go as planned, so here is a whole load of links.

Odd News Items …

God accused of selling cocaine near Tampa church

Couple Launched 18-Month Egging Spree - This happened in my area, not exactly sure where it all took place.

British teen finds it pays to swear on exam

Little old ladies or criminal masterminds? Both!

More pop culture type news items …

The Muppets take the Smithsonian

Ken Burns new doc series for PBS - This time, its National Parks.

MR. T’S SNICKERS AD PULLED IN UK

Living stars who you may think are dead - MSNBC must have been really bored. This is a really terrible thing to publish. I either didn’t know the person or knew that they were still alive.

The 10 oddest travel guides ever published.

Funny …

The O’Brien vs. Stewart vs. Colbert three-show throwdown - I realize these are very old. The link slipped through the cracks.

If Your Last Girlfriend Had an IMDb Page

The A-Team Van Rides to Montreal!

First, Circuit City Demands All Copies of Mad Magazine with Ad Parody Destroyed. Then, Circuit City Apologizes for Pulling Mad Magazine, Promises to Get a Sense of Humor.

Chinese restaurant called TRANSLATE SERVER ERROR

Colbert: Canton, KS Not Such a Shithole After All

Interesting/informative things that didn’t fit elsewhere …

Should you recycle an ex? After all, he’s already on the curb

Can’t sleep? Blame all those glowing gadgets

Wake n’ Bacon is most delicious alarm clock ever

Are Revolving Doors More Energy Efficient?

Governor’s Information for each state - Randomly came across this. All sorts of facts about the requirements and rules for the Governors of each state.

Free Coinstar - Apparently I was the only person who wasn’t aware of this. I always thought Coinstar was expenseive. However, there is no charge if you turn it into a gift card. They have places like Amazon and Circuit City. My bank is closer and has a coin machine in the lobby, but still good to know about this.

This week from NPR …

This American Life 361: Fear of Sleep - The first story this week was by Mike Birbiglia about his problems with sleep walking.

The last time I posted links was June 23rd. I’ve been online since them, except for my almost two week break of visiting baseball stadiums on the East Coast and California. In order to avoid being over whelmed I’m going to split these into a few posts over the next few days.

Helpful tips …
Making security easier
Google has added a setting to that you always access your GMail over a secure connection. I’ve been access GMail via the secure site for a long time now and while I would hope everyone else does too, I highly doubt it. This security isn’t automatic so be sure to go in and change your settings.

Reducing Junk Mail
Yes, actual paper mail that comes in that box out front of your house. I still get tons of credit card offers. Oddly, most of the credit card offers are from companies I already have cards from. They have my email, why not just send me an email I can delete?

The usual LEGO links thanks to Gizmodo …
Lego Secret Vault Contains All Sets In History
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Lego
Lego Beijing Olympics

More fun from Gizmodo …
BuzzBall Brings the Rollercoaster Experience to Your Backyard
Jet Skiing in a Jacuzzi Is Half Crazy Half Sad

Things you likely already heard but just in case …
Court: Girl can’t be called Talula Does The Hula
Borgata Gambler Asked To Leave Because Of Body Odor
World’s fastest man: Tyson Homosexual

Things I heard on NPR …
Cooking Up Characters From Old Grocery Lists
This person takes old grocery lists and concocts characters based on the items on their lists. She started doing them on stage and has now released a book.

Promo for The Cleveland Show - At first I thought this was a dumb idea but after the promo and getting back into American Dad I am now on board.

Be a star in our reasonably priced car - Try out the Top Gear track.

Wii Fit damage. I knew this was coming as soon as I set mine up. You need a bit of room to be moving about. I especially see issues at first for the unbalanced gamers.

WGN did a turn back the clock game. They covered the game as if it were 1948.

Uni Watch took over uniform duties for the Camden River Sharks. I wish I would have remembered, I would have gone.

Jim Caple on Page 2 ranks the best single sports years for a city. The winner? Philly in 1980-81. That’s right, I just missed the best sports year for any city ever.

Bob Uecker’s Yacht Wrecked By Freighter - A rule I have is anything I find mildly interesting that involves Bob Uecker, I share.

Fahrenheit - The new coaster at Hershey Park drops at 97 degrees. I haven’t been to Hershey in a few years, I think its time to go back.

If you’re dog and Roomba don’t get along, yell at your robot.

Top Five Roadkill Sites in North America - Actually the list is for top sites where turtles are run over. I was surprised that roadkill was tracked. I’m even more surprised they keep track by animal. The #1 site wins with a score of 2070 turtles killed per mile. That seems like a lot.

Gizmodo loves their LEGO posts. Apparently there was some sort of convention.
LEGO Death Star video
Pictures of the LEGO Death Star
LEGO Business ‘Card’
LEGO Airbus A380

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog went to the Belmont Stakes. I post this because its great and to see how well Hulu embedded videos work.

Carolla did Made Up Movies again yesterday, Part 1 and Part 2. This continues to be my favorite segment on the show, which is really saying something.

David Sedaris on The Daily Show - Enjoyable interview. One of the few people who’s books I will go out and get, then actually read.

Bo Burnham - New Math - New YouTube Song from Bo. I saw him open for Joel McHale.

Chris Bosh on Leno - He reports from the NBA Finals for Leno. The second thing I’ve found funny on Leno in a month, doubling my lifetime total.

Pool Pogo Stick - At first I thought it was funny and worthless. Now, I kind of want one.

Water Slide with Loop - You get started by dropping through a trap door. Something seems dangerous about this.

Pillow Rings - Someone must have gotten tired of having knuckles imprinted on their cheek.

Disney World in 3D - Travel to Disney World inside of Google Earth.

You’ve Been Left Behind - Worried that you won’t get to say good-bye to your loved ones after you’ve been raptured. This site will email what you have stored on the site to who you select within 6 days of the rapture. How do they know the rapture has occured? Here is what they say: “This occurs when 3 of our 5 team members scattered around the U.S fail to log in over a 3 day period. Another 3 days are given to fail safe any false triggering of the system.” Oh, and its not free. $40 for the first year but they expect a lot of signups so future years should be cheaper.