Morning Link Dump - 04/07/11

Obligatory Sports Babe

This morning we'll go with Katrina Bowden, who beat out Brooklyn Decker in the final of Esquire's Sexiest Woman Alive Madness tournament, which... um... I... um... hmmm... kinda lost my train of thought there. Yeah, makes sense.

Quote of the Day

"The culture of major league baseball is a jumbo platter of deep-fried masculinity: it’s like a y-chromosome throwing a bachelor party for a penis with a beard." - Sam Anderson of the New York Times.

Ishikawa's Incredible Charity

"Japanese teenage golfer Ryo Ishikawa has vowed to donate all of his tournament earnings in 2011 to help survivors of the earthquake and tsunami which devastated his country's Pacific coast," explains an article from Fox Sports Australia. "The 19-year-old, now in Augusta preparing for next week's US Masters, told Japanese media that he would also donate 100,000 yen ($A1,163) for every birdie he makes.

"'I feel thrilled. My goal is 200 million yen ($2.3 million),' Ishikawa said of his relief donations.

"His prize earnings from the overseas Majors will be added to the fund, including the Masters in which he will aim to make the cut for the first time in three starts.

"Ishikawa, who has sponsor and other commercial deals with big companies including Panasonic and Toyota, said: 'I have enough money to spend for my golf. I still have savings.

"'I believe this is the most positive way for me to spend money,' said Ishikawa, who consulted his banker father and sponsors before announcing his plans to donate the money."

Nick Charles Facing Death

"Nick Charles looks into the camera, as he's done thousands of times before. Except he's not calling a boxing match for sports fans around the world," begins a CNN report, complete with heartbreaking video. "He's talking to an audience of one: his 5-year-old daughter, Giovanna.

"Over the last 40 years, Charles has covered every major sporting event, from the Olympics to the Super Bowl to the Kentucky Derby. He's covered some of the most classic boxing matches -- when Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson, when Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear, when Roberto Duran quit and told Sugar Ray Leonard, 'No mas.'

"Yet this is the toughest taping he'll ever deliver, a message from beyond the grave. For his little girl.

As Charles stares into the lens, he projects the essence of a fighter -- tough, rugged, still smiling despite the bruises of battle. His wife of 13 years, Cory, holds the camera.

Gone is his patented mop of black hair. Twice voted the sexiest sportscaster in America, Charles has undergone rounds of chemotherapy that darkened the circles under his eyes and "make me look like I'm halfway in the grave."

On August 4, 2009, Charles was told he had incurable bladder cancer. He was given four to six months to live if he opted for no treatment. With treatment, he could expect about 20 months. ... He's into his 21st month now. Each day, each hour, each breath is a gift."

Is MLB Juicing Their Balls?

"The juiced ball is baseball’s version of the Loch Ness Monster, a creature so fantastical that you want to believe it’s real. Like Nessie, there is no way to prove the existence of Juicy – the magical baseball that Major League Baseball orders wound extra-tight to promote more home runs – so we have to wait for a conspiracy theorist to emerge from the woods every few years and claim it’s back," writes Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports.

"After the home run frenzy opening weekend left baseball looking for answers – because the truth, small-sample-size fluctuation, doesn’t exactly satisfy most appetites – there came our savior, an unnamed bullpen catcher, who told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Dave O’Brien that balls feel harder this year and, he believes, that’s not an accident.

"The economy is bad, the catcher’s thinking went, and home runs drive excitement. So of course the next logical step is racketeering. In order to juice balls, MLB would need cooperation among the cork makers in Mississippi, the yarn spinners in Vermont and the hide sewers in Costa Rica, plus those who test the balls in St. Louis, and the final layers of quality control, the clubhouse attendants who rub them with mud and the umpires who keep a bagful at a time."

Quote of the Day II

"We have an obligation in our industry" to recognize that brain injuries are one of the biggest on-field issues facing football at all levels right now.- EA Sports President Peter Moore, on the changing of how concussions are handled in the upcoming version of Madden, via Off The Bench.

Quickly

Drew Magary of Deadspin awesomely puts people who whine whenever someone lets a hint of politics intrude on their sports coverage in their place.

Awful Announcing lists what they call the 10 best current sports TV themes-- so there's no Hockey Night or Roundball Rock. Boo!

Jesus. Apparently the Giants fan who was beaten outside of Dodger Stadium texted friends when he was inside that he was scared to be there.

The 700 Level wonders if the middle-aged fan someone spotted at a Phillies game in full uniform lost a bet or something.

Genius! According to Darren Rovell of CNBC, a Mariners beer vendor has taken it upon himself to take orders via Twitter. Catch on, please!

The Fragile Leclaire Challenge!

Hilarious stuff, as always, from OttawaGh0st, who this time sets the Senators' oft-injured goalie in his sights.