Morning Link Dump - 07/06/11
Obligatory Sports Babe
This morning, for no reason other than the fact that Ted Williams Head posted a bunch of pictures of her yesterday, and then assured us of her sports-relatedness by pointing out that she's been in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, we'll go with model Jarah Mariano. Sound OK?
Quote of the Day
"I know what this shirt represents and this jersey means. This country is very proud of this baseball team, before they used to have two and now they only have one, but I think there is a lot of loyal fans that have been following the team since it started in the late 1970′s and there's a couple of World Series crowns here or trophies I should say, so it's an organization that has had a winning tradition for a long time and hopefully we can bring that back as soon as possible and like I said this jersey represents the country of Canada and not only the game of baseball. Also, I know there has been a great following of this team in the past in the Dominican Republic because of the number of great Dominican players that have played here like George Bell, Damaso Garcia, Tony Fernandez and Juan Guzman just to name a few." - Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista explaining, via Sports Radio Interviews, why he's thankful to Canada when accepting accolades-- like getting the most votes ever for the All-Star game.
Clemens vs. Pettitte
"One crucial notion setting ’s case apart from other drug scandals involving baseball stars is that his former close friend and loyal teammate , a man Clemens considered his little brother, could be the most damaging witness against him," begins a piece on the trial from the New York Times.
"Pettitte, whose wholesome boy-next-door demeanor endeared him to Yankees fans as he pitched in seven World Series for the team, admitted in 2007 that he used human growth hormone in 2002 and 2004 to treat injuries. At Clemens’s federal perjury trial that begins Wednesday in Washington, Pettitte is expected to give powerful testimony that could help the prosecution establish that Clemens also used the drug, according to legal experts.
"Among the former players on the prosecution’s witness list, he is the only one expected to testify that Clemens acknowledged using performance-enhancing substances.
“'I can’t imagine what he’s going through, knowing he will have to sit there and testify with his best friend right there at the defense table,' said the former slugger Jason Giambi, who testified about his own steroid use when he was a government witness in March at the federal perjury trial of the home run king Barry Bonds, who was convicted of obstruction of justice.
“'I was close with Barry, but my testimony was all about me and my own use,' said Giambi, who played with Clemens and Pettitte for two years with the Yankees. 'So I really feel for Andy. Knowing how he is, it’s going to be very, very hard for him.' ”
Deadspin Profiles Kobayashi
"On a May evening, in a cramped biergarten behind a German restaurant off the Bowery in Manhattan, Takeru Kobayashi sat down to a plate of Rheinischer Sauerbraten mit Kartoffelklößen und Rotkraut. First, he produced a small camera and began photographing the sauerbraten for his blog, where he catalogs his personal gustatory experiences. He was dressed in yellow pants, a summer scarf, and a blazer with multicolored markings resembling graffiti. Some nearby diners looked up when the camera flashed, but Kobayashi, the great Kobayashi, went unrecognized, in the city where he became a celebrity," begins Luke O'Brien in a fantastic profile published at Deadspin on Sunday.
"At one time or another, Kobayashi, a wispily built 33-year-old from Nagano, has eaten 41 lobster rolls in 10 minutes; 57 cow brains (weighing 17.7 pounds) in 15 minutes; 20 pounds of rice balls in 30 minutes, or around 12 percent of his body weight. Most notably, he was the first person to devour 50 hot dogs at the Nathan's Fourth of July contest on Coney Island, nearly doubling the previous record for the event, the first of six consecutive victories from 2001 through 2006.
"Kobayashi is living in New York, but he will not be at Nathan's tomorrow. The man and the event, having made each other internationally famous, are in a long-running contractual dispute, one which landed Kobayashi in jail after he showed up at last year's contest. Questions abound. Is he trying to blaze a trail for independent eaters? Is he clinging to past glory? Or is he just crazy? According to Rich Shea, one of the Nathan's promoters, Kobayashi has to decide 'whether he's the Che Guevara of gurgitation or the Kenny Powers of power eating.' I spent some time with Kobayashi over the past few weeks in an effort to answer these questions, not to mention a deeper one:
"What goes on in his kitchen?"
Contador's Inconvenient Talent
"While he rides in the Tour de France as its defending champion, Alberto Contador awaits the decision of a panel of judges that could find him guilty of a doping violation—a decision that would strip him of his titles. It's no surprise to anyone that cycling fans have been booing him lustily all over France," begins an interesting piece from the Wall Street Journal.
"Contador's Tour isn't off to a crackling start. An opening-day pileup put him more than a minute behind his rivals and he was nipped at the line during Tuesday's stage by Australian Cadel Evans. But if he climbs back into the mix in the mountains, as he's more than capable of doing, the cycling world needs to prepare for an awkward possibility: This guy could become the greatest stage racer of all time.
"At 28, Contador is still young by Tour de France standards. He could conceivably keep winning into his mid-30s, which would allow him to win the five more titles he'd need to break Lance Armstrong's record of seven.
"What sets Contador apart from Armstrong and every other cyclist since Frechman Bernard Hinault in the 1980s is that he's also figured out how to win the sport's other two most-prestigious Grand Tour stage races. Contador has won the unbelievably steep and sometimes treacherous Giro d'Italia twice—in 2008 and 2011. He also nabbed one win in 2008 at the Vuelta a España. These wins make him the fifth cyclist in history to win all three and the first to win them all in a little over a calendar year.
"John Eustice, a former professional cyclist and long-time cycling commentator, said that despite the cloud over Contador's head, more wins will put him squarely in the conversation. 'When he gets to a certain mass of victories, they'd have to say 'ok, he's the guy.'' "
Quote of the Day II
"Hi guys! I’m back in usa! now I’m in toronto canada…" - Alexander Ovechkin displaying his vast knowledge of North American geography on Twitter, via SportsGrid.
Quickly
BuzzFeed has spotted a rather uniquely Canadian jersey foul at a CFL game.
Wired's Playbook blog tells us about a study that showed Stanford basketball players improved their times in 282-foot wind sprints by 5% and their free throw and three-point percentages by 9% by the end of a five-to-seven week period in which they aimed to sleep 10 hours a night (and abstained from coffee and alcohol).
Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight doesn't buy NBA owners' claims of financial distress.
Monday was "blind item reveal day" at celebrity gossip site Crazy Days and Nights, and one of them claims that A-Rod and Cameron Diaz had a threesome with Tara Reid. Um... OK?
Ugh. Brett Favre might seriously be thinking about another comeback? Triple ugh.
Best. Jersey Exchange. Ever.
I'm not so sure why the Germans-- the Germans for shit sakes!-- are so prudish about this one, but apparently they found something scandalous about how Swedish women's soccer star Josefine Öqvist exchanged her jersey with a fan after a match against North Korea the other day.
(via Off The Bench)
