Morning Link Dump - 02/11/10
Obligatory Sports Babe
It’s right back to the well and the just-released Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. But today we’ll get topical and go with American skiier (or… something) Lindsey Vonn, whose Olympic games are in jeopardy because of a shin bruise, according to CTVOlympics.ca.
Gayest. Olympics. Ever.
No, seriously. According to Vanessa Richmond of Alternet, “the Olympics are coming out of the closet. These Games will have the first-ever Pride House.” She adds that “people are saying, in short, it will be the gayest Olympics ever [see?—Ed.]. Not only because of the Pride Houses, or the number of out athletes, but because being gay won't be an invisible part of these Games.” Cool.
The Onion: Huge Chunk Of Nation You'd Never Want To Meet Excited For Daytona 500
“Although you are more interested in the pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training in a few days, or even the upcoming Winter Olympics, a significant chunk of society that you are aware of but would rather have nothing to do with is very much looking forward to the Daytona 500, NASCAR's season-opening race,” says The Onion, who are probably about to imply that NASCAR fans are rednecks. “Man, it'll sure be good to see them hitting the banking on that tri-oval," said a man in a camouflage jacket and an advertising-emblazoned mesh-back cap who made you feel less intelligent just by speaking aloud.
Winter Olympic Power Rankings
Fan IQ gives us their list of the best of “a bunch of sports you haven’t watched since the last Winter Olympics,” starting with hockey, and ending with a somewhat surprising entry: curling. Though, if you happened to catch any of last Sunday’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts final between team Canada and PEI, you may have noticed that somewhere along the line a bunch of women’s curlers became not too bad looking at all. Seriously.
Are The Olympics As Useless As I Think?
“I have been struck by how many acquaintances had no idea until recently that this was an Olympic year. The 2008 Beijing Games arrived with a siren’s blare of anticipation; the Vancouver Games are being delivered like a note passed secretly around the classroom,” writes Jeré Longman of the New York Times. “It raises the question: have the Winter Games outlived their usefulness, given the altered sports calendar, changing viewing habits and the fall of the Berlin Wall?”
Quickly
The Boston Globe’s Big Picture section has some huge, hi res images of Canada’s torch relay.
Fanhouse wonders just how much better NBA All-Star Weekend’s amateur dunk contest, the Sprite Showdown Dunk Contest, will be than the real thing.
The great Willie Mays was on the Daily Show last night, and it’s well worth checking out once it comes online.
Uh… someone at Maple Street Press probably should have taken a second look at the placement of the photo on this one.
Because I’m Still Not Quite Entirely Sick Of Hearing How Awesome It Is That The Saints Won
This video was blowing up yesterday. I grabbed the link here from Deadspin, but saw it a bunch of other places during my travels on the internet. It’s of Saints QB Drew Brees at a ictory party in the Big Easy at a bar called Lucy’s, leading the crowd in a “pregame-style chant” that ends in such genuine emotion that it almost makes me forget that the Yankees won the World Series.
