Morning Link Dump - 02/18/10
Obligatory Sports Babe
This morning we’ll go with Finnish skater Kiira Korpi, who… is probably at the Olympics in Vancouver. I don’t actually know—though I do know that she’s been all over the internet because of her outstanding stripping cop routine at the European Championships last month. That’ll do.
Worldwide Wes
“If you look closely at the various forces at work in basketball at every level of the sport—the AAU programs that funnel players to college programs, the agents looking to land players as early as NBA rules allow, the shoe companies, coaches, franchise owners, front-office executives, players—it eventually dawns on you that they have one thing in common: William Wesley,” says GQ in a profile of the man they suggest may be the most powerful in sports.
Tell Us How You Really Feel, Stephen Brunt
“The hammering which the Vancouver Games are taking right now in the international press is not merely a case of cynical, bored reporters willfully ignoring silver linings,” writes the Globe’s Stephen Brunt at CTVOlympics.ca. “There have been problems here. Some of them are the result of unforeseeable circumstances, of acts of God, some have been wildly overblown. And some are absolutely real and simply inexcusable, the unhappy byproduct of taking calculated risks, of incompetence and design flaws and bad planning exposed at the very worst time.“
Firing Back At The Naysayers
Aaaand on the other hand, “Vancouver 2010 has had its trials and tribulations, but nothing can take away from the enjoyment and enthusiasm that permeates the days and nights here in Whistler and, from what I've seen, in Vancouver, too,” says Tom Harrington of the CBC, fighting back against the smarmy British media an their quick decision to write-off Vancouver’s games. “.Pronouncing the Games a disaster now is far too premature and even, dare I say, not cricket.”
Quickly
From NESW Sports, Hitler makes a Hitler YouTube video.
Speaking of derivative things, here’s a mashup of some pretty good clips at Sports Untapped.
Phil Taylor of Sports Illustrated examines body issues in ski jumping. What are they, jockeys?
Totally The Best Unaired Super Bowl Commercial
I have no idea why they wouldn’t, but according to BuzzFeed this amazing Old Spice commercial wasn’t shown during the Super Bowl. They decided to keep it digital and rely on people like me to spread it around, apparently. Well… OK.
