Morning Link Dump - 07/30/10
Obligatory Sports Babe
This morning we'll go with Katherine Connors, the reigning Miss Iowa, who will throw out the first pitch at tonight's Washington Nationals game. This came about after, earlier in the week, Nats pitcher Miguel Batista, who started in place of phenom Stephen Strasburg and was booed for it, said he understood the crowd's reaction, explaining, "Imagine if you go to see Miss Universe, then you end up having Miss Iowa, you might get those kind of boos." Ouch! He's since apologized to the lovely Miss Iowa.
Quote of the Day
"My father used to say if pitchers were smart then no one would ever hit above .200." - Former deputy MLB commissioner Steve Greenberg, son of legendary hitter Hank Greenberg, in a Wall Street Journal article on why more pitchers don't end up as managers.
Even Gangs Embarrassed to Support the Raiders
"There’s an interesting stealth sports merchandise trend going on here in Los Angeles that, until now, has been under the radar for most folks outside of SoCal," explains Sports By Brooks. "For decades, Raiders gear has been the team of choice in L.A. gang culture, but in the past 2-3 years, local sports team affiliation has changed dramatically for those involved in that type of organized criminal activity. The Dodgers have now clearly gained most-favored status among Los Angeles gang members."
A New Golf Phenom?
"Bobby Wyatt shot a 57 at the Alabama Boys State Junior Championship. The University of Alabama-bound teen, who turns 18 this weekend, had 12 birdies, an eagle and five pars Wednesday on the par-71, 6,628-yard course at the Country Club of Mobile," explains an AP report on an incredible round via NBC News. "The previous low round in the State Junior was 61 by Glenn Northcutt in 2004 on a par-70 layout which measured just over 5,000 yards."
Least. Shocking. News. Ever.
"An academic report in the U.K. has revealed what many sport aficionados have always suspected: referees are influenced by their nationality when it comes to making decisions on the pitch," reports the Wall Street Journal. "After analyzing two major rugby competitions of opposing clubs from different countries—rugby union's Super 14 and rugby league's Super League—the researchers discovered that when the referee shared the same nationality as one of the teams playing, they were more prone to giving their nation's team a significant advantage."
Quote of the Day, II
"We looked into the situation thoroughly and found that Arash did not properly identify himself as a reporter or clearly state his intentions to write a story. As a result, we are not comfortable with the content, even in an edited version, because of the manner in which the story was reported. We've been discussing the situation with Arash and he completely understands. To be clear, the decisions to pull the prematurely published story and then not to run it were made completely by ESPN editorial staff without influence from any outside party." - Rob King, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief, ESPN Digital Media, on the now-infamous pulled LeBron story, via Out of Bounds.
Quickly
For those of you who are inclined to a) rugby and b) drinking, Welsh Rugby Blog has got the Rugby World Cup drinking game for you!
Midwest Sports Fans was into the debate about who's the greatest, Kobe or MJ, with an extremely detailed post that's sure to settle the issue for absolutely no one.
How do you not absolutely adore the San Diego Padres' throwback jerseys? Check them out here, for sale on Amazon (which... um... apparently sells baseball jerseys now).
The picture of the day over at Total Pro Sports is a gem: Justin Bieber on ice-- that is, as a hockey player in his pre-fame days.
Some poster at Reddit noticed that someone over at ESPN must be dyslexic.
It wasn't quite good enough to bother embedding, but I actually kind of found this YouTube clip of some harness racing from the vantage of the starting gate car kind of an interesting watch.
Tossing a Beer to a Kitesurfer? Tossing a Beer to a Kitesurfer
And lastly, here we've got a nifty little video of a kitesurfer off the Florida coast who's approached a boat to spend some time skimming along in its wake, only to have the boaters take a shine to him, and to toss him a beer for his troubles. Nice!
