Links of the Week: The Beatles, Google Wave, and ESPN’s Eventual Domination in the World of Sports

Last night, the White Sox’ Mark Buehrle did what has been done only 24 times in the 100+ year history of Major League Baseball. He threw his first perfect game. Being a Cub fan, Buerhle has always been the one member of the Sox I’ve actually rooted for, mainly because A) He basically won me fantasy baseball league single handedly on a couple of occasions, and B) I like his style on the mound and C) He's not AJ Pierzynski. He’s quick, throws a lot of strikes, and many of his games are over before it hits the three-hour mark.

One thing I’ve always wondered about Buerhle: why has he never really been a “big name” pitcher before?

Sure, Buehrle has thrown a no hitter a couple years back, and he’s also been the ace of the Sox’ staff for the better majority of the decade, but you never hear his name mentioned in the “Best Pitchers in Baseball” discussion. Could this be because the Sox play second fiddle to the Cubs in Chicago, and even more so in the rest of the country? Even yesterday, I was listening to the radio, and already the hosts of that particular show were questioning if Buehrle’s perfect game was really a better feat than the 20 strikeout performance by Kerry Wood in 1998.

So, on the thought of paying respect where’s due, begrudging as it may be, I congratulate White Sox fans for having Mark Buerhle, one of the best pitchers in the game. Also, I bequeath to you, the Links of the Week:

Now, usually I would never (read: NEVER) link to anything positive about Ohio State, but Club Trillion is a blog written by Ohio State hoops player Mark Titus. Why call it Club Trillion? Well, first you must know Titus sits on the bench 99% of the game. And because basketball stat sheets begin with “Minutes Played”, his stats generally are “1” and about 12 0’s after. (Thus, a trillion). Well, not every Club Trillion Blog is technically SFVL (Safe for ValpoLife), but this particular edition, called “Love in an Elevator” is a must-read, and I guarantee you will laugh out loud at least once whilst reading this blogging excellence.

If you have 21 seconds of free time today, watch the most spectacular wheelbarrow race, ever. I have no doubts in saying, if this was an Olympic event, we’d have challengers to Michael Phelps’ medal count.

Ok, so imagine I am a hot-shot TV producer, and you are an executive ready to hear the best idea ever. I come in to the room ready to pitch an idea. I sit you down, and prepare you for greatness. I calmly say, “I’ve got a great idea for a TV show. I'll take Shaquille O’Neal, a 7 foot-4, 300-plus pound basketball player, and face him off against the world's best in sports like tennis and boxing. And then televise it!” Does that sound like something you’d be interested in?

In the latest episode of ESPN Takes Over the World, ESPN has launched satellite websites in LA, Dallas, and New York, in response to the success of ESPN Chicago, which was launched just a month or so ago. This piece in the New York Times looks at the World Wide Leader’s response to a growing desire for more regionalized reporting on sports, but what goes unsaid here, is the effect this will have on local newspapers and TV stations. It has long been thought that ESPN was too nationally focused, so the regional networks (like, say, Comcast Sportsnet) could survive for perpetuity. It is clear now that ESPN has focused on dominating the conversation, which, as we learned this week, may not be the best turn of events to come to sports media.

This feature story from GQ may have come out a while ago, but did you know the NBA has it’s own version of Pulp Fiction’s Mr. Wolf? For those of you who are unfamiliar with the classic film, Mr. Wolf’s job is to “fix things”. I’ll let you read in to that what you will, but without further ado I introduce to you, Worldwide Wes.

OMG! We’re only a little more than a month away from what could potentially be the highest selling video game of all time: Rock Band: The Beatles! There are going to be over 30 songs from the Beatles collection that you will be able to play all of the tracks to, Guitar Hero-style. There is a 73% chance that after September 9, you will not see me again until the new year.

Ok, I watched about the first have of the Google Wave Preview video, and I have to say, I’m amazingly impressed. Google has launched what could be a communication breakthrough. Live instant messaging? Email chains that could be endless? Simultaneous wiki-style project editing? Wow. If you don’t understand what ‘wiki-style project editing’ means, click here. If you do, click here.

I’ve written about ESPN’s Streak for the Cash before, and I stand by my word: This is the greatest thing ESPN has ever released. It’s been a rough week for The World-Wide Leader, but one aspect of ESPN remains at it’s peak: On Thursday, I fake bet on Cycling, Professional Darts twice, the WNBA, and the final at-bat of a major league pitcher, all within 24 hours. If you can’t get excited about that, you can’t get excited about anything. Period.

Remember as a kid, you would wait for a movie to come out. All of the reviews from people who saw it loved it. “It was awesome.” “I couldn’t believe it.” So, you’d go to the theatre and see it, and the movie ended up totally sucking? Well, the LeBron James ‘Dunked-On’ video (yes, that LeBron James video) turned up on ebuamnation a couple of days ago. I could not be more disappointed. It was like The Matrix: Reloaded all over again.

Until next time, enjoy the Links of this Week.