Baseball

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Wednesday Link-Off: That Indie Spirit

I’ve never heard of Emily Ratajkowski before (apparently she’s an actress in addition to being a model) and clearly that’s a massive oversight.

When the most popular wrestler in the WWE is Daniel Bryan and the least popular is John Cena, you know that independent wrestling is slowly taking over the major pro wrestling landscape. (Grantland)

We all know about The Masters tournament thanks to the many poetic stories from golf scribes and the endless TV coverage of the event but here’s the real story of Augusta during Masters Week. (The Awl)

Depending on the day of the week, ESPN’s Skip Bayless is either a troll or a moron. So it’s nice when an ESPN employee takes Skip down on his own show. (Awful Announcing)

After the jump, what scares Ilya Bryzgalov, which parts to buy for your desktop and we’re riding Solo… Han Solo, that is. Continue reading →

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Sunday Link-Off: Happy Easter Time

Despite the fact that I’m an atheist, even I’m willing to admit we’re more SEO-friendly by referencing Easter. Anyway, here’s Xenia Deli. She’s a Beach Bunny Swimwear model along with another famous model who we’ll have a little later on.

We all know that athletic departments wield serious power on college campuses but nothing rivals the sway of Notre Dame’s football program. Sexual assault accusations against Fighting Irish football players tend to end badly for the accuser. (Deadspin)

As Jackie mentioned yesterday, Chevy Chase is in the middle of a feud with Community creator Dan Harmon. What he didn’t mention is that Chase has a pretty lengthy history of being an asshole. (Gawker)

Darren Dreger gets a lot more respect from fans and media than I remember him getting while at Sportsnet. I’m not saying that TSN’s PR machine has turned him into a respectable inside but it is a remarkable change from host to insider. Anyway, he’s still an idiot. His Vezina vote is for Marc-Andre Fleury despite the mountain of evidence that suggests that Fleury is a below average netminder. (Driving Play)

After the jump, Tim McCarver’s greatest fear, EA tries to make amends for ruining BioWare and a Nickelback parody. Continue reading →

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Join The Lowdown Blog 2012 Fantasy Baseball Pool

If you thought that we were only hockey, football and Formula One fans around here at The Lowdown Blog, you would’ve been wrong. We’re also baseball fans. This year, we’ve got a couple of different rotisserie baseball pools for you to join.

The first is a classic rotisserie league. You compete against the rest of the league on ten different traditional roto stats including runs, home runs, RBIs, stolen bases, batting average, strikeouts, pitcher wins, saves, ERA and WHIP. Click here to join the classic LowdownBlog.com Roto Pool.

Our other rotisserie baseball league is based on Moneyball. Bill James would be proud of this fantasy pool because we’ve picked ten stats that follow the classic Moneyball principles. These stats are runs, extra base hits, RBIs, pitches per plate appearance, OPS, pitcher wins, ERA, WHIP, strikeouts per nine innings and saves plus holds. Click here to join the LowdownBlog.com Moneyball Roto Pool.

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Wednesday Link-Off: #3

I should be playing Mass Effect 3 right now but my hard drive had to suffer a catastrophic failure in January and cost me two (and a half) saved characters. But with ME3 out yesterday, it’s only fitting to lead-off with Yvonne Strahovski.

We all know that Rush Limbaugh is a moronic, misogynistic blowhard whose views lower the intelligence of everyone that hears them. Fortunately, after his latest tirade and thanks to the power of social media, Rush’s advertisers are leaving in droves. (Think Progress)

Speaking of advertising, since the NBA is expecting over two-thirds of teams to lose money this season, they’re looking at selling ads on jerseys. (Sporting News)

Mass Effect 3 is out! Let me repeat that to reflect my excitement: MASS EFFECT THREE!!!!!1!!3! Here’s a pretty detailed, but not spoilerish, review. (Kotaku)

After the jump, Valve’s secret project, another reason why newspapers are dying and the obligatory ME3 trailer. Continue reading →

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Angels In The Outfield (The Complete Movie)

So baseball’s most coveted free agent, Albert Pujols, has left St. Louis high and dry and will become a Los Angeles Angel of Anaheim (of California of America of Earth of the Terran Solar System of the Milky Way Galaxy of the Known Universe). He signed a ten-year, $250 million dollar contract. In other personnel news, they signed one of the of free agent pitchers in C.J. Wilson. It’s almost like a miracle occurred for Angels fans.

And that (along with jet lag) brings us to this post. To celebrate what Angels fans will likely eventually come to know as the Failed Free Agent Miracle of 2011, here’s video of the last Angels miracle. It’s the 1994 movie Angels In The Outfield. Continue reading →

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Wednesday Link-Off: The Short End

She may have not won any awards at the Emmys but I think it’s safe to say that Nina Dobrev won the Emmys on Sunday. Did I mention that she’s Canadian.

Is Floyd “Money” Mayweather a piece of shit or a cheating piece of shit? Money won his fight against Victor Ortiz by knockout after legally sucker punching him. But what damage did he do to himself and boxing? (Grantland)

Brian Wilson has some pumped up kicks. He was rocking the Marty McFly shoes at a recent game. (Business Insider)

And speaking of baseball, guess who’s coming back to Canada? Hazel Mae is on her way back to Rogers Sportsnet. (Fang’s Bites) Let’s see the morning SportsCentre compete with her.

After the jump, NSFW sports moments, the Buffett tax and Coach wins an Emmy. Continue reading →

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Wednesday Link-Off: Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Because she’s doing her country proud and accompanying Sgt. Scott Moore to the Marine Ball, here’s Mila Kunis.

It was the end of an era two weeks ago as Friday Night Lights aired its series finale. It was easily the greatest sports show ever made. (New York Post)

It’s only appropriate that on the week of baseball’s All-Star Game, this gem of a story is re-unearthed. It’s the story of Dock Ellis pitching a no-hitter on LSD. (Deadspin)

To see if it was possible, Deadspin Editor-In-Chief AJ Daulerio tried to recreate the feat using MLB 2K11 on the XBox 360. His effort was filmed and posted for posterity. (Deadspin on Acid)

After the jump, Joe Buck is willing to shut up for us, the best of Top Gear and the return of DJ Steve Porter. Continue reading →

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Sunday Link-Off: Happy Easter

It’s Easter Sunday. Since it’s been a while since we’ve featured her and since she’s been in Playboy, here’s Olivia Munn.

Just in time for Easter, ESPN has a list of each country’s highest paid athlete. Surprisingly, Canada’s highest paid athlete isn’t a hockey player. (ESPN)

Not among those high paid athletes are relief pitchers for the Clearwater Threshers who resort to fundraising while in the bullpen to make some extra coin. (The XLog)

And with the wedding of the century this coming Friday, here’s Gourmet Spud’s look at Jay-Z’s wedding vows… Yeah, even I’ll admit that segue both sucked and blew. Just hit the damn link. (Food Court Lunch)

After the jump, the NHL’s best goal horns, how happy the world is and how to destroy Easter eggs. Continue reading →

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Wednesday Link-Off: Play Ball

It’s Wednesday! Wednesday! Gotta get down on Wednesday! Sorry, I’ll eventually stop those jokes. Anyway, here’s Brooklyn Decker.

What happens when an April Fools joke is joked itself? Well, that’s what happened when some techies at USC made GMail Motion a reality. (New York Times)

Planning on going to a baseball game this season? You might want to plan your visit around one of these crazy promotions. (Mental Floss)

Just because March Madness is over doesn’t mean that bracket madness is over. Now we’ve got the bracket for the most powerful person in sports. (Business Insider)

After the jump, the future of beer vendors, betting on WrestleMania 27, and Colbert gets down on Friday. Continue reading →

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Sunday Link-Off: Opening Weekend

I’m back for another edition of the Sunday links. This one is slightly less rushed than Wednesday’s edition but to make up for that one, here’s Lowdown favourite Kate Upton.

WrestleMania 27 is tonight in Atlanta. I’m excited because The Rock will be there an almost certainly make an impact. Even more exciting is the fact that you can bet on the outcome of the matches. (Bodog)

As we kick off the 2011 MLB season, legendary baseball writer and statistician Bill James laments the lack of quality up-and-coming sports writers. (Slate)

It’s easy to understand his concern when you realize that computers are pumping out better game stories than real writers. (Deadspin)

After the jump, some more baseball links, hot women won’t go Dutch and Everybody Loves Raymond goes to Russia. Continue reading →