WEIRD COLLECTION OF LINKS AND STUFF

* Let's start things off with the worst moment of this guy's life. Ouch. It was his own fault for proposing during a Nationals/Astros game. At least pick a game featuring good team, buddy. One time back in my house league baseball days, the opposing coach came onto the field since one of his players seemed to be injured. The coach's girlfriend (and unofficial team doctor, I guess) came onto the field with the first aid kit. The player then recovered and the coach pulled out a ring and proposed to his girlfriend right there at home plate. What I remember the most about that incident is our team's coach quickly walking up and down our bench warning us to "not say a word." Let's just say we had a snarky bunch of guys on the roster.

* There weren't many things on Arrested Development that were unintentionally funny, but I always got a kick out of the fact that the second Marta was way less attractive than the first Marta. For non-fans of the show, one of the first-season plotlines was that Michael was in love with his brother's girlfriend, Marta. The phrase 'most beautiful woman he has ever seen' was thrown around, and the first actress cast in the role (Leonor Varela) at least looked the part. After one episode, however, the role was recast with the much lesser Patricia Velasquez. Check out their IMDB profiles for a comparison --- for me, at least, there's no contest as to who was more attractive. I dunno what the logic was behind the switch in casting, but the AD producers made a huge mistake.

* Dammit, I guess I'll have to start watching Heroes after all. If I ever met Kristen Bell in real life, I would find it really difficult to keep myself from casually calling her 'Veronica' at all times (also, from proposing marriage). I think I'd get the names mixed up for a lot of actors who are so well-known in one role that you have trouble seeing them outside of it. Someone like, say, Denzel Washington wouldn't be a problem since he is 'Denzel' before he was 'Hurricane Carter,' for instance. But it would be hard to hang out with, say, David Schwimmer and never find yourself slipping in a 'Ross' here and there.

* Ok, so my plan to pick a college football team to follow for the upcoming season has been narrowed down to four. I had a few criteria behind my selections. The team had to be a) competitive but not 'too' good, since I don't want to be a bandwagon jumper, b) a team that didn't have a bunch of crazy Southern fans, so that eliminated most of the SEC and c) a team with a fairly respectable history and tradition, and weren't just one-year wonders (which, unfortunately, eliminated Boise State).

So the final four are, in descending order of likelihood I'll pick them, are...

4. Michigan. On the list just because they're local and because several of my friends are pro-Michigan already. But that's really more of a reason not to pick the Wolverines, just for the sake of having more arguments. Plus, after being a Leafs fan, I'm not sure if I'm ready to follow another team that cock-teases its fans with a championship every season. At least with the Leafs you can tell where they're going in December and you can steel yourself for the upcoming disappointment. With Michigan, you wait until late November with growing anticipation and then BOOM, loss to Ohio State.

2. (tie) Oregon and Oregon State. It's funny, I have both teams ranked the same right now, but if I pick one of them, I will by law have to immediately develop a blood hatred for the other. The big plus in OSU's column is that I'll be cheering for a team called the Beavers, which is just a non-stop comedy buffet. But if I cheer for Oregon, I'll get to potentially buy a horrendously ugly jersey. That's very tempting.

1. LSU. Louisiana is a pretty cool state, and probably my favourite state south of the Bible Belt (a.k.a. the border of crazy). The Tigers always have a good team, though they have countered that over the years with a few years of tremendous sucking, so it's not like they're perennial powerhouses. If David Toms and I ever meet, this gives us an automatic conversation starter. Also, the SEC is the best conference, let's be honest, so being an LSU fan would allow me to see the most competitive games.

* Quick UFC picks for this weekend. Grove, Huerta, Stevenson, GSP and Couture. This is one of those rare UFC events where the people who I think will win are also the people who I want to win, so I'm apt to be disappointed at least once.

* And finally, of course I have to comment on the rumour sweeping the blogosphere that Derek Jeter gave herpes to Jessica Alba. If the FBI looked at crime with the same intensity that anonymous bloggers do to ridiculous rumours like this, nobody would ever get away with anything ever again. I read one 'report' where a guy said that a friend of his worked at a drugstore where Jeter used to come in to get Alba's Valtrex prescription filled. Talk about concrete evidence! Anyway, as much as I would love to point and laugh at Mr. Yankee, this one is kind of far-fetched. Here's my logic...even for a noted ladies' man like Jeter, sleeping with Jessica Alba is a major get. In a situation like this, you've got to step up in a big way. I just can't believe that a guy with a .312 career average with runners in scoring position and a .314 postseason average would fail so spectacularly in a clutch situation by giving Jessica Alba a VD. This is the kind of thing I'd expect from A-Rod. That is, if he could actually get Alba and not some chick in Toronto he takes to strip clubs.