December 12, 2010

Links

The Head and the Heart, 'The Head and the Heart': This six piece started out by meeting at an open mic at a bar in Seattle before forming a band together with one of the bartenders. A year later they are the next big thing to come out of the Pacific Northwest following their self-titled debut. Often compared to Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, and Avett Brothers, the band has already opened for Vampire Weekend and Dave Matthews just a few months out from their initial release. Get in while you can.

Could McDaniels Be the Next Belicheck?: I'm always interested as to why so many offensive and defensive coordinators in the NFL get absurd salaries as first year head coaches based on their pedigree alone. Every year teams pay a fortune to pay for these guys, even if they are completely unproven as head coaches on any level. This practice seems to be much less prevalent in the NBA or MLB - there's some poaching of hitting and pitching coaches in baseball, though not necessarily for head coaching jobs. Funny, given that football is much more of team sport; you'd think head coaching experience would seem to be at a premium in the NFL versus the other pro leagues. 

The Andy Irons Story: It might be a while before we get the true story on the passing of Andy Irons, but this article has some pretty shocking revelations of the surfing industry, a sport that apparently doesn't do any drug testing of its athletes and is dominated by its sponsors. Hopefully Iron's legacy will help lead to clearing paths to help for those in need.

Another Reason to Avoid Pizza Hut: It's bad enough these soccer players had to face a racist restaurant manager when they went out to eat a meal. That the restaurant was a Pizza Hut makes it all the worse.

Hidden Height in a Country of Billions: There's a 14 year old out of India who aspires to be the first NBA player from his country. It might help that he's already seven feet tall and 250 pounds. I once met an NBA scout in Asia who told me there were literally hundreds of seven footers throughout the region who have yet to be discovered. Guess we'll be exporting the job of "uncoordinated backup NBA center prone to fouls" from Kansas

It's a Friction Eat Friction World Out There: This is one of the best articles I have read putting into perspective what the future of the internet will look like. The conclusion is timeless and entirely worth getting to.

These text to film videos have made for some pretty funny videos ranging on topics from attending law school to the Bernanke. This one about the I-phone is the most popular so far (language NSFW):

December 2, 2010

World Cup Times for the US

Here are how the next three World Cups will break down timewise in the US (all times based on South Africa's 1:30pm/4pm/8:30pm schedule). At least Brazil 2014 (and the 2016 Olympics in Rio) should be relatively easy to follow.

Brazil 2014: +1 hrs from EST
12:30am/3:00pm/7:30pm

Russia 2018: +8 hrs from EST
5:30am/8:00am/12:30pm

Qatar 2022: +7 hrs from EST
6:30am/9:00am/1:30pm