First and foremost, allow me to apologize for the unexplained shutdown of GameTime, TBD© for the past two months. Not to make excuses (cue the excuses), but a lot has gone done around the offices over the past two months. There is a possible announcement looming on the horizon that will likely have a dramatic impact on our little corner of the world wide web, and, while things remain in limbo, I did not want to hold out on you, my avid readers, any longer. When you mix holding out for a final decision to be made with actual work and the various holidays, you get two months of silence around these parts. But we are back up and running at full speed for the indefinite future, and I will obviously, as I always do, keep you all in the loop if and when any developments actually occur.
Yes, I know that does not necessarily make up for two months of radio silence, not even a sympathy post featuring a picture of an attractive female celebrity, but I do hope you will find it in your hearts to forgive me.
Before we get to the goods [Editor's Note: that's what she said!], I wanted to briefly update you on a couple of topics:
- The Boston Red Sox kick-off the "second half" of their season tonight with a 55-35 record and holding a game-and-a-half lead over the New York Yankees in the American League East. After starting the season 2-10, Boston remembered they were supposed to win a lot of games this season and started doing just that. And that has been great for my little "science experiment". At the start of play today (read: pre-bet), my co-scientist and I were up $329.77 on the season. But things did not always look so pretty. We reached a season low $-123.43 on April 15th after a 7-6 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. From there, we did not reach positive figures until a 15-5 win over the Chicago Cubs on May 20th. After bouncing back and forth between positive and negative territory for the next few games, we have remained in the green since an 8-6 win over the Oakland A's on June 3rd. Since then, it has been a steady climb to current season-high of $329.77. You may be asking how I know all of this. Well, I can be a little anal retentive, so I have a complex spreadsheet tracking everything. Shocking, I know.
- I am a fan of smart television; that is why most of the shows I grow to love get canceled before they should. Since the main networks prefer to pander to the lowest common denominator, shows like Sports Night, Life, Veronica Mars, Studio 60, Friday Night Lights, and Freaks and Geeks do not survive (the average-American viewer is too dumb to understand them . . . yeah, I went there). Which brings me to the Women's World Cup (totally saw that one coming, right?). Perhaps the smartest thing ESPN has ever done (more on this below) was to bring Ian Darke in as their main soccer play-by-play man. Why is that you ask? Well, not only is Mr. Darke a genius with his calls (see, e.g., (1) "Oh, it's INCREDIBLE!"; (B) "It is an AB-solute FIRECRACKER . . ."; (iii) "CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?"; and (d) and the always simple, "It's a GOAL!"), but he is actually a genius. He displays his intelligence through his word choice and dry sense of humor, or "Darkeisms". If you actually listen to the things he says throughout the course of the game (like when the ball is just being passed around the midfield), I guarantee you will laugh at least a half-dozen times, probably more. For example, only a few short minutes before Abby Wambach scored possibly the most dramatic goal in U.S. Soccer history (sorry Landycakes) against Brazil, with the ball out of play and U.S defender Ali Krieger desperately trying to retrieve it, Darke dropped this classic "Darkeism": "The ball went out of play there, and a retinue of intellectuals decided they'd hand it around among themselves before throwing it back." Legen . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . . dary.
- I am going to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 2 tonight . . . yeah, you read that correctly.
Anyways, I apologize again for the delay in getting things back up and running. So, without further adieu, I present to you our first Link Dump in two months to help get you through your Friday:
- In non-sports related news, for all you beer lovers out there, here are some ideas for your next vacation . . .
- . . . and, apparently Groupon does things a little differently over in Europe.
- Sports Illustrated put together a list of the Top 100 sports-related twitter feeds not named @GameTimeTBD that you should be following.
- ESPN, raising the bar of the stupid decisions since 2011.
- But what about "Always pay cash"?
- Your feel-good story of the week comes from the (sing it Dre!) city of Compton.
- You expect me to believe that a guy with nearly a billion dollars in the bank and who is making at least $20 million in endorsements is possibly running out of money? Right.
- "Reagan Kennedy says she's now working toward her ultimate golf goal - beating her father." Daddy issues already?
- Dear Lord, not another Hopoate-style incident. And for those of you now asking "What the [censored] is "Netball"?", here you go.
I am taking a calculated risk with this week's Link Dump return: less articles, more videos. What do you think? I figured it is the end of a long summer week, you are tired, and likely do not want to waste time reading things. So why not go heavy with videos? You will thank me later:
- With an assist from the bikini-clad smokeshows in the pool.
- Dear Dude, Can you please stop singing? There is an attractive woman working the pole behind you. Kthxbye.
- Things Dwyane Wade loses to: (1) the Dallas Mavericks; (b) basketball nets; (iii) six-year-old basketball players even when he tries to abuse his height advantage.
- We are not Giants fans here at GameTime, TBD©, but know a good number of our readers are. So, to them, here is a reminder that The Franchise: A Season with the San Francisco Giants premiered this week on Showtime.
- Ever wonder what happens when you let Real Madrid practice at UCLA?
- Could this video have been the breakthrough in NFL labor negotiations?
- What is a talk show host to do if he accidentally books two comedians for the same night? Follow Conan's lead.
- Wedding entrance fail? Wedding entrance fail.
- First Justin Bieber and now Rebecca Black? How else would you expect him to respond?
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