Short and sweet. It's been that kind of week. Tip o' the cap to e-gus for the title inspiration.
Of course, the Bears are playing the Seahawks today, and there's no doubt Chicago will pull it off. They just have to, right?
Discussing his potential bullpen usage in 2011, Will Ohman says, "A role is something you eat with dinner."
A new reality TV show featuring upstanding young women that physically engage professional athletes because of their work ethic and moral righteousness is rumored to be in the works.
What has Jim Joyce been up to since his blown call that ruined Armando Galarraga's perfecto? Playing solitaire in his garage, mostly. This interview with Joyce is pretty good; I'm still touched by the outpouring of sympathy in the days after that fateful game. Also, Galarraga is in a pinch of his own, as he is projected as Detroit's 6th starter.
Willie Harris Watch 2011 begins as the 4th outfielder signs with the Mets.
In the Occasionally the Old larry Is Missed Department, this segment of Merkin's mailbox could use a good old-fashioned take down: "Joe Crede is healthy. Why not sign him to a one-year deal? He's an All-Star," asks Jack's complete lack of surprise.
From Mental Floss, a short history of scoreboards, including a great shot of the original exploding version at Old Comiskey.
Omar Vizquel has been on the field during exactly 1000 HBPs, with only 49 HBP of his own. How does Plunk Everyone do it? I have a massive amount of respect for people that put together random stats like this, including many here on SSS. It's one of the many reasons I love baseball so dearly. People may call these "useless stats," but that's not at all the way I believe they should be viewed. They open up a new facet to the game that can be analyzed, discussed or simply marveled. Also from PE, I love pbr's BACON stat.
U.S. Cellular received good health code marks last year. Of course, in true Chicago fashion, it's not inspected during games when vendors are actually making or serving food. That 75-100% health code violation map is pretty cute, too. I blame wu.
Around the AL Central, the Tigers' new toy, Brad Penny, is analyzed over at BlessYouBoys. The Tigers also signed Joel Zumaya for a year and inked a two year deal with Ryan Raburn. Jeff Francis is added to the Royals rotation to some aplomb at RoyalsReview, Bruce Chen is back at it, and Alex Gordon and Luke Hochevar avoid arbitration (here and here, respectively).
The Twins remained inactive. No transactions there. Nope. Move along.
Since it wasn't mentioned in this fanpost from 2ndHalfAdjustments, The Hardball Times gives us the ol' basics of constructing lineups.
For more baseball links, these were shared by U-God.
From T-Dogg: Did the Twins or White Sox have a better decade, from 2001-2010? They're welcoming SSS commenters over there, but keep it civil, eh?
From some guy that calls himself The Cheat, Steve Bartman can finally sleep at night.
Oh, and for the love of all things holy, scroll down and listen to 67WMAQ interview Hawk. If you, for some ungodly reason, were not excited for the 2011 season before, that should put you in the mood.