Tuesday Tidbits

Well, well, well. Ticket day is finally here. I have absolutely no idea why it's on a Tuesday instead of the typical Monday, but whatever. I'll go. I'll stand in line, and I'll purchase tickets, ones that are not for a friggin' soccer match, but for Broncos-Chiefs at Arrowhead in September. We'll have some Traditional words later this evening, but until then, it'll be mostly baseball with a hint of football and a microscopic shred of hockey and soccer.

Here's a discussion you've never even heard of before: the popularity of hockey in America. JP from Pyle of List converses with Steve from Kukla's Corner. They cover all of the bases: Canada and the game's popularity there; television ratings; comparisons with the other three major sports; league marketing; and general American knowledge (or lack) of the game. Know matter what side of the crease you stand in, it's a good read.

(Tip to The Big Lead)

In a related story, Awful Announcing lets us know that lots of soccer will be on television, starting next month. Can't wait.

There's a theme going here: take really bad TV, and make it worse. How, you say? Simple: add Michael Irvin. There's one more (deal-sealing) reason I'll never subscribe to the NFL Network.

Fire Joe Morgan takes us from really bad annunciating to really bad number crunching with Yahoo's Jeff Passan, who somehow has concocted a formula that suggests the Royals will win the AL Central. Like so many of us, Mr. Passan appears to be a homer in this bit, as his previous place of employment was, yep: writing for The Kansas City Star. I hope the veteran soothsayer didn't catch last night's "contest" between the Royals and the Tigers, the one that I likely jinxed, the one in which reliever Jimmy Gobble gave up 10 runs in the eighth, which preceded Tony Pena, Jr.'s three-up-three-down ninth.

Rest assured that times are indeed good when your backup shortstop outpitches a four-year reliever. I really enjoyed all three headlines associated with that game wrap that MLB.com delivers via one lone click: "Tigers take out frustrations on Royals;" "Tigers trounce Royals;" and "Tigers feast on Royals."

Elsewhere in baseball, Mark over at Bugs and Cranks apparently doesn't care for the NL West teams not named the Rockies:

In a further effort to less confuse things, I’m just going to morph LA and Arizona into one giant ball of baseball suck named: The Dodgerbacks.

Andy, on the other hand, is certain that the D'bags are still better than the Rockies, as Arizona's first-place tie with L.A. does or doesn't suggest.

Finally, Kissing Suzy Kolber shares this stroke of genius with us all:



They also have a post where a fetus (that hates the Chiefs) talks with T.J. Houshmanzadeh. It makes zero sense; I guess Monday Morning Punter must be a Broncos fan. Oh, and there's a guest post from Chris Cooley.