Welcome. It’s a week and a half until my birthday, in case you were saving up to buy a complete set of DVDs with the 1987 and ’88 NBA Finals to send to New York as a present. Anyway, on to this week’s links:
* Chuck Klosterman, a North Dakota boy who once worked at The Fargo Forum — where both Fury and TV also worked at various times (connections) — has been named the new ethicist at the New York Times. Here’s the piece introducing Klosterman and here’s a previous column he did in the role. It should be entertaining.
* Tiger Woods’ texting scandal was much more exciting. Phil Mickelson made news last week when he withdrew from The Memorial and cited mental fatigue as the reason. Mickelson was also reportedly upset with the hundreds of cell phone pictures being taken during his round and actually texted the PGA commissioner — while playing — to express his concern.
* For fans of The Wire, Maxim magazine put together an oral history of the show, with interviews with the stars and creators. [Insert obligatory quote from The Wire that sums up how cool this must be for those who loved the show, ideally something that also relates to our public school system and the war on drugs.]
* Legendary Twin Cities media man Dark Star died last week and his longtime friend and colleague Patrick Reusse wrote a nice column one on of the more unique characters in Minnesota.
* TV here, and I’ve got a link from The Wire, too, which is a fantastic show that offers unfettered insight into several segments of modern society. While I’m not going to advocate that everyone be required to watch, I wouldn’t be opposed to, say, making those who haven’t wear prison-style uniforms.
Here’s what The Wire would look like as a musical. “Omar tap dancin’, yo.”
* For the first time in months (maybe), there won’t be any NBA games tonight. Frankly, I’m terrified. How will we entertain ourselves from 7:30-10:30? What will we be able to overreact about on Twitter? All joking aside, the playoffs are a blast – and rife with good and bad (ahem, Skip Bayless) journalism. I hope the new generation of writers are soaking in as much as possible.
Deadspin, for example, delivered Friday with a not-all-snarky piece about the idea of “hero ball” in the NBA. Great timing. Good to see the site mature with age.
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