Here’s what made my day better today:

“Talkin Cards! w/ Bob Masters” – Vine by @nickspears | Nick Spears, aka: Bob Masters, talks baseball cards, basketball cards and more! We’re talkin’ cards!

The show, each episode presented in the form of a however-many-seconds vlog on Vine, delivers on both the talkin’ and the cards. It’s one of those things you’ll either roll your eyes at or love forever, and I hope you’ll choose the latter. After the jump is a YouTube compilation of the first seven episodes, so you don’t have to watch it in an autoplaying, auto-muting column (or whatever). Enjoy.

Read the rest of this entry »

Relevant.

Earlier this week, I scoured the Internet to put together my official 2012 Summer Olympics Team USA viewing gear so I could properly cheer on my nation’s best athletes from the comfort of my favorite bars. While I won’t yet reveal what I will be wearing almost every day for the next month – good hygiene be damned – I did think that it was important to help other people scrounge the webs for some last second items to help them also appreciate the best part of the Olympics – dressing like an asshole. This will especially be important for our bevy of Olympics live discussions.

Of course there’s no better place than my favorite time-wasting website, Etsy, to find such championship-caliber gear on short notice. Some people might argue eBay, and with overpriced, poorly produced crap, and lazy shipping policies, I’d agree that eBay is probably more indicative of America. But screw eBay, because Etsy rules. And to prove that point, I’ve dug up 10 awesome American clothing items that you can purchase to wear while the U.S. of A brings home every single medal* on Earth.

Read the rest of this entry »

As we head into the 4th quarter of the NBA season, the Chicago Bulls are the first and only team to have clinched a playoff spot so far, which wouldn’t seem like much of an accomplishment, except that Derrick Rose has missed 17 games this season. Meanwhile, the Miami Heat have entered that “we know we can kill anyone but we’re saving it for the playoffs” phase of their season, which doesn’t mean much, because they’ll still finish in the No. 2 spot – if they don’t gain ground and upend the Bulls, that is – because the Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers most likely aren’t going to catch them.

In the West, the Oklahoma City Thunder showed they’re ready to start the playoffs now, with a 103-87 thrashing of the Heat on Sunday. San Antonio, though, has flown under the radar while becoming the second best team in the conference, and those cranky, grizzled veterans are probably the biggest threat to the Thunder’s Finals run. Well, except maybe the Lakers or the Mavericks. Or anyone.

This season has been strange.

Read the rest of this entry »