Link roundup

1. Lifehacker's top 10 privacy tricks. I especially like, the suggestion to use temporary credit cards to avoid repeat billing.

2. Bill Belichick gave a commencement speech saying that no championship team in the last decade in the four major sports had the league M.V.P. from that year on the roster. Not remotely accurate, but it sounded good.

3. Gizmodo's updated list of must have iPhone and Android apps.

Link roundup

1. Wild tales of cheating in Italian soccer. And this ballot is hilarious (if you like gallows humor).

2. 11 minutes of movie insults. (NSFW language.)

3. Gizmodo's tablet advice: "If you're not a nerd, you shouldn't buy an Android tablet."

*Buy iPads at eBay.

Avril Lavigne plays baseball!

source

Avril Lavigne was all smiles when she threw out the first pitch before last night's Tampa Bay Rays game, but she lobbed a few four-letter words at the crowd when a technical glitch messed with her post-game concert. 

According to local reports, Avril's mic didn't work at the start of her show ... and she responded to the cavalcade of boos by yelling obscenities at crowd.

Rays rep Rick Vaughn tells TMZ, "The Rays demand profanity-free performances from all of our concert performers and we are extremely disappointed by the language used in last night's show. It is not consistent with the family-friendly atmosphere that Tropicana Field is known for."

Calls to Lavigne's rep were not returned.

UPDATE -- Several of our readers were in attendance last night and point out via our message board ... that while Avril did drop a few F-bombs, they weren't directed at anyone in particular. Her real fans, it seems, enjoyed the show just fine.

Link roundup

1. From an overview of Tyler Cowen's life:

In 2002 he published "Creative Destruction," which argues that globalization created much of the art and music we might consider "native." Reggae in Jamaica, for example, borrowed from commercial rhythm and blues broadcasts that drifted over the water from New Orleans and Miami. The fur trade and the metal knife helped create the totem poles of the Northwestern American Indians.

2. You've seen the flying military drones, now check out the ocean-going versions.

3. Charles Barkley says Nike asked him to stop being critical of LeBron James. Via.

Link roundup

1. Soviet Rocket Giraffe is a blast to play (think snowboarding, not flying).

2. Some fun baseball links: MLB owners ranked from best to worst (go Dodgers); Top 50 prospects of the draft era; "Who is Drew Butera, and is he hitting .122?"

3. i09 raves about The River:

The River is much more exciting, immersive, and cinematic than you'd expect from a "found footage" style show. It has a mythology that feels like it could become something for your coworkers to obsess over around the watercooler, but the mysteries aren't of the "endless hand-waving" variety. The makers of the pilot paid attention to the fundamentals: character development and great storytelling, and it's paid off.

Soccer on the radio?

Yes, it's true. From this morning's Radio Online...

"Fox Sports Radio, in conjunction with Fox Sports TV, will air the UEFA Champions League Final live on Saturday, May 28. The game, which is considered by many to be the single biggest game in the sport, is between two of the most famous soccer clubs in the world: Manchester United and Barcelona. The broadcasting team will include Curt Menefee, Eric Wynalda and Kyle Martino."

That is a huge game. Sean has a soccer tournament that day, so I'm hoping the game falls somewhere in between his games.

We're gettin' this game in, dammit!

Did you watch the entire White Sox game last night? No, you didn't. I bet many of the players on the White Sox and Rangers didn't watch the entire game.

After a three hour rain delay in Texas, it didn't end until 1:27AM.

That's ridiculous.

AJ nearly falls in W's lap

At the White Sox-Rangers game last night, Sox catcher A.J. Pierzinski was going after a foul ball, and almost ended in the lap of former President George W. Bush. And then, A.J being A.J, he made a joke to the President.

Read about it, and watch the video here.

Lance Armstrong

I wouldn't want to be Lance Armstrong today. I don't know if you saw the piece on 60 Minutes last night, but it was devastating. (Scott Pelley called it "a painful interview")

I watched the entire interview of Tyler Hamilton, and I consider myself a pretty good judge of people. He was clearly pained to be saying what he was saying, because he didn't want to throw anybody under the bus. He was given immunity, but it was conditional immunity, meaning that if he tells any lies about this case at all--the deal is off the table. If he was lying, it was an Academy Award performance.

He answered every single defense that Lance Armstrong has been using (including "no positive drug tests") and left Armstrong with no out but to call Hamilton a liar. That may work on people that didn't see the interview. It won't work with me.

Link roundup

1. I'm not saying I agree with her assertions, but it's fascinating to read how a defense attorney would go about defending Dominique Strass-Kahn.

2. A football player drafted in the seventh round by the Bills has lost 75 pounds:

The Tennessean has a story today about [Michael] Jasper’s journey from Bethel to the NFL and from a high of 448 pounds to a svelte 375, and it includes details like the fact that Bethel didn’t have a scale that would register higher than 400 pounds, so when Jasper needed to monitor his progress in trying to lose weight, he’d go to the McKenzie Feed & Grain Store.

3. Sounds like the start of a thriller:

An outbreak of smallpox was the farthest thing from Paul Levengood's mind when his staff at the Virginia Historical Society put together an exhibit of "bizarre bits" in the society's collection since its founding in 1831.

There was Confederate President Jefferson Davis's cigar, confiscated by Union troops. There was a fungus carving of Robert E. Lee on his horse Traveller and a wreath made of human hair.

Then someone mentioned a letter, handwritten and dated 1876, with what appeared to be a smallpox scab pinned inside—light brown, about the size of a pencil eraser, and crumbling.

Via.

Link roundup

1. Gizmodo wants to hire a graffiti artist (and is actually inviting submissions by any type of artist). (It's a pay gig.)

2. Yet another great post by Jim Shooter about Marvel history, this time starring Bill Sienkiewicz. Click through to read about how he got his start at Marvel. Here's a taste:

Bill wasn’t invited to San Diego that year, but wanted to go. Bill was athletic—probably still is, I haven’t seen him for a while—and just the right size for the Spider-Man costume Marvel used for its character public appearance program (things like the annual Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn).

I told Bill that if he’d wear the costume for a few events, Marvel would pay for the trip, all expenses. Save him significant dough. He agreed.

3. Nike estimates that LeBron James winning the NBA title could lead to a $4 billion bump in business in China. $4 billion approximates the entire NBA's revenues. Via.

Buffoonery turns free kick into a goal

Watch as two soccer players trip each other to distract the other team during a free kick. Via.

The worst baseball cap in history

The 1969 Seattle Pilots - - ESPN's pick for the worst baseball cap in history. There's ten more here.

Link roundup

1. From an extended discussion of Brink at RPS:

I was looking at the screenshots I’ve taken vs the screenshots we were sent for previews and things. And it’s just heartbreaking. A mess of text and cramped spaces, not these fantastic looking, exaggerated muscleguys in apple-crisp locales.

2. From Bill Simmons's portrait of Phil Jackson:

When I think of Phil Jackson, two guys come to mind: Young Phil and Old Phil. Young Phil was skinny with dark hair and a goofy mustache; he looked like he came from another era, like someone Larry Dallas would bring over to the Regal Beagle to meet Jack Tripper. Old Phil didn't look anything like Young Phil: white hair, a clean-shaven face, a heavier frame, and a body that was scattered in nine different directions. Still, Young Phil and Old Phil had one thing in common: They kept their cool at all times.

3. Vic Armstrong's World's Greatest Stuntman sounds great. i09 has an extended excerpt about the filming of Total Recall. For example:

Sharon Stone was funny. We all thought that Rachel Ticotin was going to be the big star, she was a fabulous actress, looked gorgeous and yet she went nowhere. Sharon Stone you couldn't drag into the gym, she just didn't want to train, didn't want to do anything, yet she became a superstar in Basic Instinct. Wendy was doubling Rachel and Donna Evans doubled Sharon and did all the kicks and everything else really, we mainly shot Sharon for close-ups. Though I must say she looked dynamite in those close-ups!

Gizmodo has an excerpt about Temple of Doom. The book is 34% off at Amazon.

Link roundup

1. A recipe for hardtack. (If you don't know what that is, you really should run out and buy a couple Patrick O'Brian novels.)

2. (New, specific) Assertions that FIFA demands massive bribes from potential host countries.

3. "Frank McCourt's motives and methods for potentially putting the Dodgers into bankruptcy."

I wish I followed the Portland Timbers

Downloadable papercraft game schedule for the Portland Timbers (MLS team).

*Buy trophies at eBay.

Link roundup

1. Little Prince paper toys.

2. Arnold Kling, writing specifically about Central California, and America in general:

My guess is that those in the informal economy do not get to send their children to elite primary and secondary schools, and they have little in the way of health insurance. But otherwise, they enjoy what I call Diamond Age access to the more basic goods and a few luxuries.

When I took the subway home the other night, I noticed how many people wearing clothes that signified low incomes were playing with smart phones. A few years ago, the smart phone went with a business suit. Now it goes with lots of tattoos and grubby t-shirts.

3. Major League Soccer (and not individual teams) sets player salaries. Compare LA and NY to two small market teams:

NY Red Bulls: $13,397,087.04
LA Galaxy: $12,205,725.12
Real Salt Lake: $3,517,856.76
Colorado Rapids: $3,173,078.64

Via.

Link roundup

1. Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey gives his baseball bats geeky names, including Orcrist from The Hobbit and "hrunting" based on Beowulf.

2. I didn't read the article for fear of spoiling the headline:

'Mad hatters' gang of middle-aged women blamed for Detroit crime spree

Police in Detroit are hunting a gang of middle-aged women, nicknamed the "Mad Hatters", who they blame for a string of robberies, purse snatching and fraud.

Via.

3. My local theater doesn't show pre-movie commercials anymore, but the theaters that do are having trouble filling the slots:

Part of the reason for the shortfall, according to the firm's CEO, is lack of advertising from Japanese auto and electronics makers who are suffering following March's earthquake and tsunami, as well as the National Guard, which no longer needs to advertise as much because high unemployment numbers push so many candidates its way.

Link roundup

1. Bill James (who is an excellent writer, and who revolutionized the use of statistics in sports) has a new book about serial killers and crimefighting.

2. Check out how much muscle top NFL draft pick Von Miller put on while at Texas A&M (and remember, this was no pipsqueak in high school, he was recruited by a solid football school).

3. Kind of strange - - Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four are joining the Dark Horse Deluxe line of collectible statuettes.

Link roundup

1. The owner of a Porsche saved it from a flood by parking it on an anchored inflatable raft.

2. What a terrific sponsored post at Eater - - a secret dining society sponsored by Patron. These types of ads make so much more sense than banner ads, yet I see them done properly so rarely.

3. Since the NFL has locked out players, it's up to the players to organize their own offseason workouts. Drew Brees took it one step further and is paying for many expenses, including insurance and lodging for younger players.