Cleaning out the Links, Part IV

Once again folks, its time for Cleaning Out the Links, Part IV, which has become my favorite weekly segment on my blog.

Sunday Reflections are cool but they sometimes get personal and I express some feelings that aren’t fun to deal with. MMA Review is good as well, but not everyone is into that. This segment has some seriousness, some humor and everything in between. Without further ado…

-Here’s a list of the top-10 Unreleased Things Ever Made: http://www.toplessrobot.com/2008/08/the_10_most_amazing_unreleased_things_ever_made.php I agree with choice number eight. Nine Inch Nails was the truth and one of my favorite “groups” ever. Notice I said was. The Broken album is a masterpiece. What has happened with the last few albums Trent Rezner?

-Since the Olympics are currently going on, Entertainment Weekly has posted Hollywood’s spin on Olympic events. Some of these clips are pretty funny, especially Forrest Gump going to China to play table tennis. Sound familiar? http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20216974_13,00.html

-College football season is approaching and there are always those college quarterbacks who were amazing in school, yet for whatever reason it doesn’t translate to the NFL. Some are system quarterbacks (the Houston ones back in the day Andre Ware and David Klinger), some were blessed to be on loaded teams (Miami’s Gino Torretta) and some were overrated from day one (I always hated Notre Dame’s Rick Mirer).

However, the one that was saddest to see was Tommie Frazier. He may have been the best college quarterback of the past 30 years. He ran an option like no one else and that 1995 Nebraska team was the best one that I’ve ever seen, including all of the great Miami, Florida State and USC teams. Injuries caught up with him, specifically blood clots in his legs. If healthy, he could have at least been a valuable playmaker like Hines Ward or Randle-El of the Redskins in the NFL.

Here’s the link to the top-10 NFL Quarterbacks who never were: http://www.theloveofnfl.com/site/comments/top_10_nfl_qbs_who_never_were/

Here’s Tommy in his glory:



-Buffalo Bills’ special teams’ player Kevin Everett had a severe neck injury that left him temporary paralyzed in Week One of last season. However, he has recovered and is walking again. However, there was a time when that was in doubt. This poor newscaster was trying to report on his progress and see what happens:



-If there’s one thing I love eating, it’s a chicken sandwich. Here’s a link to the top fast food chicken sandwiches since 1996. How Chick-Fil-A didn’t make the list is beyond me! I may be a “yankee,” but I know good southern fried chicken: http://ghostsofwaynefontes.blogspot.com/2008/08/best-fast-food-chicken-sandwiches-circa.html

-Wrestling was a huge part of my life for many years until I got to college. However, I still hold a place for it in my heart. It was nice to see someone put together the top-30 finishing moves of all-time. The scary thing is that I’ve tried at least half of these on people in my life. War Mr. Perfect! The figure four is way, way, way too low. That’s a top-10 move at least and if done in real life can really mess someone’s leg up, which is important. I’m shocked Matt and Jeff Hardy haven’t died doing their finishes yet. I love Rocky, but the People’s elbow is weak. I can’t argue with #2 and #1

The song contains some bad words, so if you’re at work, you may want to keep the volume down:



-Speaking of wrestlers, here’s how Goldberg celebrates Hanukkah:



-My favorite ever segment on The Daily Show on Comedy Central was Even Stepvhen with Steve Carell and Steve Colbert. Here’s a link to some of the best ones: http://www.milkandcookies.com/playlist/10133/

-Super Mario Brothers may be the most famous and most played ever video game. Here are some fun facts about Mario himself: http://www.neatorama.com/2007/09/22/10-mario-fun-facts/

-I love going to the Sports Illustrated Vault and seeing old articles like this one in 1992 talking about how bad USC football is and the trouble they were having with NCAA violations. Some things change, some stay the same: http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1004163/index.htm

Here’s another one from the 1977 college football preseason preview: http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1092775/index.htm

Notre Dame #1, I can kinda understand back then. Texas Tech #4? Interesting. Maryland was in the top-10, odd. Houston in the top-15, not these days.

-Here’s a list of the 50-sexiest music videos of all-time: http://www.nerve.com/dispatches/nerveeditors/50-Sexiest-Music-Videos-of-All-Time/01/

Number #4 was a life changer for a young boy when it came out. I watched the video with a look of shock and just stayed speechless.

-Here are some cute animals that can really mess up your day (potentially NSFW because of bad language): http://www.cracked.com/article_15853_6-cutest-animals-that-can-still-destroy-you.html

-Here are the top-50 goals in soccer history:



I’m taking the rest of the week off from the blog because I’ll be out of town. Hopefully I’ll be back in town on Sunday for a Reflections. Until then, stay strong and listen to some more self-defense tips from Bas Rutten:

Cleaning out the Links, Part II

Time for me to clean out some more links for your enjoyment:

-One great thing that I’ve come across recently is the SI Vault. Sports Illustrated has archived all of their back issues on to a Web site so that you can see every article written. Here it is: http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/

I’ve read stuff by Frank Deford, Curry Kirkpatrick, Ralph Wiley and so many other legendary writers. Sports journalism has truly changed over the years. Here are some interesting articles I’ve bookmarked:

Here was an interesting article on Pat Summit that appeared in Sports Illustrated in 1998. Despite the fact that I’ve grown to dislike that orange community college in east Tennessee, I respect Summit. I don’t like the university that she works for, but I acknowledge her. Anyway, here’s the article: http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1012132/index.htm

Here’s an article on Tom Seaver in the middle of his dominance for the Mets: http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1086339/index.htm

Here’s an article on the UnClutch nature of Magic Johnson. I had a talk about this with my boss, which I’ll discuss in detail on a post later this week: http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1122425/index.htm?eref=sircrc

-Another topic that I will discuss later this week is how potentially worthless my English degree is. Here’s an article on the 10 Most Worthless Majors: http://www.holytaco.com/2008/06/03/the-10-most-worthless-college-majors/

-While I was a pretty smart dude back in my elementary school days, I would always find time to play games to get rid of the monotony of classes. Unlike high school or middle school for some when you can change rooms and subjects every hour, elementary school was just sitting in that one room going over the same stuff everyday accept for gym and lunch. Here’s a list of the top-10 Indoor Games: http://theloveofsports.com/index.php/site/comments/top_10_indoor_games/

I was king of the number one game on the list. I was good at number six and eight as well. Number nine, not so much.

-Here’s a listing of SI.com’s Top 25 College Programs for the 2007-08 season: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/sioncampus/07/01/2008-top-25-ncaa-rankings/index.html?eref=T1

It’s like the annual Sears Trophy that’s given out to the top overall college athletic program. I don’t understand why Arizona State or UCLA doesn’t win in every sport, yet Stanford does. I’ve been to UCLA and it’s like heaven on earth.

-Here’s a funny link to the Top 10 Annoying Things about Facebook: http://www.collegecandy.com/haha/10039

I have to be honest, as a Facebook addict, I violate one or two of these.

-Have you ever wanted to order a custom championship belt just like your favorite wrestler or combat fighting champion? Check here: http://www.azstarnet.com/accent/248887

And if you don’t think that I’m going to have at least one of these in my life, you’re playing yourself. I will have one and battle my future wife in competitions for ownership of it. This will keep the marriage active and competitive, which is all you need. Oh yeah, a good pre-nup as well. Just kidding, or am I?

That’s all for now. I didn’t give you a preview of this week of the blog yesterday, so here it is:

Tuesday: Why did I major in English?

Wednesday: Maybe something about college athletic programs or the values of pimping. Either one works for me. Tell me which one you want to hear about.

Thursday: Do we view our superstars differently now for winning or not winning championships?

Friday: MMA Review

Saturday: Whatever I damn well please.

Sunday: Sunday Reflections

Here’s some Mars Volta