Monday Medley

What we read while ESPN got a little carried away with the Jeremy Lin jokes…

• The Simpsons aired its 500th new episode last night, putting it up there with Gunsmoke and Lassie in terms of longevity. Of course, in terms of cultural influence, it’s probably #1. It’s common to rank episodes, but at this point it might be easier to rank seasons. For fun, try to come up with your favorite single quote.

• A graphical display of why aging is scary.

• The New York Times had an excellent piece on America’s expanding social safety net last Sunday, highlighting that even those most passionately against government spending are increasingly dependent on it. Some, like Paul Krugman, are quick to call this hypocrisy, but it’s much more complicated than that.

• Another cool Times thing: This interactive budget graphic!

• Linsanity is sweeping the nation! He’s making the Knicks relevant, and fun to watch again. Of course, New Yorkers are already thinking about how this could go wrong when Carmelo Anthony returns to the lineup. But the story has transcended sports: Lin has led to moronic columns from political commentators, and one of the most racist headlines you’ll ever see. ESPN has since apologized and fired those responsible for the headline… It’s just ironic, since ESPN had already spent so much airtime devising Lin-related puns.

• Comedy news: David Wain talks about his new movie, and Jim Gaffigan decides to follow the new Louis C.K. model for his next special.

• How Target can tell your pregnant before your father does.

• Goodbye A.J. Burnett. You will not really be missed…

• Speaking of baseball, here are the 10 worst swings of last season.

The Double Bonus: NCAA Championship Review

You’ve heard the podcasts; you’ve read the liveblogs (if you haven’t read the liveblogs, do so now). Now listen as John S and Tim break down the final game of the 2011 college basketball season. Today they’re discussing the atrocious title game, the disappointments of 2011, the permanence of parity, and the gradual effects of early entry. Click here to listen to the final Double Bonus podcast of the 2011 season!

Cracking the NCAA Vault: The Best Individual Performances

I wrote—albeit briefly—about my love of the NCAA Vault late last season. For the uninitiated, the NCAA Vault contains every NCAA Tournament game from the Sweet 16 on played since 2000. That is 165 games in all. That is, in fact, too much for you to rationally sort through to figure out which games are worth skipping to the end, which games are worth perusing, and which merit full-blown opening-tip-to-final-buzzer immersion.

That’s why I’m here.

As part of our comprehensive college basketball preview over the next few days, I’ll be breaking down the contents of the NCAA Vault (and March Madness On Demand, which houses all 64 games from last season’s epic Tournament). Whether you’re in the mood to see a great individual performance, a team operating on all cylinders, or the moments when an eventual champion came closest to elimination, I’ve got you covered.

Sounds like gooooood watchin’.

Great Individual Performances

There are few things as exhilarating as watching a precocious athlete come of age on a national stage, as seeing potential fulfilled and yet promised again, at a higher level, simultaneously. It should come as no surprise that the five best individual performances in the NCAA Tournament since 2000 all came from college basketball superstars; there are no surprises on this list. For all of them, these performances were less breakthroughs than they were confirmations of what we thought they could be, occurring at the most opportune moments. It is performances like these that help make the NCAA Tournament the best sporting event in the world.

Aught Lang Syne: Athletes of the Decade, Part I

You thought we were done, didn’t you? That we would stick to our promise to end by December 31? Please. We’ve still got two posts to go to determine the most important title of all: Athlete of the Decade.

In defining what exactly constituted the “Athlete of the Decade” in a sport, there’s a fine line between who is best and who is the most iconic. I tended toward the latter, which runs the risk of predicting how future historians remember the Aughts.

And a little wrinkle: The order in which I present the sports counts down to the Athlete of the Decade across sports. That is, the last sport I do will have the No. 1 Athlete of the Decade, the penultimate is the second-best across sports, and so on. Here are Nos. 6, 5, and 4.