Monday Medley

What we read while Dallas finally made up for killing Kennedy…

• Grantland.com debuted last week, just in time to cover the Miami Heat loss. Also run during the site’s first week: Chuck Klosterman on DVR mechanics, Dave Eggers on Wrigley Field, and an oral history of The National.

• Speaking of those Heat, remember The Decision? We sure do, as it was a popular topic of conversation for us last summer. Tim started it out by defending The Decision (although he’d like to point out the significant caveat within that piece that reads “so long as he doesn’t curiously choose Miami”). John S defended The Decision even after it took place while Tim expressed disappointment in LeBron’s view of championships. John wondered why everyone claimed James was being selfish and then told some of his most well-known critics to shut their mouths. Finally, he took on the infamous Nike commerical, “Rise.”

• Over at The A.V. Club, Dan Harmon breaks down every episode of Community‘s second season. Meanwhile, did South Park air its series finale last week?

• The NY Times discovers hashtags — outside of Twitter. #so2010 #maybeeven09

• Keith Law reviews Fight Club, at long last.

• Why the “College degrees don’t mean much” stories are wrong — and always have been.

• Some interesting and controversial state appellate rulings this week in statutory rape and child pornography.

• North Korea’s Global Happiness Index. Sort of like Cooley Law School’s law school rankings.

• Continuing the trend of comedian commencements, Conan gives Dartmouth’s Commencement Address.

• Nick Offerman wanted Oprah (who had some choice words about her old show) to play his ex-wife on Parks and Recreation. And a slideshow of Ron Swanson emotions!

• You still have time to catch up on Breaking Bad before the fourth season starts next month!

• A sixth season of The Wire??? Probably not.

• What Carlos Beltran hears in his bats.

Monday Medley

What we read while Oprah commenced Phase Two…

http://www.hulu.com/watch/4169/saturday-night-live-clinton-at-mcdonalds

• Bob Dylan celebrated his 70th birthday last week, and John S wasn’t the only one to mark the occasion. The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, and American Songwriter were among those to rank his best songs. Time also included a list of his worst. The Independent listed 70 reasons why Dylan is the most important figure in all of pop culture. All Things Considered even examined Dylan’s role in legal writings.

• On the more depressing side of the music front, Gil Scott-Heron, the “godfather of rap,” died. Known mostly for “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” (and now, for young folk, for being sampled by Kanye West) Heron was a prolific artist of all sorts despite problems with drug addiction noted in Alec Wilkinson’s profile of him last year.

• Jeffrey Toobin tries to pinpoint Fred Wilpon’s role in Bernie Madoff’s theft and manages to get Wilpon to criticize all of his star players in the process. Tom Verducci, on the other hand, manages to get Wilpon to discuss how much he’s going to cut the team’s payroll. Across town, Jorge Posada’s recent antics don’t change his place among the greatest catchers ever (something John S highlighted last year). And David Cone talks about his love of advanced statistics.
• Tyler Cowen continues to be the man of hour, getting a glowing profile in this week’s Business Week.
• Do conjoined twins share a mind? There is video demonstrating that they do. While the conjoined twins’ parents were faced with a challenge, another set of parents created their own challenge by choosing to raise their child genderless.

• Stop blaming Facebook for your online behavior… and start spelling your status updates correctly.

• Wright Thompson tries to get to the bottom of Harvey Updyke, the man who may or may not (well, he almost certainly did) have poisoned the Toomer’s Corner oak trees at Auburn. L. Jon Wertheim takes a look into the sordid legacy of Tiki Barber, including the best Anne Frank reference since Arrested Development went off the air.

• How accurately does Parks and Recreation portray small-town politics, and (in the comments section of aforelinked article), does it matter? Parks and Recreation star Amy Poehler gives Harvard’s 2011 Class Day Speech mentioning that Boston College (her alma mater) is the Harvard of Boston.

• Lester Freamon as Othello and Jimmy McNulty as Iago? Sign us up, even if it does require a Transatlantic flight.

Monday Medley

What we read while New Orleans rioted (in a good way this time!)…

• The story behind one of the few good Super Bowl ads from last night came together (and how it was almost even better).

• Remarkably, Tim wasn’t the only one to pen an ode to NFL Films on Wednesday; blog favorite Joe Posnanski wrote his own for Sports Illustrated, focusing more on the founding Sabol family. While doing some research after he wrote his post (you could call it post-post), Tim also uncovered another hidden analytical gem in NFL Films’ recap of Super Bowl XLIII. And here’s their video of the best shots of the season, albeit released prior to the Super Bowl.

• You may have noticed that John S was rather psyched for the season premiere of Lost last week. Well, he wasn’t the only one: Alan Sepinwall pregamed for the episode by looking back at the pilot, and of course offered his thoughts on the new episode. At the A.V. Club, Noel Murray offered his thoughts on “LA X.” Newsweek offered an explanation of the show from people who’ve never seen it. And Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse sat down with Jimmy Kimmel to discuss the premiere (after Kimmel tried to put himself in the show).

• The only comic strip Tim wrote about may be Funky Winkerbean, but there’s no doubt that his all-time favorite remains Calvin and Hobbes. Now, 15 years after the Salinger-esque Bill Watterson decided to end the strip Barry Sanders-style in its prime, the cartoonist gives what is believed to be his first interview since that last strip. It’s brief.

• This is what we tell all other blogs–and each other.

• And yet, that still doesn’t win headline of the week.