Your p.m. roundup for Aug. 10, the day we wish we had never heard of subway parties. Photo via @hopesolo, who's apparently posing nude for ESPN The Magazine's "Body Issue." Got any stories or photos for us? Tip your editors.
What we're watching (all times EDT, unless noted): There's baseball, of course. Big-league-wise, ESPN has Angels-Yankees at 7, while WGN is carrying Nationals-Cubs at 8. In the Little League category, ESPN2 has a World Series regional semifinal between Tampa and Mobile (Ala.) that starts at 7. But there's also soccer, with ESPN2 showing USA-Mexico — Jurgen Klinsmann's coaching debut — live from Philly at 9.
Read Me: Today's Story That Doesn't Suck
We're guessing most hip-hop careers didn't start out like Tommy Hilfiger's kid's did: "It's a style he's developed over 10 years, when his infatuation with the lifestyle began in Greenwich, Conn. Rich's parents have always been supportive of his rap efforts. They allowed him to take formative weekend trips to Philadelphia at age 15 with the family bodyguard to visit friends he'd made in the hip-hop community." [New York Observer]
This Date In Deadspin History
Aug. 10, 2007: Will They Make It Rain On Pac-Man's Face?
Things You Might Have Missed Today
Some quick links to a few items we posted earlier:
• Ron Artest Will Play In The Worst Basketball League In Europe
• Noted Chubby Quarterback Makes Widely Derided Prediction
• Not Even Playboy Playmates Can Bring Loaded Guns Onto Airplanes, Apparently
• Dana Holgorsen Is Now Spamming The WVU Student Body To Find A QB
• Total Quarterback Rating: Everything Great About ESPN Multiplied By Everything Insufferable
Elsewhere
Know what? It doesn't matter: "It really shouldn't matter that I'm bad at basketball, and haven't really had much to do with that world … ever. I was never a jock. I'm not even sure I liked sports for much of high school and college. In fact, for me, writing about sports started to click only when I realized that it didn't have to be circumscribed by the world of athletics, or understood in terms of who did or didn't 'get it.' Sports are out there for public consumption, as a public act, in a realm of meaning that impacts us in many ways. There's a lot to say there, and at the same time, knowing your limitations is more important than understanding the limitations of sports. I probably shouldn't be interested in basketball at all. But I am, and I've come to terms with how far I am from the sport itself." [Good Men Project]
More Clay Travis on Yahoo! vs. ESPN: "In fact, you could have plugged in any number of other writers in Reilly's spot on the front page of ESPN and the readership numbers would have been the same. Hell, you probably could have given Bill Simmons the front page location by himself, not paid him any more money, and increased readership numbers by a greater degree than by putting Reilly up online beside him. (Right now I should probably mention that Reilly also does television work with ESPN. Something called 'Homecoming with Rick Reilly' — which you, like the vast majority of American sports fans, haven't watched — and an occasional thirty second comedy bit on golf. He also hosted SportsCenter the other day. So ESPN is definitely getting its money's worth from him in television too.) Again, I don't begrudge Reilly his money — I'll write one column a week for $3.4 million a year for anybody, even Kate Gosselin — but I think it's interesting to compare the old school, print media hiring dynamics of ESPN with the new school Internet hiring dynamics of Yahoo. Yahoo's strategy wins by a landslide." [Outkick The Coverage]
The sad decline and fall of Victor Page: "The guy's had a tough life – he had cocaine charges and gun charges as a senior in high school – and recently was arrested for 4th degree burglary. This horrendous mugshot is making the rounds. Why is Page wearing an eye patch? He was shot in the eye while sitting in his car in DC two days before Thanksgiving in 2003. Where did it all go wrong for the former Big East star?" [The Big Lead]
The challenge faced by Jonah Keri in writing his book: "What's clear, though, as the middle of the book turns to the rise of the Rays sabermetric dynamos - Andrew Friedman, et al - is that the job itself kind of sucks. Keri's task is to explain to you the strategies that brought the Rays to the World Series, but because they're proprietary strategies, he can't do much more than refer to smart decisions without examining their innards. Friedman and company probably didn't divulge much themselves; anything specific would kill the Rays future. We know that the Rays have the means of finding overlooked value and using smart negotiating tactics to keep it. We can't know their search methodology, and nobody's going to give away their boardroom tricks. The overall effect is rather like reading a good Capitol Hill journalist covering the CIA. You know the reporter has peeked behind the curtain, while supposedly an august and informed figure has walked him through some deeply cool stuff. From that point on, though, you have to work on faith in that reporter and his subjects. Keri at least has the benefit of going through this process with a group whose efforts can be charted annually and against their peers..." [Mr. Destructo]
Shouldn't they have had a fast enough get away car, too?: "Trevor Lynse, a front-tire changer for Juan Pablo Montoya's Sprint Cup team, was one of two Earnhardt Ganassi Racing employees arrested on Tuesday for trafficking marijuana. According to the Huntersville (N.C.) Police Department, the 40-year-old Lynse was charged with one count of trafficking marijuana, one count of possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana, and one count of maintaining a dwelling to distribute marijuana." [ESPN]
Danish camera commerical interlude:
Another delay for Terrelle Pryor: "Pryor's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said Tuesday afternoon on Twitter that he had spoken with the NFL on Tuesday about Pryor's eligibility and that "no decision has been made yet regarding Terrelle's eligibility for the supplemental draft." [ESPN]
Making football and Ramadan mix: "Fordson High School's enrollment is more than 90 percent Muslim and this week of two-a-day practices coincides withRamadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, when adherents refrain from eating and drinking during daylight hours. For a second consecutive season, Coach Fouad Zaban has moved these grueling double practices to late night, from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. This allows players to break their fast at sunset, drink liquids and eat a light meal, practice in the relative cool of what has been a baking summer, then eat again before sunrise." [New York Times]
Merch: Managing editor Tom Scocca and contributing editor Drew Magary have both written books. You can buy Scocca's Beijing Welcomes You: Unveiling the Capital City of the Future here, and Magary's The Postmortal here. Now do it.
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