Well, it is another installment of Sunday Night Links. We're consistently inconsistent here at Sunday Night Links. So we've got that going for us.

Onto the links...

--Bonus Monday morning link, and it's a good one: a great history of the brand known as Grain Belt Premium. Interesting how many twists and turns America's Party Beer has taken through the years. Sounds like we're lucky to have even been able to enjoy one, let alone the thousands that have been consumed by Heavy Soulers.
(SECOND UPDATE: Pete apparently already linked to this post a while back. But, you could use a refresher.)

--Bonus Bonus Monday morning link: it's the Home Run Derby Drinking Game! I'm into it. However, I think you would absolutely need to take tomorrow off if you're going to participate. The way those HRD broadcasts go, along with all the waxing poetic about Yankee Stadium...well, these guys may have nailed it a little too well. This would be painful.


--KETV is doing a Omaha "A-List," letting viewers vote on the best places in town. There are some things that are pretty screwed up (such as The Drover being in the "Best Burger" category, but not in the "Best Steakhouse" category), and some serious omissions. I mean, The Homy Inn isn't an option for best neighborhood bar? But it was one of the 50 best bars in America according to Esquire? Seems to be, well, off.

--Interesting story about how some coaches and referees in the NBA get to be pretty chummy. Weird that Dick Bavetta is one of the people named. Poor guy gets named in all this stuff.

--This is incredibly awesome, and something I never really put two and two together on: you'll be able to listen to Pandora on the new iPhones. A question for Deuce: can you do this on the iPod Touch?

--Here is Rolling Stone's 3.5 out of 4 star review of The Dark Knight. God, I cannot wait to see this movie. In IMAX. On Tuesday!! Big ups to the Hales brothers for finding this site where they were giving away free tickets to a pre-release IMAX screening.

--A great article in the Omaha World-Herald about new linebackers coach Mike Ekeler. With all the stuff I read about this guy, I wouldn't be upset with Nebraska offering this guy a 20-year contract blind. He seems like the kind of assistant that will absolutely destroy in recruiting today's generation. Great stuff.

--No link, but Travis Justice and Rob Zate...ah, tell hell with it! No one's reading this anyway; I can't remember how to spell his name. Anyway, on Sports Sound Off, they both unveiled their ballots of pre-season Big XII voting, and they both picked NEBRASKA to win the Big XII North. Rob had Mizzou coming in third! I want so badly to agree with them, but I just don't know if I see this happening. I do sincerely think that they can compete for it, and have a 9-win or 10-win season. But Mizzou is going to be awfully tough this year.

--A story in Time about the rise of libertarianism. It's a decent article, although it almost makes it sound like you have to be a cattle rancher or run a sports book in order to be one. I guess they decided to leave out the whole "actually believe in the Constitution and how our Founding Fathers envisioned our country" part.

--So the Brewers gave up this guy for Sabathia, knowing they probably won't even sign C.C. next year? That's funny. I mean, sad and vomit-inducing if you're a Brewers fan. But I'm certainly not one of those, so it's pretty damned funny. A nice piece by Sports Illustrated, who does the best writing about baseball players on the planet, I believe.

--For the 20 or so people in the world that miss the NBA...Hardwood Paroxysm is one great blog. Even if you don't really care about the NBA, you'd be doing yourself well to read some of this stuff.

--Bonus good sports blog, and more time-relevant: Walkoff Walk is a great baseball blog (and a fantastic name, as well).

That's about all I've got in me tonight, friends and readers. I won't link it again, but also be sure to read the interview Pete posted featuring Craig Finn of The Hold Steady talking Twins baseball. Great stuff.

Labels: Grain Belt Premium, KETV, Libertarians, Mike Ekeler, MLB, NBA, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Nebraska Football, Sunday Links, The Dark Knight, Time Magazine

That's right, my peoples. Sunday Night Links is a running feature on Heavy Soul, if "running" means "once or twice." Without further ado...

--First of all, everyone at Heavy Soul hopes that everyone was alright after last night's EF-2 tornado here in Omaha. I know that Hales and I were right below a funnel cloud here in the Dundee/Country Club area, but thank God it never touched down. People in Millard, unfortunately, were not so lucky. Here's to a quick response from your insurance company and a speedy recovery.

--Am I the only person around here needing a late pass in regards to the movie "The Rocker?" Coming out in August, it's a movie about a former '80's rock drummer who gets a second shot at stardom with his nephew's band (A.D.D.). It stars Rainn Wilson and Demitri Martin, which is an absolute home run combo. Not to mention Emma Stone who is, in a word, hot.

--Speaking of home run comedians, Todd Barry is playing The Slowdown! July 9th--tickets are only $12! Seriously, if you enjoy stand-up comedy whatsoever, you need to be there. Barry is absolutely hilarious, and his new material on his new album From Heaven is great.

--An interesting quick read on Charles Barkley and his ability to do whatever he wants and never deal with the repercussions that most people in the public eye suffer. I guess it's pretty obvious--be honest, don't rely on ridiculous PR people--but you'd think that more people in the public spotlight would take his lead.

--Another great piece from last week's Sports Illustrated (why don't I subscribe to this magazine again?) on the Texas Rangers' Josh Hamilton. Pretty incredible story; here's to hoping the guy stays on the straight and narrow. Between Dusty Baker and the Reds letting Hamilton go for nothing, I'm guessing Cincinnati fans are feeling pretty good about life these days.

--I can't remember where I saw this, so you may have seen it already, but here's a link to a story about the new adidas KG Commander KG NBA Finals Sneaker. It's all yours...if you can find it at retail, and if you can pony up the $1,017 to buy them. They are only producing 8 pairs per game of the Finals. I'm a big sneaker dork (which is kind of funny, considering I never buy them--I'm a big browser), but this shit is getting crazy.

--Here's an early, er, "review" of The Hold Steady's Stay Positive from Stereogum. I'm holding off on my review because, well, I just haven't had time to do it yet. This guy is probably a bit rough on it, although it sounds similar to pete's first impressions. Personally, the more I have listened to it, the more I love it. The one place we totally agree on: the first track ("Constructive Summer") is absolutely the best track on the album. That song hits you right in the proverbial nuts, but unlike when it happens in real life, you feel pretty good about it.

--Here is an incredible story about Dov Charney, American Apparel's CEO and Founder. It goes into detail about how this creep forces female employees to masturbate and do other unsavory things in order to keep their job (not to mention the obnoxious drug culture that is involved there). Reading the stories about this guy, it is officially "uncool" to buy their shit t-shirts. I hope.

--It's College World Series time! Here's a nice article on Georgia's coach David Perno, who has been involved in 4 of 5 of Georgia's 6 CWS experiences. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution believes he could end up being one of the best coaches in college baseball of all time.

That might be about it. Hiding out in the basement at 3am this morning and staying up until about 5am watching the storms come in and out of the neighborhood pretty much killed me today, and I'm not even sure how the hell I'm awake.

Hope everyone has a neat-o Monday!

Labels: American Apparel, Charles Barkley, College World Series, Demitri Martin, Josh Hamilton, MLB, Omaha, Rainn Wilson, Sunday Links, The Hold Steady, The Rocker, The Slowdown, Todd Barry

I wanted to link up where you can get a new Wilco podcast--video taken from their latest appearance on Austin City Limits--and then I thought "hey, we could copy many other columns and blogs and do a weekly links post!" So let's try it out.

--Like I mentioned above, a new Wilco podcast is up. Get it. In fact, get all of them, because they are among the best free content you can find on the internets anywhere.

--Keeping on the podcasting theme, check out The Liberators. These guys are two very successful guys who really believe in the libertarian philosophy, plus it is as snarky and funny political talk show as you'll find. And while looking at their homepage may look like it is some crazy conservative page, because of the pictures and descriptions of the podcasts. Don't be fooled, though--they are equal-opportunity haters, referring to the Republican and Democrat parties as "The War Party" or "Republocrats." Good stuff. I'll go ahead and link this episode in particular, as they talk in-depth about the Rosenblatt vs. new stadium issue where they frequently reference a "Mike from Omaha." I wonder who that is?

--Golden Globe winners. It's all bullshit, because if The Wire isn't nominated for best TV Drama, these people have no sense of what's good anyways, does it?

--An article about how the Husker football coaches offices are arranged. Yes, I realize how ridiculous this is. Only in Nebraska...

--Speaking of the Huskers, it seems like Dave Rimington isn't doing much to quiet speculation that he may be the guy to take over for T.O. in two years, is he?

--OK, last thing on the Huskers: here is a list of prospects that were in Lincoln this weekend from the Journal-Star's "Life In The Red" blog. I personally think it is a really good blog, particularly for a newspaper--they let a lot of good bits of info sneak through there, and I think were clearly the leaders in covering the Husker coaching search. Apparently it doesn't hurt newspapers to embrace the internet (*ahem,* Omaha World-Herald, *ahem.*).

--On the political front, (Brother) Jon Bruning apparently is going to be state GOP chair for Mike Huckabee. Politics will make a guy do just about anything, regardless of what he actually believes, won't they? I'm really surprised by this one.

**Off the subject, I'm watching the "Nebraska Football Show." I do NOT think this is coincidental. Coach Bo and T.O. aren't screwing around when they say that they're going to make this about "Nebraska" again, are they?

--More sports: I kind of enjoy Darren Rovell's sports business site on CNBC. He seems pretty arrogant and cocky on TV, but whatever. Sports business is for true business and sports dorks, and that is good for me.

--The Sporting News' blog site has been getting a lot of ink lately, and I think for good reason. It seems to be really solid.

--So this Cloverfield movie is apparently pretty good. I'm guessing this write-up is probably correct.

--This is pretty cool--a graphic, um, graph of the history of the Wu-Tang Clan.

--Whoa, this is pretty cool: an "audio slideshow" (what in the fuck does that even mean?) from the NY Times about Nebraskan Polka.

Labels: Cloverfield, Golden Globes, Nebraska Football, Nebraskan Polka and Politics, Sunday Links, The Sporting News, Wilco, Wu-Tang Clan