Friday Diversion

A monster edition of the Diversion this week. This should help you forget about the fact that the organizer of your NCAA pool emailed you halfway through Thursday's action to remind you that in this particular pool, if your team loses you cannot pick the other team in the next round... Not exactly a ringing endorsement of your abilities as a handicapper. As always, this is some of the best reading we've come across over the course of the past seven days.



Trust
By Roger Angell

A great review and recap of the book chronicalling Joe Torre's years in New York, looking back at what made the '96-00 Yankees teams so great, and conversely, what they've been lacking in the interim. There are some fascinating little anecdotes in here, including the story about Torre putting in a congratulatory call to Terry Francona and Tim Wakefield just minutes after losing Game 7 to the Sox in 2004 (Wakefield gave up the season ending HR to Aaron Boone the year before). A class act all around, this piece makes the case for Torre's induction into the grown-up's H.O.F.



Home
By Paul Goldberger

A look at NYC's two newest stadiums. A nice history of baseball stadia, highlighting the pros and cons of both the new Yankee Stadium and Citi Field.



You Think Your Job Sucks? Try Working for Lenny Dykstra
By Kevin Coughlin

An unbelievable glimpse into what it might be like to work for Lenny Dykstra. Now this is the Lenny I always thought I knew. There is some seriously choice stuff in here, as recounted by the one-time photo editor of The Player's Club. The racial slurs are only slightly more shocking than the fact that Dykstra once asked to borrow his photo editor's credit card in order to pay for a private jet. Nails Never Fails? Well... Maybe just this once...

Thanks to Browner for the piece.



World Class Solar Tariffs on the Way for Ontario
By Paul Gipe

Good news on the renewable energy front... If that's your thing.



Daring To Dream
By Pat Forde

A look at a real-life "Hoosiers" team from Eastern Kentucky. It's a Cinderella story reminiscent of the glorious run that the White Oaks Wildcats took us all on during the OFSAA Tournament back in 1995.

Thanks to D-Hibb (#50 PF) for the link.



March Madness is Here: Top-10 Gus Johnson Freakouts
By NOLA.com

This one is pretty self-explanatory. Do yourself a favour and get on the Gus-bus.



It's Chipper Jones VS. The City of Toronto. Let's Watch The Fun
By Rich Chandler

Is it possible to criticize anything while going 0-for-10 when you're supposed to be representing your country?

I think it's safe to say that the opinion of anyone who prefers Atlanta's nightlife to Toronto's is less than irrelevent, but still... The good people at Deadspin do well to point out what the rest of us have known for years: Chipper Jones is a douchebag.



The YouTube clip of the week highlights one of the great Grammy performances of all-time. I remember seeing this back in 2003 and thinking it was completely bad-ass. My opinion hasn't changed in the intervening years.