14. YouTube finds

You can never start them too young…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pGusFXhWyY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPuGN82fB1M

This is very hard for me to admit - Peyton Manning was better than Tom Brady on Saturday Night Live.


It isn’t YouTube, but just as deserving. Some genius took Gus Johnson’s greatest calls and mixed them with “Remember the Name.”


The funniest spot from one of the greatest ad campaigns of all-time.


Another non-YouTube. Who knew Jenna Elfman could act?


So painful. The commentary is priceless.

I might just watch “The Office” now.


15. The World Series - The Detroit Tigers are my pick to win the Fall Classic if… Joel Zumaya can put down the video games and get back on the field.

Should Jim Leyland add him to a healthy Fernando Rodney, Todd Jones and potentially Andrew Miller in a relief role, much like the Cards did with Adam Wainwright last year, you’ve got the best staff in baseball, 1 through 10.

Detroit, like most teams, will also benefit from a new October schedule with more scheduled off days. Managers will now have the flexibility to use closers and setup men for multiple innings and a top starter three times in a seven game series, only going on short rest for a potential seventh game.

16. Tom Brady - I don’t know what to make of your love-triangle.

I’m a firm believer that Bridget Moynahan, with the relationship on the outs and her biological clock ticking, stopped taking birth control. I also believe that Hollywood’s love of babies, especially the tabloids, took the abortion option off the table.

But to follow it all up by sleeping with Giselle? We’ve got quite the conundrum here, because I don’t think God, Ed Koch or Lance Bass could turn her down. But the whole clean-cut, State of the Union, bowing down and kissing the Pope’s ring, image is totally down the drain.

I’ve got some serious karma concerns… the last thing I want to hear is
Pat Robertson preaching about premarital sex, Satan and children born out of wedlock if a Shawne Merriman hit ends Brady’s season in Week 2. Especially after January’s AFC title game defeat.

17. Kristi Eveland - She’s this year’s hottest athlete you’ve never heard of. (Erica Blasberg was the 2006 winner)

Eveland was one of 10 freshmen on North Carolina’s 2006 National Champion Women’s Soccer Team. The Southland, Texas native was named ACC Player of the Week in September and made the ACC All Academic Team. The defender started 27-of-28 games and logged over 2,400 minutes for a team that allowed just 13 goals.

I’d also like to make Alissa Czisny an honorable mention. The Bowling
Green student and 2005 Skate Canada winner recovered nicely from a shaky 2006 to capture the bronze medal at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Spokane. She’s an elite skater artistically, and she’s technically the best spinner the U.S. ladies have had since Michelle Kwan. An International Studies major, Czisny has made the Dean’s List every semester of her college career.

Check out Eveland by clicking here or Czisny by clicking here.

18. Summer Reading

Mark Cuban’s blog is a great read from both a business and sports
perspective.

A great ESPN article on Charlie Villanueva and why he doesn’t have eyebrows.

There really is no debate. Theatre majors are the worst people ever.

An article about Mitt Romney’s role organizing the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

19. It’s good to be a Florida Gator - You’ve got to wonder about the increase in demand for out-of-state admission to the University of Florida over the last five years. Once upon a time, I used to think that
Gainesville was some drunken hick college town with nothing but dive bars, stripper poles and mechanical bulls. Now, it’s right up there with the UVAs, Cals, Michigans and Carolinas in terms of prestige. That is, after the Ivy’s steal all the Taliban, foreigners and children of multi-million dollar donors.

And drunken hick college down with nothing but dive bars, stripper poles and mechanical bulls is an old Yankee stereotype for nearly every SEC and Big XII school. It’s nothing personal. In fact, I'd like to take all Massachusetts public education officials on a field trip to the University of Georgia, University of North Carolina and the University of Florida, three places where big-time athletics have led to big-time advancements in the classroom, something this state dropped the ball on a decade ago when the UMass Basketball program went to the Final Four under John Calipari.

But I will save my 20,000-word rant on clueless politicians from the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts for another day.

20. What to make of the New York Yankees? - An overrated lineup that is too power-oriented, an aging pitching staff and a putrid middle relief corps. If I were Brian Cashman, I’d sell off everybody not named Jeter, Cano, Wang and Hughes. I don’t care what Posada’s done, nor do I care about A-Rod’s MVP caliber season. If I can get 50 cents on the dollar for those two, I’d be in good shape. Of course, with Mr. Steinbrenner trying to win one last title before swimming with the fishes, an overhaul won’t happen anytime soon.

Ideally, A-Rod would be a perfect fit in San Francisco (with or without
Bonds). If I could get a young arm in return, I’d do a deal straight up and eat some of his gigantic salary at the same time. And I’m well aware Rodriguez has an option to opt out of his deal at the end of the season. I just think there’s too much self pride to leave Gotham on his own, as a ringless October goat.

21. The Draft (All of them) - We’re a society too obsessed with drafts -- The NBA Draft, NHL Draft, NFL Draft, etc. Hell, even the MLB and WNBA Drafts are televised. Draft Lotteries, Draft Beer, Fantasy Drafts, blah, blah, blah.

Quite Frankly, if it wasn’t for the Stephen A. Smith hecklers, I’d want all Draft Nights eliminated from the sports calendar.

22. Baby Names - I recently informed Matt Porter of BostonBruins.com that Kevyn Adams of the Phoenix Coyotes has a daughter named Emerson, which coincidently is the same name of the school Porter currently attends. So, on that theme, let’s talk about baby names.

One person I recently spoke with is going to name her children in alphabetical order, (first child starts with A, next with B, etc.). Another wants to go down the Roger Clemens route (all the kids start with the same letter). And another would like to name the child after the city in which it was conceived (Paris, for example).

What would I do? Let’s go with an Olympic theme…

Sydney - Host of the 2000 Olympic Games
Athena - Host of the 2004 Olympic Games
Turin - Host of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games
London - Host of the 1908, 1948 and 2012 Olympic Games
Paris - Host of the 1900 and 1924 Olympic Games
Cortina - Host of the 1956 Olympic Winter Games

If you drop the “t” from Cortina, you’ve got Corina. If you switch the “u” to an “o” in Turin, you’ve got Torin. And Athena is the Greek translation for Athens.

My guess is that I’ll need to marry an Olympian for this list to be approved.

23.  Finally - Here’s a shout out to my editor David Hale. He does a bang-up job dealing with me and his other jobs at the same time. Ditto for John McCabe and the rest of the ASM Team.

We’ll do 24 next year. Maybe it will have a 24 theme.