A-ROD Wins MVP, Opts Out in Search of Bigger Award

In a story that will make even Barry Bonds shake his head in befuddlement, Alex Rodriguez has opted out of the AL MVP award he was awarded yesterday.

While Rodriguez refused to comment, his agent, Scott Bora$$, had this to say, "To present A-ROD with an award like the MVP is akin to spitting in the Pope's eye. I deserve - I mean my client deserves better. Something at the Nobel-level, or at the very least a few Purple Hearts and some General's Stripes. We And we will settle for no less."

After learning the news, second-place finisher Magglio Ordonez shrugged it off, "He did have a pretty good year. It is an honor to finish second to him." At which point Scott Boras (also Ordonez's agent) jumped in, "Oh no, no. Magglio is also opting out of his second-place finish. Magglio deserves the MVP, Manager of the Year, and next year's Cy Young. And we will settle for no less."

If you don't blog for something . . .

It's hard to believe it's November and we've been at this blog thing since February. Almost 10 months. Well, 9 for me because I took that month of for my cosmetic surgery.

When Roller and I first started bloggin', we left our focus pretty much open ended. We were going to write what we were thinking. When we felt strongly enough, when our creative "juices" were flowing, or when we were to bored to find the remote, we would take to the keyboard to set the Internet ablaze.

Since that time, it's been interesting to see the stylistic developments of the two of us. Roller has got info. You want to know about Saudi private schools. BAM! You thought Google was just for searching. No way sister! Do people still do the Rubik's cube? Uh, huyeah! This is a long way from one of his first posts. A semi-fictional diddy about Ryan Howard and my dad. Still a must read.

I on the other hand have mostly been a commentator. Drumming up questions for discussion. Mocking celeb sightings. Rapping about the weather. And apparently an apologist. In addition to the one above I also sent one apologizing to both fans of TATL. I really need to stand up for myself.

Roller has commented as well, like about the Cardinals. And together we have brought the still to be completed series on Law and Order. Lots of bloggy talk about this series on the blogs where they talk about blogs.

So the question I ask myself and all of you is "What does TATL do, besides an expose on hot Spanish speaking weather ladies, to better itself in 2008?"

The first answer is easy. I, Coovo, need to carry more of the load. I think back to discussing this with TATL commenter Ryan, and he told me that the most important thing was to find stuff to write about and not worry about the quality as much so you can get a high frequency of posts, thus an audience. Let me grade myself on these three qualities: 1) finding topics: C, 2) Frequency of posts: F- 3) Assessing writing: F. Lots of times I sit down to write and I don't like it. So I scrap it, get frustrated and don't write for another week. e.g. I've already gone back and changed the wording of the sentence in red 4 times. I have been busy with work. That is true, but Roller also works and has a family. No excuse. More frequent, less proof-read posts. This is my New Year's Blogalution.

The other answers are up for debate. I think some new serial topics would be good where Roller and I team up for hard hitting assessments. Maybe more issues relating to the two cities that inspired the name of this blog. The sky is the limit. Well, maybe the smog layer below the sky but that is pretty high when you think about it.

Please pass along recommendations. We'd love to hear them.

Daily Fixes for the Podcast Junkie

Some of you may know that I'm somewhat of a podcast junkie. I listen to podcasts of many a different topic, length and episode frequency. This post will be the first installment in a three part series on my favorite podcasts. Today I'd like to list my favorite daily podcasts. My other posts will include my favorite weekly podcasts and my favorite podcasts that aren't delivered with a defined pattern. All are free, and subscriptions to all of these podcasts are available in iTunes or your favorite RSS reader by following the links below (or searching in iTunes).

In no particular order:

The Onion: A quick dose (1 minute) of the "news" from The Onion.

The Washington Post's Baghdad Briefing: A ~3 minute piece by one of 7 or so Post correspondents in the Baghdad bureau. Most correspondents are Iraqis. Topics range from day to day life in Iraq to politics to terrorism.

NY Times Front Page: A 5 minute overview of the stories on the front page of the NY Times.

Wall Street Journal Tech News Briefing: This podcast actually has a morning and evening edition, each about 5 minutes. If you're a geek and interested in the stock market, this is a concise way to stay current.

Buzz Out Loud: CNET's podcast of indeterminate length. ~30 minutes. For true geeks, an entertaining review of the day's top tech stories by Tom Merritt and Molly Wood.

KEXP Song of the Day: Some of it is great, some of it is ok, some of it is skipped before the song finishes. But a lot of it is music I normally wouldn't stumble upon myself, so it's a great outlet for finding new music. And KEXP is based in Seattle, so it must be cool.

60 Second Science: Length as advertised, a "did you know" type tidbit from Scientific American.

Update 02/08/08:

There are a couple others I have found to be great daily resources:

BBC Global News: This podcast comes in twice a day and usually lasts somewhere around 20-25 minutes. Yes, ~45 minutes a day for one podcast is a lot, but they begin each show with a summary of the stories for that podcast, allowing you to skip to what you want to hear or cut it short altogether. I usually find at least the top story interesting though, and sometimes listen to the whole thing. The BBC has excellent reporting in all corners of the world, and I haven't found a better way to stay informed.

The Real Story with Frank Curzio: As of this posting you will actually find this under the title "The Real Story with Aaron Task". The show is a product of TheStreet.com, and Task hosted it until the end of 2007, when he left for a job with Yahoo!. Task was good, but not good enough to make the original list of my daily favorites. Curzio has picked up the job, and does it very well. He delivers sound analysis in a manner that is easy for the amateur investor to grasp. He does great interviews, isn't cocky, and most importantly, isn't boring. And while this has nothing to do with the quality of his content, there's something believable about listening to a guy with a thick NYC accent talk about money.

Geno in the news (finally)

Friend of TLATL and Right-Winger for minor-league hockey team The L.A. Barges, Gene explains why breast-feeding makes kids smarter.

Anonymous donor to TLATL and Left-Winger for major-league political party The Democrats, Hillary contends that the phenomenon is not isolated to kids.