Chad Finn’s An Ode to Baseball Cards at The Baseball Analysts has got to be one of the best articles I’ve read in a while. Finn’s recap of his childhood baseball card collection is near identical to mine. The gum, the love of horrible players, how Upper Deck ruined collecting, etc.

A rare card in your collection allows you to dare to dream of untold riches… I could not have been the only 11-year-old in 1981 who discovered he owned the allegedly scarce ‘‘Craig’’ Nettles Fleer card, immediately got dollar signs in his eyes, and began plotting to buy a new 10-speed, cards by the case, a Cheryl Ladd poster, perhaps a red Lamborghini, and whatever else it is that 11-year-olds desire.

I had an inexplicable baseball card love affair with Will “The Thrill” Clark. I recall my uncle giving me a few packs of 1989 Topps cards. The Thrill was the only double I had in the pack. My 11-year old mind said, “I have 2 of this guy, he must be awesome!” (Not to mention how bad-ass he looked leaning on his bat). I then proceeded to vigorously amass every Will Clark card until I stopped collecting around 1992-1993, when collecting your favorite player’s card each year went from grabbing 10-12 cards to 100+.

I’m a little ashamed to admit this, but my baseball card obsession went even deeper. Probably due to a lack of funds (and friends) I even invented my own baseball card company (”Beam”), hand-drawing each card (my mom would photo copy uncut sheets at work for me) and distributing them around my neighborhood. I even made a price guide. Maybe I shouldn’t tell people about this.

Regardless, if you collected cards in the 80’s or early 90’s, this is a must read.

Finally, a cooking (and drinking) site I can endorse. Eat Drink or Die serves up simple to follow recipes with features like Drink of the Day (see below) and What’s for Dinner Tonight. They’re a little too focused on the healthy crap, but do a search for bacon and you can by pass that stuff.

This has got to be one of the greatest comedy skits ever.

The best part of this video? Katy Perry’s pretty hot. The worst part of this video? Not a single girl on girl kiss in the thing.

This LG commercial is sadly too racy for American TV, but that doesn’t stop the Interwebs from airing it. It might be slightly NSFW?

Nerd Girls, a new reality TV show, proves that engineers can be hot chicks too (and vice-versa). Part Myth Busters, part hot chicks on TV, Nerd Girls answer email calls for help from loser guys who want to watch hot chicks solve engineering problems. Did I mention these chicks are hot?

Watch the Nerd Girls trailer here.

I can’t tell you how excited I was when I saw a movie trailer entitled “Death Race” because I thought it was a remake of the classic Death Race 2000. Unfortunately, its not. Instead of getting points for killing doctors and babies, the 2008 version of Death Race is simply a competition of prisoners racing for their freedom. I’ll still Netflix this, but it’s not Death Race 2000.

Lots of studies by very smart/lazy people show that naps improve just about everything. Check out this guide by Boston.com to make sure your next nap is perfect.

I’m a softball player–a fat, lazy, beer-drinking player, but a proud one nonetheless. Since I started playing, I’ve told my wife, doctor and anyone else who would listen that it’s good exercise despite my lack of effort and massive beer intake. So I decided to prove my theories with hard scientific evidence.

According to this chart, 1 hour of “Softball or baseball, fast or slow pitch” for a 130lb person burns about 295 calories. Estimating the average softball game is 2 hours long and the average player can’t remember the last time they weighed 130lbs, I’d say the average fat guy softball player burns between 800-900 calories per game. Even assuming you half-ass it most of the game, you’re still killing roughly 500-600 calories per game.

Since the average light beer has about 100 calories per can, you can down a six-pack and still burn more calories than you took in! Finally, proof that softball + beer = exercise.

If my history professor was more like this guy, I may have learned something in college. (Warning: lots of NSFW language)