Sports Illustrated took a look back at Upper Deck and isn't too optimistic about the future of card collecting. Tucked into this ____ (what's the word for when a newspaper prints an obituary before someone is dead?) are a few interesting facts about Upper Deck like:

The image of Griffey that became part of collecting lore, with his blue turtleneck and 'fro-mullet tucked beneath his cap, was doctored. In his home office in Corona, Calif., 75 miles north of Upper Deck's headquarters, Tom Geideman hands me a Polaroid that had been sitting atop a binder of Griffey cards and says, "This—it's cut off a little bit—but this is the original photo." Griffey's wearing the navy-blue hat of Seattle's Class A affiliate, the San Bernardino Spirit, whose logo is a silver S over a red star. The picture was taken by the late V.J. Lovero, an Angels team photographer who shot Griffey and his father for a Sports Illustrated feature in 1988. Lovero sold one of his extras to Upper Deck, which airbrushed the hat royal blue, erased the star, made the S yellow and—ta-da!—completed the makeover.

And then there's this 'doth protest too much' rebuttal from the Upper Deck Blog. Though it seems some of the facts in the SI article were incorrect (and not checked for some reason), calling the article a 'hatchet job' is a little much. However, if you want to read 10 reasons the author of the Upper Deck Blog knows that card collecting is not dead, or see several comments from folks operating card shops, that's the link you'd click.

Feels like a Monday, though. Here's a picture of James in the sink. But also, how many of you put a clip on the end of the toothpaste? Makes toothpasting much easier. Believe.

This starts about 7 minutes before the plane crash of Oceanic Air Flight 815 and is really well done. I can't imagine the time that went into putting this together, but I admire it and can relate. Good stuff starts at 6:55. Enjoy!

(By the way, I end up writing about Lost a lot here. I don't love love LOVE the show, and don't think it's in the class of MadMenTheWireDeadwood30Rock. It's maybe closer to TheSopranosBreakingBad. That said, the creative stuff that comes from the fans of Lost really is impressive.)



Via James

Via Infrastucturist a nice Monday video about the destruction caused to roads by cars and trucks being driven over them. Interestingly, no mention of frost heaves.



Thanks, Dave.

Lots to talk about tonight with several seemingly major plot points. Let's get right to it:

-While Don has been courting Conrad Hilton, (Eddie Harris in Major League, by the way), Betty has been doing her own thing with Henry Francis. Getting caught by Carla and throwing a fundraiser as a useless cover. Betty sniped at the Governor's woman sent to the fundraiser, then threw the money from the fundraiser. In the end, she decided she didn't want to debase herself on a desk, ffice sofa, or random hotel room. Hard to tell if this one is over.

-As far as what we've seen on the show, Hilton might be the first thing Don's gone after and not gotten. Yet. Since we met him, Connie's been flirting with Don, begging him to tell him what to do. ("How do we know to do it, Don? How do we know to do something.") And now he's pulled back. I'm not certain what made him so mad, since... couldn't they just come up with a slide for the moon?

-I want what I want when I want it. Roger said that earlier in the year, so when Betty said it tonight, I figured it was something. And lo, it's a movie from 1908.

-The teacher went to Bowdoin (Actually, she didn't. Women weren't allowed at Bowdoin until 1970. Must have been a boyfriend's shirt. Thanks commenter.), Betty is left-handed, Peggy died her hair, and Pete doesn't smoke. The last, I hadn't noticed. What are they trying to say there?

-Ahh, Sal. If you had Lee Garner, Jr in the pool to figure out which known character would come on to Sal, well, you win. I didn't see it coming until he started nit picking the commercial. So he's gone, then? Sort of surprising the way the show is jettisoning some pretty big characters (Sal and Joan), while giving less and less screen time to those that are still there (Peggy and Roger, and Kinsey to an extent). Is it Betty that's taking up the time, or extra Don?

So this was the culmination of what Don saw in Baltimore? All the people who thought Don was 'cool' were proven wrong by his 'you people' remark, but maybe it'll come back around somehow. If you missed it, Don wasn't mad that Sal was gay, just that he didn't do what he needed to keep Lee 'Lucky Strike' Garner, Jr happy. Though, it should be said that sex means something different to Don than to... most everyone else on the show. Hard to say why Sal was calling his wife from the cruisy park. Going on a bender? Prepping for Lee? Showing that he did have some experience? Somewhat connected to Sal getting fired, I thought Betty was going to fire Carla to avoid having to deal with getting caught.

-We got another, "What do you want me to say?" when Don went to see the teacher. His dalliances, by the way, keep ratcheting up the danger (this one only 2 miles from home) as if along with the chance at another life, Don is also feeding on the risk. First a stranger in the village, then a client, then his daughter's former teacher.

-Finally, tonight's episode had Don about as unlikable as we've seen for most of the episode. What'd you think?

I love when there's a stats question in Bill Simmons' mailbag. This one is as good as the 3 point shooting percentage stat from a couple months ago.

Q: As long as I have watched sports, the term "games over .500" has perplexed me. A 61-21 team is regarded as 40 games over .500, when in reality, it's only 20! Is there someone I can complain to that will fix this and prevent everyone from continuing to make this error and bothering me again?
--Mike U., Norwood, Mass.

SG: I get this e-mail all the time, and it never ceases being dumb. The 61-21 team is considered "40 games over 500" because it would need to lose 40 straight games to drop back down to .500. Also, I'm doing the Dikembe Finger Wag at you.

Before he was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan, former NFL player Pat Tillman received a letter from Bill Belichick.

In the last conversation Tillman had with Bauer, he told his agent, "You won't believe the letter I got from Bill Belichick.'' In the letter, Belichick praised him for his courage, his leadership, his willingness to set an example for people in this materialistic society, and he said it was an honor to be in the same league he'd been in.

While Tillman's death isn't any more significant than any other soldier killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, sacrificing his pro career to enlist did set him apart from other players. Also, this isn't the Belichick you usually hear about, huh?

Via BarstoolSports

"
The Kauai County Council voted 4-2 yesterday to ban plastic carryout bags."

There's a law in California that allows cities to create their own licensing process for bicycles, if they want to compel bikers to get licenses for their bikes. "CA CVC specifically states that if a city does require bike licenses, the fine for not having one can not exceed $10 (ten dollars) and will not include any jail time." However, the fine folks of Santa Monica have thumbed their noses at this law and created penalties that don't fit the crime in any reasonable sense. If you get nabbed riding an unlicensed bike in Santa Monica, they can put you in jail for 6 months and fine you for $1K. Maybe it's just safer to drive?

""Arrested Development" creator Mitchell Hurwitz and his co-executive producer James Vallely are working on a screenplay for the long-debated feature version of their short-lived Fox series.""