Best line of the day

“Looked at that way, players who are compensated beyond what the NCAA thinks is correct are simply finding a way to get paid for their work. This should surprise nobody. Time and again, the ‘amateur’ concept – a foul vestige of the British class system — has failed in this country because it is unsustainable in a nation that believes, even today, and even in Wisconsin, that hard work should return a fair wage. It was unsustainable in golf and in tennis. It was even unsustainable in the Olympics. It is unsustainable in college mega-sport as well. The only question is when the collapse will come, and how thorough the damage will be.”

Charles Pierce

Go read Pierce’s last paragraph, as good an assessment as you’ll read of college sports.

Best line of the day

“Of course, the truth is often more nuanced, but this is about as nuanced as it ever gets: Islam is a religion of peace, and if you say that it isn’t, we peaceful Muslims cannot be held responsible for what our less peaceful brothers and sisters do. When they burn your embassies or kidnap and slaughter your journalists, know that we will hold you primarily responsible and will spend the bulk of our energies criticizing you for ‘racism’ and ‘Islamophobia.’ ”

Sam Harris, repeating remarks he made regarding the Danish cartoonists in light of the current issue over the burning of the Koran.

Play ball

It’s opening day for the 2011 Major League Baseball season. If you’re not in the mood for baseball — and if you are an American and aren’t ready for Opening Day, the terrorists have won — then Joe Posnanski’s look at The 32 Best Players in Baseball for 2011 can get you there.

“Albert Pujols has a chance to be known as the greatest player in the history of baseball. There are numerous statistical measurements to make the point, including the simple point that through age 30 he has more homers than Babe Ruth, more hits than Pete Rose, more RBIs than Hank Aaron, more runs than Rickey Henderson did at the same age.

Yes, it’s OK to think about that for a moment.”

Today’s long reads

I don’t blog ’em if I haven’t read ’em.

The Kill Team

How U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan murdered innocent civilians and mutilated their corpses – and how their officers failed to stop them.

The Lost Boys

In December 1970 two teenagers disappeared from the Heights neighborhood, in Houston. Then another and another and another. As the number of missing kids grew, no one realized that the most prolific serial killer the country had ever seen—along with his teenage accomplices—was living comfortably among them. Or that the mystery of what happened to so many of his victims would haunt the city to this day.

Fiesta Bowl scandal reminder that BCS system invites corruption

In an age of dwindling university budgets, the presidents of some of America’s most prestigious universities outsourced the championship of their most lucrative sport to an organization that may have been involved in criminal activity.

But these new details prove that the 120 Football Bowl Subdivision presidents are venturing into downright reprehensible territory if they continue to support the bowls as a means to crown a national champion in football.

Best line of the day

“Natalie danced her ass off.”

Mila Kunis quoted at guardian.co.uk

Over the weekend Portman’s dance double for Black Swan, Sarah Lane, claimed Portman only danced a small proportion of the film. Analysis of the film and statements by director Darren Aronofsky say Portman did 80% of the scenes and 90% of the total time.

“I had my editor count shots. There are 139 dance shots in the film. 111 are Natalie Portman untouched. 28 are her dance double Sarah Lane. If you do the math, that’s 80% Natalie Portman.There are 139 dance shots in the film. 111 are Natalie Portman untouched. 28 are her dance double Sarah Lane. If you do the math, that’s 80% Natalie Portman.

He added: “What about duration? The shots that feature the double are wide shots and rarely play for longer than one second. There are two complicated longer dance sequences that we used face replacement. Even so, if we were judging by time over 90% would be Natalie Portman.”

Idle thought

I have long thought that the cherry blossoms are the perfect metaphor for so much of what happens in the nation’s capital. There is a tremendous amount of prediction and talk and hype, often beginning weeks in advance of the actual event. When the blossoms do arrive so do the crowds, driving, cycling or walking around and around, oohing and ahhing.

Much hype, much show, much motion, much talk.

And not one damn cherry.

Best line of the day

“There are probably only about 10 guys in America who are cheerfully unconcerned about the influence of multimillionaires on elections. One of them is Charles Koch. David Koch is another, as is Karl Rove. Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and the guy with the top hat on the board of the Monopoly game are two more. Luckily for them, the other five guys currently sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Dahlia Lithwick – Slate Magazine

Today’s Photo

Today’s photo was actually taken Saturday as Mack, oldest of The Sweeties, neared the finish of a mile run. He took first for boys 8-13, running a difficult course in 6:58.

And while I am happy to recognize Mack’s achievement, the reason I have posted this is the sign on his left. Word of the Month: Perseverance. (Click image for larger version.)

I should say. Way to persevere, Mack.

Aidan and Kiley both persevered in the run as well; Aidan took third among runners seven and younger. Kiley was second among girls 8-10.

Idle thought

A 235-year-old candlelit room is a wonderful setting for a tavern. It is however, not all that easy to read a menu in candlelight.

Or at least not for those of us more than one-quarter the age of the building.

Thank you, Tom Edison.

Best line of the day

“To see on the scoreboard that we were up and it was possible for us to beat them, I think it gave my teammates and me a lot of motivation.”

Arizona player Lamont Jones

The reason this is a best line is because I have never before heard a college basketball player use “me” in a sentence correctly. (Usually it would be, “Me and my teammates had a lot of motivation.”)

Today’s Photo

I’ve never had a camera with a candlelight preset before, so Nikon gets a lot of credit for this and yesterday’s photo. But my timing was good. Maybe if I practice, I can learn to take a sequence that catches the candles expiring one-by-one.

Like most photos, this shows more detail in its larger version. Just click the image.