"In Defense of Ryan Braun" by Charles P. Pierce - Grantland.com

I didn't get a chance to read this but I trust Charles Pierce and some of my dudes got all riled up about it today so I say read it. I haven't been really following this story but I don't see how if the dude didn't get any bigger or heavier or faster or whatever, how could he have been doing steroids? I'm no scientist but that shit doesn't make any sense to me. Was he taking duds? Because taking shitty steroids shouldn't be illegal. Dude's just shrinking his nuts with no upside. My two cents.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7620049/in-defense-ryan-braun

"Inside the Homes of Mexico's Rich and Famous" by Damien Cave - NYTimes.com

I'll give you a hint ... they're all places where drug dealers used to live (and there's a slide show).

I want nothing to fucking do with Mexico. Diarrhea and corrupt cops. That's all they got down there. That and bloodthirsty assassins who make it so that if you go there for vacation and come back with your head still attached to your neck it's considered a good trip. Fuck that. Send my ass to Costa Rica, the food ain't all that but at least the zip lines won't give me the runs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/garden/inside-the-homes-of-mexicos-alleged-drug-lords.html?_r=2

P.S. Diarrhea is sneaky the hardest word in the English language to spell. Had legit zero clue there were two R's chilling in there until 20 seconds ago.

"Spaceman Time Warp: A stoned baseball fan’s look at Bill Lee’s High Times cover story" by Brett Phelps - TheGoldenSombrero.com

So Bill "Spaceman" Lee was this huge stoner, professional pitcher in the 70s. Dude once pitched a no-no on acid. Then he became a cult figure. Appeared on the cover of High Times while still an active player. Here's an insightful reader's review of the High Times profile of him. Fans used to throw dimebags at him. He loved it.

http://thegoldensombrero.com/archives/5834

"Everything I Needed to Know about Startups I learned from a Crime Boss" by Donald DeSantis - Gigaom.com

This dude Donald DeSantis is apparently a succesful entrepeneur? I'm always dubious of that title. Anyway he learned all his business acumen from some LA drug kingpin it sounds like. This is kind of like the ten crack commandments for MBA dudes.

http://gigaom.com/2012/01/07/desantis-startups-crime-boss/

"New York is Killing Me" by Alec Wilkinson - NewYorker.com

I didn't have a chance to read this yet because the New Yorker takes some serious time sometimes to get into and I was mad busy today. That being said it was the featured feature on their home page and it's about the dude who maybe sorta kinda invented rap. It's title, and the sharp-ass cheekbones on the dude in the picture, lead me to believe he got hooked on that china china, but like I said, that's just conjecture.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/09/100809fa_fact_wilkinson

"Derek Boogard: A Brain 'Going Bad' by John Branch - NYTimes.com

Ok so this is the second installment of the Times 4-part series on hockey enforcer Derek Boogard's death, and I guess it answers some of the questions raised in my blog from last night about the first piece. But it doesn't answer all of them.

That being said, if you don't get a little emotional when Branch recounts Boogard's brothers finding his body, go read Brobible or SociopathsRus.com or something, cuz I got nothing for ya.

This is good shit.

http://www.poopreads.com/2011/12/derek-boogard-blood-on-ice-by-john.html

"The Real Breaking Bad: Confessions of a Former Meth King" by Mark Sullivan - Dailybeast.com

This cat used to hole up in the dessert with some Hell's Angels for muscle and cook meth, literally, like you see on TV. He thinks he could be the real life guy from Breaking Bad. Dude was raking in four million bones a year and living in a drug-money-bought mansion with like, Jet Skis and shit. Then things took a turn for the worse.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/07/16/the-real-breaking-bad-confessions-of-a-former-meth-king.html

"Todd Marinovich: The Man Who Never Was" by Mike Sager - Esquire.com

Take another look at that title. Can you imagine if you were basically the best high school quarterback in California history, and 25 years after you graduated this was the title of the most popular article ever written about you. Gut wrenching. On the day of the NFL draft, take a look inside the life of the man who may have been the biggest football bust ever. And that's saying something.

http://www.esquire.com/features/the-game/todd-marinovich-0509

"Inside Baseball" by Dan Shaughnessy - SI.com

This quote from the article sums it up just about right.

"Manny could really hit, but he never cared. Neither should you."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/dan_shaughnessy/04/10/manny.ramirez/index.html?eref=sihp

"The Stoner Arms Dealers" by Guy Lawson - Rollingstone.com

These two stoned out ddduuuuddddeeeessss somehow managed to become fairly successful arms dealers. Nice work, if you can get it.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-stoner-arms-dealers-20110316?page=2

thanks big made