President Obama Joins The Herd with Colin Cowherd | ESPN

Great interview with President Obama on ESPN today. Definitely worth watching, regardless of your personal politics.

Superhero Skin Infographic

Yes, because you were all wondering about Superhero Skin.

"Avengers: Age of Ultron" Trailer to Premiere During Next Week's "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."

This quote is much more important than the teaser trailer's premiere during next week's Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.:

"...the news that this teaser trailer is debuting at this time next Tuesday can only help Agents of SHIELD in the ratings, as fans who maybe stopped watching the series last season will tune in for the trailer and then discover how much SHIELD has grown since."

Additionally, there's another great article from the same site about the show and its "Firefly Effect".

The Mp3 Experiment Eleven - Audio Mob! | Improv Everywhere

This is very creative!

LEGO Always Shoot First (Guardians of the Galaxy + Star Wars + Firefly)

Very cute.

University of Baltimore Offering Course on Marvel Films | WorstPreviews.com

In case you were having trouble deciding on a college or choosing a major...

Star Wars VII Millennium Falcon Tease Reveals Dark Knight Connection

It's been fun to follow the back-and-forth between Star Wars: Episode VII director J.J. Abrams and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice director Zack Snyder.  The latest move by Abrams is a nice response to Snyder tweeting a picture of a Stormtrooper being arrested for stealing the Batmobile.  The full back-and-forth is detailed pretty nicely in this video:

My thoughts on two great columns about the lawsuit against the Wilpons

Bob Klapisch makes a very important point about the lawsuit against the Wilpons:

"Let’s stop and remind ourselves there are two sides to every story and Wilpon, no matter what you think of him, deserves the chance to defend himself in court. But it’s just as important to note that Castergine doesn’t fit the profile of your average gold digger.

She’s an Ivy Leaguer out of Penn, a former Division I athlete who came to the Mets in 2010 after working for the Philadelphia Flyers, Orlando Magic and Boston Bruins. Castergine quickly climbed the Mets’ ladder and became the first female senior VP in their 52-year history."

He sums it up with:

"Me? I believe what Castergine alleges in the lawsuit. Every single word."

Keep in mind, Bob Klapisch is a sports writer that has had access to the team's ownership over the years. While he's not privy to internal conversations, he has spoken to people involved with the team in his many years as a sports writer.  Based on his impressions dealing with them, he believes the lawsuit to be true. That's the part that's most troubling for the Wilpons. It's also the part that makes fans tired of the spoiled son of a mediocre owner very hopeful that it could spell his doom once and for all.

Additionally, Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports makes equally scathing points:

"For years, Selig's soft spot for the Wilpon family has allowed him to overlook their need for a loan to stay afloat amid the Madoff chaos, their mismanagement of a jewel franchise into the sort that operates like a low-revenue pauper, their public flubs that made #LOLMets a thing. Selig enabled the Mets knowing majority owner Fred Wilpon planned on gifting the franchise to Jeff, an underqualified bully who never would have sniffed sports-franchise ownership were he not bequeathed his last name."

"...Wilpon carried himself for years, as the cock of the walk, the all-knowing executive who, in reality, knew only how to take a proud franchise and run it into the ground. He directs the Mets with the vision of a mole, and people around the sport – from players to agents to executives – wish he would learn to burrow into the ground like one, too."

Notice how Passan also cited "players to agents to executives" when writing about Jeff Wilpon. I think this is just starting. I don't see it going away soon, unless Jeff Wilpon goes away very soon to rectify it.

How bad was The Amazing Spider-Man 2?

So bad that Screen Junkies and CinemaSins chose this movie to do a crossover, where Screen Junkies did the "Everything Wrong With" video and CinemaSins did the "Honest Trailer". Both videos are good and, long story short, the movie itself isn't.

Marvel & DC Comics Theatrical Release Schedule Infographic | FilmBook

This is a very useful infographic to keep track of all of the comic book movies announced and scheduled.

Featurette on the Guardians of the Galaxy Soundtrack

It's actually pretty funny watching the back-and-forth between director James Gunn and the cast members he is interviewing.

'Guardians Of The Galaxy' Soundtrack Spends Second Week At No. 1 | Billboard

The Guardians of the Galaxy Soundtrack debuted at #3 two weeks ago and went up to #1 last week. Now it is back at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart again this week!

Lessons from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Awesome Mix Vol.1 | US News University Directory

You could take this right out of a college marketing class:

Build Brand Loyalty

Know Your Audience

Manage Supply and Demand

Hire Talented People and Think Outside the Box

Guardians Of The Galaxy Did Better With Women Than Any Other Marvel Movie | Cinema Blend

As with most other things with this movie, this is unexpected but it can't be a bad thing.

Three More Guardians of the Galaxy Clips Posted Online

A few more Guardians of the Galaxy clips have been posted online, in addition to the three I already posted a few days ago:

Drax nearly kills Gamora till Quill talks him out of it:



Rocket hatches a plan involving a prosthetic leg and Gamora's sex appeal:



Quill and Gamora share a moment:

Vin Diesel's "I Am Groot" in Multiple Languages

Apparently Vin Diesel did his "I Am Groot" line in multiple languages. And they have the same commercial as this one in each of those languages too (with the exception of Vin Diesel shown at the end recording the line):



Spanish:



French:



Brazilian Portuguese:



Russian:

Second Guardians of the Galaxy Trailer Legofied!

You knew it was bound to happen. I'm surprised it took this long. This is pretty cute.

'Guardians Of The Galaxy' Is Easily One Of The Summer's Best Movies | Business Insider

Neat review from Business Insider Singapore. I guess the review embargo is only domestic or in effect only until midnight of the local time of the reviewer since this was posted at 12:56AM on July 25th in Singapore. Here's one blurb that will get people to go back and watch the end credit scenes from all the previous Marvel films until this point:

"...the film brings together what we’ve seen in a lot of end-credits scenes. Knowing that, we won’t say what the big reveal is yet — you’ll know it when you see it— but there is a very satisfying cameo that has been in the works at Marvel for some time that we were ecstatic to see on screen."

I assume they're talking about this guy:

LeBron James Redemption (Frank Caliendo as Morgan Freeman)

How awesome is Frank Caliendo's Morgan Freeman impression?

A Bunch of Clever ESPN SportsCenter/Guardians of the Galaxy Crossover Spots

ESPN CreativeWorks came up with a handful of really nice Guardians of the Galaxy spots featuring ESPN anchor Kenny Mayne that look very much like ESPN's 'This is SportsCenter' commercials.  I guess it helps that Disney is their corporate overlord.

The Avengers (as a 1980's style video game) | CineFix

This is very cute and well done.

Guardians of the Galaxy Clips Posted Online

With less than two weeks to go before the release of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, there has been a lot of positive buzz about the film so far. There are also two clips posted that show more of scenes that are already in the trailers and commercials.

The first one shows Peter Quill trying to steal the orb.



The second one shows a conversation/disagreement between the team on their ship.



Lastly, the newest clip is a shorter version of the 17-minute sneak peak I got to see on July 7th.



11 more days...

Honest Trailers - Green Lantern

Hard to believe Screen Junkies hadn't done this yet.

Hilarious America's Got Talent Clip (NSFW)

I don't watch this show but someone told me about this. It is jaw-droppingly good and most definitely NSFW.

‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Tracking for $60 Million Opening | The Wrap

So what they're basically saying is I need to stop googling it every ten minutes for new information on the movie because the tracking data thinks it's fan interest?

Listen To The Kickass 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' Soundtrack and Watch the Ad for "Galaxy Getaways" Travel Service

The Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack was released earlier this week and it's fantastic! I'm curious to watch how these songs flow with the movie since these are all 60's, 70's, and 80's classics but the movie is about aliens and space.

Also, a very funny viral video was released today for a fake travel service called "Galaxy Getaways", talking about how Hawai'i, Tahiti, and the Bahamas "look like s#!t" compared to the rest of the galaxy:

Today's World Cup Google Doodle is very clever!

Entertainment Tonight Promo for Guardians of the Galaxy

In addition to the new commercial, there's great new footage (including a fight scene between Peter Quill and Gamora) in this ET spot.

Newest Guardians of the Galaxy TV Spot (with new 70's classic rock)

This new commercial features a song we haven't heard yet in the trailers and commercials, "Cherry Bomb" by The Runaways.

Everything Wrong With Transformers: Dark Of The Moon | Cinema Sins

Cinema Sins makes the Transformers franchise its target again. This time it's "Transformers: Dark of the Moon".

The Story of Marvel Villain Loki, set to Frozen's "Let It Go"

I have to admit, I honestly never before made the connection between Loki finding out he's a Frost Giant and the line "The cold never bothered me anyway."

Today must be hate "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" Day...

The Screen Junkies' "Honest Trailer" and Cinema Sins' "Everything Wrong With..." videos dropped within an hour of each other this morning and BOTH are hilarious! ENJOY!!!

Awesome New Guardians of the Galaxy Trailer

Supposedly this is the international trailer that won't be shown in US theaters. However, I feel like we'll get some version of this soon enough since it gets into some of the plot points with a lot of new footage.  It also has dialogue with Gamora and Rocket, which we haven't seen before.  (45 more days and counting...)

John Oliver's Take on FIFA and the World Cup

John Oliver really sticks it to FIFA in this clip from the most recent episode of his new HBO show:

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Extended TV Spot | CBMTrailers

I wrote yesterday about the new 30-second TV spot for Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy". I was a bit underwhelmed by that TV spot considering how good the marketing for this movie has been so far. However, there was this 60-second spot that I missed that looks a little better and also aired during the game last night:

First TV Spot for "Guardians of the Galaxy" to debut during NBA Finals

This new commercial is set to debut during Game 1 of tonight's NBA Finals. I still think Peter Quill's "I come from Earth. A planet of outlaws." intro from the second trailer works better but this isn't a bad first exposure for people.

Good thing 50 Cent Isn't a Baseball Player

50 Cent throwing out one of the worst ceremonial first pitches in the history of baseball:

As far as first pitches go, it's hard to beat the acrobat from Cirque du Soleil:

Really cute teaser trailer for Disney's Big Hero 6

This is really adorable!

Silent Film News Footage of the 1919 (Black Sox) World Series

Great silent film news footage of the 1919 World Series, infamously known for the Black Sox Scandal.

What To Expect: Mets RHP Rafael Montero | Baseball America

Great scouting report on Rafael Montero, who'll be making his MLB debut later this week.

Incredibly heart-warming video.

A teenager with prosthetic legs gets to meet his hero, David Wright.

Early X-Men Days of Future Past Reviews Are In And Positive | Slash Film

Looks like Spider-man might be screwed.

If you still haven't seen The Avengers here it is in a nutshell.. | Imgur

Nice! HULK SMASH!!!

Lawmakers seek change in MLB Cuban player policy | MiamiHerald.com

This is going to be a very interesting development, if anything comes of it that is.

Cat/Sword Fight or Sword/Cat Fight? (But with a Mickey Mouse sweatshirt)

As Captain America: The Winter Soldier is off to a record-breaking start, some of us MCU fans that saw Cap 2 are now moving on to the next installment, Guardians of the Galaxy.  With that, it's hard not to laugh at this picture of the two main female characters rehearsing what looks like a vicious swordfight, albeit with Karen Gillan wearing a Mickey Mouse sweatshirt during their rehearsal!

The Lineup Card: Seven Memorably Misleading April Performances | Baseball Prospectus

Nice post at Baseball Prospectus about small sample sizes. I remember this one very well because I was just a year or so younger than this writer:

"6. Danny Heep, 1983
In 1983, I was 11 years old and rooting for the Mets. Danny Heep opened the season in right field. He ended April with a .362/.446/.574 slash line.

Who is the wonder acquired from Houston, young Harry rejoiced. All the Mets had to do was give up Mike Scott.

Imagine my confusion and dismay when the Mets called up some prospect and handed him Heep's well-deserved job. No more checking the morning papers for Heep's place among the batting leaders.

Well, it didn't take long to get over that. Darryl Strawberry—lesson learned. It took longer to realize the full cost of the Mike Scott trade, but that's another story."

Of course, there is a song about small sample sizes:

Minor League Players Sue For Better Salaries | Baseball America

Baseball America has a well-written, detailed piece explaining the lawsuit filed by the minor league players suing for a living wage. Well worth the read and unlike most Baseball America articles, this one is not hidden behind a paywall.

2014 FIFA World Cup on ESPN -- Ian Darke Calls a Date

So is this what ESPN soccer announcers do during the four years in between World Cups?

David Wright’s Metsiah Complex | New York Observer

A nice profile of New York Mets 3B David Wright.

This is why Juan Lagares should start in CF.

Look at all that ground he covered!!

Time-lapse footage of The Sydney Cricket Ground converting to baseball.

The music is pretty catchy but the video converting the Sydney Cricket Ground in preparation of the first regular season Major League baseball games played in Australia is pretty cool.

How Much to Make of Juan Lagares’ Defense | FanGraphs Baseball

Nice piece at Fangraphs on how good Juan Lagares' defense really was in 2013.

Mets Infield: David Wright and Some Upside | FanGraphs Fantasy Baseball

I'm not a fantasy player but FanGraphs has a nice writeup about the Mets infield. What caught my attention is this:

"...the third base options after Wright lack Captain America’s upside or ability to spread production up and down a 5×5 sheet."

Nice to see the 'Captain America' nickname for Wright stick. Speaking of which, the Mets' season opener is on Monday, March 31st. "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" comes out later that week on Friday, April 4th.

 

All 32 NFL Teams Crossed With Star Wars | Imgur

Here is their version of the Jets:



Click here to see all 32 NFL teams.

From the Ashes | Grantland

A really nice piece about the re-rise (or sunrise, perhaps?) of the Phoenix Suns.

NFL alum at home in college | NorthJersey.com

Nice article about NFL players getting college degrees during and after their playing careers.