A Short Guided Tour

Look over there to the right on this screen. See the list, the one under the heading "Worth Linking to...?" Yes, that's the list I'm talking about. If you are a curious person, you might have already explored the blogs listed there and what I am about to tell you will be old news. If you aren't a curious person, then you have probably stopped reading this already so why am I bothering?

These blogs are linked here because:

The Soul of Baseball: This blog is no longer updated regularly, which is a damn shame, because it was very, very good. In fact, it was so good that it still occupies the top spot in my list o' links. I urge you to read the blog, buy the book "The Soul of Baseball" and keep an eye out for Mr. Posnanski's next book. For a sports columnist, this dude can write.

Michael at the Arts Guild: This blog is new, as is Michael (new as the Northfield Arts Guild director, anyway). Linking to his blog is one way in which I try to support the Arts Guild, which is a venerable organization hereabouts. Venerable should translate into dollars, though it doesn't nearly often enough.

Alright Hamilton! This is hilarious. A bunch of guys who graduated together from Northfield High School about five years ago are scattered about the globe -- from Iraq to Hawaii -- but still get together in hyperspace (and in the real world, especially at baseball parks). Gives me hope for the youth of America.

Blood for Ink: This is a quirky, scatter-shot site maintained by a Chicago writer/artist/designer. Might even be a singer/songwriter, too. Anyway, I like his iconoclasm. Is that a word?

Brendon's Play a Day: This blog is often juvenile, sometimes salacious, almost always funny, and occassionally brilliant. Brendon is a local polymath who doesn't seem to sleep. His original melodrama "Jesse Jane's Jamboree: Kitten Kaboodle" opens this week at the Arts Guild Theatre.

Old Blue Bus: I am not a huge bluegrass or roots music fan, but this site is stunning in its commitment to the genre, in its historical depth, in its use of MP3 files for our edification. This gentleman is passionate but without any hype or hubris. He's havin' some fun and invites us along.

Rob Hardy: Rob is an outstanding writer and just a genuinely thoughtful human being.

Aaron Gleeman: The granddaddy of Twins bloggers, Gleeman is smart and analytical about baseball. He admits to some poor musical tastes and I wish he'd stop linking to pictures of scantily-clad startlets. (Grow up, Aaron.) But his baseball writing is top notch. I've learned a lot by reading Gleeman. I grit my teeth now again when he does one of his "I told you so" pieces, but, dammit, he's almost always right.

So there you have it...the short list. It will probably get longer, but these few sites keep me busy for a while each day, which is not a bad hobby.