Simply, MLB wants to add a staffer tasked with watching every single contest of the 2011 season. Here’s the pitch:

I don’t have half the drive nor the passion for this. However, I’m deeply interested in how this plays out.

The most interesting bullet points in the job responsibilities:

• Must reside in a location picked by MLB in New York City for the entire baseball season

Location on display, perhaps MLB? As an NYer, that would be well worth strolling by on occasion to see this person living the dream in action – say during a Kansas City-Baltimore double-header in mid-August.

I applaud anyone with the fan fortitude just to fill out the application. Good luck, baseball lunatics.

MLB Dreamjob

Blake Griffin took over MySpace today? At least it ensured that one 21-year old visited MySpace today – that’s assuming of course that MySpace made Blake actually go on MySpace to do stuff for them.

I’m not a sports marketing technician, so let’s not belabor the brand alignment here. Also, some of this content is pretty damn sweet. For instance, Blake palling around with comedian Ben Gleib.

1st Half – More than Just a Baller – Blake Griffin

@BlakeGriffin | Myspace Video

2nd Half – More Than a Baller – Blake Griffin

@BlakeGriffin | Myspace Video

Too saccharine for some of you Blake maniacs? Check out this video of what Blake sees when he posterizes someone:

Dunk You Very Much

@BlakeGriffin | Myspace Video

Still too whimsical? Maybe abandon Blake’s MySpace content, and go read this Salon article on the rappers who were on Jimmy Fallon last night, Odd Future – Rape, Murder and SWAG…

Since we’re living in the era of Instapaper, I thought it best to wait a few days to post about the longform profile that came out earlier this week about probably the sports blogosphere’s most prominent blogger of late, A.J. “Tethered to the Machine” Daulerio. He got a bunch of quotes in the article, and one of literally said You’re just kind of tethered to the machine.

In reality, I’m not going to quit sports blogging, because as Daulerio’s friend and the founder of his site Deadspin, Will Leitch, said recently: writing about sports is infinitely fun. However, this profile about how the rigors of the job contributed to Daulerio seeking counseling earlier this year definitely put me at my most solemn this week (and I saw Blue Valentine this week).

I guess call me naive for not assuming that dads were calling up Daulerio – weeping – about watching their daughters have sex in urine on a stadium floor bathroom.

Check out the story at GQ.com. Leave your own thoughts on A.J.’s profile in the comments or @mikehayes19

(Photo from GQ.com)

On Monday, ESPN.com columnist, former Associated Content VP and guy known best in some circles as the blogger personally uninvited to last year’s Blog With Balls sports blogger conference by Joakim Noah, Dan Shanoff, launched Quickish, an almost-realtime, editor-curated news recommendation service. I’ve been scanning it a few times a day and really enjoy it, predominantly because Shanoff, true to form, launched with sports as the flagship subject-matter.

If for nothing else, commend him for launching this before the Verizon iPhone announcement.

Here’s what TechCrunch had to say about Quickish…

News recommendation services are plenty, and they all try to crack a similar nut: getting news updates more rapidly in front of people who are likely to be interested in them. Quickish is no different, yet, as the name implies, recommendations for online news items are shared quickly but decidedly not instantaneously.


That’s because Quickish shuns automated systems and relies on editor-vetted news recommendations, which are nonetheless delivered at modern media consumption speed.


In Shanoff’s words:
“People have made it clear how they want to stay updated: fast. Quick to know something happened, quick to access the best of what is being said, quick to consume, quick to recognize if something is worth their time. Quickish is built for them.”

Personally, I’m up for vetted – hopefully more intelligent – content recommendation in 2011. Along with the launch of Quickish, consider the success The Daily Beast continues to build with The Cheat Sheet and the recent mass growth of Q&A platform Quora – who reserves the right to delete your question if it’s too foolish (Yahoo! Answers-esque). Maybe seeking smarter content will become a trend this year? Could mean big things for sites like Quickish if they do a good job.

For those who don’t know why I mentioned Joakim Noah…

Blogs With Balls 3.0 | Joakim Noah from HHR on Vimeo.

I’ll be honest, I don’t necessarily miss fantasy football right now. I finished a contemptible 9th place this year. Nevertheless, I can’t pass up a golden opportunity to make the Saints-Seahawks game more interesting this weekend.

This NFL postseason, those dastardly community organizers of the sports blogosphere, Blogs With Balls are originating playoff fantasy football. If you have a sports blog, you can go to BWB and register and select your team. Make sure you read the rules carefully (or you can just email Don like I did). To summarize, there’s no draft, you just pick your roster. There are certain stipulations, but as they mention “the goal is to create a roster that is just different enough to allow you to win.” Just make sure that roster includes Drew Brees.

Winner takes home a Timex e-Altimeter watch. Based on how I’ve faired in fantasy of late, I’m not going to bother looking up what e-Altimeter means.

Good luck to all my fellow sports bloggers who get in on this. Hope you pick the correct Patriots for your squad.

(Photo of Charlie Whitehurst, Seattle Seahawks might-be starting QB, c/o of Battle Red Blog)

Got to squeeze in one last post before Christmas.

To supplement the astute observations that took place throughout 2010 on Steady Burn I posted quite a bit on my Posterous – mostly music videos and musical performances that I enjoyed during the year. Including the best below starting with Lil Wayne and Eminem on SNL last week.

Note: Several of these were originally posted as band appearances on Jimmy Fallon that have since expired. I did my best to find adequate substitutions.

Subscribe to my Posterous if you’d like to experience much of the same in 2011.

Yeasayer “Ambling Alp” LIVE w/ Sleigh Bells Philly 5/5/10 from ‘SUP Magazine on Vimeo.

Record Club: INXS “New Sensation” from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

See you next week or in 2011, friends.

They’d probably prefer a link on SI.com Hot Clicks to this, but just wanted to take an opportunity to point out that NBA blog The Basketball Jones is murdering the game today with their Lebron coverage.

If you’re interested in what went down at Quicken Loans Arena last night, you should really check them out today. I poached some of their best content for the purposes of this blog post, including a pic of my favorite sign from the game last night (’11-8?? Looks Like You Left Your Talents in Cleveland’) and a soon-to-be widely viewed video of the Cleveland coaching staff telling Lebron to STFU that Tas Melas tweeted earlier.

TBJ’s latest podcast is also a must today. They talk to Yahoo! Sports’ esteemed Adrian Wojnarowski, one of straightest shooters in NBA writing. Skeets and Melas are hilarious as usual. The TBJ Overdose is in my Top-3 podcasts, along with Dan Levy’s On the DL and Bill Simmons’ B.S. Report. What other great sports podcasts are out there? (Leave for me in the comments)

I was hoping that Jared Allen would have some deep thoughts on today’s trade that brought Randy Moss back to the Vikings. Nothing too poignant to report from his Twitter feed, yet.

I did manage to come across a sort of rules to live by that Allen posted on his blog Jared’s Journal aptly titled Marriage & Mullets. Here’s the good stuff, and by that I mean his mullet mantra…

Now let’s get down to the hair. I know there are a lot of disappointed fans that I cut my hair. But remember this was never about a hair cut. I said from the beginning that it was a lifestyle. Believe me when I tell you I still rock every bit of that life style. And I still love all you badasses out there still rocking the Mullet. I think this is a good time to restate a few of the lifestyle characteristics.

1. Always highlight your mullet.
2. Always show respect to another Mullet
3. Sleeves optional
4. LOVE AMERICA

I’m still rocking 3 of the 4 and as far as I’m concerned any one rocking 3 of the 4 will always have a place in the Mullet Mullitia.

As I referred to him right after he unveiled the new hairdo at this year’s American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe: newly kempt, but no less ridiculous. He’s also the man responsible for the greatest episode of Cribs not featuring the Ying Yang Twins.

More from Allen and/or his teammates’ Twitter reactions to Randy Moss later on.

Realizing the NFL season is nearly a week old, and I haven’t heard a peep out of Warren Sapp. Not one iota of commentary out of the guy. This should not be the case after tonight’s episode of Inside the NFL.

Sapp has never been a blowhard per say, more like jovially opinionated – he appreciates a good josh.

So, I thought it worthwhile to check out what he’s been out lately via his online channels.

His website QBKilla.com, let’s say not exactly a content engine. You can get a nice t-shirt that says QB Killa tho. Available in standard or pink baby-tee, yes zir (as Sapp himself might say).

What his website lacks in, well, multiple pages quite honestly, the Sapp Twitter feed (@QBKilla, naturally) makes up for in offbeat photo content.

Here’s one of a dog (a ridiculous looking dog in an NFL jersey). Here’s one of a short bus.

And…here’s a picture of what I believe Warren Sapp ate recently.

GUH!

His caption reads, “This Is Way I Don’t Eat Chocolate!! No Zirr!!!” If I knew what he meant, I guess I’d be less frightened by what’s on that plate.

Anyway, good luck putting that image out of your brain today. Maybe this Warren Sapp gag reel from 2008 will help…

With Iron Man 2 opening today to the delight of RDJ fans – including this one – wanted to give Downey Jr. the same treatment that we gave Johnny Depp a while back and poll the sports blog intelligentsia: Which Sports Biopic would you like to see Robert Downey Jr. star in?

Now I’m no David Rubin (casting director on Less Than Zero, film moguls), but here are some of Downey’s traits I sent around:

• Can play unhinged (citing: Natural Born Killers, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Charlie Bartlett)

• Can dial it back, and play still unhinged, but repressing it (citing: A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints)

• Can Will play black (citing: Tropic Thunder)

• Can make ill conceived career decisions (citing: the 22 episodes of Ally McBeal from 2000-03, and his foray into music)

• Can take his shirt off (citing: Sherlock Holmes)

• Can play British (citing: Natural Born Killers, again)

Realistically, we’re far closer to seeing Downey star as Hugh Hefner, then any sports personalities (H/T Dan Adams). However, I got some great submissions from the sports blogosphere’s finest, all of whom I even sent a picture of 80′s hot Jami Gertz as a source of inspiration. Check out the Top-5 suggestions below, and feel free to add your own in the comments.

Mark Cuban

My quick take is Mark Cuban. We’ve seen him play the brash billionaire quite well in Iron Man, so Cuban’s a natural fit for him. (Ben Q. Rock/Orlando Pinstriped Post)

Theo Fleury

His rise to stardom, fall due to substance abuse, and the recent come back attempt, feel good ending. (Adam Kingsley/The Hoop Doctors)

Helio Gracie

Since Robert Downey Jr. has martial arts training (specifically jiu-jitsu), only fitting that he play the Godfather of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in an MMA origins movie. (Adam Best/Fansided.com)

Lance Armstrong

Ill-advised? Dude was awesome in Ally McBeal.  How bout Lance Armstrong? (David Chalk/Bugs & Crank)*

*I’m pretty sure David couldn’t care less if Downey Jr. plays Lance Armstrong, and just responded to defend his performance in Ally McBeal.

Roberto Clemente