JonahKeri.com

With apologies to the Boomtown Rats’ masterpiece (man, am I old), I’m one of the few people I know who actually likes Mondays.

Being a communications junkie, I’m always psyched for the uptick in e-mails and other correspondence I get on Mondays. That’s especially on the work end. Various and sundry editors like to get their week plotted out on Monday morning. This often leads to emails asking if I’m available to write Cool Feature X. As a freelancer, such e-mails are always welcome, both because they keep me busy and because they pay my mortgage (and insanely high New Hampshire property taxes).

In fact, I banged out a short piece this morning for ESPN.com. Click on the link for Page 2, then scroll down to bottom left. I mean how often do I spend the bulk of my afternoon watching a Rangers-Twins game? Great to be rewarded with both a terrific pitcher’s duel and a compelling story of a rookie’s first taste of big league success.

Also this morning, got an e-mail from a friend of mine dating back to the Seattle days, the esteemed public radio kingpin John Moe. John interviewed me last week as part of an interesting and wacky feature on the (Devil) Rays. Click here to read the story–the page also contains a link up top to the entire podcast, which aired coast-to-coast on various NPR-ish iterations over the weekend. I definitely had some fun thinking aloud about a potential Rays-Cubs World Series, with all the Satan/goat imagery that would go with it.

Some more links for your Monday enjoyment:

–I’ve been asked to contribute to a Page 2 series, profiling eight of the best years in sports over the past century. I chose 1961, Year of the Dynasty. The Packers won their first of five 1960s championships that year, the Celtics were in the midst of the greatest dynasty in NBA history, and the Yankees were in the thick of perhaps their most successful period ever, complete with the famous Maris/Mantle home run chase. The article, which includes my ‘61 entry and seven others by Page 2 colleagues, runs on Page 2 next Monday.

To help us organize our thoughts, my editor Dave sent over a link to Bill Simmons’ excellent tribute to 1984, a huge year both for the world of sports as well as pop culture. Number 40 on his list of 84 great things about ‘84 was Corey Hart’s “Sunglasses at Night” video. This of course got me giddy. One YouTube click later, I present this nominee for the Unintentional Music Video Comedy Hall of Fame. And yes, I’m proud to say that Corey Hart and I share a hometown.

–I’ve made no secret of my enjoyment for the increasingly popular blog “Stuff White People Like”. Angèle has the blog on her Google Reader, and giddily runs over to update me whenever there’s a new post. Today’s effort: Unpaid internships. White people love ‘em, especially if they’re in a field that’s perceived as glamorous (but really isn’t). It took me exactly 0.000001 seconds to guess which profession would be listed first on the list of desired internships. Hint: it’s mine.

–My buddy Jon, who works in the Red Sox PR department, is off to Portland, Maine tonight to help out with various projects, and also to take in David Ortiz’s latest minor league rehab game. I was tempted to join him. But given the constant rain of the past three days, the distance to Portland, my packed schedule, and the fact that I’ve never been to Portland, and would like to do it right by walking around town, hitting a cool restaurant and generally making a day of it when I do go, I decided to pass. Recently called-up Red Sox pitcher Justin Masterson reports that when he was in Pawtucket with Ortiz also there, Big Papi sprang for the postgame spread every night.

One night, “Latin night,” included goat, Masterson said.

–Two entries I enjoyed by my favorite political blogger, master-of-outrage Glenn Greenwald.

One discusses just how permanently wedded politicians are to lobbyists and corporate overlords, using the image of a tote bag as the backdrop.

The other discusses how media stars and big-name pundits routinely ignore, wave off or generally hold contempt for the opinions of the majority of the American public. Greenwald uses the highly divisive issue of Israel to make his point. Since I’m friendly with many people who would disagree with the majority’s opinion and argue against Greenwald’s rationale on that issue, feel free to insert your own issue–Iraq, offshore drilling, health care, whatever. The talking heads seem to constantly argue their own opinions on key issues as if the majority of people who disagree are crazy. Pretty interesting read.

–Finally, you rotoheads out there will appreciate this. For the past few years, I’ve been fortunate enough to be invited to participate in the League of Alternative Baseball Reality, one of the best-known “experts” leagues for fantasy baseball. Essentially the league consists entirely of people who make their living writing about or being associated with fantasy sports. Actually there’s one person who doesn’t fit that “expert” profile: me. Yet in my two previous years in the AL-LABR league, I have one first-place finish and one very close second-place finish. This year, I’m back in first. Who the heck knows how this will turn out–I could very well end up 8th by season’s end. But if you’re a rotohead like me, you’ll appreciate this pitching staff I’ve assembled. Keep in mind this is AL-only, 12 teams. Very deep league.

(Dollar amount paid at draft included in brackets)

Greg Smith (undrafted, signed off waivers)
Nick Blackburn ($0)
John Danks ($0)
Cliff Lee ($0)
Tim Wakefield ($2)
Justin Duchscherer ($5)

My other three pitchers are Joba Chamberlain ($15), Francisco Rodriguez ($24, and on pace to break the single-season saves record) and Andrew Brown ($1, useful ratios guy).

It’s all well and good that I’m in first place in ERA, WHIP and strikeouts in the league, thanks to these no-name pitchers’ efforts. The bigger takeaway lesson might be this: We can study the game forever, and we’ll never, ever be able to figure it all out. Or when it comes to pitching, figure any of it out.