Jon Marthaler makes every Saturday even more pleasurable with links for some leisurely weekend reading. Other times, you can find him here and here. He also really wanted to see the before and after pictures from yesterday’s rib-fest with Local Quipster. As you can see, the only utensils used were a cutting board and a butcher knife. No plates. No forks. No napkins. Why bother?

Jon?

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Good morning to all and sundry. It’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve done links, what with the holiday last weekend and all that, so best just to get right to it today:

*Parker Hageman at Over The Baggy is almost always good for a research-filled, thought-provoking post - and since we’ve been gone for two weeks, we’ve got two links. The first examines Scott Baker’s release point; the second suggests a better batting order.

*Nick Nelson notes that Joe Nathan has been flying under the radar, and yet is having a spectacular year.

*In football news: Vikes Geek cautions us not to expect too much out of Percy Harvin. Meanwhile, Chris Brown explains the offense that pretty much every NFL team runs, and why the NFL is all about matchups and execution, rather than zany offensive schemes.

*And finally, a ratings note: the USA/Brazil Confederations Cup final was the third-highest rated match in US history. I heard several commentators set up and knock down an old straw man: “American soccer fans hope that this is the match that finally makes soccer popular in the USA.” I think American soccer fans don’t care what the rest of America thinks, except to hope that the ratings are high enough to keep the matches on TV. (And if nothing else, my favorite soccer writer is on our side).

Mini-rant over, and that’ll do it for me. Please tip whoever it is you tip on Saturday mornings.

It’s been a long time since we had a Commenter Of the Week. Time to change all that.

Power to the people.

We have a before/after picture of the giant rack of ribs we destroyed with Local Quipster, but shame is preventing us from posting. Enjoy the weekend, and look for a rare Hennepin County appearance from Stu tonight.

MR notices that True Hoop has initiated its own Twitter race, a la Brewster v. Cardinal.

Chris Bosh vs. Charlie Villanueva: who ya like?

Just got back from a run around the lake with Local Quipster, where we saw a woman in a Borat-esque swimsuit. He has a lot of opinions about it, all of them positive, but we will not let him share those with you right now.

Fasolamatt brings you the story and the video (below). What do you make of all this? Can these cats and dogs get along?

If you are like us, you spend the majority of vacation time trying to catch up with all the things and people you have missed while working. You end up scheduling, and over-scheduling, to the point that even when it’s relaxing your time off can feel like work — always going from one thing to the next, cramming it all in.

Every once in a while, though, you wind up with a day (or at least a part of the day) that is blissfully unencumbered. And we ask you this very simple question to start a day like that: when you find yourself with no obligations and nothing to do, what are the things that you REALLY like to do?