Appropriately for a big day in sports and a linkdump heavy on sports, here’s 2010 SI Swimsuit cover girl Brooklyn Decker.
The big story of the NHL All-Star weekend isn’t the new format with drafted teams but the big Guardian Project thing that the NHL is paying Stan Lee is doing. Okay, I’m being just a bit sarcastic there. Anyway, here’s the story behind the Guardian Project. (Puck Daddy)
Remember 2010 World Cup legend Paul the Octopus? Well, his aquarium has unveiled a new two-meter tall statue in his honour. (Off The Bench)
The biggest news in the sports blogosphere this week was the GQ profile of Deadspin editor AJ Daulerio and his work at Deadspin since taking over from Leitch. (GQ)
After the jump, sports science, Mass Effect 2 hits the PS3, and an amazing Brett Favre parody ad.
Later this afternoon is the AFC Championship game. After last week’s AFC Divisional Playoff game, New York Jets linebacker Bart Scott gave an interview that sounded like something from the WWE. Even WWE Hall of Famer Mean Gene Okerlund thought so. (New Jersey Star-Ledger)
What happens when AMA supercross at Dodgers Stadium meets a reporter on a minibike? The world’s least spectacular big crash. (Vin Scully Is My Homeboy)
Let’s mix some sports science into today’s linkdump. First, it’s a look at how important home-field/ice/court advantage is in professional sports. (SB Nation)
Second up, it’s the effect of back-to-back road games on Ivy League basketball teams. (Harvard Sports Analysis Collective)
Yesterday, Jackie mentioned Piers Morgan’s banned stars list for his new show. Well, the other day he had one of Hollywood’s newest banned stars, Ricky Gervais, on to talk about… Well, you can guess. (Gawker TV)
Top Gear is back tonight for its 16th season (or series as they call seasons over there). This marks the first time that TG will run at the same time as TG:USA. James May took some time to explain why he hates the hosts of TG:USA. (Daily Telegraph)
In random politics news, US Senator Joe Lieberman is retiring after this term is up. No tears are being shed with the retirement of this republican running as a democrat. (Slate)
Mass Effect 2 came out earlier this week for PS3. It’s using the Mass Effect 3 engine for graphics. IGN called it the definitive version of the game but how does it actually stack up against the XBox 360 version. (Digital Foundry)
The PS3 also has a special “interactive comic” to fill in the story from ME1. For PC and 360 gamers, here’s the video of the comic. (Joystiq)
The gang at EA Sports have a sense of humour it seems. Despite not putting in the Tiger vs. Elin fighting game that South Park’s version of Tiger Woods 11, they did put in nude female characters in it just for Tiger. (Wired)
Let’s do a couple of photo galleries to close out. First, it’s the worst parking jobs of all-time. And I thought I had trouble when I put the car in reverse. (Fork Party)
Ever see a fake sport in a movie and think that you have to try that in real life. Well, here are 15 fake sports that should be real. (UGO)
And a 3D artist by the stage name of FractalSponge has done some 3D computer images of Imperial ships that almost look real. (Kotaku)
Here’s the viral video of the week. It’s the Brett Favre parody of the LeBron James “What should I do?” ad. It’s not as ironically funny as LeBron it’s still pretty hilarious.
Keeping with the football theme, here are a pair of new unofficial fight songs for two of the NFL’s final four. First, it’s new unofficial Packers fight song called Fly Like a Cheesehead.
And if you thought that was bad, here’s the unofficial Jets fight song Rex’s Gang Green.
The Lowdown 