Link Dump on Steroids--6/9 revisited

On May 22, the link dump had well over 300 comments.  It was what people these days are calling a World Cup atmosphere--insanity prevailed, and we all thought there would never again be anything like it, or at least not for four years or so.  Wrong on that count--over the last two weeks, every weekday linkdump goes 200+ comments, 300 maybe every other day.  Two weeks after the 5/22 link dump, we had the 6/9 link dump--495 comments.  It was kind of like Bonds breaking McGwire's record just three years after McGwire did it--yes, the link dump is definitely on performance-enhancing drugs.  I read the 495-comment Friday dump, hoping to draw some conclusions about AN chatter in the new Link-Dump Era.

1. The dump's first comment was by its author, sal, who said "Geez. Tough Crowd," because nobody else had commented yet.
   
2. There was inevitable seething, groaning, and self-mutilation regarding the A's injuries.  Batgirl spoke of tossing and turning at night, unable to sleep with words like "oblique" and "day-to-day" coursing through her brain.  Poppy was added to the DL with a coughed-up lung; she was being treated with lethal-cuteness therapy until she pointed out that if she were dead, we might be able to get ninepence for her in a trade.   If you don't get it, join jeepers for a monte mara-py-thon; starts Monday, lasts all week.
   
3. Californiagirl announced she and her family were packing up and moving.  To Idaho?  No, but that reminds me that I just drove to Idaho from the Bay Area on my vacation.  Don't knock it till you've tried it.
   
4. A discussion of Larry Davis followd; californiagirl pointed out that if Larry Davis is, as some suggested, USDA certified meat, then the nice streaks of fat in him become the juice.
   
5. The College World Series was briefly mentioned.  I predicted that North Carolina would beat Alabama on a game-winning homer.  
   
6. A 16-year-old Michigan girl who was on her way to Tel Aviv to meet up with her internet-beau was detained by federal officials in Jordan, and they persuaded her to skip the rendezvous and head back home.   Of course, we blamed ohad.  Or, I guess,  gave him credit.
   
7. A World Cup discussion began that ranged from World War II to Tivo.  The latter was invoked when devo suggested that xbhaskarx shouldn't have posted that day's scores, since some people might be tivo-ing the games.  Me and xbx aren't exactly chums, but I agree with him here---should we avoid posting World Series scores as they appear as well?  The only time I would advocate worrying about being a spoiler would be during events whose telecasts are tape-delayed, which = pretty-much only the Olympics.  
   
8. Then the topic of World War II came up when a couple of young Germans--athletics lax and jeepers--discussed rooting for Germany.  As lax said, "It's odd being German however cause even though I don't have any ties to WWII, it feels wrong rooting for my country."  Jeepers then courted controversy by suggesting that, regarding the whole starting-two-wars thing, " ...in my opinion, they kind of started one (war)--the second one happening was pretty inevitable given how the first one was ended."  Since jeepers is well-liked, he was given the benefit of the doubt .wr.t. these comments.  I myself will give you the inside scoop on this German stuff, since I offer this perspective--my dad is German and proud of it, but my mom is German and not-at-all proud of it, since she's German Jewish and her `rents fled the Holocaust just in time to have her.  So my dad likes rooting for Germany in the Olympics, and watching old films about German WWI fighter-pilots, but he has to keep all his Germany-loving on the down-low to avoid even having to talk about it with my mom. My take:  Go ahead and root for your country, but nobody wants to hear your  justifications for WWII.  Even if every mistake we make in life is predestined and inevitable, there are nevertheless times when we need to stand up and take the blame for stuff. Incidentally, this is something I feel like the A's blatantly failed to do after their ALDS series losses in 2002 and 2003. It's like, shut up about Pyrzynski and Lowe and just say, 'We had a chance to win and we failed, we blew it, and we lost. We are to blame.' That annoyed me.  ANYWAY, then the World-Cup-spirit-of-bringing-the-nations-of-the-world-together ended on a touching note, as athletics lax made the following four consecutive comments:  "Damn Germans.  Damn Yankees.  Damn Japanese. Damn Sri Lankans."  It should also be noted that the Malaysians were also damned as well.
   
9. When californiagirl posted "OH DAMN BITCHES," it was our first clue something big was happening.  On the surface, it was just that some prospective buyers at her house were Angels fans, one with a beer belly, leading to an entertaining beer discussion by the afore-mentioned Germans (which then led to a touching World Cup memory--"my best memory," said as lax, "was the Irish guy who threatened to burn down Japan.").  But beneath the surfaces, "OH DAMN BITCHES" was the turning point, the point at which californiagirl took over the open thread.  Folks, I have discovered why AN (or at least the number of comments on its diaries) has been blowing up in the last few weeks, and the name of this discovery  (this thread-steroid, if you will) is californiagirl ... well, her and whichever young male AN-er is talking to her.  The beer discussion was dropped as athletics lax began chatting with californiagirl; their conversation  probably accounted for half of the thread's 495 comments, with occasional contributions from griffisgurl and devo.  May I propose a separate "chat-with-caligirl" thread; maybe a more-clever title could play on her A's middle-relief-alter-ego.  
   
10. Alas, I set out to read all 495 comments, and so at this point I listened in on some aslax--caligirl chat that apparently had started on some other thread--I'm guessing cali's 200+ comment World-Cup thread.  The previous conversation apparently involved pastries and Shakira.  Shoes were discussed, and it was revealed that caligirl owns 87 pair.  What in the name of Carrie Bradshaw does she need 87 pairs of shoes for?  Well, when a girl looks just like Alexis Bledel, she has to sport the fashions to match her good looks.  Athleticslax expressed doubt over whether caligirl really looks like the Gilmore Girls star.  As lax, if you're wondering, owns four pair of shoes.
    
11. The old recognizable AN link dump reappeared briefly, with news of Dan Meyer being put on the DL.  Jeepers offered this gem:  "Pass, pass, pass the f-ing cuss jar."  Jennifer suggested deleting the whole thread; sal responded by deleting Missouri.  The Meyer injury is reported as some sort of shoulder "tenderness," a word whose multiple meanings were of course not lost on AN.
    
12. The thread then ends with another 50 comments from as lax and caligirl.  Ohad showed up and said--hey caligirl you've been cheating on me!  Oh well.  And how did I like reading 200+ comments of IM-like conversation between two AN members?  Well, As lax is pretty funny; very much the insensitive male, punctuating his teasings with "oh ... snap!"  Caligirl is entertaining as well, never taking offense to anything and not-so-unfunny in her own right. Still, 200 comments of that = not-the-most-fun reading.  Still, it would be kind of cool to re-make (again) that lame movie "You've Got Mail," but instead of settting it up with Hanks' and Ryan's e-mails about Pride and Prejudice and the Godfather, the movie-maker could stubstitute these AN conversations between caligirl and as lax.