Lost, American Idol, the Grammys, Indiana-Wisconsin/Syracuse-UConn rivalry week doubleheader, Bulls/Nuggets… what the hell am I going to watch on TV tonight with such a plethora of choices?  While I figure that out, here are today’s links:

1) The Che Cachet – The only good Che Guevara t-shirt out there is the one with his face and the line “I Have No Idea Who This Is” underneath.  That pretty much sums up the ignorance of 99.9% of the people who wear his likeness in regards to what this guy actually stood for.

2) From Cigars to a Pineapple – It looks like former Illinois Governor George Ryan received gifts from people ranging from George Steinbrenner to the president of South Korea while in office.

3) NHL Assistant is Cited as Head of a Gambling Ring – The most exciting thing to happen to hockey since the lockout ended.

4) Senator, We’re Ready for Your Cameo – Everyone notice John McCain’s appearance on “24” on Monday?

And finally…

5) A Little Slice of Boredom – My sister has broken down and started a blog.  She is a super artist currently in grad school in New Jersey (which exit?) and would single-handedly put Blockbuster and Netflix out of business if she opened up her DVD collection to the public.

Enjoy the links and have a great day!

Super Bowl Monday links:

1) And for Perfect Attendance, Johnny Gets… a Car – I used to receive things like $1 general admission tickets to White Sox games at old Comiskey Park or a coupon for personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut if I got perfect attendance for the year.  Now, districts are giving kids iPods, cars, and cold hard cash to get kids to come to school.  I grew up in the wrong era.

2) Antonio Davis’ Strange Journey – After Antonio Davis was traded from the Knicks to the Raptors, Sam Smith is positive that he and his crazy wife are coming back to Chicago.

3) On Capitol Hill, Playing WikiPolitics – It was only a matter of time.

4) Roethlisberger to Shave Beard for Money – The difference between the average person on the street and a Super Bowl champion?  The Super Bowl champ gets paid to shave on David Letterman.

And finally…

5) Coke Dealer Tries to Solicit Cop… and the Cop Wasn’t Undercover – As much as we try to make the world idiot-proof, the world keeps producing better idiots.

Some quick links for the day:

1) Top 20 Highway Bottlenecks – Chicago has 5 of the top 20 highway interchange bottlenecks for trucks in the country.  Only Los Angeles has more on the list with 6.  Strangely enough, as I immediately noticed and the Chicagoist also pointed out, the Hillside Strangler on the Eisenhower just east of I-294 isn’t on there, which is absolutely shocking.  Even after it was supposedly reconstructed under the George Ryan administration (I haven’t seen any alleviation of traffic there whatsoever), it is the most poorly designed section of highway in Chicagoland.

2) Antonio Davis’ Wife in Another Dispute – I’m now officially petrified that Antonio Davis’ wife is going to go on a rampage in my neighborhood.

3) Lehman Brothers Staffer Called up by Steelers for the Super Bowl – I’d like to put John Paxson on notice that if the Bulls ever make the NBA Finals again, I’m available.

Every once in awhile, a link is so incredible and awesome that it deserves a Land-o-Links all for itself.  Courtesy of Dan the Man, the following page deserves such an honor:

http://www.collegehumor.com/pictures/1653732/

Back with more on the Illini and Big Ten basketball soon.

I just got some tickets to tonight’s Rolling Stones concert at the United Center, which should be awesome, but that also means that I’ll be missing tonight’s Illinois game against Minnesota.  As a result, I’ll have to retract my statement from last week that I wouldn’t be missing any more Illini games this season (the only 2 games I’ve missed so far happen to be the only 2 games they’ve lost).  I think we’ll be fine against the Gophers, though: we’re at home and Minnesota has yet to win a Big Ten contest.  Anyway, here are the links for the day:

1) Trick My Truck (submitted by Matt) – Hmmm… West Coast Customs just ended its relationship with “Pimp My Ride” on MTV and now this show pops up on CMT?  Oliver Stone’s head is turning.

2) Epstein Back as Red Sox GM – Theo seems to be a graduate of the Roger Clemens school of leaving the game.

3) WB and UPN Merge – Score one for Frank the Tank in my personal war against the WB.

And in honor of the Rolling Stones…

4) On Tour, Rolling Stones Pack Perks, Quirks – It seems that the Rolling Stones have some unusual riders in their tour contracts, particularly the need to feed their cricket holliganism.  The best, though, is the list of contract riders for other musicians – needless to say, Busta Rhymes has his own needs.

Quick hits today:

1) Emily’s Reasons for a Cancelled Show – After running just short of a billion promos for this show during Monday Night Football and the BCS bowl games, ABC proceeded to cancel “Emily’s Reasons Why Not?” roughly ten minutes before the first episode even concluded.  Unfortunately, it looks like the president of ABC still has a scary man-crush on (turn on your Keith Jackson voice here) John Stah-mos.

2) Supreme Court Rejects Blackberry Appeal – I literally just received a Blackberry from my employer last week – great timing.

3) Nas to Join Label Led by Former Rival Jay-Z – If Wal-Mart and Microsoft merged to form one intergalactic conglomerate, that company might be about half as powerful as this pairing in this thing called rap.

And finally…

4) Amy Fisher, Buttafuocos Plan TV Reunion – It’s about damn time.

For those of us who are still drowning in the sorrows of the Illini/Bears double whammy of losses, here are some links to take your mind elsewhere:

1) Cannes Seeks More Hip-Hop – It seems as though the world’s preeminent film festival is getting tired of all those French films.

2) Dogs Excel on Smell Test to Find Cancer – Incredible…

3) Loophole in Lobbying Bill Leaves Wiggle Room – Once again, our politicians talk a great game regarding campaign finance reform when a scandal hits (i.e. Republicans and Jack Abramoff right now, Democrats and Chinese business donations to the DNC during the Clinton era) but don’t really want the status quo to change in reality.

4) Muck Fichigan – At least the Illini beat Michigan on Saturday.  Meanwhile, here’s the byproduct of some entreprenurial Ohio State fans.

And finally…

5) Casino Coughs Up $25,000 for Shatner’s Kidney Stone – I thought the headline was crazy.  Then I found out how much Star Trek fans were willing to pay for this piece of Captain Kirk.

If you need to take your mind off the Bears loss like me, here are some links for the day:

1) Rating (and Finding) the Movie Raters – I guess I’m not the only person who believes that the MPAA ratings for films are completely inconsistent.  It also seems that the ratings board is shrouded in as much secrecy as Opus Dei.

2) Mo’ Marion Barry – Who’s more sad: the politicians we send to Washington D.C. or the people who are actually from the city that keep on voting this guy into office?

3) $1 Million Parking Space – I know people will do a lot of crazy things to grab a prime Loop parking space, but this is a little bit over the top.

4) The Smoking Gun’s 2005 Mug Shots of the Year (submitted by Matt) – From the famous to the ridiculous, take a moment to look at all of these because you can’t possibly waste time in a better fashion than this.