Weekend Halolinks: First Edition, Signed Copy, Rare

Hello all, and welcome to your brand-spanking new Weekend Halolinks. As you can see by my name above, I am linkbruin. No I am not dead--despite my nonappearance around these parts for the last few months. Thank you for your concern. Long story short, life got real around these parts. But hey, that's all taken care of now.

The first weekend Halolinks might be a little rough around the edges, but I promise you it's only going to get better/more awesome/please just love me.

Since news is naturally a little slower heading into the weekend, there won't be as much Angels talk. I'm going to involve some pop culture, other sports, and just other interesting news and noteworthy items. If you have any suggestions for topics or cool links you find that might not fit in during the week, shoot me an email (it's on my bio page), and we can get the ball rolling on this stuff.

And with that, let's get to the links:

First off with Angels news:

• Erick Aybar, Albert Pujols homer to back Angels rookie Garrett Richards' scoreless outing. Any game Albert homers is now my favorite game. I wished I had manlier words to describe it, but it's just so pretty when he hits the ball and it goes far. I caved this year and got MLB 12: The Show. My first game was an exhibition against the Dodgers, and Albert hit a 2-run walk-off HR. That was also pretty. My vocabulary to describe the way Albert makes me feel will expand this season, I promise.
• Morales feels good after hitting in Minors games. Yes. Yes. Yes. Trying to...contain...potential...excitement. Kendrys thinks he might be good to go by Opening Day, so we'll see how that goes. If Kendrys can return to former hitting form or at least 90% of it, well that can only mean good things. No, great things. (I think I have been watching too much How I Met Your Mother, so that last sentence will sound better in Marshall's/Jason Segal's voice.)
• MLB Players Fill NCAA Brackets. Believe me, I am getting to this. I think it's interesting see what other athletes think about other athletes. LaTroy was the Angels' rep to fill out a bracket. His is less busted than mine.
• Angels open fan mail. I have never, ever written fan mail. I'm not sure if that makes me weird or normal. It always just seemed a little strange to me. I also don't know why I find these photos so fascinating. Candid photos (well semi-candid) seem to tell a lot about a person, at least in my opinion. You're caught completely off-guard and usually look really ugly. That's right. You're all really ugly.

Other baseball news:

• Andy Pettitte Returns to New York. I never trust an athlete that retires until 2 full season have passed without him. I guess Michael Jordan would ruin this theory, but I think it holds fairly true across the board. The Rangers are still the scary team in the AL; not really sure this does anything but add a little depth for the Yankees.
• It's already been posted, but here it is again: Mr. Yamauchi, Please Go See the Mariners Play. You Own the Team, After All. I wish I had money to buy expensive things I never use.

Now on to the wide-world of sports:

My name pretty clearly identifies my alma mater. (It's not Belmont.) I love college basketball, and I hate that UCLA is not playing meaningful games in March. However, since I was in 3rd grade March Madness has been a big deal to me. I was given a huge NCAA basketball tournament encyclopedia, and I could and still can recite ridiculous facts from the tourney's history. The internet has made this much less impressive, but I'm still a big nerd about all this stuff. I loved brackets so much that I would make my own to: race my hot wheels, face off my action figures, and animal kingdom showdowns. Again, the internet has made my bracket drawing and recitation ability much less impressive. In summation, even though UCLA is not playing I am very excited for March.

• Despite above claims, my bracket is ruined. This is the first time I've lost my champion, Missouri, in the first round. 15 over 2 upsets are very rare in college basketball, so having two of them within hours of each other is unprecedented. However, you get moments like this: Here's What It Looked Like At Norfolk State's On-Campus Watch Party When They Beat Missouri. I love this stuff.
• Like any self-respecting college basketball fan, I hate Duke. Here's a great historical recap by Deadspin: Let's Recall 32 Teams That Made Deeper Tournament Runs Than The 2011-12 Duke Blue Devils.
• Deadspin also did a neat retrospective of the graphics CBS used for the tournament over the last 30 years earlier this week. Even if you don't like college basketball, it's interesting to look at how these logos change over time.

Who controls the story of a video game-its writers or its players? The obvious answer-that a storyteller is a storyteller, end of discussion-has driven some reporters (including me) to condemn and dismiss the widely-circulated fan petition that asks BioWare to change its ending for Mass Effect 3, the popular sci-fi roleplaying game that came out last week for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. But by cutting all discussion and discarding the question as if it were some mathematical equation with an immutable answer, maybe we're doing a disservice to the entire medium. Maybe games can be more than just expressions of auteur theory. Maybe video games can be the first form that allows for the democratization of storytelling.