Monday & links — a natural combination

You need to get back to work, aight?



(Video is courtesy Crimson Confidential, via ESPN, of course.)

We're off and running with another big batch of links for a hangover-ridden Monday.
— Tragedy strikes as Andre Smith goes bananas.
(Note: Take a deep breath. It's a joke.)

Whenever you travel in Crimson Tide country, you have to accept the basic reality that you may encounter a 330-pound lineman. If you are in open country, use binoculars to scan the horizon. In more forested environments, be sure to make lots of noise and keep a mental inventory of climbable trees (just in case). Remember, Andre Smith is surprisingly agile, and has also been known to climb short distances up trees.

— Wasn't able to participate in this week's C&W Roundtable — being so far away and all — but it's worthy of a read, for sure.
— Also always worth reading: OTS' chats with readers on RBR. This week is no different.
— The bizarre saga of Jeffrey Francoeur: first the demotion, now the call-up.

If the point of his demotion was for the team to "straighten him out" or "get him back to his old form," then how can three days in the minors solve those problems? To me this further underlines the real reasons for his demotion. If it really was for him to get his swing back, then the right thing to do would have been to keep him down there until that occurred (as per the original plan). In this instance, the team should have recalled Brandon Jones or Brent Lillibridge or Josh Anderson.

wlh