This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
One of the wonderful and frustrating things about the Internet is there's so much good stuff out there — it's hard to get to it all.
As a writer and admirer of great writing, I share a lot of stories on my Twitter, but I want to establish a more regular base from which to share reporting or other links that are worth the time of Utah readers. So here's to making the "Pick-6," which at the moment I envision as a feature several times a week to point out great stuff of interest on the Internet, with at least one featured piece, and then some quick hitters. I'll let you know why I think something is worth your time, then feel free to click and thus grant industry-saving validity to a particular piece, or just digest the gist.
Today, I'd like to kick it off with an in-depth piece on a former Ute ...
TODAY'S TOP LINK • Zach Helfand of the L.A. Times (http://bit.ly/2d36WLk";>he did the Tribune's scouting feature this week) penned a strong story about Stevie Tu'ikolovatu's limbo between Utah and USC, http://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/la-sp-usc-tuiklovatu-car-20160922-snap-story.html";>during which he lived out of his car with his wife. We did a piece http://bit.ly/2dky4WT";>on Stevie earlier in the week, but this is a deeper drill on his nomadic lifestyle. A clip:
Kalo outfitted the car with shower curtains to keep out the sun. They showered at the beach. They found a favorite spot atop a parking garage in Huntington Beach, where they could wake early to view the sun rise over the Santa Ana foothills and bathe in the sprawl of Orange County.
On weekends, they'd work out early, then spend the rest of the day swimming or exploring. "We were basically all around the coast," Kalo said. "We were little hippies."
Toward the end of the day, they'd buy meat from a Dollar Tree and barbecue on the beach, using a grill Tu'ikolovatu had rigged from an aluminum-foil pan, pieces of wood and lighter fluid.
Now you know you can buy meat from Dollar Tree, though I wouldn't recommend it.
Some other interesting stuff:
• The Spokesman-Review hashttp://www.spokesman.com/blogs/sportslink/2016/sep/22/sometimes-most-important-stories-happen-between-lines-other-times-they-dont/";> this interesting analysis on a widely cited report that Wazzu has the most arrests of any FBS football program. The truth behind those numbers reveal they are sketchy at best. It's not that the Cougars don't have a problem with police, but it probably isn't the worst problem, and a small town is easier to scrutinize than trying to track arrests over, say, the entire state of Utah.
• Oregon State is http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2016/09/ed_ray_oregon_state_president.html";>replacing athletic director Todd Stansbury after only one year, putting the Beavers out with a search firm once again. President Ed Ray spoke to the Oregonian about the disappointment of looking for a new AD again after Stansbury decided to leave for his alma mater Georgia Tech.
• Sports Illustrated writes abouthttps://www.si.com/college-basketball/2016/09/23/womens-college-basketball-recruiting-boycott";> several women's basketball coaches who are sitting out the final weekend of the recruiting period. It's a protest of a kind that reflects on the stretched-out recruiting calendar and how it wreaks havoc on schedules and keeps coaches from, you know, coaching the players they already have.
• Pro Football Focus will be checking out https://www.profootballfocus.com/draft-prospect-matchups-you-need-to-be-watching-in-week-4/";>Hunter Dimick taking on USC tackle Zach Banner tonight. It's one of the analytics site's top match-ups of the weekend between NFL hopefuls next year. Snacks isn't exactly a tiny guy, but Banner is 6-foot-9 and 360 pounds — big by any standard. (Full disclosure: PFF does grading for the Tribune and I love them for it.)
APROPOS OF NOTHING • Think of this as the guilty pleasure pick of the day that may or may not have anything to do with sports or college or anything. Ihttp://joeposnanski.com/last-call/";>'m going with Joe Posnanski channeling Vin Scully in order to write about Vin Scully. He captures the rhythmic cadence of the Dodgers' legend while offering incredible insight on the voice many of us most closely associate with America's pasttime. It's the kind of stylistic choice that could've failed spectacularly — if one of the best columnists in the world wasn't writing it.
You already know this will be Scully's final season. And it has been a marvelous career. There are so many statistics we could use to describe his unfathomable baseball life. This is his 67th season with the Dodgers, which means he has been around for 12 different managers from Burt Shotton to Dave Roberts. He has survived 18 different Dodger owners. How about this one? The Dodgers have played 145 different people at first base since Vin Scully joined the Dodgers. There are many more but I fear in passing along statistics like this I will be, as Scully himself says, using statistics the way a drunk uses a lamppost … for support rather than illumination. The people of Los Angeles have made clear how they feel about Mr. Scully again and again and again, as they do now
Twitter: @kylegoon