NFL players locked out from concerts, too

The NFL lockout means players can't enter the league's stadiums for any reason: to work out, meet with coaches or even attend concerts.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports about this unforeseen consequence of the NFL lockout and its effect on Kenny Chesney's tour, which will stop at 10 NFL stadiums this year:

"If you're in the NFL [players union], you can't go to your stadium, you can't work out at your stadium, you can't talk to your coaches," says Chesney, who has 10 NFL venues (including Green Bay's Lambeau Field) on his 2011 itinerary. When he played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' home turf last week, "we had all baseball players there. We had a lot of Phillies, Red Sox and Yankees who were down there for spring training." 

"But at West Palm [Beach], we had a ton of NFL players. I saw [guard Steve] Hutchinson from the Vikings. If we were to play the Dome up there, he couldn't come to the show."

This rule is almost as ridiculous as the Star Tribune's use of brackets in quotes. Does the NFL really think locked-out players are going to buy concert tickets in a ruse to access their teams' workout facilities?

Furthermore, how would they enforce this rule? All an NFL player needs to do is throw on a trucker hat and a pair of aviators and they'll blend right in with 70,000 other Kenny Chesney fans. Is Bob Kraft gonna man the Gillette Stadium entrance to make sure Tom Brady isn't sneaking in to see Taylor Swift?

Foggy math in San Francisco

I was searching for San Francisco tsunami news this morning and stumbled across a story in the San Francisco Examiner about a moronic but very lucky high school kid who jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge and survived with just some bruises.

The article contains this passage:

The teen joins more than 1,400 others who have jumped from the bridge since it opened in 1937, according to the Golden Gate Bridge transit district. Of those, only 2 percent survived, and only 4 percent of those who survived were able to walk again.

The purpose of the paragraph is to show that surviving the plunge without dying or becoming paralyzed is very rare. Mission accomplished, right?

Technically, but I did the math, and 4 percent of 2 percent of 1,400 people is ... one person. That paragraph would have been way better if it said, "The teen is only the second person ever to jump off the bridge without dying or becoming paralyzed." In fact, isn't that such an interesting fact that you'd probably lead with it?

No wonder they can't get anyone to pay for the Examiner these days.

ESPN might want to change ads on this Oregon story

Which baseball team should you root for?

Choosing which baseball team to root for usually isn't a choice at all. It's typically something you're born into (like, you root for who your family roots for) or based on where you live.

But if you ever find yourself without a home team to root, root, root for, this flow chart can help. Take a look at some of the decisions you'll have to make (and which clubs they lead to), then check out the full chart to see which baseball team you should root for:

• If you cheer when the Jumbotron says so and not a moment sooner, are not ashamed to eat sushi at a baseball game and prefer raspberry appletinis, the Angels are the team for you.
• If you are watching baseball to pass the time until football camp, and you think this country is being ruined by Democrats, you should root for the Rangers.
• And of course, if you have no soul, you're a Yankees fan.

Click the image to find out which baseball team you should root for.

George Mason marching band covers Rage Against the Machine

This video is too good not to share. The George Mason marching band, Mean Green, plays a Rage Against the Machine medley, including "Bulls on Parade" and "Killing in the Name." Check it out:

Scientology spies and other dirty laundry

Charlie Sheen is getting all the headlines, but it hasn't exactly been a great couple of weeks for the Church of Scientology, either.

First, if you have a couple hours to kill -- seriously, it's nearly 25,000 words long -- check out The New Yorker's profile on Hollywood screenwriter and Scientology defector Paul Haggis. Among the many accusations against the church in this article:

• Church officials ordered manual laborers to do several favors for Tom Cruise, including customizing his SUV, painting his luxury motorcycles and renovating his airport hangar. When one of these laborers escaped the church's California compound and fled to Texas, Scientology officials followed him.

How not to use social media

Remember the good ol' days when all journalists talked like Al Capone, kept bottles of whiskey in their desk drawers and had little cards that said "PRESS" in their hats? That's not the case anymore (except maybe the whiskey in the desk part).

Another thing that has changed for journalists: They're not the only sources of information anymore. Not by a long shot. Any idiot kan strt up a Blog or @twitter acct. in a matter of mins theese daze. And for every person who has built a successful blog without any formal journalism training, or used Twitter to advance their career, there are many more who end up making themselves look silly.

Cases in point: Texas Gov. Rick Perry and economics researcher Barry Ritholtz.

Let's take the Texas governor first. Mediabistro's All Twitter blog reports that Perry has blocked Texas journalists from following his Twitter account, @GovernorPerry.