Tuesday Links - Respect the Tour De Donut

Sorry for bouncing out on my usual Friday shift. My actual job got in the way, and I was relatively pissed about it. On the bright side . . . guess I'm gonna really love my paycheck next week!

Anyway.

BLUES NEWS:

• A couple cartoons from a guy named "snow-man". [SLGT FanShots; SLGT FanShots]
• By now, you know about the passing of Oscar Taveras, the young outfield phenom of the St. Louis Cardinals. David Backes spoke up about the tragedy on behalf of the Blues after the team's practice in Dallas yesterday. [SLGT]
• Brian Elliott will start, Carl Gunnarsson will play for the first time as a Blue and Ryan Reaves and Vladimir Tarasenko are questionable due to the bacterial infection that's been going around. Also, Paul Stastny skated a bit more yesterday than previously and is getting closer. Lou has all this and more. [In The Slot / Lou Korac]

KNOW YOUR ENEMY--THE DALLAS STARS:

• Wanna know more about the Dallas Stars, apart from that they can score a lot of goals and have no defense or (probably) goaltending? Defending Big D has you covered! (And as an added bonus, I did a Q and A which should be appearing there before tonight's game!) [Defending Big D]
  

HOCKEY NEWS:

• Last night's scores. Not many to see . . . just two. Good Job Good Effort in the third period there, Minnesota. [NHL.com 10/27/14]
• But not to fear! Twelve games tonight, including one in Dallas that you may be familiar with. [NHL.com 10/28/14]
• What did we learn from Ryan Lambert, other than that the Minnesota Wild(s) are probably more lucky than they are good (especially after last night's game)? That at least one St. Louis Business Journal reporter doesn't really know how CapGeek works. [Puck Daddy]
• Young Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta had played the first couple weeks knowing he had a tumor on his neck that was almost for sure a cancerous one. He had surgery to remove that tumor yesterday, is expected to make a full recovery and will likely return sooner rather than later. Good on you, lad. [Penguins]
• Well, Semyon Varlamov is getting sued by the person who dragged him through the mud last year. [Puck Daddy]
• Hockey By Design looks at the Good, the Bad and the Meh of this offseason's sweater changes. They, like many others, are high on the Blues' changes. [Hockey By Design]
• John Scott is a putz, and got suspended basically for being a putz against the Ducks on Sunday. [Puck Daddy]
• Speaking of putzes from that game . . . Ducks defenseman Ben Lovejoy will miss 6 to 8 weeks after breaking a finger on the face of Sharks forward Joe Pavelski during a fight. Ryan Reaves says "Hey, that sounds familiar!" [CBS Sports Eye on Hockey]
• And MORE putzes . . . Chris Kreider whacked Jonas Brodin from behind and Dominic Moore elbowed Erik Haula in the face during the aforementioned Rangers-Wild(s) game. I'm guessing at least Moore will be suspended. What say you, Stephane Quintal? [USA Today / For The Win]

OTHER SHIT:

• I live in craft beer heaven . . . the State of Montana. I mean, seriously, every town in this state has at least ONE craft brewery. But even WE don't have quite the selection they had centuries ago. [PRI]
• Speaking of beer, just how boozy should your beer be? [Deadspin / The Concourse]

VIDEO:

Because I had to tap out Friday, I didn't get a chance to give you a video theme for the week. So I'm not gonna do one this week. Instead, I'm giving you a continuation of last week (Stupid Human Tricks), and the video I was going to show you Thursday . . . a dude eating a hot dog while juggling the Goddamn thing:

And this was recorded in February, when the kid was a SOPHOMORE IN HIGH SCHOOL. He's a Junior now. Guess he's gonna be okay.

Also, there's this . . . 29 Dessert Facts. (S/T to CrossCheckRaise):

Making an appearance? My hometown of Staunton, Illinois. TOUR DE DONUT, MOTHERFUCKER.

Send me your tired, your poor . . . send me your links and videos and shit:

• gtdonutking AT gmail DOT com
• @KingDonutI

Episode 58 of Beyond Checkerdome comes your way later this week.