About The Blogroll
Last Update: 4/27/05 11:15 PMNow that I've finished the blogroll, I thought I'd give an explanation to how I categorized it. If you've played Texas Hold'em you'll understand it easily; if not I'll explain it a little, but you really won't get it if you don't know how to play. But never fear: one day when there's nothing going on and there are no Lebanese Protest Supermodels™ to gawk at, I'll write a mini-"Texas Hold'Em For Dummies" FAQ so you too can be eternally frustrated by a simple game.
A¨ A© aces
Starting with two aces is, by far, the best hand in Texas Hold'em. If you don't play poker, you've probably at least heard of the phrase "an ace in the hole" referring to a secret, super-powerful weapon; well, having "pocket rockets" or "bullets" is literally having TWO aces in the hole.
Since it's prime real-estate, I'm limiting it only to those blogs who've thrown me a link very recently. As of right now, I'm arbitrarily defining "very recently" as one month; in the future I'll probably shorten that time. If, by the way, you arrive here via a link and don't see the source of that link in the "aces" section, feel free to shoot me an e-mail at marchandchronicles-at-yahoo.com.
A§ K§ ace-kings
A¨ Q¨ ace-queens
A© J© ace-jacks
Aª 10ª ace-tens
Technically, the next best hands after aces are other large pairs, but since I'm using "aces" as an analogy to blogs who've linked me recently, I decided to keep the analogy by using A/K, A/Q, A/J, and A/10 as those kings, queens, jacks or tens (scroll down for them) who've thrown me a link at all. Also in the A/K section is Mark Steyn, whose autograph adorns a couple of books I own and whose Presidential contests I was the first winner of. Plus, he's just a genius.
K¨ Kª kings
These are the blogs I check basically every time I even approach my computer, on average 2-3 times a day.
Q© Qª queens
When I am made Emperor Of The Universe, I shall choose one of these intelligent and attractive women to be my co-ruler. Wait — I'm Emperor Of The Universe — I'm taking all of them. (Sorry, Jesse Malkin.)
J§ J© jacks
If I had the time, I would check these guys for updates as often as I do the "kings." But I don't, so here they go. I also put a couple bloggers here who have a bit of a chip on their shoulder; jacks, after all, used to be called "knaves."
10§ 10¨ tens
Tens are just that: fantastic blogs. Nothing more, nothing less.
K© Q§ paint
In poker, "paint" refers to any face card (kings, queens, or jacks; they're also sometimes called "picture cards" for the same reason). An ideal spot to place Chris Muir and C&F.
?? ?? jokers
Many card games have jokers as wild cards. Texas Hold'em has no wild cards, but the term "joker" is often used to describe the perfect card for you, like when you make four of a kind to beat someone's full house and thereby take all his money. I love all the other sites I've listed above, but there are some times when guys like Scott Ott can often make points even more succinctly and perfectly.
A© 6© suited
9¨ 8§ connectors
In Texas Hold'em, "suited" and "connectors" are often linguistically paired, referring to cards that are one off in rank and of the same suit. Here, I've split them up: "suited" are all the sites that have me on their blogroll and "connectors" are all the sites I've linked to recently (unless I haven't already blogrolled them somewhere else).
10§ 2¨ brunsons
Legendary player Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson won the main event at the World Series Of Poker (the one that runs on ESPN just about every day) not once but twice holding 10/2. It's not considered a fantastic hand, but he's made it so famous that it bears his name. In that vein, I've earmarked those blogs that have an immediate impact (Iraq The Model) or those that have cornered the market in one particular sub-genre (Publius) to go here.
9ª 7§ nine/sevens
The Chicago Cubs last won the World Series in 1908, ninety-seven years ago. (That's seventeen presidential administrations and seven papacies ago. That's four years before my great-grandmother was born. Yes: we're all nuts.) These are my favorite Cubs blogs. Expect to hear more from them as the baseball season begins and gradually less from them as the Cubs find a way to not win the Series again this year.
8§ 8© 7© 7§ snowmen & walking sticks
1988 and 1977 were the last two years the Notre Dame football team won the consensus national championship. Some of these sites are strictly for football content; others are by ND students or alumni.
5§ 5ª black fives
Honestly, most of these guys would go in the tens, jacks or kings sections; but since I'm a huge fan of Blackfive I thought he, and his milblogger brethren, deserved their own category.
5¨ 4ª moneymakers
This hand was held by 2003 WSOP champion Chris Moneymaker, an accountant from Tennessee. He's the primary reason why the WSOP — and poker in general — has exploded from an underground unknown event to a nation- and worldwide phenomenon: any schmuck can take $10,000, buy into the WSOP main event, and become a multimillionaire in a week. In fact, Moneymaker didn't even need the ten grand; he won through an online poker site. They host mini-tourneys for $200 or less that offer a buy-in to the main event for winning. The first few names on that list are all poker pros who'd probably retch if they knew I used the name of an amateur like Moneymaker to categorize their blogs. But I don't care; his name is just too perfect. And yes, that is his real name.
7ª 2¨ rags
"Rags" are a slang term to describe terrible cards like 7/2. It's also a slang term for newspaper and magazine publications. I've highlighted some of my favorite columnists from those papers, and Nick Coleman, who I just laugh at.
3§ 3¨ treys
Threes are always called "treys" in poker. This one's a stretch of puns: "Treys" --> "trays" --> "service" --> wire services. It only barely makes sense, but it seemed an apt place to put them.
2© 2ª deuces
Twos are always called "deuces," though they're sometimes referred to as "ducks" in slang. Ducks do a lot of quacking, aren't particularly dangerous, and get shot at by hunters. Naturally, here's where the nutty left-wingers go.
So, do check all these guys out, and tell them I sent you: some of my categories are mighty thin and I could use the good karma.
posted by Marsh @ 4:20 AM
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