Jon Marthaler bakes up a batch of delicious links just for you. Other times, you can find him here and here. Jon?

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Happy fishing opener! I hope that somewhere out there, there's someone reading this after having been out on the lake at 12:01 am last night. To that person: I hope you caught your limit. And I hope you brought something warm to drink, because it was wintry out there.

On with the links:

*We'll start this week with an essay by Brian Phillips titled "Your Stupid Rage". It's an essay on insane fandom, or "hyper-partisanship," and it's the kind of thing that we sports fans should read once every three months, at least those of us like me that have the tendency to explore the far side and outer edges of fandom. Key quote: "And here's where I save your life. Because the truth about hyperpartisanship is that it is an absolutely miserable and unpleasant way to be a sports fan." I admit: I've been there. And it's a regular battle to not spend all my time there.

*This week's edition of Parker Hageman's regular analysis covers Michael Cuddyer. Take a look at the video footage, and explore why Cuddyer's power has dropped down to almost nothing.

*If it's not an analytical Twins post you're after, then may I offer you a few screenshots from the Twins version of the Oregon Trail? (That's good stuff from the That's Twins Baseball blog.)

*And finally: remember Bryce Harper? You know, the teenage catcher in the Nationals organization that was reputed to be a combination of Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk, Man O' War, and a full-grown grizzly bear? He was hitting .231 earlier this season in Class A, before the team discovered that his vision was so bad that he could barely see. Now he has contacts, and he's leading his league in every conceivable hitting category. I mention this, of course, in the hopes that the Nationals will bring him up to the big leagues, and are willing to trade Wilson Ramos back to the Twins. We'll even give them Matt Capps back. (Hey, they gave 31-year-old Jayson Werth a seven-year contract for $126 million. You have to admit, there's a chance they'd go for it.)

That'll do it for me. Now, get out on that lake. Those fish aren't going to jump into the boat and fillet themselves.