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

Saturday! Last weekend was one of the nicest sports weekends imaginable - Gophers win on Saturday, Vikings win on Sunday, Twins get a winning streak started just when they need one. So far, so good, for this weekend, though Joe Nathan made things more exciting than anybody cared for. I suspect my thinking is in line with everyone else's, when I say that I wouldn't mind another one just like last weekend.

Also, hockey's back. All right-thinking Americans (okay, Minnesotans and some Michiganders) are highly pleased. Some links:

*In honor of hockey season, here's a post from Leafs blog Down With Brown about video game NHL 10. (This link specially chosen because you'd have to be from Toronto, or a die-hard hockey fan, to get most of the jokes. A sample: "In a neat bit of crossover promotion, the game will check your hard drive for any Resident Evil saved game files. If it finds any, it will replace the final zombie boss with Chris Chelios.") (HT: Deadspin.)

*For Gopher fans, a Big Ten Network feature on linebacker Sam Maresh, who cannot be kept off the football field by open-heart surgery, tumors, or (probably) mass zombie attacks. (Via The Daily Gopher)

*Internet genius Orson "Spencer Hall" Swindle of EDSBS took a road trip to Columbus for the Ohio State/USC game.

*For the music fans out there, here's famed hoops-playing ESPN.com writer Paul Shirley opining on the Beatles. If you squint hard enough, and think about sports while you're doing it, I think Shirley's saying that yesteryear's baseball stars couldn't hold a candle to today's Pujolses and Mauerses. GET HIM, AGED BASEBALL WRITERS!

*And while we're on the subject of baseball writers, here's this week's entries in the "Only Stupidheads Vote for Jeter for MVP" category, from possibly the two best baseball writers in the world: Joe Posnanski and Ken "Michael Schur" Tremendous. (Speaking of KT, if you missed it, the Fire Joe Morgan crew made a return to the internet, and you should really go over to Deadspin and read their whole day's worth of posts, and until you do, Brandon is no longer your friend.)

That's enough for this Saturday - after all, we've all got to get up early and get down to campus, or get prepared to get to the Metrodome, or start wondering just how the Vikings are going to let the Lions hang around tomorrow. Lots to do. Enjoy the weekend.