It’s Saturday. This is the way that the public-address announcer always starts off his pre-halftime marching-band introduction at Gopher football games, and so every week when I sit down to write the weekend links, the invisible PA broadcaster in my mind booms, “IT’S SATURDAY,” and then shambles off into some speech about the music of Earth, Wind, and Fire. I have tried drowning this speech out with music but it’s yet to work. Anyway, as they always do, this column appeared on StarTribune.com’s RandBall blog, your source for breakfast place recommendations on the internet.

Happy NCAA Tournament Saturday to one and all! I have to say, when CBS and Turner Sports announced that they were teaming up to broadcast this year’s tournament, I didn’t quite realize that it meant that every single game would be on basic cable and in high definition. In past years, I’ve spent much of my tournament viewing time fooling about with laptops and looking up broadcast maps to see which game CBS would be showing in my area. This year, it’s been nothing but a chance to display my skills with the remote. I don’t think I’ve seen a commercial in two days. Truly, we live in the best of all possible times.

Perhaps you’re not watching the tournament, though. Or perhaps you’re mystified about why only two of eight games today start before 4:00. Either way, here’s a few links to get you through:

*We begin – where else? – with a New York Times profile of Gus Johnson, who’s one of the best reasons to watch the tournament. (For proof, Deadspin has some video.)

*I linked to parts one and two of this last week, but here’s part three of Tim Allen of Canis Hoopus at the MIT Sports Analytics Conference. Highlights of this installment include Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban making fun of Bill Simmons, and Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob making fun of Bill Simmons.

*Apparently Jose Mijares is developing a two-seam fastball to help him out against right-handed batters. Parker Hageman looks at a few other lefties who’ve attempted the same thing, and comes to the conclusion that this could be a helpful move. (Though he uses Jon Lester and David Price as comparables, which is a little bit like saying, “He should throw the high fastball more – it worked for Randy Johnson, and like Mijares, Johnson was left-handed.”)

*And finally: here’s some shots of people at shopping malls in 1990. If you were alive in 1990, you are in there somewhere, along with all of your family members. I don’t mean specifically you, but you are there. Trust me. It’ll all come flooding back. The jean jackets. The mullets. The Zubaz. Men wearing tank tops in public. It’s all there. I myself was one Hypercolor shirt from going into a full-blown flashback and trying to jam cassette tapes into my car stereo.

On that note: that’s enough for this Saturday. I’d say get outside and enjoy spring, but let’s be honest with ourselves. Just keep stretching that remote control finger, and feel free to ice it down (five minutes on, ten minutes off) if you experience any soreness.