Wednesday Must-Reads

• Outstanding work by Jim Caple of ESPN.com in his page 2 column about closers being overrated. I couldn't agree more. Managers nowadays are more worried about closers padding their stats rather than using actual strategy. A recent study found that in the last 100 years, 9th inning leads have been protected at nearly identical rates, despite the evolution of the closer. And yet, teams continue to offer lucrative contracts to closers who often prove to be erratic and inconsistent.
  
• I really got a kick out of the newest Life of Reilly, which highlights the worst national anthems in the world. My favorite is easily Algeria's "We have taken the noise of gunpowder as our rhythm and the sound of machine guns as our melody." Seriously Algeria? Come on now...I know you have serious issues but for the love of God write a new national anthem.
• Interesting piece by Danny Knobler of cbs.sportsline.com which puts the Cubs World Series contention on Rich Hardens shoulders. According to Knobler, Harden personifies the Cubs. All the talent in the world, and yet as the Cubs have seen in the last 100 years, so much can go wrong.