I'm from Seattle, where the wave was invented. It was a fun thing in the '80s at Seahawks games, when the decibel level in the Kingdome would reach near-unbearable levels. But at baseball games? In 2011? I was at a Red Sox game last night when the crowd in the right-field bleachers attempted to get a wave going. It never made its around the ballpark, despite repeated efforts.

Anyway, Page 2 has a story saying the Texas Rangers have sort of unofficially banned the wave. Check out that story and a few other links:

• Rory Paap of Bay City Ball has a few letters to Brian Sabean and Bruce Bochy, beginning with one about Brandon Belt and Aubrey Huff.
• Speaking of the Giants -- or ex-Giants -- Clay Davenport has a statistical study of Zack Wheeler and comes up with a list of statistically comparable minor league pitchers. If you're a Mets fan, at least one name on the list is good news.
• The Common Man lists the five greatest deals in deadline history.
• Colin Wyers of ESPN Insider and Baseball Prospectus reports that deadline deals rarely make a difference in deciding playoff teams.
• Stephanie Liscio writes about the Indians picking up Kosuke Fukudome.
• The Braves have a big problem and it has to do with the letters "O," "B" and "P."
• Paul Sporer breaks down whether Jason Kubel and/or Kevin Slowey could help the Pirates.
• Snakes on Jefferson has five trades that make sense for the Diamondbacks.
• Will the Mariners do anything? (I mean, other than lose more games.)
• What if Barry Bonds had retired in 1998? Joe Posnanski crunches some numbers and makes an interesting argument.
• Mark Simon met some fellow Mets fans in Cincinnati.
• USA Today's Erik Brady with a touching story of the man who died in his house from the airline crash two years ago in Buffalo. Doug Wielinski had a huge sports memorabilia collection, much of it lost in the accident.
• Had lunch with old friend with Dan Shanoff today. Be sure to check out his website, Quickish, a valuable compilation of stories, tweets, links and other recommendations.