Off-Day Guide: April 11

Note: We're reprising the off-day guide this season. Every day/night the Marlins are off, we'll give you TV and reading recommendations. Enjoy!

7:30 (NBCSN): Penguins at Lightning. JUST KIDDING, hockey is dumb.
8:00 (NBC): Community/Parks and Rec/The Office. The likely final season of Community has been pretty meh, but it's still one of the best comedies on network TV (and we'll watch anything with Alison Brie and/or Donald Glover). Same goes for The Office (another show making its swan song), but there's no assailing Parks and Rec.
8:00 (TNT): Knicks at Bulls. The Miami Heat will probably play one of these teams in the playoffs, so you can get some early scouting in. Followed by Thunder at Warriors at 10:30 for the west coasters and night owls.

Something from my Netflix streaming queue: The Long Goodbye (dir. Robert Altman) is one of the major influences on The Big Lebowski. Elliot Gould's Phillip Marlowe is a proto-Lebowski, stumbling his way into solving a murder while interacting with a host of oddballs in 1974 LA. Been meaning to rewatch this one, Gould cracks wise with a subtle sarcasm that always satisfies.

Book rec: If you have not read Nate Silver's The Signal and the Noise yet, stop what you're doing and get this book ASAP. A fantastic read throughout, with diversions into baseball stats, earthquake predictions, and gambling on basketball.