Truth About It (a little PG-13) to Gilbert Arenas: "No one is questioning your decision to opt out of your current deal. It's a business decision that any of us would make. And the glass half-fulls think you are going to make good on your want to stay in Chinatown. Problem is, the quirkiness that we've grown to love and appreciate leads to a slight degree of mistrust. A result of your perceived unpredictable nature. But all this goes away if you show us that you're going to be about it. We got your back, we just want to know that you will be around to represent. Opt for the DC re-up."
You see that Steve Nash chipped tooth video? Yahoo's Kelly Dwyer: "I'm having a hard time understanding this. Does chipping one of your two front teeth often result in an odd, somewhat-Anglo, villainous accent taking shape? Because that affectation Sir Steve took on about 58 seconds into this clip goes beyond my usually well-honed comic sensibilities. Blogger bossman and all-around movie maestro Jamie Mottram is telling me that it's derived from Jim Carrey's turn in The Cable Guy, but I'm detecting something even more devious. Perhaps that's just me; I'm always detecting the devious."
Basketbawful: Does anybody remember how Nash's tooth got broken the last time? That's right: An errant elbow from Karl Malone (as also noted by Nash after the game). Of course, Malone was an evil Laker at that time, but we know he was always a Jazz man at heart.
Dean Oliver's "Basketball on Paper" distills basketball into four key factors which can be derived from box scores. Knickerblogger describes how you can use a new Firefox plug-in to make ESPN.com display those with every box score.
There are campaigns to get Antoine Walker, Baron Davis, and Carmelo Anthony elected to the All-Star Game. 'Melo is on his way in the early returns. But Davis and Walker don't crack the top eight at their positions.
Most popular NBA team website in November: Celtics. I bet it's mostly people googling Spongebob Squarepants and ending up here.
Granville Waiters has an unbelievable website. This is man with some diverse interests! Let him tell it: "Welcome to my site. You will find some very interesting things on this site. One section is dedicated for retail and will feature things like my printing business, health and wellness products, mortgage programs, credit repair, security systems, African imports, and much more. Another section is dedicated to business opportunities. I am looking for motivated and professional individuals that want to make money, have fun, and help others. I need business partners that fit this description. Another section is dedicated to feature the community activities I am involved in which range from mentoring youth on the East side of my home town Columbus, Ohio to working with the health conditions in West, South, and East Africa. Thank you for visiting this site, and I hope we can do business."
Mike Moreau, writing on Hoopsworld, on Tracy McGrady's injury the other night in Philadelphia: "Late in the first half, the Rockets were getting drilled, and it was starting to get ugly. After contesting one of the few shots he did actually go after, T-Mac came down on both feet near the basket no awkward fall, no physical contact, no landing on anyone's foot. A few seconds after the play, McGrady started walking gingerly and reached down and grabbed his ankle. The television crew immediately went to the replay to see what happened. Of course, we were all expecting to see one of those slow motion "everybody cringes" landings - where the ankle rolls to the outside, then pops up off the floor. Well, not this time. T-Mac landed on both feet and in my opinion, checked the scoreboard, and decided to call it a night."
FreeDarko's Bethlehem Shoals: "I really like Dave Zirin, but his tendency to point to Etan Thomas as the paragon of the socially-aware athlete is a little misleading. I'm not second-guessing Thomas himself, but it's pretty clear that The Poet isn't your typical NBA player. While it's impressive--and telling--that he exists in the Association and not some other sport, he's incidental to the league's culture. The same goes for Adam Morrison, also cited by Zirin. These are also both marginal players who, like it or not, don't have that much to lose by leaning left. Nor are they ever going to get scrutinized that much, or regarded as particularly dangerous to other or their flimsy corporate selves. Josh Howard, on the other hand, appears to be a fairly typical NBA guy. He may be smarter and a little more reflective, but he's not an outsider. This is almost as important as the fact that he's an All-Star who's only getting better. In a superficial sense, it's his stardom that makes him matter; the more attention an athlete gets, the more his statements are disseminated. But what I find more encouraging is just how unexceptional and unassuming Howard seems, even as he blows the eff up. That someone outspoken can exist within the league's cultural mainstream is, well, some kind of progress."
Last week the nice people from Yardbarker set up a conference call with several bloggers and Baron Davis. Here's an audio reenactment of part of it (PG-13 a little).
Comments that include profanity, or personal attacks, or antisocial behavior such as "spamming" or "trolling," or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. We will take steps to block users who violate any of our terms of use. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
H
