SB Nation User Blog: ghtd36

OT: Baron Davis and NBA Free Agency

ghtd36 — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:09:27 -0000

The NBA Free Agent market opens at 11 p.m. CST, which is about 50 minutes from now.

Gilbert Arenas is obviously the big prize, but it seems pretty inevitable that Agent Zero will end up back in Washington.

More interesting to me is Baron Davis, who opted out of his deal with the Warriors tonight, leaving almost $18 million on the table.

A reminder: Baron Davis averaged 21.8 points, 7.6 assists and 2.3 steals last season for Golden State.

The big dilemma is whether or not to spend money this offseason, knowing that there are huge free agent classes looming in 2009 (Deron Williams, Chris Paul, Allen Iverson, Corey Maggette) and 2010 (Ray Allen, Manu Ginobili, Tracy McGrady, Jermaine O'Neal, Rip Hamilton), not to mention what could be of the free agent classes if players exercise their right to opt out (2009: Steve Nash, Carlos Boozer; 2010: Amare Stoudamire, LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Dirk Nowitzki, Josh Howard, Michael Redd).

My question is, if you are the Mavericks, do you make a run at Baron Davis, knowing what free agent classes are approaching in upcoming years?

OT: George Carlin dead at 71

ghtd36 — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:22:06 -0000

Sad news out of California: comedian George Carlin has died.

Carlin, who had a history of heart problems, died at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica about 6 p.m. PT after being admitted earlier in the afternoon for chest pains, spokesman Jeff Abraham told Reuters.

Known for his edgy, provocative material, Carlin achieved status as an anti-Establishment icon in the 1970s with stand-up bits full of drug references and a routine about seven dirty words you could not say on television. A regulatory battle over a radio broadcast of his "Filthy Words" routine ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

George Carlin was the first comedian I could ever say that I really liked and could pick out of a crowd. That's not to say I didn't think other comedians were funny; just to say that he was the first one that I could recognize his style and want to hear more of it.

Some of his stuff was just laugh-your-face-off funny, and it wasn't even the more famous bits ("7 Dirty Words", "A Place For My Stuff", et al.) It was the one-liners and inventive ways of looking at life that really made him stand out.

RIP, George Carlin.

The Boy gets some SMQ love

ghtd36 — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 22:42:25 -0000

Yes, I'm going to be "that guy" and beat the blog authors to it.

Sunday Morning Quarterback , another college football blog that has become required reading for all Americans, has a new post up entitled "Wonk Watch: Passing Downs vs. Non-Passing Downs ". And who is the main topic of discussion?

Why, none other than The Boy.

But Missouri fan......... aka "The Boy" at Rock M Nation, has spent the offseason adding some of his own ideas to the increasingly relevant formats developed by Football Outsiders in an effort to build a similar system for the amateurs. You can start with parts one, two and three.

Bill’s most immediately applicable contribution, though, might come from the latest edition, posted in the "FanPosts" section to the right, especially his look at success of passing downs vs. non-passing downs, and what those results mean for offenses strategically.

It then breaks down basically what we have all come to know and love as The Boy's tireless efforts to break down the game of college football into approximately 17,000 different statistics.

Basically, the verdict is that The Boy is awesome, which is hard to argue with.

Definitely worth a read.

OT: Tim Russert dead

ghtd36 — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:56:40 -0000

It's the journalism nerd in me that is sad to hear about the untimely death of NBC Washington Bureau Chief and longtime Meet The Press moderator Tim Russert today. Russert was 58.

Russert was recording voiceovers for Sunday’s “Meet the Press” program when he collapsed, the network said. He and his family had recently returned from Italy, where they celebrated the graduation of Russert’s son, Luke, from Boston College.

Russert was one of the more professional journalists out there, and I always respected him. I always felt like he was fair, with the exception of his Buffalo Bills bias. An exceptionally intelligent man, journalism was his second job after working in law. Russert received 48 honorary doctorate degrees from various universities, and his example is very often used in journalism schools. For good reason.

Rest in peace, Mr. Russert.

Hamilton on "Rome Is Burning"

ghtd36 — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:37:45 -0000

Alert, alert, alert! Josh "Lord and Savior" Hamilton is about to appear on Jim Rome's show on ESPN. Probably starting in three minutes or so. Regardless of what you think of Rome, it'll probably be worth tuning in for.

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Actual screenshot of the Sexson pitch. I don't get it.

ghtd36 — Sat, 10 May 2008 00:59:12 -0000

Actual screenshot of the Sexson pitch.
I don't get it.

OT: Blogging v. Journalism

ghtd36 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:33:48 -0000

Somehow, I've dubbed myself the LSB beat writer for the ongoing "war' between blogging and journalism. As a result, it's important that I inform you of the latest battle.

Last night, Will Leitch (of the incomparable Deadspin ) went on CostasNOW, Bob Costas' show on HBO, for a debate about the merits of blogging when it comes to sports. His fellow debaters were Cleveland Browns WR Braylon Edwards (?) and author/journalist Buzz Bissinger, famous for Friday Night Lights, among others.

And, well, Bissinger went berserk. He started railing on Leitch for no real particular reason, claiming that blogs, and Deadspin in particular, was "dumbing down" America. It became clear very early in the debate that Bissinger was in no mood to actually debate, but instead just vent all of his frustrations against the blogosphere. Put it this way: his first comment to Leitch was, "I want to interject that I think you are full of shit."

Leitch was very calm throughout, attempting to simply make his points. But Bissinger dominated the debate, spewing various profanities at Leitch and generally making an ass of himself. He called Deadspin contributor Big Daddy Drew, "Big Daddy Balls," mixing the name of BDD and the nickname of fellow Deadspin contributor A.J. "Balls" Daulerio. He also apparently could not tell the difference between a blog post and a blog comment.

Meanwhile, Braylon Edwards just sat there, wondering why the hell he was there.

I view this debate from an interesting standpoint: I graduate from the Missouri School of Journalism in less than three weeks, and intend to become a sportswriter (so if you could find me a job, that would be great). Yet, I am infatuated with the blogosphere, and love the fact that a new, more accessible form of media is emerging. I don't view the blogosphere as the enemy, but rather just another path. Not to get all preachy, but it's kind of like how some view religion: many paths to the same end result.

With all of that said, Bissinger came off as a raving idiot, while Leitch (while not really making any salient points, despite trying) came off as the victim of an unstable man's rant. The reaction around the blogosphere has been far-reaching and, in many ways, amusing. In the span of a 10 minute debate, Buzz Bissinger became blog enemy No. 1, and for good reason. If he had actually had a decent conversation with Leitch, he probably would be praised today on the blogs. Instead, he didn't.

We're entering a new world of media, much to the chagrin of some traditional journalists. I, however, refuse to become a stodgy, angry, jaded traditional journalist, and will adapt. That's what the best do.

Various reactions from around the blogosphere, all of which I highly recommend:

Leitch's reaction on Deadspin

Orson Swindle of Every Day Should Be Saturday reacts

Ken Tremendous (Michael Schur) of Fire Joe Morgan reacts

AJ Daulerio reacts on Deadspin

Dan Shanoff of ESPN Daily Quickie fame reacts

My favorite reaction: Big Daddy Drew of Kissing Suzy Kolber reacts (language NSFW)

UPDATE: Video of the "debate" is now up. HT to WyoRanger, who found it via Awful Announcing .

OT: Humanizing blogging

ghtd36 — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:03:16 -0000

One of the main rips on blogging from the mainstream media is that it doesn't capture emotion, that the mainstream media is better about capturing the "story behind the story" and have a closer relationship to the readers as a result. Anonymity, according to the mainstream media, creates distance between author and reader, while people can find a better way to relate to someone with their name on it.

I, of course, think this is false. True, anonymity does leave a little to be desired, especially when bloggers are particularly critical. But I feel like blogging can foster a close relationship between reader and author.

With all of that said, I encourage you to read this article .

It is a columnist for CollegeFootballNews.com (an outstanding site, BTW), mourning the death of and eulogizing a reader with whom he never met. I think it's incredibly poignant, and speaks to the ability of online journalism, mainstream or not, to be as humanizing and foster as close a relationship between author and reader as traditional journalism.

Old Rangers Highlights?

ghtd36 — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 03:40:30 -0000

It was with great disappointment that I just found out that MLB.com did away with their Top Plays archive. I loved browsing through there and checking out the old highlights.

But now, I'm on a search for a specific highlight. I'd love to see the video of David Dellucci's game-winning two-run double off Octavio Dotel on September 23, 2004. I can still remember going bonkers in my dorm room after that hit.

Anybody have any idea where I can find it? It would be much appreciated.

Kinda OT: Caple and the Knuckleball

ghtd36 — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:59:04 -0000

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/080318&sportCat=mlb

So, Jim Caple wants to learn the secret to the knuckleball, how to throw it, what makes it dance, etc. Sounds like a nice feature story, albeit fluff (but what else does Caple do these days?). So to whom does he go to learn the secrets of the elusive pitch?

Not Phil Niekro. Not Tim Wakefield. Not even our beloved Charlie Hough.

Nope, R.A. Dickey.

Yes. That R.A. Dickey.

I've got nothin'. No joke is really needed, but I encourage you to make them anyway.