From www.tiricosuave.com, and via an e-mail from The Arsenal (I always credit properly), comes some "footage" of Marbury training for new coach Mike D'Antoni's system - recognize game:
Okay, so that video is a bit silly. So is Marbury, ya'll. I had no idea you could use $15 sneakers to run up in the mountains.
I'm still a huge fan of entertaining, and Marbury never fails to entertain when he's happy. Here's hoping he can be a help to the Knicks this season, if for no other reason then because a happy Starbury is a entertaining Starbury....
FYI: Here is Steph's explanation, to Gus Johnson, about his "erratic behavior" during interviews. It's good to have him give his explanation (which has, unfortunately, only been seen by 600 people on YouTube, despite being posted for a year now, versus the over 300,000 who have seen the other videos), to have Marbury give his side of the story, so to speak:
"I look at the roster and that's the roster I'm going to win with," D'Antoni said at a news conference at Madison Square Garden.
Thus began the reign of the 24th head coach in Knicks history. He shrugged off doubts about whether his system or not could work with the Knicks' current personnel. He shrugged off doubts about his defensive weaknesses - "We held the other team to less points than us 58 times a year... 31 times on the road...".
Mike D'Antoni answered questions about his thoughts on the current roster of the Knicks team, including one Stephon Marbury:
"Back in those days in Phoenix, [the trade] was kind of a business
decision," D'Antoni said while addressing the New York media. "I have
no problem with Steph whatsoever. I think he's a very talented
basketball player and I look forward to working with him."
Whether he really means it or not remains to be seen. In attendance of the press conference were the three Knick players who are all former Suns: Quentin Richardson, who had his most successful season under D'Antoni before signing with the Knicks as a free agent; Stephon Marbury, who played less than 20 games for Mike before being shipped out as a "business decision"; and Nate Robinson, who was a Sun for about 3 minutes after the Suns drafted him, then traded him to the Knicks.
"Deranged grin: check. Miami Vice outfit: check. Inexplicably
sweat-drenched skin: check. "Running in the mountains" with his brother
in L.A: check. We missed you, Steph."
Yes, Marbury did say he was "running in the mountains" as part of his training to get into shape for the D'Antoni system. My GF always describes Marbury's clothes as "pastel, Easter-colored suits".
"As far as I found out, I was part of the organization. Why can't I
come?" Marbury said when asked why he showed up. "I think it's great.
It's new life. Having a guy who's an upbeat coach, an upbeat style,
[it'll] make us play different.
The NY Post wonders if D'Antoni's signing with the Knicks might lead to a Steve Nash trade. While D'Antoni pines for Rose, he also can try to get Nash to New York
if he really wants. Nash can opt out of his contract after next season
and force Phoenix into a sign-and-trade with the Knicks.
Nash presumably would want that, as he has lived in the offseason in
Greenwich Village with his wife and twin daughters for the past four
years. Nash actually makes regular appearances at the Knicks' summer
basketball camps for kids.
"He loves the vibe, loves the culture," a Nash friend said.
Nash, however, will be 35 next summer and obtaining him would likely
ruin Walsh's bid to get under the salary cap in 2010 for the younger
superstars. If Nash doesn't opt out, he'll be a free agent during that
2010 class, and D'Antoni could get him then, too.
It seems completely unlikely that Phoenix would trade Nash, even if he forced their hand. Nor are the Knicks going to sign Nash as a 36-year free agent in 2010, if they can even get under the cap by then. Most importantly of all, you have to wonder how much the fact that everyone seems to be writing or, as in this case, implying, that Steve Nash is the only point guard who can make the D'Antoni system work (let's just give it a name already? Can we call it the "Euroffense"?) is getting on D'Antoni's nerves. You think that wasn't part of the reason he took off, for a fresh start? The criticism of his system over the past year - it used to be "can't win a title without defense" (absolutely true, by the way), but then it became "can't win with a behemoth like Shaq in the middle", and now it's "can't win unless you have a guard like Steve Nash running the point". That criticism has to be eating away at Mike D'Antoni. Wouldn't he love to prove he run his system, with some success, even with "points" like the combo guards Marbury, Jamal Crawford (the first Knick player he mentioned in his press conference) and Nate Robinson.
Steve Nash? Eff him - my system is so good, I will win with freaking Stephon Marbury! After this I'm going to add another degree of difficulty, and have Eddy Curry be my point. Let's see Phil Jackson's triangle top that!
It's pretty incredible how much people associated with the Suns want to remove themselves from under the "Nash Umbrella". First Joe Johnson, then Shawn Marion, and now you have to wonder how much of a factor it played in Mike D'Antoni's decision to leave, and sign with the Knicks.
Another aspect, not touched on enough: as Jordi from The Serious Tip pointed out to me, the last time the Knicks hired a coach with a reputation for being an offensive genius, and questions about his ability to adapt or change his style to match the slower Knicks roster, revolved around Pat Riley coming in to coach the Patrick Ewing Knicks. What was Mr. Showtime going to do with Ewing and crew? What he ended up doing is adapting, and becoming a defensive guru. As Jordi pointed out, what's to say that Mike D'Antoni won't have a similar reinvention.
There is still the question of what the Knicks will do with their draft pick, which will be #1, 2, 3, 5, 6, or 7. Top two, and you will almost certainly see Derrick Rose as the new Steve Nash. Anywhere else, and the Danilo Gallinari Watch begins.
I'll be keeping close tabs on this. The Next Big Thing for the Knicks will be learning what pick they will have at the 2008 Draft at the draft lottery next week.
Changes. Not a lot on the way (the Knicks aren't really capable of revamping the entire team), but some more are on the way. First Donnie Walsh, now D'Antoni. The Knicks are putting together the management team that will put together the team. They still need a GM, and with a big name President with tons of experience, and a big name coach with a well regarded system, the GM can be a novice. Kiki Vandeweghe signed on to be Rod Thorn's GM, so look for one of the aforementioned head coach candidates - Mark Jackson, Kenny Smith, et al - to resurface as a possible GM candidate.
Personnel wise? The Knicks who would seem to benefit the most are Renaldo Balkman (someone whom the Suns were reportedly very interested in during the 2006 Draft), Wilson Chandler, Nate Robinson (someone whom the Suns drafted), David Lee, and perhaps Jared Jeffries.
Quentin Richardson and Stephon Marbury both played on the Suns under D'Antoni for a bit, but both may be too old or worn down to contribute heavily. In fact, the two things the Knicks will need in order to implement the D'Antoni system are: a point guard with court vision, and high percentage three-point shooting. If those two guys can turn it around, and provide those skills (skills they once possessed), then they might have a role on this team. If not, then the Knicks will go shopping.
If the Knicks get a top-2 pick, Derrick Rose will undoubtedly be drafted, and the first problem is solved. However, the likely reality is this: the Knicks may end up with a #5-7 pick. If that happens, Danilo Gallinari suddenly comes into play much more than anyone (including myself) might have anticipated.
Aside from the obvious Italian connection, Gallinari fits a lot of D'Antoni's Knicks pressing needs: he's international (as D'Antoni's system is), he's a SF (the Knicks were dead last in SF +/- last year), and he's deadly from downtown (40% shooter from behind the arc). No, I don't particularly like him that much, but he will become a very likely option if the Knicks end up with the #5 pick or worse.
If that happens, the point guard situation will likely be resolved via a trade with Toronto. The Raptors have a legitimate problem right now; Jose Calderon has stated, on his website, that he wants to be a starter:
TJ Ford has also said similar things. The Raptors will now have to choose, especially since Calderon is a restricted free agent. The Knicks can't really offer Calderon a deal (beyond the mid-level exemption, or about $6 million a year for 5 years). The Raptors aren't going to let Jose Calderon go, not when he's a much healthier point guard than TJ Ford, and has more upside (Jose's stats this season as a starter are positively amazing). Look for the Raptors to put Ford on the trading block; the Knicks could offer Jamal Crawford, an aggressive slasher/explosive scorer who would help fill one of the Raptors most pressing needs.
Jamal Crawford may be a decent uptempo player who excels at throwing alley-oops, but I doubt he will be anything more than a sixth man under D'Antoni. Crawford is just too low % for Mike's system.
Other players in danger of being traded: well, if D'Antoni didn't take much of a shining to Shaq, then you have to believe he won't have much patience for Eddy Curry. The Knicks might give him away to anyone who wants him. Possible candidates include the Heat or the Grizzles (with maybe famous draft bust Darko coming back this way). He is tradeable, but the Knicks will have to either rebuild his value by making him an option in the offense, or they will have to accept pennies on the dollars for him (Mark Blount).
Zach Randolph? He's a good fit for the pick and roll system (Isiah: "what's a pick and/or roll?") that will get him open looks from fifteen feet, where he is pretty solid. The problem will be can D'Antoni convince him to shoot without taking ten seconds of dribbling.
Donnie Walsh will check to see if the Bucks have changed their minds about the Michael Redd for Zach Randolph trade that was discussed, and dismissed, last season. Michael Redd's deadly three-point shooting would be ideal for the D'Antoni Knicks. Perhaps if the Knicks trade down a few spots with the Bucks in the draft (if Danilo is still available with the Bucks' pick), that might be enough to entice the Bucks to giving up Redd for Randolph.
Nate Robinson might get a larger role in the system. He's a tenacious defender capable of getting steals, gets up the court quickly, and shoots 40% from behind the arc. By definition he'll be a good fit for the system. Of course, once his value gets high enough, the Knicks might look to trade him.
Don't expect too many changes at first, though. The Knicks have some hard to move contracts, and D'Antoni has to evaluate the players, and how he wants them to implement his system, before he can make any decisions on who should go. These proposed moves will probably take place over the course of a year, maybe more.
Finally, to try to answer the question on most NBA fans' minds: Why did D'Antoni chose the Knicks (over the Bulls, among others)? Besides the money, which was probably reasons number one, two, three, and four:
-The Knicks have such low expectations D'Antoni has at least two to three "free" years before he can be criticized. In contrast, the Bulls, despite being just as bad as the Knicks last season, still have high expectations based on past performances.
-There are more players on the Knicks that D'Antoni is familar with. As mentioned, Q-Rich and Steph played on the Suns; Robinson was drafted, and Balkman was supposedly a draft target.
-The Knicks have unlimited cash. I can't emphasize this enough. The worst thing about those Suns teams was that they could have been even better, had their owner not been so cheap. Yeah, Bill Simmons wrote a nice article about this a few weeks back. But lest anyone accuse me of biting Simmons, I have been writing and complaining for years about the stinginess of the Suns owner. This is something that you have to figure must have eaten at D'Antoni. All that work, all that greatness... and to fall short, mostly because your owner was trying to squeeze every last penny out of the team? I can't imagine Mike would ever want to roll the dice with an owner that exhibited any kind of stinginess again.
So while James Dolan of the Knicks had no problems meeting D'Antoni's terms for being a head coach, the Bulls were trying to get him to sign with them on the cheap. Now, how easy do you think, did that approach make the choice for Mike D'Antoni? The Bulls might have just as well gift wrapped him to the Knicks....
Sometimes I really hate the local media in NYC. Especially the sports media.
I haven't been writing much lately, but I did note (and comment) several times over the past week or two about how obvious it was that certain members of the local media, particularly the Daily News, were clearly pining for Mark Jackson to get hired by Donnie Walsh as the Knicks new head coach. Frank Isola must have written at least one article a day stating that "Mark Jackson was the leading candidate", and that "Mike D'Antoni has no interest in the Knicks, and is only using them to get more money from the Bulls". Why the love for Mark Jackson? Because he's an old school New Yorker, one of the few people that still answers the phone when a guy like Mike Lupica or Frank Isola call for a quote. Mike D'Antoni is an unknown quantity to the local media. And he comes with his own set of "personal" reporters, guys like Jack McCallum, who beat all the local beat writers to the scoop that D'Antoni had agreed to a $24 million, 4-year deal to coach the Knicks.
So what's the result? We get one blatant column in the Sunday Daily News, with Frank Isola ripping Donnie Walsh's "credibility", while calling the hiring "a risk". Any quotes for the article? You can always tell the writer's personal angle by the quote that he makes up uses for the story. What do we get today?:
"I think it's a terrible match," said one rival head coach. "I don't get it. Two of the biggest problems with the Knicks are that they don't practice and they don't play defense."
Not to pick on Isola, let's see how the rest of the local media did. Peter Vecsey took the usual Post route, which is to say the same thing as the News, but with more hyperbole. DONNIE WALSH BLEW IT. A picture of D'Antoni, with the caption "Bad choice". Thoughts from Vecsey?: I'm stunned and baffled by the decision.
Any quotes from "rival head coaches"?
"Not only are the Knicks known to shoot themselves in the foot, they often crouch down to get a better aim," zaps column contributor Brian McGunigle.
Who? Whatever... I could keep breaking on these local beat writers/fools, but now there is someone else to do it! Check out this great post from The Palpable Masses, for the some Fire Joe Morgan style riffing on Isola.
We do all realize that the Knicks just signed one of the two most successful coaches in the NBA over the past four seasons, right? The other, Avery Johnson, has won over 70% of his games as head coach, and is the only other person available that should be considered a better candidate than D'Antoni. I personally would have preferred AJ, but Mike D'Antoni is no scrub. And as much as I liked Mark Jackson as a player, and as an announcer... when did he become the second coming of Red Auberach?
For that matter, we do realize we are talking about a guy who, as a Hall of Fame point guard, was notorious for his shabby defense?!? Was Mark Jackson really going to teach Jamal Crawford how to defend better?
Do you see how the media manipulates the discussion? Most people, most Knick fans, aren't excited that the Knicks just signed a top coach to lead their team. Not just a top coach with a winning record - check that, a stunning record over the past four years, including 232 regular season wins - but the coach and architect of the most exciting system in the NBA! Yeah, man are we unlucky or what?
This is why nobody likes NYers.
But, of course, the local media credits the entire Suns success to Steve Nash, a great point guard who plays no defense. Jamal Crawford is no Steve Nash; Stephon Marbury is no Steve Nash. But neither of them will be any worse on the defensive end than Nash is. If the Suns could win without playing defense, maybe D'Antoni really is the perfect coach for the Knicks. After all, it's not like the Knicks offense last season was effective, or efficient; they also ran almost no plays, and had no cohesive system. Those are problems that are just as important to fix as the defense (which isn't as bad as advertised - guys like Robinson, Chandler, Balkman, and Jeffries aren't terrible, and the Knicks would sometimes be able to put together good runs of defense and rebounding when they had the right personnel on the court).
Let's talk about what Mike D'Antoni brings to the table.... **********************
You might have heard about that volcano that erupted down there in Chile, spewer lava and ash, and all that dirty stuff from deep in the bowels of Planet Earth, onto my Patagonian neighbor. Well, did you know that the volcano is also responsible for a rash of "dirty thunderstorms," according to this National Geographic article. That's when lightning comes from the volcano to the sky.
Peep the ill photos attached to that article. A commenter on this sci-fi site took one of the photos, and turned it into one of those motivational posters:
DJM: "Yeah, I have no idea what is going on down there. Dirty thunderstorms?" SML: "What's next? Ball lightning?"
Ball lightning, ya'll - it's when a round sphere of bright lightning appears at ground level, darting across a surface (and sometimes through a surface). It's kind of like Ryu tossing a Hadouken, only replace "Ryu" with "Mother Nature": Ball lightning is still a highly debated phenomenon among scientist; they haven't formulated an exact explanation for it, or even proven that it really occurs. It has been discussed since the 17th century, when during a severe thunderstorm in a church in England a ball of fire materialized, swept through the aisles, and killed 4 people. It injured another 60 people, and almost destroyed the church, burning or smashing walls and windows.
Another famous story is the one involving the Russian Ben Franklin, Georg (leave off the last "e" for savings) Richmann. A professor in St. Petersburg, he was conducting an experiment during a thunderstorm (always a safe idea), and had an engraver there to "capture the event for posterity". Instead, what he captured was a ball of lightning appear on the ground, head towards Richmann, and smack him in the forehead. The result was red spot on the now-dead Richmann's head, his shoes got blown apart, and his clothes got burned.
There are other accounts throughout history, but no one has been able to confirm ball lightning, or give a scientific explanation for it. However, scientist have recently started theorizing that it may be related to vaporized silicon (from the lightning striking silicon deposits in the ground), and have conducted experiments to try to recreate the phenomenon in a lab. This site here has several video files of the experiments. Click on that last video ("Supplementary Video 6") to see what might possibly be a small version of ball lightning, as created by Doctor Ken and Doctor Ryu.
Last tangent of the day: I went to the Yankee game last night with some friends. One of them brought up a Mortal Combat character by the name of Kano. He asked me if I remember him.
"Kano? No. Is he the one that was Sub-Zero's twin?" "No, that's Scorpion." "Was he in the movie?" "I didn't see it. Now, he was a crazy white guy." "The one with the six arms?" "No, that was a boss. This was a regular character." "Let's see... I remember Raiden. Lui Kang. Sonya. Scorpion and Sub-Zero ("get over here"). Was Kano the dude with claws and the flamenco dance?" "No, that's Vega from Street Fighter II..."
And so it went for a bit. My friend gave up. Later on, when talking to another friend young/old enough to have been into Mortal Kombat, he tried again.
"Kano. Come on, you have to remember Kano?" "Was he Scorpion's twin brother." "Noooo..." "What was his special moves?" "He would throw himself at an opponent"
I chime in: "Ohhh, yeah. The little hairy Brazilian dude." "No, that's Blanka, man. You're back in Street Fighter II again."
We then argued about whether E.Honda, Zangief, or Dhalsim was the least used character. I personally liked Dhalsim. Yoga fireball is my ish. But having checked out the character list today, trying to refresh my memory of Kano (still got nothing), I have to say... it's very arguable who is more forgettable: Balrog from SFII, or Kano from Mortal Kombat. Maybe I'm just old.
There is a nice little discussion, lead by Modi, going on over at Sports On My Mind on this topic. Modi makes a compelling case for Paul, while being surprised that a) the margin of victory was so large and b) LeBron James and Kevin Garnett didn't garner more support.
I left my lengthy comments over there (it's practically a post), but I am:
a) also surprised it was such a large margin of victory, since I figured it to be neck and neck b) not surprised Kobe won, as I listed four factors which won him the award (1. he was owed an MVP 2. CP3 has years to get his own MVP 3. the Lakers won the conference, not the Hornets 4. Kobe plays in a bigger market with more reach than Paul) c) shocked that KG got as much support as he did - that really illustrates the power and reach (and bias) of the Boston media right there. 16 first-place votes for KG?!? In a season in which LeBron and Paul both had absolutely historical statistical seasons, and Kobe won the toughest Conference ever?!? d) not surprised LeBron didn't get more votes, since LeBron's team only won 45 games. In the Eastern Conference! It's an unwritten rule that the winner of the MVP award has to be from a 50-win team. Not agreeing with it, just stating it.
We'll hit you up with a Knicks update tomorrow, particularly with our thoughts on the coaching carousel. Now that's it's stopped for a bit - Flip Saunders and Doc Rivers almost fell off the ride there - we can evaluate who is really available. Incredibly, George Karl hasn't been fired yet. That's very surprising to me. It also bodes poorly for Carmelo Anthony and crew... if they aren't firing the coach, then you know what that usually means. Some heads is getting traded.
Mike D'Antoni has gotten permission, supposedly, to talk with the Knicks and Bulls about coaching those teams. It seems high unlikely he would pick the Knicks over the Bulls, or better yet, the Raptors (Sam Mitchell, come and get your Dolan bucks), but who knows. Money + props for turning garbage into something + a team that is actually not too far removed from the Suns (meaning, okay, the Knicks don't play defense, either) might just equal D'Antoni, Knicks head coach.
Don't bet on it, though.
And while I would love to start the "Carmelo Anthony to the Knicks" ball rolling, it ain't happening. The only pickup I've read that might make sense "Jamal Crawford for TJ Ford". Why? The Raptors have two point guards; they need to roll with Jose Calderon, who is cheaper and puts up absolutely incredible numbers (how many 10 assist to 1 turnover games did he have as a starter?). Ford has a long contract, one that matches Crawford's in length. The Knicks don't need Crawford, they need a point guard.
The problem? One, the Knicks will likely look to acquire a point guard via the draft. The Raptors would like to get rid of Ford because he's not a healthy player. The Knicks already have more uninsureable, unhealthy young players than anyone in the NBA (Eddy Curry, Quentin Richardson). The Knicks need defense (OJ Mayo again comes to mind), and TJ Ford is too short to be a decent defender.
What's up, everybody? It's been two weeks since I posted over here... I've been busy trying to get the new site (Sports On My Mind) off to a good start. I did a few posts over there on the NBA playoffs, specifically stuff on the Hawks-Celtics series, which went the full seven games, and was (as predicted) the most exciting series of the first round.
Now I'm back, and I'll be dropping posts daily. Yes, I missed Cobra & his crew, D-Fan, TUP, and Arin. We're going to continue to focus on the Knicks here, plus other NYC-centric stuff. That includes, but is not limited to: the Jets, Yankees, hip-hop/soul, NYC posts, photo posts, and little NYC adventures. In other words, ain't nothing changed. I'll also be linking to anything I post of note over at SOMM.
And with that, let's talk about this Cinco de Mayo holiday. Most people know by now (I hope) that it is not really a Mexican holiday; it's celebrated in the US, but pretty much ignored in Mexico. If it is celebrated it is only in the state of Pueblo, which is actually, from what I've read, where most NYC Mexicans come from. I believe something like 80%+ of Mexicans in NYC are from Pueblo.
Here's DJM's daily humor e-mail on the topic:
Happy Cinco de Mayo! Cinco de Mayo
(or, "57 Varieties") is a Mexican holiday commemorating their
beatdown of the French in 1862. Oh, come on, Mexico: if everybody celebrated
anniversaries of beating the French, the whole calendar would be marked GLOBAL
CELEBRATION - BEAT FRENCH - REMEMBER TO PICK UP CONDIMENTS ON WAY HOME - OUT OF
MAYO. Or something. I don't design calendars. I just purchase them in bulk.
The victory came in the Battle of Pueblo, which was one of the largest battles
of the period known as "The French Intervention" (later a movie
starring Gene Hackman) or as "The Maximilian Affair" (one of Robert
Ludlum's lesser works). The Mexican government had stopped paying interest
payments to Spain, Britain, and France because they were some sort of cranky. The three foreign
powers decided to get on ships to go get summathat money, figuring that the United States was too busy fighting itself to notice or much care.
Eventually, Spain and England got bored and went home (presumably to fight
France), but the French forces stayed and ruled Mexico awhile, until the US put
itself back together and started doing intimidating border exercises and the
Mexican resistance won a series of battles, and finally the French were like "Zut!"
and got out of there.
So always remember: Cinco de Mayo is celebrated as the day when Mexico got itself invaded and occupied for defaulting on credit.
Hooray!
********** Now, let's remix that second paragraph, Method Man style:
The victory came in the Battle of Pueblo,
also known as the Duel of the Iron Mic, was one of the largest battles of the period known as "The Maximilian
Affair". Maximilli-on, Maximilli-on! The Mexican government stopped pledging allegiance to the French, in favor of hip-hop. The Mexicans won when they hit the French with an ill-speaking heat-seeking Scud missile.
After crushing the French like a Nestle, the French were like "all in together now" and got out of there.
I come not to bury Bissinger, nor to praise him. I come to say, however, that he did have a point.
(at this time I'd like to make it fully clear that this is Canadian DJM, not SML. angry letters should go this way.)
Bissinger made it rather difficult to excavate, because his tiny nugget of point was buried deep, deep in a mountain of slouchy, blowhard bullshit. As Leitch said, he immolated. There is no denying this. He was swinging wildly, like an angry child. Which is a shame, because if Costas Now had booked an actual grownup instead of an angry four-year-old, a necessary and overdue conversation might have taken place. We could have had our Jon Stewart on Crossfire moment, only this time we're the asshat in the bowtie.
Bissinger's mistakes are legion, and we could spend a day attempting to list them all without coming close to completion. Here's an abridgment: he was profane and juvenile while accusing someone else of being profane and juvenile, he acted like a fucking idiot, and he had no idea what he was talking about. I think that's a fairly succinct summary. Normally, at this point, I'd say "what a tool" and move on, but I happen to agree with the point he was trying so, so, so poorly to make, so I'm gonna give a shot at making it better.
Blaming blogs for being mean-spirited is like blaming port-a-potties for being full of shit. Like: sure, but you're reversing cause and effect, here. Blogs aren't the reason there's negativity in the world, negativity is the reason *some* blogs exist. Hell, this site's moniker is an imperative against a writer, you know?
Bissinger also made the mistake of arguing that all blogs are equal, vile, and equally vile. As long as Free Darko exists, anybody who claims that "all sports blogs are _________" is lying or ignorant.
And somehow expecting Leitch to speak for all bloggers is ludicrous, unfair, and just... stunning in its lack of understanding. The people attacking "bloggers" have not yet realized that a synonym for "bloggers" is "people." We're not some underclass coming out of hiding in the caves or, Lord help us, our mothers' basements. My mother doesn't even have a basement.
Enough covering my own ass, though. Let's get to it: Leitch isn't exactly blameless here, either.
I mostly enjoy Deadspin. I read it everyday. I have it on my RSS feed. I comment over there, from time to time. But I'm also not going to pretend that it's above reproach. It's not a watchdog site, or a news site; it is an opinion site and it *is* a gossip site. I think mocking Deadspin for posting pictures of Matt Leinart drinking from a beer bong is totally, completely, 100% warranted. That's some childish bullshit, and Leitch is smart enough to know that it's childish bullshit. His defense of it was fourfold, and each of the defenses he offered is ridiculous.
1. "It's funny!" Why is it funny? Seriously, why is it funny? It's only funny because it's embarrassing. Leitch knows this. He's not posting pictures of Leinart working for charity, or playing with his kids, or going to the library. Leinart gets his picture posted when he's doing embarrassing shit. It's only funny because his image is being captured in moments when he'd probably prefer not to be photographed. Which brings us to Number 2:
2. They post them on their Facebook pages. Oh, Will. We want to agree with you. We really do, but you have to know that this is horseshit. Perhaps some of the embarrassing pictures you post are from the offender's own Facebook pages, but the Leinart pictures, which were the ones under discussion, were from TheDirty.com. You either know this or really ought to know this, because your site made a follow-up post which was entirely about where you got the pictures. You're posting pictures from paparazzi sites designed to embarrass. Man up and admit this.
3. They're real people! The fuck is this, US Weekly? Of course they're real people. NOBODY is debating this. I don't even know what this argument is supposed to mean. It's OK to publicly embarrass athletes because it would be OK to publicly embarrass anybody? What?
4. Braylon Edwards, so by extension all athletes, have no complaints, because they are not hounded by photographers like Hollywood stars. Man, this is a preposterous argument to make. The ends are the same regardless of the means. I can't even tell what the argument is here. Is it "You only have a right to complain about being publicly embarrassed if photographers make it difficult for you to go outside"? Is that it? Because humiliating shit is humiliating shit regardless of the source.
And Leitch's disingenuous claims that he's not encouraging paparazzi or that he wouldn't go through somebody's garbage are riding a razor thin line of believability. Sure, Will's not running out to snap photographs of athletes at parties: but posting those pictures makes him just as bad.
Sure, Bissinger and Costas and pretty much everybody else makes the horrible mistake of conflating what's in posts with what's in comments. But Will pretending that he's blameless for the comments is absurd. He's an editor. You know what they do? They edit. The reason that vitriol is present in the Deadspin comments is not because Will doesn't have any say in what goes on in there (which is the attitude he sort of takes) but that the vitriolic comments are Deadspin's biggest draw. There's money in that hate. He should be honest about this.
And his implication that the problems with Deadspin are *only* in the comments is at best a glaring example of sophistry. Are the comments over there mean? Yes. Are they funny? Yes. Was it in *posts* that we got humiliating pictures of athletes, humiliating video tape of Berman, humiliating uncorroborated stories of Berman's pickup attempts, humiliating answering machine messages left by SportsCenter anchors, and on and on and on? Oh, absolutely. Part of Deadspin's game -- a large part -- is public embarrassment.
I'm not even asking him to apologize for that aspect of his blog. I don't care for it, but whatever. My problem here is Leitch seems to think that spreading that shit makes him different from the people who capture it or report it in the first place. I, for one, wholeheartedly disagree, but I think it's a debate worth having. Unlike the one we got the other night.
So here's my hope: the next time somebody asks Leitch to defend blogs, he say something like "I don't speak for all blogs. I speak for my blog, which is often juvenile and deals with certain aspects of public humiliation because I think they're funny, newsworthy, and our business." Or something. And then we can have the debate over whether pictures of quarterbacks at birthday parties or at clubs are funny, newsworthy, and any of our goddamn business.
Bissinger is a total idiot. He's also not totally wrong.
Not really, but sort of. After living on my own for a couple of years now, with some help from part time roommate DJM and a couple of no-shows (ahem, Barnesgasm and The Marathon Man, among others), I've decided to buy my own place with three other guys who were also tired of "living" alone.
Seriously, bad metaphors aside, come to our blog warming over at Sports On My Mind. It's a collaboration between four writers with similar goals - to make you think out of the box, so to speak. We have D-Wil from the original SOMM; Modi from Cosellout (the grown up, scholarly version of SML!); and MC Bias. The site has a beautiful, professional layout, and we're hoping to get some guest writers to do pen a feature here and there to add to the "out of the box" goals.
So what's going to happen with SML.com? Well, that's still to be determined. Me and DJM still have a few ideas we want to throw around. I will also continue to post stuff over here that may not work as well over there, whether because of concept and scope, or just because it's technically easier over... stuff like my photo essay posts, for example, may not work nearly as well over there, given the layout. I'm not yet sure if that site really needs two Knicks fans; I am leaning towards revamping this site, and turning into even more of a Knicks-oriented site, with another Knicks writer or two, plus some new features. Again, all are just ideas that are being tossed around in my head right now.
In the meanwhile, I will update this site whenever I throw up a post over there, and I will have a few new posts for this site only (Knicks or NYC-sports related) later this week.
Come check out the new site: www.sportsonmymind.com. Writer's Note: We just remembered today is The Boston Marathon, so we should be more supportive of our own Marathon Man. He'll hopefully have a great race today (I believe the goal is 2:30), and have some good stories to tell....
I shrunk it down in size, so you can't read it in it's entirety... if you want to read the whole thing, 
Indeed, SML's home.
