Cheech Tremendous

So, after all this commotion, he ends up with roughly the same contract that he would have had in Boston had he stayed. Brilliant work there, Manny.

The only counties I've been in besides the US are Canada and Mexico. As for states, let me try to recall them all: Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Hawaii, Texas, Illinois, Utah, Colorado, Montana, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, DC, New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, and West Virginia. The worst? Probably a three-way tie between Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee. My impression of the south is that it's America's asshole. Sorry to offend anyone from that area, it's just a broad impression from the areas I visited in and around Memphis.

Marvin didn't get banned. He quit. Also, does anyone actually chat with you?

That's really funny. I'm reasonably sure that Dama's opinion is a by-product of growing up in sports no-man's land, where kids are born and raised to worship at the altar of Oklahoma football. The names and people are interchangeable... it's Boomer Sooner that transcends. Of course, collegiate worship is a completely foreign concept to me, which sheds some light on my confusion on Dama's hatred of covering sports as entertainment.

While watching Casino the other night I came to the realization that I prefer Devo's version of "Satisfaction" to the Stones'. I've never found the latter's to be that impressive.

For the record, that's exactly what happened. Why even bring it up? Do you have an issue with this? I don't want people to think I created a thread to rabble-rouse. Then I apologize. I thought that there was some good discussion going on and I wanted to break it out of the NBA thread. I don't think anyone will think less of you because your name is attached to the first post in the thread. In the future I'll add a post at the start to indicate its a split topic. To sort of take this thread in another direction, which method of promotions do you like the best among the major sports? NFL tends to push the product MLB pushes teams NBA pushes stars The NFL's system is probably the most effective because it is less affected by gaps in stardom or interesting teams. However, they are unique in the sense that they have a short season and can hype the event (Sunday football) whereas the others are dependent on getting you to tune in daily.

For the record, that's exactly what happened. Why even bring it up? Do you have an issue with this?

But that's how you sell the NBA, Dama. There are only ten guys on the court at a time and the cameras come in close enough that we see their faces, their expressions, and their personality. This isn't MLB where the teams are so ingrained with local culture that merely saying Red Sox evokes certain feelings; the NBA must sell the players. The 80s was Magic v. Bird, the 90s was MJ, and the 00s is Shaq and Kobe. That's the way it's always been and the way it always will be. What, exactly, are you looking for in sports coverage? I hear a lot of complaining, but not a lot of solutions. Should they merely stand in front of the TV and report the box score, ignoring the actual star players in the process?

The NBA has always been about selling stars and personality over the product. This is nothing new with Lebron or Kobe. Unlike the NFL, which sells the product, and MLB, which sells teams, the NBA is dependent on transcendent stars and personalities. It's the most personal of the major sports. The leanest years have always been when "teams" won out over players (see: San Antonio, New Jersey, Detroit). Your hate is really misguided.

Dama's insolence towards all things mass media is one of the most puzzling running subplots in the Sports folder. He appears to be legit offended every time he turns on the television, radio or computer and reads a sports news stories. You do realize that ESPN/Yahoo/etc. are in the business of selling sports news, not reporting it, right? I also find a degree of irony in being put off by a potential Lakers/Cavs NBA Finals, seeing as how last year's Celtics/Lakers match-up was probably the most hyped in my lifetime.

You know, it is March. Are we waiting until tourney time to have the Worst Poster tournament, or can we start it anytime? Who's running it this year? I'd do it, but I won't be able to come up with any cool graphics like Czech.

He wrote a novel last year (Downtown Owl). The description of said book made it sound like a novelized version of his typical stories of heavy metal the midwest. I haven't had much of a desire to read it, but I am sure that I'll get around to it eventually. Did he take a break from his writing duties at Esquire? I don't recall him having any articles the past couple of months, but I could very well be having a mental lapse.

It was more of a rhetorical question, but thanks for the sleuthing EHME.

Did Spaceman Ross really say that WWE is getting away from submission wrestling because it reminds people of Chris Benoit? That's retarded.

The Kings bought out Drew Gooden and word has it he's on his way to San Antonio. Boston really jumped the gun on the Mikki Moore signing. They managed to miss out on Joe Smith and Drew Gooden.

And Czech finally nails the Kinetic humor. Well done, sir.

Lock up your spouses and underaged ball girls, Orlando Cabrera has signed with the Oakland A's. Link

Power rankings for the NFL are a fruitless exercise almost any time of the year, but they are entirely meaningless in March. The overarching problem is the tendency to overrate good teams and underrate the bad. In reality there are only a handful of bad and good teams; the majority resides somewhere in the middle. There's a pack of roughly 20-25 teams that, as constituted, could win 7-9 games. The unbalanced schedule and short season causes certain teams to look different than their actual talent level should suggest. How you could differentiate Tampa Bay from Green Bay from Houston from Denver is beyond me. Why are we even critiquing this mess?

Thanks for also killing my "Man, this thread is a hit" joke.

Got Survivor by Chuck Pahlianiuk as a birthday gift this weekend. I was a big fan of Choke and I understand that this is generally considered his best work. Hopefully I'll get to it sometime this week.

Yes, I'm a big Klosterman fan. I get why guys like Czech don't like him though.

I'll check into it. I know that a mod can enter one in. Yes. I believe all you have to do is separate their names with commas like a standard email.

George Sherrill, RP ... and his gut

That actually was a good angle. They built up Duggan as a real sympathetic character by referencing the kidney surgery before having Goldberg beat the living hell out of him. He was coughing up blood and everything. That was one of the few times during that run that Goldy actually seemed like a badass heel.

ARCO Arena isn't that old, but it's a veritable shithole in a bad location. They've tried to improve that area, but it's located at least 15 minutes north of town in no-man's land. There's been some new construction in the area, but for most of its life it has sat in a wasteland. It's a large monstrosity plopped dead in the center of a piece of land abutting Interstate-5. Location is terrible in terms of access, including no public transportation. As for the viability of the franchise, it was a tough ticket for quite a few years. If we're carving up California, the northern half certainly identifies more closely with the Kings than the Warriors. I guess they don't need to have basketball there, but I don't think it's a bad location. The metro area is roughly the size of Portland, which is certainly capable of supporting a franchise.