The Importance of Ownership

At RealGM, a look at how Marc Cuban and Robert Sarver (Suns) have affected the careers of their franchise players:

Cuban buys draft picks; Sarver sells them. Since 2004, Phoenix has sold the rights to Luol Deng, Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Rodriguez, Nate Robinson, Serge Ibaka, Wilson Chandler and Craig Brackins. It’s hard to imagine how much better the Suns would be now if they had kept their young talent.

In a world where Cuban and Sarver switched teams, the Suns would still be one of the NBA’s elite teams. They’d have Amare Stoudemire and Joe Johnson to ease Nash’s burden offensively and more than enough trade pieces to acquire the type of defensive-minded big man that pushed the Mavs over the top. Dirk, meanwhile, would be stuck on an aging roster, fighting just to make the playoffs every season.

If Nash had lead the Suns to a title, many would have placed him over Kidd, John Stockton and Gary Payton historically. Dirk, without another legitimate shot at a championship, would have been seen as one of the greatest choke-artists of all-time. The impact ownership can have on a player’s career is another reason why team achievements should be taken with a grain of salt when comparing individual players, and it’s a cautionary note to the three elite free agents of 2012 – Dwight Howard, Deron Williams and Chris Paul.

Book Review: "Geek Wisdom: The Sacred Teachings of Nerd Culture"

At PopMatters, a review of "Geek Wisdom: The Sacred Teachings of Nerd Culture", an attempt to analyze the underlying philosophy behind nerd culture and what its ascendancy means for society as a whole:

In the introduction, Segal boils down the essential principle of “geek culture” into one phrase: “don’t be an a**hole”. Reading like a day-by-day calendar, each page features one quote and an explanation of its context and message. With no acknowledgement of who wrote what, there are occasionally jarring shifts in tone, but on the whole, Geek Wisdom follows Segal’s premise.

In this post-modern view of the world, religion is mainly a societal construction “that attempts to guide us toward maturity by helping us ask the big, cosmic questions about existence.” The Bible becomes a longer and more in-depth telling of Aesop’s Fables: important not because of what it says about the nature of the universe, but for its message on how people should live and function in society.

Any good story, religious or not, can be deconstructed to find an underlying message. That’s the unifying theme of Geek Wisdom, which treats pop culture as a form of secular religion, delivering insights on life from talking robots, flying dragons and everything in between.

Josh Smith and The Ideal Frontline

At RealGM, a look at why it will be easier to build a championship front-line with Josh Smith than Al Horford:

But while Horford has two All-Star appearances to Smith’s none, Smith is the player the Hawks should try to keep. Neither is capable of playing center for an elite team, and Smith is a better individual defender and a more dangerous offensive player.

Horford’s two strengths (rebounding the ball and spreading the court) aren’t nearly as valuable at the power forward position as they are as a center. While Smith isn’t the shooter Horford is, his usage rating is five points higher, indicating that Horford depends a lot more on other’s creating open looks for him.

In contrast, Smith’s ideal front-court partner would be a seven-footer who could defend the post and stretch the floor. That’s a much easier player to find -- Mehmet Okur, Roy Hibbert -- than a center who can score from the low block or create off the dribble.

The BCS Is Here To Stay

At PolicyMic, a look at why no amount of public pressure will eliminate the BCS and why a playoff system is still an impossibility:

It does not matter that a playoff system similar to “March Madness” would be wildly popular and could generate billions of dollars in revenue. That is money the NCAA, not the six member conferences in the BCS, would control. Money that would be redistributed to over 100 Division I football programs and allow smaller schools like Boise State the same type of chances to compete that Butler gets in college basketball.

These programs are similar to many publicly traded corporations: They generate nearly $100 million in revenue annually, they have a weak grasp on a dominant market position (being at the top of their respective conferences) and they have very short-term minded shareholders (fans whose money and interest fund them). Their business models depend on winning; anything that weakens their place on the top of the food chain would be bad for business.

College football has no commissioner like the NBA’s David Stern or NFL's Roger Goodell looking out for the interests of the sport. As a result, the only way to force the BCS monopoly to make a decision against their business interests would be a boycott that significantly affected their profits or an anti-trust investigation by the federal government.

The Players Weak Bargaining Position

At RealGM, a look at the lessons of the 1999 lockout and why the owners believe they have all the leverage in CBA negotiations:

Since locking the players out almost two months ago, the owners have shown almost no interest in coming to the bargaining table. Their unwillingness to negotiate suggests they don’t think the players have much leverage. That, when push comes to shove and the threat of missing an entire season’s worth of paychecks become real, the players will fold just as they did in 1999.

Anderson would go on to file for bankruptcy, a trend that has hardly abated in the last decade. According to a 2009 Sports Illustrated story, 60% of NBA players are broke within five years of retirement.

Even the players who do manage their finances well have to face the reality that the average NBA career is only 4.7 years long. For many, the money they lose from the 11-12 season is money they will never get back.

And with all the players who stayed in school to avoid the lockout, the 2012 draft class is shaping up to be one of the deepest in many years. Combine as many as 50 players from the 2012 draft with the 30 first-round picks in 2011, and there might be 80 union members who will never play in the NBA again if the entire season is lost.

Interview with Just Tap The Glass

I had an interesting e-mail interview about writing with the excellent social psychology blog "Just Tap The Glass".

What obstacles on your path to sports writing have you encountered? How did you overcome them?

The biggest obstacle, besides the fact that the traditional model of working up through a newspaper is fading away, was myself. Just learning to believe in myself and what I was writing and to take criticisms in stride and not personally. When you try to pursue a non-traditional career, you’ll face rejection all the time and a lot of the people in your life will want you to try something more stable.

That’s why I really like rappers like Jay-Z and Kanye, whose whole message is “I believed in myself when no one else did and look where I am now.” The human mind is very malleable: that’s why the placebo effect is so powerful. If you tell your mind something enough times, it will start to believe it, no matter how divorced it is from objective reality. You just have to decide in believe yourself. It sounds easy but it isn’t.

It’s weird advice to give, because for every Jay or Kanye there’s a hundred rappers who didn’t make it for whatever reason. Skill is important but it’s not enough. There are a lot more successful people with a little amount of skill and a whole lot of confidence than the reverse.

James Harden and OKC's Plan

At RealGM, the latest in my series of the NBA's most underrated players -- the bearded wonder James Harden:

When he fouled out of Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, the Thunder offense completely fell apart. They blew a 15-point fourth quarter lead in only 4:30 minutes and their season was effectively over. Harden, not Westbrook or Durant, is the team’s most natural passer, and without his presence on the court, their offense can stagnate.

Durant is a pure scorer, with an assist to turnover ratio barely over one. Westbrook, while accumulating a lot of assists, tends to pound the ball into the ground while waiting for something to develop. Harden has a step-back jumper defenses have to respect (a 36% career three-point shooter), the ball-handling ability and athleticism to get into the lane (29% of his shots came in the paint) as well as the vision to make the correct pass through traffic.

Now, for a Thunder roster lacking a consistent low-post threat, the question becomes whether Harden is a luxury or a necessity. Will the increased visibility of playoff runs make Harden more attractive to other teams or will his market value be suppressed by being a third option in Oklahoma City? And even if the owners don’t muscle through a hard-cap in the new CBA, will the small-market Thunder be able to afford big contracts for Durant, Westbrook, Harden and Serge Ibaka?

The Tragedy of Jereme Richmond

At RealGM, a look at the sad story of former Illinois swingman Jereme Richmond and what it says about the state of amateur basketball:

Now, after being charged with several felonies in an incident involving a handgun this week, the 19-year old Richmond might never get a chance to fulfill his potential. It’s a tragic story, leaving aside whatever did or did not happen that night, which none of us can know. From a strictly basketball perspective, the tragedy is how poorly Richmond’s talent was developed.

In Illinois’ two biggest games of the year, against Big 10 champion Ohio State, Richmond gave a glimpse of his potential. Despite being matched up against two NBA-caliber wings in David Lighty and William Buford, he averaged 14.5 points on 73% shooting along with 9.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists.

From the time they pass puberty, many are professionals in all but name: bouncing between different AAU and high school programs, all eager for the ancillary benefits of having a top recruit play for them. Because of their height advantage over most of their peers, they can dominate the average high school basketball player without improving while becoming walking lottery tickets many in their communities are trying to cash.

Sports TV Contracts and The NBA's Bright Future

At SBNation, a look at why the value of sports TV rights is skyrocketing and why it will solve most of the NBA's current economic problems:

What we do know is this: the league's financial trajectory will look a lot different in 2016, the next time its TV contracts can be negotiated, than it does now. Even in the midst of a stagnating economy, sports TV rights have been skyrocketing since the NBA last signed deals with TNT and ABC/ESPN in 2007. TV networks value live programming now more than ever, and the NBA, with its ability to produce polarizing stars with broad cultural appeal, is in an excellent position to take advantage.

Similarly, the NBA's presence on TNT, including huge media events like the Eastern Conference Finals, gives the channel a lot of leverage in negotiations with carriers. Forbes magazine estimated that the NBA would earn at least $1.2 billion a year in a new TV deal, more than 30 percent higher than the current $900 million. If the NBA had signed a five-year deal in 2007, as was customary, rather than the current 9-year arrangement, they could have made up a huge portion of their operating losses in TV negotiations.

Kobe's won five championships, but because he's being measured against MJ, his quest for his sixth title is as compelling as his quest for his first. It's a natural made for TV storyline involving "villains" and "good guys" that the other sports, where there's less focus on the individual, lack.

Andrew Bynum: The Lakers Future

At RealGM, the latest in my series on the NBA's underrated players: Lakers center Andrew Bynum.

Andrew Bynum is 7’0 285. He has a 7’6 wingspan, soft hands, good footwork in the post and solid touch 8-10 feet from the basket.

The vast majority of NBA teams don’t have a player who can guard him. Most centers aren’t strong enough to deny him post position or long enough to contest his shots. Excluding Dwight Howard, the ones who are don’t have the quickness to keep him from spinning off them and getting alley-oops.

Many people close to the Lakers have questioned Bynum’s maturity and leadership ability, but that’s to be expected given his lack of offensive opportunities. As Shaquille O'Neal famously said about his defensive intensity level in Los Angeles: “When you feed the big, the dog will be happy. I can’t run 13 minutes in a game without touching the ball. And if the big dog ain’t me, then the house won’t be guarded -- period.”

Book Review: Page One - The Future Of Journalism

At PopMatters, a review of "Page One: The Future Of Journalism", an insider's look at the collapse and re-invention of the newspaper industry:

A collection of essays inspired by a documentary of the New York Times news room, the book promises an insider’s look at the complex issues surrounding the industry’s transformation and what it means for society at large. What it provides, however, is those insiders spending most of their time arguing for why their particular corner of the industry merits saving: writers extol the size and scope of a news staff (“one of the biggest journalistic assets on Earth”), online media executives emphasize the promise of new media, journalism professors trumpet their contributions to civil society.

The reader who manages to make it through all 18 essays might notice that many of these arguments contradict one other. The end-result is a frustrating book which raises far more questions than it answers, without giving any clear sense as to where journalism is heading or what that direction means for society as a whole.

Yet if keeping the citizenry informed is the main purpose of the Fourth Estate, what should we make of this embarrassing study brought to us by Dean Miller, a news literacy professor at Stony Brook: “In recent off-year elections, a majority of Americans went to the polls badly misinformed about the economic recovery, the state of climate science and other important context to the election.”

NBA Alumni Power Rankings

At RealGM, a look at what college program would win a tournament of their alumni in the NBA:

1. Wake Forest: PG Chris Paul, C Tim Duncan, SF Josh Howard, PG Jeff Teague, PF Al Farouq-Aminu

Under the late Skip Prosser, the Demon Deacons had a very underrated pipeline to the NBA. Paul would make the talented but erratic trio on the perimeter (Howard, Teague and Al-Aminu) immeasurably better, while Duncan is the rare elite seven-footer who actually played in college.

2. Texas: SF Kevin Durant, PF LaMarcus Aldridge, PF Tristan Thompson, PG DJ Augustin, SG Daniel Gibson, SF Jordan Hamilton, PF Damion James

While recent failures in the Tournament have put Rick Barnes on the hot seat in Austin, there’s no denying his ability to develop NBA talent. Durant alone would make the Longhorns a threat; combine him with two defensive-minded big men with elite athleticism (Aldridge and Thompson) and a host of outside-shooters and UT would have a team to be reckoned with.

3. UCLA: PG Russell Westbrook, PF Kevin Love, PG Baron Davis, PG Jrue Holiday, SG Aaron Afflalo, PG Darren Collison, SF Trevor Ariza, SF Matt Barnes, PG Jordan Farmar, C Ryan Hollins

Under Ben Howland, UCLA has become “Point Guard U”, producing three front-line NBA points (Westbrook, Holiday and Collison) in his time there. Kevin Love’s rebounding ability would trigger an unbelievable fast-break, but he’d have his hands full playing on a very unbalanced team without much help for him upfront.

Gordon Gekko As An Old Man: "Solitary Man" Review

At OpenSalon, a review of the extremely underrated 2008 movie "Solitary Man", a poignant look at the alpha male reaching the end of middle-age:

The 2008 movie “Solitary Man” is the natural culmination of Michael Douglas’ career. Playing the same type of oily alpha male he perfected in “Wall Street”, he’s hanging on desperately to middle age, facing his own mortality and dealing with the consequences of the “greed is good” mentality.

But the same character traits that had pushed him to the top end up driving him all the way to the bottom. If he sees something that he wants, he goes after it confidently, consequences be damned. As his daughter tells him when pressing him for an explanation for his behavior: “Never mind, I don’t want to hear it. You’re just going to tell me what you think I need to hear and then go ahead and do whatever you want anyways.”

In “Solitary Man”, reaching the trappings of success – the women, money and fame – means throwing away everything else in your life. And in the wake of the collapse of the financial system and the self-aggrandizing philosophy behind it, it’s a timely message for the innumerable number of young Gordon Gekkos out there. Yet while the movie closes on an ambiguous tone, Kalmen leaves the impression that it was all worth it, and he’d make the same choices over again.

Jrue Holiday: The 76ers Franchise Player

At RealGM, the latest in my series on the NBA's most underrated players: Philadelphia 76ers PG Jrue Holiday:

Point guard has become the NBA’s new glamour position. The top point guards in the high school classes of 2007 (Derrick Rose), 2009 (John Wall) and 2010 (Kyrie Irving) each went #1 overall after one year of college. Jrue Holiday, the top point in 2008, has had a bumpier ride to the NBA than his peers, but his recruiting ranking was no mistake. He has the talent to become a perennial All-Star.

At 6’4 200 with a 6’7 wingspan, he has exceptional size for a point guard without sacrificing much athleticism. He’s one of the few true points who can defend both guard positions, and his defensive versatility allows the 76ers to let the 6’1 175 Lou Williams score without having to run the offense.

Despite turning 21 only two months ago, Holiday is the rare young point guard without a serious hole in his game. He has the size to defend his position and rebound; he can shoot from the perimeter (a 37.5% career three point-shooter), create his own shot off the dribble (taking 27% of his shots in the paint last season) and run a team (averaging 6.5 assists per 2.7 turnovers last season).

Turner isn’t as good an athlete, passer or shooter as Holiday. Long-term, it’s hard to see a scenario where he overtakes Holiday, who is almost two years younger, to become the 76ers primary offensive option. And while they might become an effective duo on the perimeter, without an elite big man, Philadelphia will struggle to break out of the pack in the Eastern Conference.

The Benefits Of Deficit Spending

At PolicyMic, a look at why, if the government is like a family, now is the perfect time to be going into debt:

People take out mortgages to purchase homes, starter loans and venture capital when they start businesses, and student loans when their children go to college or graduate school. A society where every family balanced its budget on an annual basis would look very different from the one we live in today.

Opponents of government spending like to portray it as a wasteful indulgence, but while it can “crowd out” private investment when the economy is booming, often that is not what is happening. American households are de-leveraging and spending less money, resulting in a drop in consumer spending and less demand for goods and services. Companies, seeing little reason to expand in a market where demand is weak, have been stockpiling excess cash instead of expanding.

The youngest members of the work-force have faced the brunt of the downturn: The unemployment level among Americans aged 20-24 is 16.6%, significantly higher than the rest of the population. While Washington has been consumed with the long-term deficit, the real crisis in this country is the growing number of long-term unemployed.

To return to the household analogy, the current push towards austerity measures is akin to a family's deciding not to send their kid to college because one of the parents gets laid off. While it might save money in the short-term, the real problem lies down the road: Who is going to pay for mom's and dad’s retirement if the kids never get the chance to start careers?

The Hard Line Owners Behind The Lockout

At RealGM, a look at the small fraction of owners pushing to shut down the NBA:

As Billy Hunter said in a public talk last week, David Stern’s hard-line negotiating tactics don’t necessarily reflect the interests of all 29 ownership groups: “In the last six or seven years, there is a new group of owners to come in who paid a premium for their franchises, and what they’re doing is kind of holding his feet to the fire.”

The reason the new breed of owners is so insistent on ensuring “cost certainty” is because owning an NBA franchise is their primary means of income. What they fear is a scenario that played out several times over the last decade, after the collapse of the housing bubble and the tightening of credit throughout the global economy. The fate of Tom Hicks, the former owner of the Texas Rangers (MLB) and Dallas Stars (NHL), has to be weighing heavily on the mind of owners like Sarver and the Maloof brothers, and it explains why they are so willing to jettison an entire season if the players union doesn’t completely fold.

What makes the situation so frustrating is they could easily find buyers for their teams and walk away inordinately wealthy. They just don’t want to give up the prestige of ownership. In essence, players are being asked to subsidize the poor business decisions of a handful of over-leveraged owners.

The New CBA Should Favor Big Markets

At SBNation, an argument for why having successful teams in big markets is good for the NBA, basketball and America:

The ability of big-market teams to spend more money is often seen as unfair, but the issue isn't that cut and dry. The reason teams in big markets can spend more money is because they have more fans.

Would a system that ensured all 30 franchises were on an even playing field, so that 19 million New Yorkers had the same 3.3% chance of seeing their home team win an NBA championship as 1 million Oklahomans, be any more fair? Should an individual fan count less because they live in a bigger city?

Long-term, having winning teams where the majority of fans are is the best way to grow the sport of basketball. And while the main issue of contention in the lockout is how players and owners will distribute revenues, whether the new CBA grows the NBA's popularity should be fans' primary concern.

Eric Gordon: The Next Great SG

At RealGM, a look at why Eric Gordon will soon be a household name:

Eric Gordon, after playing in relative anonymity for the Los Angeles Clippers for three seasons, is still only 22, the same age as Jimmer Fredette. He’s the best young shooting guard in the NBA, but because he has never been in the national spotlight, his reputation has yet to catch up with his game.

And while Griffin earned every bit of the praise he received, Gordon is an equally important part of the Clippers future. He’s undersized for a shooting guard at 6’3 220, but he makes up for his lack of height with a 6’9 wingspan and a 40 inch vertical. He has the quickness and length to be an excellent defender at both guard positions, and he earned raves for his defense during the tryouts for the 2010 World Championships.

Offensively, he has all the tools. He’s the rare great shooter, with career averages of 81% from the line and 37.5% from beyond the arc, who is just as comfortable taking the ball to the hole. Thirty percent of his shots came inside the paint last season, an excellent number for a 6’3 guard. Nor, as his 26.6 usage rating indicates, was he simply a product of the defensive attention Griffin drew.

Randy Moss and Shaq: Similar Careers, Different Legacies

At RealGM, a look at why Randy Moss and Shaq are viewed so differently, despite having remarkably similar careers:

That’s because Shaq played the media game and Moss didn’t. Shaq cared immensely about his public reputation; he cultivated relationships with reporters and wasn’t afraid to surreptitiously assign blame to his teammates or his coaches. Moss, meanwhile, treated dealing with the press as an obligation and seemed utterly indifferent to public criticism.

It didn’t matter who was QB -- Randall Cunningham, Jeff George, Daunte Culpepper -- they just had to be able to throw the ball really far and really high. The average NFL CB is 5’11 190; they were defenseless to stop a receiver who could out-run and out-jump them. Moss was the main weapon on the two highest-scoring offenses since the AFC/NFC merger: the 1998 Vikings, who went 15-1 and averaged 34.8 points a game, and the 2007 Patriots, who went 16-0 and averaged 36.8 points a game.

But despite their similar patterns of behavior, Moss has been portrayed as a malcontent while Shaq is seen as a lovable giant. Many will remember Moss for how forced himself out of Minnesota and Oakland and his bizarre final season, when he played for three different teams -- the Patriots, Vikings and Titans. Yet the malicious way Shaq burned bridges on his way out of town four different times is already being forgotten.

The NBA Lockout, The Euro and The Global Economy

"Omar ain't no terrorist; he just a n**** with a gun. And you ain't no Delta Airlines neither. You just a n**** who got his s*** took. So bring me what you owe and take that global economy mess somewhere else."

At PolicyMic, a look at how both the NBA lockout and the Greek austerity plan have their roots in the 2008 economic collapse:

The NBA lockout and the Greek economic austerity plan might not seem connected, but they stem from the same underlying problem: Both the NBA and Greece have made unsustainable wage guarantees, and neither controls its own currency. As a result, wage roll-backs are the only way to cut future costs.

LaMarcus Aldridge and The 7' PF

At RealGM, a look at why LaMarcus Aldridge is next in line at the power forward position:

With Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett’s careers winding down, the future of the power forward position is wide open. Because they were usually the more skilled of a team’s two big men, power forwards had traditionally been shorter than centers: Karl Malone was 6’9, Charles Barkley was 6’6. But along with Dirk Nowitzki, the tandem of Duncan and Garnett revolutionized the position: they were seven-footers who had the skill-sets to play away from the basket.

At 6’11 240 with a 7’5 wingspan and a vertical over 30 inches, Aldridge has an incredible combination of size, length and speed. He can defend low-post scorers, move his feet on the perimeter and protect the rim. While young players tend to improve on defense as they get older, there’s almost no chance that Kevin Love and Blake Griffin, both with wingspans under seven feet, will ever have the same defensive impact as Aldridge.

He’s the most complete big man in the NBA, and his versatility is a huge asset for Portland. He’s capable of playing elite defense at the power forward and center positions, while also being a threat to score from the low block or the high post. Pau Gasol is the only other big man in the NBA who can say that, and he isn’t nearly the athlete Aldridge is. The Trail Blazers can go big with Aldridge at the 4 and Marcus Camby at the 5, and they can go small with Aldridge at the 5 and Gerald Wallace at the 4.

The Archives

RealGM:

07/29: Kevin Durant won't be the NBA's Golden Boy much longer.

07/26: How America's system of amateurism stunts the development of its players.

07/22: The owners CBA proposal would prevent many European players from coming to the NBA.

07/20: The scarcity of big men and why Portland should have taken Kenneth Faried.

07/15: The problem with long-term guaranteed contracts in the old CBA.

07/13: Jonas Valanciunas: the steal of the 2011 Draft.

07/10: Yao Ming: what he was and what he could have been.

07/05: Why neither the NBA nor the NFL needs parity.

06/29: The role of advanced statistics in basketball analysis.

06/27: The Utah Jazz and rebuilding after losing a
superstar.

06/22: The 2011 mediocrity treadmill: Houston, Indiana and Charlotte.

06/20: The Washington Wizards: the team with the most at stake in the draft.

06/15: LeBron and the myth of Michael Jordan.

06/13: What a Mavericks championship means for the players, the fans and the city of Dallas.

06/10: The incredibly even 2011 Finals.

06/06: The myth of momentum and our culture's diminished attention span.

06/02: Shaq: a once in a generation player.

05/30: The Mavericks bright future.

05/26: The importance of jump-shooting big men.

05/23: Why players shouldn't be judged on their championships.

05/21: Coaching adjustments in the WCF.

05/18: The Heat's center problem in the ECF.

SBNation:

07/21: Book review: Play Their Hearts Out.

07/14: The rise of the PG and the decline of the CF.

06/27: What Durant and LeBron could learn from Dirk.

06/09: LeBron and Jay-Z: fighting ghosts.

06/02: Why AAU stars have become second-round steals.

05/20: The types of players that struggle with the transition from college to the NBA.

PolicyMic:

07/25: Medicare, income inequality and the real debt problem.

07/14: The amateur model: bad for the players, the sports and the schools themselves.

07/08: What law school and the NFL Draft have in common.

07/01: The players unions, the lockouts and the 21rst century economy.

06/17: LeBron, Obama and the seeing the big picture.

06/10: The fundamental immorality of the NCAA.

05/27: Bringing the postal service into the 21rst century.

05/06: How Bin Laden can win from the grave.

04/27: The Blind Side, The Wire and educational reform.

03/21: Why invading Libya is an awful idea.

01/28: What the difference between soul music and hip-hop tells us about American culture.

Pop Matters:

07/14: Archer: a hilarious satire of modern America.

Barking Carnival:

07/24: Defending Rick Barnes.

06/24: The NBA Draft: winners and losers.

06/16: Grantland and the future of online sports journalism.

Other Writing:

Open Salon Blog: Personal and pop culture reflections.

Get Buckets: NBA and NCAA writing from 09/24/10 -- 05/12/11.

Cover The Spread: NBA and NCAA gambling from 10/27/09 -- 06/23/10.

Hate It Or Love It: My CD reviews from the Austin American-Statesman.

Odd Jobs In Sports: A 2005 Dallas Morning News series on odd jobs in sports that was featured on the front of SportsDay.