The flip side depends on which character you represent in this drama. As I’ve already indicated, the logical thing to do if you’re LAL brass is throw Kobe a big party, invite Byron Scott to be some sort of consultant after the season, and find an actual coach. In the interim, they should pull their rookie point guard…

Props to you for your response to Discombobulated. That’s a tough situation to be in and it’s really easy to latch on to any hint of a yellow light as a green light to do something really, really destructive.

Move the goalposts as you wish. It makes no difference to me. No one who pays any attention to sports judges a franchise on a short-term scale. It’s kinda baked into the cake when you use the word franchise. No one who pays any attention to sports would recommend that a rookie, playing for a coach who is about to get…

I’m gonna work backwards:

The Lakers aren’t even the best team in their own town. Right now. But yeah, they have banners and statues and such. And yeah, that is my thing, particularly the banners that correspond with championships. The other team in their town has a superstar who just lost two months for punching his…

Honestly, I think it’s “both.” I’m totally with you that he’s building a lucrative media brand catering to the American Taliban. But I also think it’s impossible for him not to believe that he can and should become President. He’s from Hope, Arkansas. He’s been the governor of Arkansas. And he’s sanctimonious enough…

I see you! I see you!

This would represent an important step but, in my view, it is not nearly enough. We should have two or more years of compulsory military service for all able-bodied men and women above the age of 18.

Demand a trade from a premiere franchise because of your relationship with a coach who is almost certainly getting fired? During your rookie year? NEVER become an agent.

The front office rarely fires the front office...

Lots and lots and lots of low post baskets follow three or more dribbles and thus... Are not the result of assists.

“Oh my God...
I’ve gotta gotta gotta gotta move on...
Where do you move when what you’re moving from...
Is yourself?”

+1 for surfacing this and +1 for Jesus, who wants to go to Venus.

There’s a simple solution to this dilemma: Write.

Yeah, except even if you’re talking about this year, that’s still basic. Most things aren’t binary. This one isn’t either. There are three categories: Bitching about the field, not bitching about the field, and being accused of bitching about the field when you’re pointing out that the field impacts both teams. Pete…

Panthers fans can’t even remember their record correctly, so what can you do? I can’t help but wonder, though: Which of their two losses are they forgetting?

That’s almost certainly a technical foul.

I’m a Lions fan, actually. Whether or not I like your team is immaterial. I find most Cowboys fans insufferable for the exact reasons you mentioned but they’re less insufferable than you guys. And none of the rest of that crap you typed changes the fact that plenty of your fans bitch about the turf at FedEx all the…

“the shitty turf at fedex field destroyed RG3's knee too. we didn’t cry about it then.”

I live in Silver Spring and spend somewhere between 2 and 8 hours a day listening to ESPN 980, depending only on my work schedule for the day. Yes the hell y’all did cry about the turf at FedEx Field... You blamed the turf,…

I think they changed on the third series not the third quarter. Otherwise, spot on. There’s a weird cultural thing in sports where lots of people reflexively root against a team once they build something successful, particularly when they have “athletic arrogance” as Brian Mitchell often puts it. I’m a Detroit Lions…

There’s a little bit of a difference between not holding back a team capable of going on a 33 game winning streak and not holding back a team capable of losing a top-3 protected pick. The Lakers, sans Kobe, aren’t exactly the 8 seed in waiting...