Here’s your unified theory for ... almost any issue you might have with the NBA (can’t help you with “college players have more grit!” and “that’s a travel!”):

Without resurrecting the prior comment section’s digression on whether using chauvinistic terminology discredits the point being made:

that’s my point - I don’t care that he had a bad Game 5 as much as that he had a GOOD Game 6 and ... gave up. He and his teammates had two minutes to make up a 7 point deficit and played out the string like there wasn’t much point to it. It’s why I think he decided to leave Cleveland while he was still literally…

Incredulous question that is also serious:

LBJ’s Game 5 was horrible, but the end of Game 6 infuriated me, AND I’M A CELTICS FAN. I literally leaped off my couch and yelled “fucking FOUL HIM!” at the Cavaliers, and I’m pretty sure Mike Brown was doing the same thing as that team just lay down and died. I just looked up the play-by-play archived on espn.com -…

I have no idea what was going on with Harden, and also I don’t want to imply an equivalence with LeBron James, but:

Yeah, the post-Jordan Eastern Conference was pretty diverse until LeBron went to Miami (though the Pistons made I think 6 conference finals in a row); the West much less so. (From ‘99 to ‘11, the West was represented by the Spurs 4x, the Mavericks 2x, and the Lakers 7x.)

The Wizards have the better outlook with the team as it currently exists, the Raptors have the better franchise organization, basically?

People don’t seem to remember the 80s this way, even though from 1980 to 1992 exactly three teams won the West (Blazers twice, Rockets twice, Lakers nine times; hell, you could push it to ‘76-‘96 and only add the Sonics and the Suns). From ‘80-’87, the East was represented only by the ‘76ers (3x) and Celtics (5x) -…

I lose my temper pretty easily, and when I do I get incoherent and profane, and nothing makes me lose my temper faster than talking politics in real time.

I will admit that my impression of Rosenstein - and let’s be honest, I’m not keeping track of the US Attorneys in my own state, let alone other states, so I didn’t know who he was until very recently - has been careening pretty wildly all over the map. The idea that someone was putting it out there that he “almost”…

Both the FBI and the CIA have histories of institutional dysfunction going back to their foundings that suggest the healthiest approach would be to rip them apart and build new agencies from the ashes, because in my opinion we do need somebody to do the work those agencies do.

I think around here at least it’s pretty well known. At any rate, when the subject matter is basically, Muhammad Ali was an American hero and a great icon for the black community, I’ll chime in and say “well, you kind of have to reckon with this material if you’re going to celebrate him.” When the subject matter is…

Since this book isn’t about Ali’s entire life or career, and is instead about his legal battles with the US government, and presumably therefore doesn’t set out to present a complete and definitive portrait of the man, is this the most pressing possible question to ask?

Three steps and one dribble. It’s legal. You get two steps after the “gather” - i.e., after you stop dribbling. I’m not sure that’s how it was called when I was a kid, but that’s been the official rule for years now.

Well, his Air Force Secretary was confirmed yesterday, so we’ll see if dismantling the Air Force and splitting its capabilities between the Army and the Navy is on her agenda. (A hypothetical Trump initiative I would support!)

I don’t follow running, but I found this piece very interesting, thanks.

How the hell is it this hard to find people for the Armed Forces Secretary positions?

PTO allows conceptual - if not always legal, but in some places probably yes, legal - fungibility between vacation days and sick days.

In all seriousness, “it would be fun to get into hockey” is something I’ve been thinking of for a few years, and after “wow the puck moves fast where is it” and “who has the time?”, one of the reasons why I haven’t is “one of the league’s premiere players is turning his brain into paste and nobody cares because he’s…