By BJ and Chris Le
Note from BJ: A couple of years ago, I relinquished my reins as co-writer and put the weight of the writing portion on the back of my good buddy, Chris. (As if there’s another portion that sustains a blog.) But god, it felt so good to be liberated from such a failure of a college project and bestow it upon my friend. After all, what are friends for? All this after I came to the realization that this wasn’t turning into what I envisioned from the start. Hell, it can’t even do better than
I kid you not. Every other comment reads "Fire Chris Chase."
Yahoo!’s sports blogs, and while you may think Yahoo! is a legitimate platform to get your fix, you might be surprised to find that they don’t have a very high standard for their sports blogs. I check it everyday, but only so that I could say that Yahoo!’s not so great. A Catch-22, if you will. But what this can do better than is my blog. Chris can write a “half-ass” post once every couple of months and still get more hits than my blog, which I update several times a week. I’m not going to post my blog to avoid “pity” hits so let’s just move on. A little out of bitter jealousy and absurdity, more to feed this inexplicable pattern (which I co-founded, by the way) but most of all, because Chris was too lazy to put this together himself, I am making a one-time appearance to post a one-time chat with my one-time friend. That time being now, of course.
It’s only fitting that it rained on the first day of spring, and so the day was spent “jerk(ing) one” and “watching the tourney.” My words, not his. But not really. We spent the late afternoon unconsciously doing
Consider this Page 3.
our best Bill Simmons imitation, when he exchanges emails with a guest, except we’re hipper and used Google IM. Below is our unedited, unrated conversation, as you can see we aren’t always on the same topic but probably more distractingly, Chris’s plethora of typos. See you all in five years!
me: Who do you have winning the tourney?
Chris: ohio st., begrudgingly
me: Over Duke?
Chris: yeah
me: Hahahah.
Chris: though i like duke’s chances
me: Despite today’s squeaker?
Chris: michigan is a good team
great execution
and duke should’ve beaten michigan by double digits
coack k went into stall ball with 8 minutes, i don’t know why
took the air out of the ball and the offense was stagnant
me: You should always go with your team, even if you don’t think they’ll win. After all, there are always upsets.
Chris: though i guess you gotta credit michigan’s zone
me: I hate when coaches do that.
They never go for the kill, play it so safe, especially in football. They play prevent D and give up tons of yardage and easy plays so the team scores anyway.
First game that comes to mind is the Super Bowl when Indy tried to run out the clock in the first half against New Orleans.
Chris: gotta step on the opponent’s throat
me: They deserved getting scored on and subsequently, losing that game.
Chris: i mean, why not when you have momentum
me: It’s baffling.
I want to be coach.
I think they get way too much credit sometimes.
Chris: haha, that’d be awesome
i’m kinda with bill simmons, except for a select few, coaches don’t matter
me: Coach of the year? How the hell does anyone outside of that individual team know how great of a job that coach is doing?
Chris: either they don’t matter, or they can make you lose
me: Yes.
Chris: post season awards are kinda bullshit
media and stat driven
but they’re fun to debate
me: Except for coaches. I don’t get too excited by them.
Chris: i’d defend coach pop though
me: I actually don’t care much for coach hirings/firings, and I probably wouldn’t care to know them if others didn’t care so much.
Chris: fool is an all-timer and gets overlooked
probably won’t win it this year even though he deserves it
me: Hm, I think he should be an easy win, actually.
No standout players, and they have easily the best record in the NBA.
Chris: every loves the bulls and tom thibodeau
me: They’re like the ’00’s Pistons. Total team package, led by the coach.
Yeah.
Chris: i’m scared for the spurs in the playoffs, though
me: Can we agree Rose should be MVP?
I know, I don’t believe their record.
They’re like LeBron’s Cavs.
Chris: yeah, i think rose has earned it. would like to see him more clutch though
me: Okay.
Chris: the spurs’ greatest weapon is their execution and their shooting. that’s all they have. they’re not a match up nightmare at all
and that scares me
me: Yeah.
How about LeBron for MVP from ’05-08?
The great thing about a superstar leaving his team is that we can see after how valuable he truly was.
Chris: exactly. carried an abysmal team. he earned those MVPs
me: That’s right. I think he should have been league MVP six years in a row and counting.
Chris: hmm
gotta look back
but i hated nash’s second MVP
kobe’s mvp was bullshit too
thought KG/CP3 were more deserving that year
me: Unfortunately, sports awards are about as uncredible as the Oscar for Best Actress. “Let’s give it to this person this year since they haven’t won yet but has an illustrious career.”
Yep.
CP3 is another player who truly deserves MVP recognition every single year.
Chris: yeah, i hate it when it’s a career achievement award
amen
i think he’s a perfect point guard
can do anything needed from a point
me: Yep.
To give you the info. for LeBron’s ’05-08, the years he didn’t win MVP, his Cavs went 2, 2, 2 and 1 in the regular season, and LeBron’s season-lows for the four years in each of the categories was 27.3 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 6.0 APG. I rest my case.
Chris: i can’t believe dirk won it one year…
me: That was actually all in one year, so the other three years had higher stats. in all three categories.
Career achievement award.
Chris: where’s lebron on your ballot this year?
me: Well, I have Rose as the clear one.
I’m sure LeBron’s a top 5, but it’s hard to give him a lot of credit with D-Wade as the league’s 4th-leading scorer and Bosh with the best +/- of the Big Three.
Just off the top of my head.
You?
Chris: i probably have lebron at 2
to me he’s clearly the best player on the team
kobe, durant and howard round out the top 5
me: While I don’t doubt that he’s the best player on the team, I feel like he single-handedly lost games for them at the end.
I still believe that the ball should go through Wade at the end of games over James.
Chris: i think that has a lot to do with the plays but valid point
me: Bad coach?
Chris: bad offense sets
me: Fire the coach.
He doesn’t deserve that team.
Chris: i still think he deserves another year
unless it’s clear the players don’t respond to him
me: Nor do they respect him, and when that doesn’t happen, someone’s got to go.
And James ain’t no washed-up Randy Moss.
Chris: i’d still have the ball in lebron’s hands
not necessarily have him take the last shot, but have him run the play
me: How are they struggling with offensive sets in game #70?
Chris: i have no idea
they’re not quite comfortable or in rhythm, though it’s been better lately
they’re running plays, i can see that
but they’ve been foiled by bad passes
miscommunications
that don’t allow them to run the full play
it just breaks down
they need to fix these small mishaps, then they’ll be better
me: Which is scary that they haven’t reached their offensive potential, and they can still compete in the top games.
Chris: passes that at a little too low or high, that shit ruins their plays
yeah, but i think it’s been shown they aren’t a perfect fit
bosh, for most of the season at least, has been a small forward in a power forwards body
me: Too many slashers?
Tell me about it.
Chris: i thought lebron would play more point
me: That fake tough guy.
Chris: and that he’d freakin’ PLAY THE POST
me: He doesn’t know how to.
Chris: lebron rarely posts up, which infuriates me
exactly
and whenever he does it’s so awkward
his footwork down low is terrible
me: Yeah.
Chris: i’m shocked no one has developed that part of his game
it could cause so many problems
me: For as great as a player as he is, his offensive arsenal isn’t the best.
Chris: he does two things: take threes or lower his head and run towards the basket at full speed
he’s not really a slasher, more of a freight train
wade is the best slasher in the game
love his euro step
me: And most of the time, he doesn’t finish.
Chris: which goes to show how fucking talented he is taht he can score 27 a night with a limited offense
me: Exactly.
Chris: he needs more kobe in him
that thirst
not just to win but get better
view basketball as a craft, not a means to an end
me: Everyone’s figured that out about him, which isn’t fair because LeBron’s never had a good team until now and even Kobe quits with a shitty team, which we’ve seen.
So I agree with you partially.
Chris: don’t get me wrong, he’s the most talented player in the league, and i know he wants to win as badly as anyone
i just want to see him to tap into his potential, expand his game, which has been the same for the last four seasons
in 5 years who’s the best player in the league?
lebron? durant? howard?
blake…?