I like Robert’s work because he puts an amazing amount of effort into what he writes. He is very open and personal. This isn’t just a recap for him, it is journal. He uses sports at times as a metaphor for his own life or vice-versa. Okay now my head hurts.

Anyway, it is okay for people to like other things. And it is okay to say so if you are not being a total tool. jon wasn’t a total tool today.

jon I know you are really busy with your music industry career but one perk of being a writer here is that you can edit your own posts. I know that to be a feature you’ve long desired.

Count de Pennies:
I suspect I’m not the only regular reader here who never bothers to read the articles (recaps or otherwise) and skips directly to the comments – which are generally excellent and frequently quite entertaining (especially when ruru and THCJ are having a go at one another)

Lol honestly I’m the same way, the recaps especially can be a little self indulgent unless its one of the full written ones that doesn’t assign grades. I really stopped caring much about the recaps when certain players (especially Chandler) just started getting free passes for anything they did wrong and the Melo recap had a whole paragraph devoted to this one play where he didn’t run back on defense because he was bitching to the refs because he’s selfish because…..

On the other hand, this might be the most intelligent online community I’ve seen on a basketball blog. I tried posting on a Rockets blog recently but it was apparently impossible for them to grasp that TS% isn’t an absolute measure of a player’s offensive value. It’s so difficult to find people to have a nuanced discussion about sports with

max fisher-cohen: The hand-check was abolished in 1994. You were still allowed to make contact with a player facing the basket though as long as you had a bent elbow.

Why in the world are you talking about basketball? Based on this thread, I thought that this was a place where people are supposed to write about whose writing style is best, who’s a jerk, who’s a troll, etc., etc.

BigBlueAL: Didnt they stop allowing handchecking after the 1994 season??

The hand-check was abolished in 1994. You were still allowed to make contact with a player facing the basket though as long as you had a bent elbow. That rule was changed in 99/00. You didn’t see the effects of the rule change in a dramatic way though until the D’Antoni Suns burst onto the scene. Still, you could argue that you’d never have seen the Iverson Sixers in the finals or the Adelman Kings as championship threats without those rule changes. Both teams had big jumps in win %s between the lockout season and 99/00.

Interestingly, the NBA had several rule changes that addressed hand checking BEFORE 1994, the most telling of which is this from 1980/81:

Officials shall not permit any players to play with any type of hand, arm face, nose, ear, head, or neck jewelry.

Donnie Walsh: but Kevin’s piece probably isn’t the most productive place to gripe about some other writer.

I know, but I feel like even more of a dick if I complain about Robert’s writing underneath his every time, especially since I can never make it past a few sentences anymore.

anyway, I’ve done my periodic complaining, so I’m good for a while now.

thanks, Kevin. it’s true, that was actually me trying not to be obnoxious. :)

Douglas: Shoot, why don’t you give it a shot? I think you’d do a good job.

thanks but I don’t have the time or honestly the interest, unfortunately. right now on top of my normal obligations I’m trying to help launch an online music journal (called ‘surround’), the first issue consists of 6 or 7 4000-8000 word pieces that I’ve been working on polishing when I have free time.

jon abbey: it’s no stranger than someone saying “awesome job!”. if we had a more nuanced forum system here as I’ve pushed for for years (and we had briefly), I could put every comment in the precisely appropriate thread. as it is, it was mostly that I loved that Rosenthal line, so I put it here.

That’s fair, and I agree it gives a false sense of achievement if people only write exagerated praise. And, I knew who you were referring to before you named names because I often feel the same way. But I recognize there are people who read this board that love Robert’s writing, and I wouldn’t want him to change anything since there are people who enjoy what he does. Having read here for a long time, I know who I like and who I don’t and I just skip reading the articles I don’t think will be worth my time. Not saying you are wrong to complain, but Kevin’s piece probably isn’t the most productive place to gripe about some other writer.

jon abbey:
I know people try their best on the recaps here, and sometimes they’re not bad (and sometimes they’re unreadable), but Seth Rosenthal is just leaps and bounds beyond anyone doing the ones here, sorry to say. just this one sentence tonight wins it for SR:

“Have you ever seen a figure skater perform a flawless, ethereal routine only to trip over a napping frog on the last jump? ”

Oh Yeah??? Well, I don’t know what ethereal means, so I’ll stick with Jim and Robert, thank you very much!

I strongly — STRONGLY — disagree with your take on Robert’s work, I think he’s a tremendous writer with a very good feel for how to capture the unique character of each game stylistically. I think he’s a Knicks lifer who is very well plugged-in to the soul of the franchise and its fanbase. I would bet that most who read the site agree with that.

It’s fine that you strongly disagree with some of what I wrote (I bet when I come back and re-read this in a few weeks I will too — it’s hard having to go on the record about every single player when realistically there’s no time to do a thorough watching and re-watching of a game before recapping). That’s fine. I also don’t think you saying that you like Seth’s stuff better than ours is out of bounds. He’s a super-talented guy. I think you’ve made some cheap comments in the past and I think some of what you’ve said here is out of line, sure, but it’s also within your rights to speak your mind. I’d only say two things:

1) Context is important.
2) There are plenty of people who have different tastes than you.

Anyway this has sort of spun away from itself. All he was really saying is “this is a great line — why can’t you guys write something this funny?” And it is a great line and it’s totally cool that you think it’s funnier than the fare that you find here.

Keep calm and carry on.

jon abbey:
no, I wasn’t really talking about this one, although there are some things here I strongly disagree with (don’t have the time to go through it right now for specifics, sorry).

since not naming names seems to be making this harder than naming names, Robert Silverman is the one who consistently makes me see red, as I’ve said here before a few times.

and yes, a totally valid answer would be “do better yourself or shut the fuck up”, not that that would actually make me shut up. I’d also be OK with being banned by Mike if he thinks I’m overall bad for the community, I mod at multiple sites myself and would certainly understand that (although I do like posting here).

Shoot, why don’t you give it a shot? I think you’d do a good job.