The Boxscore Geeks Show

It's possible sports journalism and advanced stats will never gel. What's the deal with Kobe Bryant's current fall in the eyes of the media? Josh Smith was cut by the Pistons and we're elated!

Visit http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-missing-kobe-and-josh-smith for the complete show notes on today's show!

Direct download: bsg-48.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:00am EDT

We talk internet entitlement, Kevin Draper's expose on Adrian Wojnarowski, and the amazing Golden State Warriors. See http://www.boxscoregeeks.com/articles/the-boxscore-geeks-show-warriors-come-out-to-play/ for complete show notes.

Direct download: bsg-47.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:15pm EDT

This Week's Show

Kobe vs. MJ, Superman vs. Batman, and how is this year's rookie crop looking?

Hosts

This Week's Poll

Show Notes

Last Week's Show

On last week's show, we discussed some issues with race in the United States. I find, in general, that simple statements such as "the U.S still has racial problems." or "Videogames are sexist." are not that controversial. But, they're often met with a lot of pushback. As with any large-scale issue, the specifics and possible solutions are complex. The history and policies (I mention drug policies at one point) have lots of minutiae. However, the second does not invalidate the first. And, unfortunately, I see all too frequently that people assume it does.

Following up on my Ferguson comments last week, Kristi Harrison at Cracked had a fantastic post that reminds us: they rioted when Joe Paterno was fired!

Also, for more depressing posts related to racism, Cracked had just posted one titled: "Five Studies that Prove Racism is Still Way Worse than we Think."

New Show

I'll be migrating back to "Nerd Numbers", so I can focus more on audio/visual development. I'm excited about podcasting/videocasting and decided that this was the best direction for that. I'll still be collaborating with the Boxscore Geeks, but I also have some other plans in the pipe.

Also, for what it's worth, it's hard to remove the overlap at times between sports and social issues.

Kobe vs. Michael

Kobe Bryant will soon pass Michael Jordan as third on the all-time NBA scoring list.

This is, of course, weeks after he became the all-time leader in missed shots.

The graphic we discussed on the show, you can find the jSFiddle here.

 

At some point, I may start handing out the "Kevin Garnett Award", which goes to the strongest player with the weakest cast. Anthony Davis seems like a lock this season.

Batman vs. Superman

I wrote about Batman vs. Superman this week. To anyone on Batman's side, I bet you're Wesley Crusher fans aren't you?

I do feel this fight does fit the sports narrative perfectly. People want to believe in heart, wanting it more, etc. They'll ignore things like the fact that Carmelo Anthony is just not anywhere near as good as LeBron.

This year's Rookie Crop

Patrick examined this year's rookie crop. It's worth noting this year's "best" rookie is Jabari Parker. It's also worth noting we didn't like him in our draft previews.

It's hard to find rookies that play lots of minutes and star level quickly. Essentially, it's highly unlikely a rookie will make an immediate impact.

Shout Outs

Our first shoutout is a rerun because Brian's mic was muted last week!

Dan Stryker (dan-stryker.com) is a talented illustrator and designer. He's also a fan of the show that demands more shout outs from Brian! Ironically, Brian's mic cuts out for most of it...

@shanley gets my shoutout. She gave a fantastic interview for the MIT Tech Review. Luckily, she is hosting this herself now. Please use the Model-View-Culture link, not the MIT one. You can also purchase a collection MVC's essays called "Your Startup is broken: Inside the toxic heart of tech culture. Collected essays by Shanley"

Also, reminder, the "rude or arrogant" argument people often use does little for me. Especially in fields like tech and sports where we lionize jerks regularly.

Direct download: bsg-46.mp3
Category:Sports -- posted at: 8:12am EDT

This Week's Show

How bad can the 76ers be? What we think of Charles Barkley's opinions on Ferguson. Finally, we have some opinions on the NFL and general sports reporting.

Hosts

Video Show

This Week's Poll

Show Notes

The 76ers

The 76ers avoided starting the season 18-0! This derailed them from matching their worst-all-time losing streak.

This year's 76ers are "lead" by three average players. Not a great start.

The 76ers have done well not spending money poorly. Now, they need to start spending their money wisely.

Dave Berri's suggestion is to fire GMs that miss the playoffs for three straight seasons. So Hinkie's got a year to turn it around.

Charles Barkley and Ferguson

A few days ago, Barkley made some comments about Ferguson.

He doubled down on his comments.

Vox is great. And they had a good breakdown on how different races are treated in this country.

My first issue with Ferguson and some of the responses are how much U.S. history people have to forget when using the "looting and rioting is unacceptable." I tweeted a bit about this recently.

Also, the Boston Tea Party, the original racist American team?

Check out Idea Channel's video on the No True Scotsman fallacy.

I consider Barkley less of "No True Scotsman" and more victim blaming. Seriously, pants come up in racism discussions too much in my opinion.

Also, sorry, it irks me how much some people are upset by property damage, and how they gloss over human deaths.

It's worth noting rich and famous people have a skewed reality as Chris Rock recently talked about.

Reminder, Charles Barkley got arrested for a DUI. During this, he refused a breathalyzer.

Dave Chappelle's sketch on white collar vs. blue collar crime is hilarious. We could only find a subsection of it Youtube.

People do miss the disparity in lifestyles between rich and poor. They even miss rich vs. ultra-rich. "Millionaires vs. Billionaires" is the difference between $100 in your pocket and $100,000!

Sports Reporting

ESPN 30 for 30 is great. We loved many of them related to college sports.

  • The Fab 5
  • The Dotted Line
  • Unguarded
  • Roll Tide/Roll Eagle
  • Broke
  • You Don’t Know Bo
  • Survive and Advance
  • Elway to Marino
  • Youngstown Boys
  • Requiem for the Big East
  • Brian and the Boz
  • Rand University
  • The U part 1 and part 2

Sports news often has a problem with "very serious people."

We jump off talking about "Brian and the Boz."

Bosworth sold shirts to angry Broncos fans to "boo" him

We talk a little wrestling. Check out: "Beyond the Matt", "For All Mankind", and "Wrestling with Shadows."

Sadly, concussions may have been a problem for Bosworth.

PBS NewsHour talked about the NFL, concussions, and abuse.

Jonathan Weiler and the ESPN watch is great. We loved when brought up how bad ESPN's "journalism" was with an interview with Ray Rice's wife.

Aziz Ansari had a great sketch about being on the wrong side of history.

The tobacco industry in the 60s is a great comparison for the modern NFL.

Shout Outs

Dan Stryker (dan-stryker.com) is a talented illustrator and designer. He's also a fan of the show that demands more shout outs from Brian! Ironically, Brian's mic cuts out for most of it...

Great Tweet from Jeb.

LisaThinksALot is another great YouTube channel. Check it out!

Direct download: bsg-45.mp3
Category:NBA -- posted at: 3:21am EDT

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