Bill Simmons, the most powerful figure in sports media according to Sports Illustrated, has officially been knocked down a notch by the powers that be in Bristol.

In response to the fallout that stemmed from a very awkward spat between Skip Bayless and Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman on First Take, Simmons took to Twitter later that night to blast First Take, Richard Sherman and, indirectly, ESPN.

While the consensus amongst media critics was that Simmons' open, sincere criticism might actually sway the views of ESPN higher ups and cause them to reconsider the existence of First Take, or at least it being on the air for 5 hours daily, the company appears to be going the other way, siding with Bayless and their self-generated circus show. Via John Koblin of Deadspin:

ESPN has suspended Simmons from Twitter for a few days after he called the Skip Bayless-Richard Sherman First Take meltdown last week awful and embarrassing. An ESPN source told me that the tweets violated ESPN's social media guidelines; Simmons was told to lie low for a few days. He hasn't tweeted since Tuesday Monday, and he'll apparently be allowed to return to Twitter tomorrow, making it a three-day hiatus. An ESPN spokesman declined comment, and Simmons didn't respond to an email.

But ESPN wouldn't be ESPN if it didn't punish a guy for being inconveniently correct. (Well, mostly. Sherman won. Bayless and First Take lost. Which means we won, too.) A few eagle-eyed readers emailed us to say that something seemed off. Simmons did not tweet out anything yesterday, nor did he tweet on Tuesday. Today, he was quiet again, except for a retweeted link from Grantland. This is not normal. He tweeted every single day in February, January, December, and November, skipping out on Twitter just once, on Feb. 7. SportsCenter could make a little graph showing just how prolific he is. Though Simmons has stayed off Twitter, he has certainly been keeping up with Facebook, posting about Wes Welker, a story he wrote, a blog post written about him, and a video of his dog.

Simmons was expected to make a trip out to New York this week for a sort of Grantland East brainstorming session, but he backed out over the weekend, we're told. He also didn't appear on NBA Countdown last night, though that was apparently previously scheduled.

Simmons has run into trouble with ESPN's Twitter police before. In 2009, he called a Boston Radio network—and an ESPN Radio affiliate—"deceitful scumbags" on Twitter, and he got a two week suspension from using it. He was on the tail end of a book tour then, so he was still "allowed" to tweet about the book, just as he was apparently allowed to retweet a Grantland link today.

In Sports Ilustrated's list released last week, Richard Deitsch ranked Bayless 10th and put Simmons directly above the likes of Tommy Craggs, Bob Costas, and Charles Barkley. It's important to note that all have taken much greater liberties than just speaking out on Twitter in their writing/broadcasting careers with their respective companies and have remained untouched by their employers, as they should be.

The fact that Simmons simply speaking (tweeting?) his mind garnered a punishment of any kind tells us that Simmons does not hold a fraction of the power that we thought he did.

Perhaps more tellingly, Bayless, whom the company has never even considered suspending from any platform despite countless instances of negative publicity, racism, and alienating his guests, seems to fit the mold of the top four laid out by Deitsch quite well.

As much as we'd all rather not even consider such a notion as possibly pertaining to the reality of today's sports media scene, it's one that every media critic should at least be thinking about today:

Is Skip Bayless the most powerful person in sports media?

Perhaps more insulting than any of these clips was his final stat line of 39 points (25 FTM of 39 FTA), 16 rebounds, and 3 blocks en route to a Lakers victory. He's a dick, but at least he's not boring. Lacking in the wits department with the Yo Mama joke? Probably. But never boring.

Spin IT has fallen upon hard times over the past week. Most of us who write for the blog are also students, and some of us (me), have had to briefly put the blog on the back burner to ensure that they will be graduating at the end of this semester.

With the amount of original content on our site beginning to decrease, we've stumbled upon a saving grace for both ourselves and the rest of the sports blogosphere.

Ladies and gentlemen, here is the latest piece of work from former Knicks savior and current Beijing Duck, Stephon Marbury.

While we'd like to believe that Marbury is blogging for the love of the game and not just to help himself pay off a few debts, Spin IT's current set of circumstances gives us no choice but to feature him today.

Of course, we're also all huge fans of the CBA (Go Qingdao Double Star Eagles!), so to finally be able to include it on our site is something that we've been meaning to do for quite a while.

Anyway without further ado, allow me to introduce you all to your new favorite blog, China Daily's Starbury! Ni Hao, bitches...

Side-Note: I've emboldened the most critical elements of the piece to optimize your reading experience.

Ni Hao, my good people! 

I'm quite sure you're probably getting ready to enjoy the upcoming Chinese Spring Festival, the Year of the Snake. 

Whatever your plans for the Lunar New Year, I pray they are filled with lots of love, laughter and happy times with your family and friends. 

My Beijing Ducks teammates and I made a few unforgettable memories ourselves recently. 

We went 2-0 at home against a pair of the tough CBA teams from the South. Yes, I'm talking about the Dongguan Leopards and Guangdong Southern Tigers. 

Dongguan, a potential playoff opponent, is a formidable foe because it has a power forward, Marcus Haslip, who is faster and quicker than most Chinese players at his position. 

Former NBA player Haslip is averaging about 29 points per game. He scored 55 points in his last contest before coming to play at our home court. 

Haslip can really play ball. This guy can shoot, pass, drive to the basket, plus, he can finish way above the rim. 

To beat Dongguan, we determined our primary game plan was simple - contain Haslip. And, we did. We made him do things he doesn't like; such as posting up on the right block, forcing him to spin left as well as contesting his jump shot. Also, when Haslip was behind the 3-point line, we gave him very little room to shoot, and that made him drive and take contested shots. 

I credit our power forward Ji Zhe, who I call G-Man, for playing great 'D' on Haslip. 

In the end, we managed to pull away in the fourth quarter and seal the victory. 

We also played first-placed Guangdong and won. 

Before playing us, Guangdong had beaten 15 straight teams. 

The Guangdong Tigers are always a tough opponent because they have six players who are members of the Chinese national team. 

Still, we were not only able to defeat Guangdong, but sweep the team this season. 

Both times we played Guangdong were must-see basketball games. That's why CCTV5 carried the games live and hyped the clashes. 

Both meetings were all-out war - from the initial jump ball to the sound of the last buzzer. 

I would even bet, like us, Guangdong circled the calendar dates of our two contests as we both knew those games would be more like playing in last year's finals, which we won to become the CBA champion. 

I absolutely enjoy playing in those types of games because they are usually intense and full of passion. 

Now, we hit the road on Wednesday to face Fujian, another contender from the South. 

I think we are ready and prepared to deal with anything Fujian tries to throw at us. 

We feel confident because of all of our practicing in the offseason and playing at a high level during the regular season. 

This is our deep basketball spirit, and my teammates and I take pride in our play. 

Quite honestly, we don't mind going to war for each other every second of the game. 

In fact, I would run through a wall for each player on my team because I sincerely believe each one of my teammates would do the same for me. 

Moving onward and upward is where we think we're headed going into the playoffs, which are just weeks away. 

Wouldn't it be great if our good basketball fortune continues during the 2013 Chinese New Year? Let's hope so. 

Love is love. 

Always, 

Starbury 

Stephon Marbury can be reached at sports@chinadaily.com.cn

Justin Timberlake hosted the lastest episode of Saturday Night Live last night, and as usual JT did his damn thing in a variety of skits that exploited his many talents.  All "man-crush" talk aside, there was one skit in particular that really hit home being a local five-oh-fo' (nobody ever says that, btw) native.  In the skit entitled "Maine Justice" we see many New Orleans and Louisiana based cliche's that would force a slight smile on even the squarest of New Orleanians (this neither). See the video below. Enjoy.

 

A few days ago, Skip Bayless once again baited another athlete into going after him live on the air, providing his show with more online publicity once the story went viral.

First Take has marketed themselves this way, even successfully selling lame, novelty T shirts, for years now.

But why should ESPN be the only ones to make money off of the train wreck that is First Take?

Via Homers Fan-Made Apparel:

A quick word to the wise: When you're planning on airing a live segment with the All-Pro Stanford Graduate formerly known as Richard Sherman, you might not want to spend the first portion of your show blasting his credibility as an NFL player.

On March 7, 2013, everybody's favorite ESPN nonsense barfer Skip Bayless chose to defy conventional wisdom, and this beautiful piece of television history is what ensued....

(Thank you, Sherm)

'I'm Better At Life Than You' Tees, Available Now! DC: SKIPOWNED FOR 20% OFFhomersapparel.com/products/im-be… yfrog.com/gz84537492j
— Homers Apparel Co. (@HomersApparel) March 8, 2013

With only 289 days left until Christmas, get this for the one you love because, really, aren't we all better at life than Skip?

... Lebron James! For his role in this year's Box Office smash hit, The Phantom Elbow.


 

George Karl does not like offensive foul calls.

George Karl especially does not like offensive fouls called against Ty Lawson.



I agree, George. That call was bullspit.

.Gif via hardwoodparoxysm.com

"And so, dude, Thompson was open in the corner for 3, and ya boy kicked it to him, and he put up the shot and I was all like... Ohhhhhhhhh!"

H/t Reddit user Get2dachoppa_plz

The schools are based in Oklahoma, and a YouTube user by the name of Kim Passoth asked the following just now: "Can you please call me ASAP? We would like to use this video tonight on KOCO Ch. 5. Thank you! 405-620-5050"

Putting her number up on YouTube? "She stupid!"

But seriously, whomever this kid is... He's likely in for a rough week.

Details via USA Today:

Hugo (Okla.) led 37-36 with 2.9 [EDIT: 3.7] seconds to play when Hugo guard Trey Johnson received an inbounds pass headed toward his own hoop. Johnson needed only to dribble out the clock, or, at worst, get fouled, but instead made a layup in his own basket to give Millwood a most improbable 38-37 win.

“When I saw the kid going that way, I was like, ‘No, he's not. No, he's not ... Oh, yes he is,'” Millwood assistant coach David Samilton told The Oklahoman. "I couldn't believe it.”

Yes, he was. Here's a photo of the winning layup.

As you might imagine, Hugo coach Darnell Shanklin told The Oklahoman it was difficult to talk to his players, especially Johnson, after the game.

“He gives you 100 percent all the time,” Shanklin said of Johnson. “Heart goes out to the kid because he feels bad. He feels really, really bad.”

Via PC Gamer, one of everyone's favorite punters (right up there with our good friend, The Zoltan) shared his thoughts on EA's SimCity 5.

His piece comes amidst a sea of relatively positive reviews amongst critics thus far... Granted, their customer ratings are on the other end of that spectrum.

We've shared our opinion about the evils of game developer Electronic Arts in the past, so while many have so far merely focused on his "ripping SimCity 5", they've missed the bigger picture that only fellow EA haters can appreciate.

His article is not really critical of SimCity 5; it's critical of EA's server system for the game.

To provide you all with some marginal background, the issue is that EA decided to mandate internet connection in order for anyone to play SimCity, even if the player had intended to play the game entirely on his own.  This caused a back up in EA's servers, causing intolerable wait times for millions of fans who had seemingly wasted their money. EA claimed this was only affecting a "small percentage of users."

To their misfortune, one of those users has been Chris Kluwe.


Read Chris Kluwe's opinion in full below:

Hi. I'm Chris. I've been playing SimCity ever since the Super Nintendo version, and I've always been a huge fan of the franchise (SimCity 3000 is my favorite). Thus, when PC Gamer came to me and said, "Hey Chris! We want you to play the new SimCity with us in our Celebrity Sim City region," I wasted no time in responding with a resounding "Hell yeah!"

I mean, what could go wrong? (Other than the inevitable giant lizards, meteor showers, and poor sewage planning that happen in every SimCity game.)

Not only was this the first SimCity in ten years, allowing for massive development time, it also had the immense resources of EA behind it. The scope and attention to detail promised to be amazing. You could follow every person in your city around as they went through their daily lives, you could interact with other cities in the region via trading, gifts, and cooperation on Great Works, and you could even play an antagonistic version against other people by sending criminals and pollution their way (via indirect methods of crafting your own city).

This promised to be one of the best single-player games of the year. Unfortunately, the reality did not quite live up to expectations. Don't get me wrong, the game itself is great. When it works, that is. And oh boy, does it hate working.

At the time of writing this piece, SimCity has been active for almost 62 hours. Of those 62 hours, I've been able to log in for around ten. Of those ten, four consisted of massive latency issues and corrupted games, so (quick calculation here), I've had access to the actual game for maybe 10 percent of the time I've had it. EA's servers are, to put it bluntly, utterly bugf---ed, and there's no option to play the game offline.

Therein lies the heart of my problem. SimCity is, at its heart, a single-player game. Having access to other players' cities is cool, but I want to build MY city, and I don't want some goatfisting, totally unnecessary "always-on" DRM to keep me from playing the game (full disclosure: PC Gamer was kind enough to provide me with a download code for the game, so you can only imagine my rage levels if I had actually put money into EA's pockets for this "experience.")

The fact that EA requires an "always-on" connection is ostensibly because so many operations are taking place server side that your computer won't be able to handle it (which is a blatant falsehood, since when I was streaming the other night, the only times I DIDN'T have latency was when I was disconnected from their servers and my computer had to run all the game operations.). In reality, it's to try to combat piracy.

Sadly, EA seems to have failed to do some very simple math. Let's look at an example. We'll assume that for an amazingly successful game like SimCity, about 20,000 people will end up pirating it (those who have the technical knowhow and Internet savvy to find a working crack). I have 160,000 Twitter followers, of whom around 50,000 follow me for gaming. I just told those 50,000 people NOT to buy SimCity because EA cannot handle its s---, and the game is unplayable. We'll say half those people listen to me and haven't bought the game already. So, carrying the pi, we see that EA is already out 5,000 more sales than if they had just created a normal, single player offline capable game with multiplayer components.

(Don't forget, "always-on" DRM also screws over people who don't have access to Internet for large periods of time, like those who live in rural areas and travelers. More lost sales!)

But that's not all! I'm not the only one pissed off about EA's stupidity – countless review and news sites are also weighing in, and the reports aren't good. In fact, Amazon has stopped selling digital copies of the game because so many people are complaining about how horrid the connection issues are. So, it's not just the people following me on Twitter that are hearing about how craptastic this is, it's people all over the gaming community (if you were curious, EA, that's your customer base). Even more fun, EA has decided that it won't honor refunds for digital sales if you bought it through their Origin service, so a lot of people who are understandably upset about their $60+ purchase have no means of recourse.

This is terrible.

Why is this terrible? Not just because of EA's total dickery when it comes to refunds, not just because of the destruction of Maxis' image as a developer, but because this was completely avoidable and SimCity is actually a really fun game (when it works). If I was able to play SimCity offline, I would be wholeheartedly recommending it to everyone, even those who aren't normally into the genre. For the PC Gamer region, I created a lovely little town called Herpes (the servers rejected Poopytown), and it quickly turned into a bustling metropolis of 160,000 people happily going about their daily business, and I HAD FUN.

For the six hours I got to play.

However, after countless failed login attempts, and a queue that constantly refreshed itself but never actually let me in the game (protip: If you have a queue, make sure it actually queues to something), and rubber band lag that almost gave me motion sickness at times, I had to bid a sad farewell to the lovely people of Herpes because I just couldn't take the frustration anymore. This was no longer a game. It was an aggravation. And I don't play aggravations.

But that's not the worst part. No, the worst part is, the game you just paid $60 for, the game you may love, is not your game to own. You see, when a game requires an "always-on" connection, and stores data on EA's servers – that means EA owns your game. If EA decides to shut the servers down five years down the road? Tough luck. Hope you played all the SimCity you'll ever want to play, because it's gone now. No going back to nostalgic old favorites; no showing your children an amazing time with a game that influenced your life; no reliving those memories.

So I say to EA, and any other publisher thinking like EA – stop with the "always-on" bull----. Yes, you're going to lose some sales to piracy, and yes, it sucks. The solution isn't to f--- over the people who actually want to play the game. The solution isn't to treat the customer like a prisoner you're graciously offering the opportunity to lease your game. The solution is to make a good game, and then people will tell their friends about it, and then those friends will buy the game and YOU WILL MAKE MASSIVE PILES OF MONEY AND NOT INDUCE RAGE ANEURYSMS IN YOUR CUSTOMER BASE.

Because believe me, I'm not shy about letting people know when to avoid a game that's not worth playing. And right now, SimCity is not worth playing.

EA, you are worse than Herpes. At least my infrastructure worked. 

As if that weren't enough of a blow to the company, Kluwe also took to his Twitter account of 161,000+ followers to shred the company.

I really enjoy the queue system of Sim City. It's not a queue to actually get in the game, it's for a "chance" to get in.
— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) March 7, 2013

Yup. Really working hard there EA. Keep up the good fight. You might get a participation ribbon! twitter.com/ChrisWarcraft/…
— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) March 7, 2013

Oh, and don't bother joining a new server if you want to save any of your old progress. Cities don't transfer over. #brilliant
— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) March 7, 2013

So @simcity, would you qualify this current state of affairs as an "unmitigated clusterfuck", or a "royal screwing of loyal customers"?
— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) March 7, 2013

Next question @simcity: How many lost sales do you predict from word of mouth versus general piracy rates? What does the maff say?
— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) March 7, 2013

Are you aware of the long term consequences of seeking short term profit @ea? Should we ask for regulation in the video game industry?
— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) March 7, 2013

My favorite replies are all the people saying "@ea's going to ruin your Madden stats now" (most are joking). First off, who punts in Madden?
— Chris Kluwe (@ChrisWarcraft) March 8, 2013

H/t Kenjy

[UPDATE] Via Polygon.com:

Publisher Electronic Arts has suspended some of its online marketing campaigns for SimCity in the wake of ongoing server issues, asking its affiliates to "please stop actively promoting the game" until further notice.

In an email sent this morning to marketing affiliate partners, EA Origin says it has "deactivated all SimCity text links and creative and we ask you to please remove any copy promoting SimCity from your website for the time-being." The email, obtained by Polygon, is directed at affiliates of EA Origin's LinkShare program.

"To be clear we are continuing to payout commissions on all SimCity sales that are referred, however we are requesting that you please stop actively promoting the game," the email reads. "We will notify you as soon as the SimCity marketing campaigns have been resumed and our promotional links are once again live in the Linkshare interface. We apologize for any inconveniences that this may cause, and we thank you for your cooperation."

SimCity launched earlier this week and has since struggled to meet player demand. Developer Maxis has deactivated certain gameplay features and says it will continue to roll out fixes to address "server instability" and player frustration.

 

In case you missed it, Richard Sherman came onto First Take on ESPN earlier today and, amongst other statements, told Skip Bayless that he was "better at life" than everyone's most hated talking head, Skip Bayless.

Perhaps more interestingly, ESPNers are actually responding internally to the childish pissing contest that the nation witnessed today.

The topic was open for discussion earlier tonight on Hill and Schlereth on ESPN Radio, but that conversation mostly remained conducive to talking more about Richard Sherman the player with a very brief mentioning of Skip Bayless being not as awful as everyone makes him out to be.

Bill Simmons, however, pulled back no punches on Twitter tonight, slamming all parties involved.

It's amazing to me that people get so worked up about First Take. Who cares? Just don't watch it. There are like 800 TV channels.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) March 8, 2013

I am not defending this segment - youtu.be/j6x-O3kb1sI - I thought it was awful and embarrassing to everyone involved. Seriously.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) March 8, 2013

But what bothers me about the reaction to that segment is people saying Richard Sherman "won." Nobody won. Everyone lost. Including ESPN.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) March 8, 2013

Spin IT has made it clear that we don't really enjoy most of what ESPN has turned into over the last decade, which is the time that most of us were growing up. Along with Scott Van Pelt and maybe a couple of other guys and girls at ESPN, most of our writers are actually fans of Bill Simmons. We recently added Bill Plaschke to our small list of favored ESPNers. Jonathan Palazzolo met him during the Super Bowl and vouched for him.

I digress.

I couldn't disagree more with Simmons' sentiment in the first tweet. Why? It's simple, really. First Take's shenanigans are not just confined to a half an hour or even an hour of the day anymore. It's on the air between ESPN and ESPN2 for nearly 5 hours daily. And as if that weren't horrid enough, shows like Numbers Never Lie and even the morning SportsCenter have been modeled after the Bayless - Screamin' A circus.

"Well, if people don't like ESPN as a whole, don't watch the network."

Show me a valid alternative on basic cable, and I along with thousands will flock to it.

In regards to his second and third tweets, I think Simmons isn't accounting for context in a couple of facets. First of all, there are significant media figures who are solely scolding Sherman, so to act as if a couple hundred Redditors or 4chan board members celebrating a "victory" is something to lash out about is bogus. The one's with the power to sway the masses are mostly taking a similar stance to Florio and Simmons.

I'm a pretty well spoken guy, but in certain situations in which I feel like I'm doing or saying something audacious to somebody, especially if that somebody has an important title, my voice might get shaky, or I'll get nervous. Status is always arbitrary, but nerves can sneak up on all of us sometimes.

I think that Sherman went on with the intention of humiliating and exposing Bayless the way that Cuban did last summer. The difference is that Cuban had the confidence under the unfathomably bright lights of national television to shine. Sherman came off as a bitter athlete spouting off vapid insults at Bayless, who's withstood much worse attacks.

It's because of this that I don't think Sherman's taking any hits in regards to his reputation. Twitter and Reddit are saying he won because, whether Sherman stated it eloquently or not, he said what most sports fans would love to say to Bayless.

"Hey, you've wasted hours of my life, get paid more than I do to speak on a bigger platform than you deserve to every day, and have muscles, but you know what? You're despicable, and I'm better at life than you are."

That's the dream. Bayless actually came off as being a sympathetic figure to some, but he's the only person who should truly be embarrassed. He played his usual, unprofessional game of baiting/insulting his guest beforehand, and for once, somebody took it personally and fired back.

That's not on the athlete. That's entirely on Bayless.

And yes, both looked pretty stupid in the process, but the fact that "Bayless being Bayless" is actually starting to worm its way into the minds of the national discussion is extremely disturbing.

Who cares, though? He's shameless, has been called a douche on the show in the past, and really couldn't give two shits about any of the fallout from his comments and actions. Bayless is paid to troll. When guests feed the troll, First Take's segments are validated, their clips go viral, and Skippy and the gang have another topic of "debate" to "embrace" the next morning.

Richard Deitsch and John Koblin; where y'at?

A friend of mine shot me a video on Facebook today. I watched it and immediately responded by asking, "Why doesn't this exist in all sports?!"

 Via Mashable:

You know how sometimes there's a really cool idea that seems so natural you wonder why it didn't happen sooner and isn't more widespread?

The GoPro ref cam definitely qualifies.

Australian Super Rugby ref Chris Pollock wore a GoPro strapped to his head for a match between the Queensland Reds and NSW Waratahs in Brisbane on Saturday. Video from the match — embedded above — has been online since then but the Internet's verdict of major approval came in Thursday when the clip was up-voted to Reddit's front page.

The ways that the ref cam can ingratiate itself into the culture of the NBA and NFL are innumerable. And seriously, why hasn't this existed for longer?

It would provide yet another close vantage point for times when things appear to be too close to call. While it would be helpful in replays on foul calls for basketball, it would be most useful in football. If every referee had a camera, the only less accessible part of the field remaining would be the middle of it. Fumbles, complete/incomplete passes, etc... Their rate of error would at least be slightly reduced.

Aside from the improved refereeing that will come with having POV replays, the ref cam would provide sports fans with imagery the likes of which we've never seen before in the pros.

NBA dunks and NFL hits would be recorded from the point of view of the referee, and it would all be made fully accessible to the fans during and after the game.

Again, why hasn't this been in existence in sports for longer, and what's taking it so long to catch on in America?



H/t Chris Kneale

Today, friend of the blog Richard "Optimus Prime" Sherman was "interviewed" on First Take. However, rather than "embrace debate", Sherman proceeded to engage in a full on troll-war against Skip Bayless, which included but was not conducive to the following statements:

"Those are accomplishments you can aspire to but will never accomplish."
"You've never accomplished anything."
"I've accomplished more in my field than you have in yours."
"I'm better at life than you."
"I'm better than you."
"You're ignorant, pompous, and egotistical..."
"I'm here to crush you."
"I think you're having a problem crushing me right now..."
"I'm tired of your ignorance pollution."

Mix and match who said what and watch the full pissing contest between Bayless and Sherman below.

Side Note: As much as Richard Sherman digressed from his main point, he closes very strong in making his point and expounding upon why he was offended by Bayless, who's historically stood by the fact that Revis is leaps and bounds better than Sherman.

Side Side Note: If ignorance pollution is a thing, Bayless is the equivalent of an ignorance refinery.



Video via Deadspin

About an hour ago, JJ Hickson posted the following photo via Instagram to his Facebook.

While we're uncertain about which issue of the LA Times this was featured in, we're pretty sure that Robert Gauthier of the Times could not have captured anything less flattering.

As hilarious as the picture would be just by itself, what really takes this one over the top is the horribly corny, vacuous caption featured underneath it.

"Dwight Howard might have preferred a trip to the dentist the way Portland's J.J. Hickson played defense against him during the second quarter."

Okay, just a few of the questions that I'm currently left with:

1.) Does Dwight have some kind of admitted fear of dentists. If so, maybe this is a clever way of drawing back upon that...?

2.) What the fuck is it implying? Was J.J. Hickson's defense good? Was it dirty? Were those even his fingers?

3.) Is J.J. Hickson a dentist?

We're not sure who the writer of the caption was or what edition of the LA Times this piece can be found in, but Spin IT is throwing its support behind him/her for a Pulitzer nomination.

If you know the writer, drop a line.

The Eskin Journalism Dynasty in Philly has really been on a tear lately. Just one week after son Spike Eskin broke what is sure to be the story of the year, Daddy Howard Eskin followed up by reporting the following a couple of hours ago:

I'm told #eagles will release CB Nnamdi Asomugha 2day after 2 yrs w team. He was to make 15 million this season. He does get 4 mill #fox29
— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) March 6, 2013

Unfortunately, Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com had to go and ruin the Eskin hot streak by actually doing real reporting by way of fact checking.

Contrary to a report, the #Eagles are saying Nnamdi Asomugha is not being released today. Stay tuned.
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) March 6, 2013

Howard Eskin, folks. RT @jeff_mclane Contrary to a report, the #Eagles are saying Nnamdi Asomugha is not being released today. Stay tuned.
— Keiana D. Williams © (@PHSportsGoddess) March 6, 2013

@jimjenks !!!!
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) March 6, 2013

Heard the same. Could happen. But not yet RT @jeff_mclane: Contrary to a report, the #Eagles are saying Asomugha is not being released today
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 6, 2013

Eventually, all subsequent reports began confirming that Asomugha would not be released today. As a means of redeeming himself, Eskin then tweeted the following:

Bad tweet. I jumped the gun on Nnamdi Asomugha. #eagles not releasing him 2day. But don't worry it will happen. #fox29 bleep happens
— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) March 6, 2013

A shocking development if ever there were one, folks. Nnamdi Asomugha will be released by the
Eagles eventually.

Not today, but it will happen!

Besides confusing the world of Philly sports for a few hours, the only other evil to come out of his initial report was that Howard forced his son and our dear friend Spike to actually have to, you know, work.

"@spikeeskin: @howardeskin King you're the best but I had to go write that article for nothing. Thanks Obama!"At least I didn't raise taxes
— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) March 6, 2013

Bleep happens, Spike.

The television debuts of Orlando Johnson, Paul George, and Danny Granger on Tuesday evening's edition of WTHR News proved to be one of the more interesting broadcasts of the year. Johnson's ability to smoothly hand off topics to his peers is just one of the many qualities in his extensive repertoire as a host. From there, the vibrant personalities of analysts Granger and George did the rest.

"Danny, tell 'em..."

Side Note: Every news broadcast should include promotional insertions of host's Twitter handle.

Side Side Note: Did you know that David West scored 31 points? 31 points! Also, Roy Hibbert was exceptional... Exceptional! It's crazy!

Also, be sure to listen to the last 20 seconds of the clip to hear WTHR's anchors' desultory conversation about how similar Basketball and TV are to one another. It really brings everything full circle.


13 WTHR Indianapolis

The Lakers lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight by a score of 122-105, again falling below .500 with a record of 30-31.

Kobe was seen via TNT's camera crew walking to the locker room visibly upset, which is usually Kobe's way of coping with a loss of any kind. That's what makes him great. He's the quintessence of consistency and level-headedness.

"Rule number 76. No excuses. Play like a champion" Vince Vaughn. Wedding Crashers.
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) March 6, 2013

Laker Nation, however, might be exactly the opposite. Although the two parties find common ground in hating losing, Lakers fans are apparently finding new and creative ways to get some of their money back for their team's ineptitude in 2013.


As the cameras followed Bryant out tonight in the video below, a towel is lifted off of Bryant's back by a fan in the stands. Upon further review, the person who took it is clearly wearing a yellow jersey, so we can assume that it's a Lakers fan.

If the guy/girl made the trip all the way out to OKC just to watch LA give up 71 points in the first half, I'd say he/she earned the towel to sell or creepily keep and never wash.

Houston Rockets Guard James Harden examines a stain... Two very large stains.

So, what's better than that?



The death of YouTube's Harlem Shake in the mainstream world is finally upon us, friends. It's been a trying month... But Spin IT has managed to maintain its sanity through it all. We hope that all of you have managed to do the same.

With a lot of buzz being generated by Magic Johnson's $1 million offer to Lebron James to enter the Slam Dunk Contest in 2014, porno blog Sex.com has decided to take up a cause similar to the NBA legend's... Sort of. Via Sex.com:

... That’s right. If it’s going to take a $1 million of Magic Johnson’s money to get Lebron James to do the Dunk Contest, well we want to make sure Black Mamba is there to prove that he’s the NBA’s best player.

Here is an exclusive look at the press release that offers $5 million to Kobe Bryant to entice him to defend not only his reputation but also his victory from 1997.

March 4^th, 2013 – As passionate basketball fans, the team at Sex.com was thrilled to hear about Magic Johnson’s million dollar offer to Lebron James. In hopes of making the 2014 NBA Slam Dunk Contest a historic event, Sex.com has reached out to Kobe Bryant’s agent Rob Pelinka and the NBA to entice Kobe Bryant to participate in the Dunk Contest for the first time since 1997.

Sex.com is offering $5 million to the charity of Kobe Bryant’s choosing for his participation in the 2014 NBA Slam Dunk Contest. However, this offer is conditional. It depends on Lebron James entering the 2014 NBA Slam Dunk Contest with Bryant.

Bryant and James are both members of the NBA’s elite and fans often debate who is the better player between the two. Sex.com wants to ensure that basketball fans get to see the two superstars use their talent and creativity.

“…We at Sex.com feel it is important for the sport of basketball that Kobe and Lebron face-off in the dunk contest and we want to be part of this historic event. The NBA’s best players used to enter. Jordan versus Dominique had us on the edge of our seats. It would be a shame for these exceptional player to let pride take priority over sportsmanship…” says Sex.com’s Director of Marketing J.L. Marcoux.

Sure, it's a shamelessly transparent publicity grab, one that is an assured win-win for the website, but I doubt that integrity is a virtue that Sex.com is at all concerned with.

Spin IT is usually skeptical in regards to most happenings, so it should come as no surprise that we have little faith in Bryant actually taking them up on their offer. However, we'll still be anxiously awaiting Kobe's response. Miraculously, if it's a "yes," we'll post one Sex.com-worthy picture of Kobe Bryant every day on our site for the next month in celebration.

As the website phrased it, at stake are 5 million of their "hard earned porno dollars... Guys, you got a whole year to decide."

Side Note: I feel like this post is going to bring us more spam bots than usual this week...