Essay, From The Classical — I started this essay on how both the Celtics and Blue Note Records created their own kinds of dynasties without any real idea where it was going. I was fascinated by each in their own way but ultimately became most interested in how their legacies were created more by persistent flexibility than dogged adherence to one approach.
Read MoreNow Streaming: The Golden State Warriors →
Satire, From the New Yorker — Now you can binge watch the entire Warriors season on Netflix, before it happens.
Read MoreNBA D&D: The Dungeon Master's Guide to the 2014-15 Season
Sportswriting, From Rolling Stone — A collaboration with writer Ian Levy and artist Jesse Blanchard, hatched during a ludicrous bar conversation at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.
Read MoreLet It Out and Let It In →
Essay, From Medium — For years, I couldn’t listen to the Beatles ballad that’s indelibly linked to my mother’s death. Then my one-year-old daughter helped me start to make it better.
Read MoreFor Timberwolves, Bird is the Word →
Sportwriting, From ESPN —
The zone. That semimythical place that all athletes strive night in and night out to reach. When LeBron James went off for a career-high 61 points against the Charlotte Bobcats recently, he said, “It felt like I had a golf ball, throwing it into the ocean.”
The Minnesota Timberwolves’ Chase Budinger knows a thing or two about that feeling, and the pressure that comes along with it.
“When I was playing,” he says, “I was getting close to my other high and once I finally beat it by 10 or something, then I was able to relax a little bit and just keep going. Once you’re past it, the pressure goes away. The pressure is in getting close.”
Just how far did Budinger sail past his previous career high? He nearly doubled it, finishing with an unfathomable 327 points.
In Flappy Bird.
Read MoreWhat the future of sports games should look like →
Criticism, From Polygon — Next-gen consoles will bring enhanced graphical fidelity. That's a given. But is that all we should expect from them? Ever-escalating attention to the follicles of hair on LeBron James' receding hairline or the precise shininess of one team's jerseys versus another? There should be more to it than that.
Read MoreThe New Gods vs. the Old: Is Game of Thrones Better As a Show or a Series of Books?
Criticism, From Grantland — A spirited back-and-forth with Grantland's (and now The Ringer's) resident Maester Jason Concepcion on whether HBO's flagship show is better on the page or the screen.
Read MoreFor Vince Carter, Happiness As a Sixth Man
Sportswriting, From the New York Times — Asked if dunking is as much fun as it looks, he grimaces. “Nowadays? I do it because I can, but sometimes, the landings suck. That takes the toll on your body. If it’s needed, it’s needed. But if I can make the two points by layup, I’m going to do that. You have to be smart about it.”
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