Hey, guys. It’s me: The dude who used to write regularly here at Both Teams Played Hard prior to his mysterious vanishing.
Usually, when I make an extended and unannounced disappearance, it’s just due to laziness, disinterest, a whiskey binge or my real job taking up too much time. (I’m a freelance ninja.) This time, however, I have actually been busy doing some other basketball writing-related things that you might perhaps care about.
There are three of them to be specific:
#1. The main thing I’ve been doing is launching a blog about the Indiana Pacers called “Eight Points, Nine Seconds,” which is so new that it still has that new website smell. As some of you know, I’m a Pacers fan. So when the folks who run ESPN’s TrueHoop Network of NBA blogs approached me with the idea of starting a site about my beloved Pacers, it was a proposition that I figured I had to accept. They are the Worldwide Leader and all. Of course, it’s not like I’m working for ESPN, only managing an blog affiliated with their network, but there are very few people in this world who write about the Pacers with any visibility and/or skill, so it should give me an opportunity to gain a marginally higher profile as I suffer through my Pacer fandom, which is something I would have been doing non-publicly anyway.
So, if you have any interest in the Pacers, stop by and check that out. Although, on the rare occasion when I actually write something over there that (a) may interest a general NBA fan, and (b) is actually decent, I’ll probably link to it from here anyway. (You can also follow both @8pts9secs and @TrueHoopNetwork on Twitter or become a THN fan on Facebook.)
#2. I am also now writing semi-regularly (weekly-ish is the plan) at Hardwood Paroxysm, a general NBA blog that, unlike Both Teams Played Hard, a lot of people are actually aware exists. My column is called “Off the Iron,” and they ran the first one today. (I’m biased, but it’s not half-bad and discusses the Lakers possibly foolish/possibly genius idea to choose Artest over Ariza as well as the Magic’s possibly foolish/possibly genius idea to choose Vince over Hedo).
Check back over there regularly to find my stuff, as well as the even better stuff written by Matt Moore, Rob Mahoney, Jon Nichols, The Corndog, Zach Harper and the rest of the HP gang. They’re cool dudes.
#3. This hasn’t actually taken up a huge amount of time but, as announced a few weeks ago, I’m doing a monthly podcast with seven other NBA bloggers called “The 8th Seed.” The second episode “aired” the other day and you can listen to it in all its unholy glory over at Red’s Army. If you have alopecia or autism, let me apologize in advance for the company I keep.
Other than that, it’s a surprisingly entertaining waste of your time, and features John Karalis of Red’s Army; Zach Harper of Cowbell Kingdom and Talk Hoops; Adam Best of FanSided; Glenn Moore of The Dugout Sports Show; Rey Moralde of The No Look Pass; and Jeff Garcia and Michael DeLeon of Project Spurs. (If you really enjoyed Episode 2, you can go back and listen to Episode 1 here.)
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Now that all that’s out of the way, I know what all three of my loyal readers are thinking: “Neato…but WTF does this mean for the future of Both Teams Played Hard?”
The answer, in short, is hopefully: Very little.
Someday in the future, it would be nice if I could just write all my NBA thoughts here. That day will likely never come completely and these other ventures to increase my exposure and write about some different things (i.e., the Pacers) will probably always have to continue. But, regardless, I plan to keep updating this site very regularly for the foreseeable future.
As the season starts in November, my responsibility to these other ventures might mean there won’t be quite as many humorous videos posted and there probably will be fewer days where there are five or six seperate posts. But talking about the entire Association is still my preferred way of writing about basketball, so I will definitely be here chronicling my version of the 2009-10 season in some form or another.
Time constraints could mean the content on this site will take the form of fewer, longer posts or it might mean that rather than putting up three or four seperate posts on light-hearted, ephemeral stories, I might combine them all into one super-Voltron update for the day, but I fully plan to still be plugging away here every day. That much I can assure you of. And, hopefully, having to creatively put things together in less time will also lead to more unique and, ultimately, better ways of sharing perspectives and stories with you. I already have a few ideas in that vein that I think you will enjoy.
Other than that and a general plan of “No More Sleep for Me,” that’s all I know for now.
The summer is (and was anyway) going to be a little slower round these parts — there just won’t be much going on in NBA after this free agency period ends in another week or two. But I’ll still be checking in several times a week at least, if not everyday, to bullshit witcha. (There should be every day updates throughout the summer over at Eight Points, Nine Seconds, however, if you simply need to hear me ramble on about borderline Pacers news.)
It’s also possible I might recruit a few other people to write some stuff around here to help keep things flowing regularly. We’ll see about that. (Email me if you or someone you love would like to apply. Contact info is on the right somewhere.)
All in all, busy times for me. But, hopefully, productive times as well. And, eventually, I’m confident that all this extracuricular activity and carousing around with others will lead to better things back here at home.
And, yes, I used that very same line on my wife.
Known Associates:
Big Lebowski,
Eight Points Nine Seconds,
Hardwood Paroxysm,
Pacers,
The 8th Seed
