Embedded in the Free Darko’s beatific rendering of NBA history, The Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History, is a tribute to “The Literary Knicks”, the championship teams of the early seventies who rocked both mutton and writing chops. Ivy-laden Bill Bradley’s Life on the Run is given four stars, while Jerry Lucas’ The Memory Book, which “outlines numerous memorization tactics, written in the form of a peculiar Socratic dialogue,” is only given a solitary twinkle. Still, my favorite would be Walt Clyde Frasier’s Rockin’ Steady: A guide to basketball & cool, which was given a beautiful reissue this year by Triumph Books. It takes you through Clyde’s defensive keys as well as stylistic insanity. Clyde is one of the most colorful personalities to have graced the Garden, and the way he commentates a game is a basketball patois all its own. Still stylish, the NYTimes recently profiled his massive wardrobe.
FreeDarko, the basketball-criticism collective that spawned said book mentioned above, and whose folk heroes include Allen Iverson, Gilbert Arenas, and World B. Free, will be shutting down its site shortly. A group of fantasy-basketball players who dedicated themselves to attempting a dialogue they felt was lacking in contemporary coverage of their beloved sport, FreeDarko seemed to mobilize a new type of sports commentary. Their intellectualism, humanism, and naive resolve reverberates throughout the sports-blogging universe, which covers now the culture of a sport, instead of just a goddamn business. Still, FreeDarko’s exit seems well-timed, as the chances there will be professional basketball next year are quite slim, and their legacy is secure. The last thing FreeDarko would like to cover would be another David Stern lockout, which will deeply hurt fans and totally suck.
But until that lockout, there is basketball yet to be played! Full-Stop hails from many places, but concentrates its rooting power behind the benevolent force that are THE NEW YORK KNICKS. THE BOSTON CELTICS, a team of such indiscriminate evil so as to make grave-robbers seem saintly, has a 1-0 lead in a series that should end in bloodshed. Full-Stop will be drinking Dutch beer (the favorite beer of knickerbocker wearers) and rubbing our Amare Stoudemire bobbleheads in hopes of victory for these orange and blue warriors.
This is a link to a video featuring Swizz Beats, Amare Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony, and The Knicks City Dancers.
This is a link to a picture of Landry Fields looking like a wizard.
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