Hello, one and all ...

There once was a note, pure and easy, playing so free like a breath rippling by.

At least, that's what I've been told.

At the heart of this, is our fandom. At the core of this, is the obsession (to whatever end) with something that makes us happy. With something that, consistently, we can go to and find comfort in. Or anger, in. Or frustration, in. Or satisfaction, in. Or love, in.

The direction and eventual destination behind the emotion doesn't matter. What counts, more than anything else, is that we feel. That we're feeling something that opens up our pores. That we take to this influence to take us from the life that wants to numb us.

NBA basketball has been my obsession since the Reagan Administration, and this is coming from someone who was born just six months before that oiled-up chickenhawk was even elected. Since I was a kid, I've wanted to write about this game for living. Since I was a teenager, I've been able to pull off the writing bit, working for websites as far back as 1997. Sometime in my 40s, I'll probably be able to make "a living" off of this that won't result in crippling debt.

And, as a result of all this, I will be taking over editorial duties at Ball Don't Lie. Please try to hold your applause until the end of the speech. That is applause, right?

Distortion becomes somehow pure in its wildness. The note that began all can also destroy.

I've heard that, as well.

This is the part where I have to defend my credentials. This is the part that I have to remind you - people that have never met nor spoken to me - that I honestly could not care less about the way NBA players, coaches, executives, and owners are regarded. That there is no pre-meditated bias, only honesty in my own words.

This is the part where I have to point out that I've done nothing more, over the last decade at least, than watch more NBA games than you could possibly understand, while constantly correcting and questioning and doubting and believing in myself. Which is about the exact opposite of the typical, go-team-go, NBA fan that thinks he or she has got it all sussed.

It's my job to get it right. And I won't always get it right. You can't trust me to get it right, just as it is with any other NBA analyst. But, trust me; I'm going to work my ass off more than any other NBA analyst you're familiar with on my way toward trying to get it right. That's the burden I took on a decade and a half ago, and that's the ideal that you are now charged with holding me up to.

This site, as it was with the first one I started writing for back in 1997, will only get bigger and better. Keep shouting, keep stomping, and keep expecting great things. My goal, as it has been for a decade and a half, is to provide you with the sort of NBA coverage that I expect when I pull up my browser every morning. Stick with us -- your/our beloved BDL -- and we'll get there together.

13 games tonight, brothers and sisters. I'll be watching. I'd love it, if you'll be reading.

Sam Jones Michael Jordan Jerry Lucas Karl Malone Moses Malone