Because that's why I wanted to become a scribe who's paid to cover this league. Sharing the things I know and love with those of my kind. All that stuff.
Because I'm lucky enough to have your ear for however long, I don't care that this might come off as a bit twee. A little embarrassing. A little too forthright. I'm OK with that. Hopefully you are, as well.
"T" is for "The Basketball Jones."
As is, well, never the case with me, brevity has to be the order of the day. Partially because Woj beat me to the punch with a masterful evisceration of Maverick Carter, but mainly because my computer is acting as if it's a decades-old Lancia Beta, struggling with a flooded carburetor. Don't let my wife know that I'm writing this on her OPI-inspired laptop while she's out running errands.
Trey is off to The Basketball Jones, which makes this post all the more complicated. When I mentally mapped out this A-through-Z list (yes, there was some thinking behind it), I had TBJ on my mind as "T" from the start. I also thought about running some sort of tribute to Trey, even before he decided to split, but I thought that might be a bit much. It's the blogosphere, and we're not supposed to be sincere.
But I love The Basketball Jones, even if its merits have denied me the chance to work arm-in-arm with J.E. Skeets or Trey Kerby on a daily basis. I love the way it goes bright, with going berserk. I love the way it is run by people who are smitten with what they do; whether what they do is analyzing basketball, running a mobile entertainment lab to the best of the lab's abilities, or raising havoc. I love the way that, five days a week during the NBA season, I can find a place of my own (even if thousands are watching with me) to nod assent to. Or, even if I don't agree, a pair of voices that I don't mind disagreeing with. Because you know, after you pause it to argue back while hoping that nobody can hear you talking to yourself, that they know.
This is important, because everyone wants a little gang of their own. It's why a certain NBA player, making millions, still wants to identify with a group of crims half a world away, just because his particular gang (in green) doesn't seem to understand him. It's why I have this roundel as the screen background on my phone. It's why you join a message board, or do whatever it is you people do on Facebook. Everyone, no matter their individualist instincts, still wants to identify with other people every so often.
And whether you're on the train, on your way to work, or ducking in your cubicle while listening on low volume, or saving it and eventually loading it up in the early morning after everyone's gone to the movies, you can find something in The Jones worth clinging to. It's an institution, sure, for those of us of a certain age. And, yes, you can rely on it. I don't dismiss consistency as one of the better reasons why we love it.
But the main reason we love The Jones is because it gives us credit. Because it isn't wasting our time with half-assed proposals, thoughts, ruminations, or punditry. Because even if the particulars behind it only made it to the third quarter before falling asleep, and even if they barely made it to the studio in time to pull Tuesday's show off, The Jones gives you credit for tuning in. It appreciates that you took the time, and it thanks you for that with its content.
This is why these people succeed. Because the drive to succeed, to eke out a palatable and tenable existence, ranks a far second to the love and appreciation of what they do. Sometimes, these things don't work out. Alex Chilton died last March without health insurance. Your favorite artist likely clips coupons. Ninety-seven percent of the people who read this (the author included) can't name a playwright outside of David Mamet. But sometimes it works out. Sometimes the love and the taste are appreciated enough to reward those who are clearly in it because they're into it.
For The Jones, it's worked out. And, lucky us, we've had the pleasure of watching and listening along the way. And if you can tell a noted difference in the particulars between now and when they started this venture nearly a half-decade ago, I'd like to hear it. Sure, they've evolved and matured and gotten smarter and sturdier as their age and interest and habits would suggest; but that's a function of us all growing up.
At the heart of it, is still the heart. And in an age and public profession where "the heart of it" results in so many lesser things, that's just so warming to realize. TBJ still does it the right way.
So, Godspeed Trey. Keep calm and carry on. All those pointless exercises in advice that I can toss your way. Like you need them. You, like The Basketball Jones, know exactly what's what.
Now, hurry up and start posting.
Charles Barkley Rick Barry Elgin Baylor Dave Bing Larry Bird
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