This Week's Show
Kobe vs. MJ, Superman vs. Batman, and how is this year's rookie crop looking?
Hosts
- Andres Alvarez(@nerdnumbers)
- Produced by Brian Foster(@boxscorebrian)
Sources
Video Show
This Week's Poll
Show Notes
Last Week's Show
On last week's show, we discussed some issues with race in the United States. I find, in general, that simple statements such as "the U.S still has racial problems." or "Videogames are sexist." are not that controversial. But, they're often met with a lot of pushback. As with any large-scale issue, the specifics and possible solutions are complex. The history and policies (I mention drug policies at one point) have lots of minutiae. However, the second does not invalidate the first. And, unfortunately, I see all too frequently that people assume it does.
Following up on my Ferguson comments last week, Kristi Harrison at Cracked had a fantastic post that reminds us: they rioted when Joe Paterno was fired!
Also, for more depressing posts related to racism, Cracked had just posted one titled: "Five Studies that Prove Racism is Still Way Worse than we Think."
New Show
I'll be migrating back to "Nerd Numbers", so I can focus more on audio/visual development. I'm excited about podcasting/videocasting and decided that this was the best direction for that. I'll still be collaborating with the Boxscore Geeks, but I also have some other plans in the pipe.
Also, for what it's worth, it's hard to remove the overlap at times between sports and social issues.
Kobe vs. Michael
Kobe Bryant will soon pass Michael Jordan as third on the all-time NBA scoring list.
This is, of course, weeks after he became the all-time leader in missed shots.
The graphic we discussed on the show, you can find the jSFiddle here.
At some point, I may start handing out the "Kevin Garnett Award", which goes to the strongest player with the weakest cast. Anthony Davis seems like a lock this season.
Batman vs. Superman
I wrote about Batman vs. Superman this week. To anyone on Batman's side, I bet you're Wesley Crusher fans aren't you?
I do feel this fight does fit the sports narrative perfectly. People want to believe in heart, wanting it more, etc. They'll ignore things like the fact that Carmelo Anthony is just not anywhere near as good as LeBron.
This year's Rookie Crop
Patrick examined this year's rookie crop. It's worth noting this year's "best" rookie is Jabari Parker. It's also worth noting we didn't like him in our draft previews.
It's hard to find rookies that play lots of minutes and star level quickly. Essentially, it's highly unlikely a rookie will make an immediate impact.
Shout Outs
Our first shoutout is a rerun because Brian's mic was muted last week!
Dan Stryker (dan-stryker.com) is a talented illustrator and designer. He's also a fan of the show that demands more shout outs from Brian! Ironically, Brian's mic cuts out for most of it...
@shanley gets my shoutout. She gave a fantastic interview for the MIT Tech Review. Luckily, she is hosting this herself now. Please use the Model-View-Culture link, not the MIT one. You can also purchase a collection MVC's essays called "Your Startup is broken: Inside the toxic heart of tech culture. Collected essays by Shanley"
Also, reminder, the "rude or arrogant" argument people often use does little for me. Especially in fields like tech and sports where we lionize jerks regularly.