Friday Diversion

A little something to get you through to the weekend. As always, here is some of the best reading I've come across over the course of the past 7 days.



The No-Stats All-Star
By Michael Lewis

This is essentially basketball's version of Moneyball. At the centre of this new philosophy is the Houston Rockets, and the man who was once hailed as the future-first-African-American-President-of-the-United-States: Shane Battier.

I like to think of my hardwood skill-set as being that of a poor man's Shane Battier. And if you think about it, all of the similarities are there:

Battier’s weaknesses arise from physical limitations. Or, as Morey puts it, “He can’t dribble, he’s slow and hasn’t got much body control.”

So I'm definitely down with the physical limitations. But I guess we get a bit of a disconnect when you factor in Battier's ability to make his teams and his teammates infinitely better, his knack for always making the right decision, and how he plays lock-down D against the opposition's best player night-in and night-out... So when you get right down to it, my game doesn't resemble Shane Battier's in the least.

By the way, this piece should be required reading for any members of the now 0-5 CITY All-Stars...



RealGM NBA Player Rankings
By RealGM.com

This might go a long way in explaining why The Raps are currently holding down 14th place in the Eastern Conference. If they somehow decide that trading Chris Bosh is a good idea, may God have mercy on their souls.



Handicapping American Idol 2009
By El Presidente

Let the record show that I do not watch American Idol. In fact, I loathe everything about the show and everything it represents. It is basically the lowest form of entertainment on the planet, and a sure sign that the apacolypse is nigh.

But with that being said, I look forward to this piece every year more than just about anything I can think of. I have no idea how he does it, but for 6 of the past 7 years, Barstool's own El Presidente has been able to pick the show's winner prior to the first elimination show. It was what he was put on the earth to do. And despite the fact that this year's breakdown lacks some of the dazzle and comedic genius that last year's piece contained, this year's edition still manages to offend and educate in just the right ways.



F*** My Life
By Fmylife.com

The site description reads: "My life sucks but I don't give a fuck"...How the hell didn't I think of this first? Absolutely brilliant.

Thanks to Flats for the link



Barack Obama's Facebook Page

I'm not sure why, but I found this pretty interesting. Love the fact that you can have access to so much personal information about the most powerful man in the world.




The YouTube clip of the week was inspired by the Michael Lewis piece, which dedicates a paragraph to breaking down Dikembe Mutombo's glorious finger wag. And believe me, any excuse to post a compilation of Deek's famous finger wags will fly here at seanmccallum.com. Honestly, if I could spend a day with any NBA player, Mutombo would be the all-time no brainer pick. I'd literally just let him block my layups all afternoon so I could watch him do that magnificent figer wag until it was time to get drunk and then hit up the 7-11 for Taquitos.