Bryan Joiner

Why am I doing this?

And why am I broadcasting it?

Oh blog, I’ve missed you. It’s fun. I write stuff here and then I hit “publish” and I’ve published something!

I’ve been long-form writing recently, so this is sort of a novelty.

While I’ve watched quite a few NFL games this year, probably more than I’ve watched in years, I don’t find anything that’s happening in the league particularly interesting. The Packers are a great team, but their games reek of formality. The Patriots are standing tall, waiting to be toppled. The Steelers are doing their thing, as are the Ravens. The Tebow thing is not as interesting as the Von Miller thing. The Cowboys and Giants are doing their Cowboys and Giants things. The Jets are the Jets again. The Titans apparently still exist. The Eagles dropped the ball, lost it, pouted about it, and repeated it.

I’ve been a fronter on hockey. I’ve watched a few games but not that many. The Bruins are apparently awesome. I’ll check back in in April.

Now the NBA is back. I am failing to resist the urge to care. The NBA is really, really fun to talk about. Not contract stuff like Bill Simmons likes, but just random team stuff, like where Tyson Chandler is going, because it seems so consequential and inconsequential all at once—the essence of sports. When a big player is moving teams, it often seems legitimately newsworthy, and you’ll forget you’re talking about sports. Not so with the Nene. Nene plays basketball, that’s his job, and we talk about where he’s going to end up the way we talk about what news organization would be best for a blogger. It’s great.

I’m digging the Jalen Rose podcasts more than the Simmons ones these days, but the Simmons intro is still better.

Speaking of Simmons, I’ve noticed that he still likes to get worked up at stat things when he’s against them, but doesn’t refrain from whipping out statistical comparisons between players when they serve his case. As if Garbageland didn’t make it clear, I think the site is throwing Simmons’s flaws into sharp relief. It’s hard for me to hate on a site that has Charlie Pierce writing for it, but Simmons’s personal history with him is still offputting. Nonetheless, a W for Grantland. Still not a great percentage there.

What else? Oh yes, the Christmas music. I don’t know. I just finished season 1 of Sons of Anarchy in about three days and that stuff is heavy. It’s also quite good. The Jacks/Tara stuff brings up stuff from my own (biker) past. I need dulcet tones to come down. That’s a thing, right? Dulcet tones? (/looks it up) It is! And I used it right!

I’m so proud of myself that I’m logging off.