It’s a long season with little time to rest and the injuries are mounting up here at I GO HARD NOW. I bring this up because I’m writing this through a fog of cold medication and because I’m sure that you loyal readers have noticed we’ve been a tad shorthanded this week. While the pieces that did go up this week have been fantastic, there just haven’t been enough to do a proper Smoke These Joints. As such, this week will be a special “Their Joints” only piece, with the great in-house pieces that went up this week being eligible to be considered in next week’s Smoke These Joints. And without any further ado, let’s get on with it, shall we?

Their Joints

• The Good: Eric Maroun on “Why We Love Sports” at Hardwood Paroxysm. Despite the fact that I write for a basketball site, I’m a giant nerd. As such, my love for basketball isn’t really a common one amongst most of my peers and, to them, is rather confusing. Try as hard as I might, I’ve never been able to fully explain my love of basketball to others. In this fantastic piece, Eric Maroun breaks it down into what is simultaneously the simplest and best explanation of why we all love sports.

 

• The Bad: Sam Amico on “Finally, Cavs Ready to Move On From LeBron” at Fox Sports Ohio. For context, just a week ago Sam Amico was writing about (aka, making up) rumors  that LeBron is unhappy in Miami and looking to return to Cleveland. Now, I hate picking on regional writers because they live and die by what local fans want to read, but as a local and a fan of the Cavaliers, this shit has to stop. My full-blown anger at LeBron died the day the Cavaliers beat the Heat back in March of 2011. Any remaining issues were sorted out during the schadenfraude that was the 2011 NBA Finals and the hilarious “Cavs for Mavs” movement. Today, we have a young team with an insanely bright future in Kyrie, guys like Anderson Varejao that are playing out of their mind basketball and a raw talent in Tristan Thompson that shows some insane promise. Oh, and Skyenga’s back, can’t forget that. Meanwhile, Fox Sport’s Cavaliers writer is busy churning out bullshit about LeBron while simultaneously writing articles about LeBron that briefly mention Kyrie to say that we’re over LeBron. Stop it Sam. There’s absolutely nothing more to be written about LeBron and the Cavaliers. The Cavs have moved on, the fans have moved on, can you please join us on the other side? It’s a lot more fun over here.

 

 

• The ‘Tube: Given that we’re all sick, it’s only fitting to post some highlights from Jordan’s flu-game, isn’t it?