JE Skeets from The Basketball Jones and Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie joins the show to yet again try and convince me to watch the NBA. I’ll admit, while I don’t watch games, I am fascinated by the lifestyle and storylines therein.

But before we get to that, we discuss the 80’s hit movie Rad. Skeets and I were on the Joe Sports Fan podcast a few weeks ago and when asked what movie we’ve seen more than any other, Skeets mentioned Rad. It started a bit of a debate (Lori Laughlin couldn’t even do her own stunts on a BMX) so we continue the discussion here.

We talk a lot about his work on The Basketball Jones (in my opinion the best sports podcast available) and specifically discuss how the show only works when all three parts -- Skeets, Tas and JD -- are able to do the show. How does doing video differ from doing the audio shows and did they anticipate any of these pitfalls when they decided to go daily with video?

I know, it’s so meta.

It does lead to a conversation about the future of the industry. Newspapers are dead (or close to) and online writing is now mainstream. Radio is dying and podcasts are becoming more and more mainstream. But what about TV. How long before TV is dying and people are consuming most of their video through their computer. Skeets brings up the point that it’s already happening. With DVR, the television has basically become a giant computer screen. As someone who studied TV and does a video show every day, does he see the end of television coming?

We then talk about their trip to the NBA All-Star game. What was his favorite part of the trip and how much fun were the ‘out of studio’ shows to make? (See below for answers to both of those questions.) Oh, and what’s the deal with Amare (or is it Amar’e)? They talked to him, so is there an apostrophe or not.

We talk Tweets. Who is the best NBA Twitterer. Shaq is the most prominent, but is he the best? And who is the most interactive? It might surprise you.

We go on the court as well. Who is the best player this year? There’s LeBron, D-Wade, Kobe, Howard, but who will be the MVP? And from a team standpoint, who can win the title? In the NCAAs there are close to ten teams who have a legit shot to win it all. How many teams in the NBA have a chance?

Speaking of March Madness, I ask what it’s like writing a basketball blog during the NCAA tournament. Does Ball Don’t Lie take a back seat to the college game during March (unless Kobe goes nuts again like last year). Are they different audiences or is basketball basketball?

The NBA is getting money from banks. People (me) are calling it a bailout. I ranted about it last week, so I ask Skeets his take on the situation. He doesn’t think its nearly as dire as me and we debate the merits of letting a team that’s failing....fail. In all businesses, is throwing money at the problem just compounding the issue and delaying or eliminating the need for creativity. In other words, if fans aren’t coming to the games and aren’t watching on TV, how will a few million dollars help that?

Last we talk about Charles Barkley. I tell the story of how I waited in line for his autograph when I was a kid (only to have said autograph get nearly ruined later that day) and we discuss why Charles seems to get so many chances from people. Is it just because we love him? And Skeets lets us know who he thinks will be the next Charles.

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