While I’m tempted to take another pop at John Canzano after reading this abysmal interview (and ridiculous photo—he’s blogging… from the heavens!), I’ll take the high road and praise some excellent sports journalism, both local and national.

Jeff Coplon’s “Absolutely, Positively the Worst Team in the History of Professional Sports: A eulogy for Isiah Thomas’s New York Knickerbockers” just might be the single greatest piece of sports writing I have read in years. Published in New York Magazine, Coplon is extremely gifted with the pen, and this well-researched, and fascinating, piece stands tall in the usually shallow pool of sports journalism. Here is an excerpt:

Now that the Thomas era is dead, the obituary can be written. The temptation in these moments is to gloss over the faults of the deceased—to remember through a lens, brightly. But Isiah’s tenure was so contemptible—so bereft of redeeming value, on court or off—that such tenderness is hard to muster. In the Knicks’ me-first self-regard, they’ve blasphemed the most gorgeously collaborative of games. Worse, they’ve severed the connection between players and fans, that idealized first-person plural that makes us part of something large and wondrous. It’s not so easy to love a pro sports team in the 21st century, yet we’re willing to lend our heart, and get hurt, and lend it again.

On the local level, Ben Golliver at Blazer’s Edge has conducted an excellent interview with Chris Bowles, Director of Player Programs for the Trail Blazers. Bowles—whose job is to act as a liaison between management and talent—is an interesting personality, and, quite possibly, the behind-the-scenes architect responsible for the rebuilt image of the franchise:

I’m 35 at the end of the month, I can look back at some of the decisions I made at 25 that were regrettable. But I learned from them. But I didn’t have the burden of a microphone in my face or paparazzi or camera phones following every move or every mistake that I’ll chalk up youthful indiscretions. Your 20s are primarily spent messing up and figuring out, learning from your mistakes. My message to all of the guys is lets not do anything or make a rash decision at 23 or 24 that they might look back and regret at 35 or 36.

Make your next move your best move.