When Luke Walton wins an NBA championship, you know it hasn’t been a good year in sports.

Ages ago, a fashion star named Rick Fox played for the LA Lakers. Like Walton, he was extremely self-important, and kind of good, yet an absolute hack at the same time. When Rick Fox retired, we thought it was the end of a kind-of-good-but-yet-an-arrogant-hack era for LA Lakers role players, but Luke Walton dashed that dream for all of us.

That’s why the Onion has saluted Kobe Bryant — Kobe is the only NBA player in history to win a championship with Luke Walton on his team! Never thought I’d say this, but congrats Kobe!

Joining “Riding the Pine” triggered some memories of a few glorious days of yore and, as sort of an [early] homage to this site, I thought I’d share them:

I’m talking about those days of ‘squeaking it out’ at tryouts amidst that nostalgic smell of sweat, bleacher varnish, and stale Pepsi.

Of sharing the court with the drill team at AM practice and the thrill of “going skins” and showing them just how much a 125-lb frame can stir the soul.

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Don’t worry, it’s cool. The guy who’s face is contorted like Fire Marshall Bill only suffered a broken rib.

You’re free to chuckle and guffaw at his misfortune and the other dude’s amazing confidence that he and his beer are out of harm’s way.

Deadspin has more on his Williams’ wife’s divorce filing.

She alleges that he faked having stomach cancer. Anyone else picture him telling her this while eating a cheeseburger like Royal Tenenbaum?

“Royal O’Reilly Tenenbaum (1932-2001)

Died Tragically Rescuing His Family From The Remains Of A Destroyed Sinking Battleship”

Fantastic. I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for the Altoona Quarrymen, too.

Well, our little site is up and running and I personally can’t think of a better way to kick it off than a video or nine of John McEnroe losing his sh*t. And, for the ladies, there’s a little bit of Ivan Lendl in his “John Stockton shorts wearing” prime. Enjoy.

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The Oregon Ducks (6-12, Pac-10 0-6 [yup, 0-6]) take a six-game losing streak into tonight’s matchup at Stanford. Relatedly, somewhere on Endor a group of Ewoks are using stone age tools and sharpened sticks to attack an Imperial Walker. Las Vegas is throwing smart money at the small, furry, bears-like creatures (-11).

The Ducks find themselves at the bottom of the Pac-10 standings looking up at Oregon State, a team that set a record last season by losing all 18 of its Pac-10 games. A feat the Ducks don’t want to match. Michelle Obama’s other brother is not walking through that door.

What’s the problem? Leadership. The Ewoks have it and the Ducks don’t.

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