OK, We'll Be the Bigger Website and Admit Grantland Did A Pretty Good Story on Aaron Craft

It's no secret around the blogosphere that there has been some bad blood between and Pencilstorm and Grantland. Just like all the big rivalries - Ali vs Frazier, Beatles vs Stones, that one hunky English F1 driver versus that other guy - Pencilstorm and Grantland have been locking horns for web dominance for years with each side claiming glorious victories and suffering humiliating crotch-kicking losses. 

Some say that Grantland is just a collection of pretentious, over paid, ESPN sellouts taking orders from their evil overlord, Malcom Gladwell, that all they care about is generating revenue at all costs at the expense of quality content for you, the loyal blog-reading sports enthusiast.

Of course, Pencilstorm would never suggest such ideas because we have one thing Grantland has never had, CLASS. Well, that and day jobs anyway. And no advertising. Because we refuse to sell out. Never have, never will.

However, unlike our worthy adversary, once again we are willing to be the bigger website and give kudos to a job adequately done when it is deserved. Today is Aaron Craft's last home game as a member of the Ohio State Buckeyes and Matt Borcas of Grantland wrote a really good article summing up his extraordinary career. If you are a fan of Aaron Craft, this is a must read. Of, course we would have written an even better story ourselves, but nobody here at Pencilstorm could get off work that day. Well, except  Ricki C. but he was busy working on a 63,000-word Mott the Hoople essay. Enjoy. 

Click here to read Grantland's pretty decent Aaron Craft Story

"The Common Man" Was Wrong About LaQuinton Ross

I was driving around killing brains cells listening to sports radio on Thursday when the host, "The Common Man" started throwing around the words "stupid" and "idiot" when describing Ohio State Basketball player LaQuinton Ross. "Q" had fallen out of favor with the 97.1 intelligentsia  when the previous night he shoved a Northwestern player and was thrown out of the game with a double technical foul. 

I was at the game with my ten year old son and I applauded Q when was escorted from the court.

"Whoa. Hold on, psycho sports dad. You applauded a player for being thrown out of a game? What kind of message does that send to your son?"

Okay, fair question. Hear me out. The Buckeyes were up 16 points with about five minutes left. Some goon for Northwestern intentionally picked a fight with OSU center Amir Williams. He pushed Amir out of bounds and then threw a punch at him. He then proceeded to stand on OSU's home court and start running his mouth. LaQuinton came up and gave him a good hard push. Considering the situation, I thought it was a fairly well-reasoned response.

For a Buckeye team that has been accused by many - including The Common Man - of looking passive and disinterested on the court, I was happy to see somebody step up and show a little fire. Would it have been better if Q stood by as an opposing player threw a punch at his teammate and started talking trash? On our court? And to make matters worse, a Northwestern player? (Nerd.)

The way I saw it, Q was standing up for a teammate. He didn't throw a punch. He didn't jeopardize the outcome of the game. He just sent a clear message that this sort of behavior wasn't going to be tolerated in front of the home crowd. Good for him.

Admittedly, it's a fine line between being a good teammate and igniting a malice at the palace, but in sports, as in life, most decisions are somewhere in the gray area. I thought Q handled the situation pretty well. Go Bucks.

Colin Gawel could have just called into the show but decided this would be easier. He writes things sometimes for Pencilstorm. Learn more by clicking here.

Below: This is not the way to handle an heated situation. 

Uploaded by l_XxJiMaYYxX_l on 2012-12-05.