12 Days of Philly Christmas: Day 3, Win Free Darko's Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac

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To be eligible for our 12 Days of Philly Christmas
drawing to win a copy of Free Darko's book, simply leave an intelligent comment on this
post and be sure to enter your real email address OR send a tweet on
Twitter with the following message, "@The700Level I'd like to win Free Darko's Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac, Please! T7Lxmas 3:
http://tinyurl.com/T7Lxmas3"
Feel free to do both if you'd like.


Today, we're not only giving away a copy of the amazing FreeDarko presents The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac, but we also have a chat we did with one of the main brains behind the amazing creation. Nathaniel Friedman of Free Darko and the Sporting Blog among other places answers our questions.

Enrico: Perhaps, if you like, you could briefly tell us about your Philly ties?

Nathaniel Friedman aka Bethlehem Shoals: Myself, Big Baby (illustrator/designer), and
Silverbird5000 (stats) all went to Haverford College, and lived in
Philly after graduating. I was in the area a grand total of eight
years. Also, my mother grew up in Bucks County, and a couple of my
aunts and uncles stayed in the area, so I was around there a lot when I
was younger.

E: One
of the main points of the FD Manifesto states "We find rooting for the
home team spiritually and emotionally limiting." Do you think this
holds true in all cities, specifically in a very loyal sports city like
Philadelphia?

Shoals: I'd say a lot of the Manifesto—which is a
stark, go-for-broke version of what I actually believe on the
subject—was a direct result of, or reaction to, my time in
Philadelphia, around Philly fans and teams, etc. In fact, that's
probably true for a lot of what I believe about sports. If you took the
book, and completely inverted every single word, you might have the
perfect Philly fan's Bible.

E: One of my favorite sections was the "jerseys
for every occasion." (Example: at a wedding the best man could rock a
Barkley Rockets jersey and the ring bearer could sport a Iverson
Sixers jersey.) Now how about Christmas eve dinner at Aunt Marie's?

Shoals: Do they make James Naismith masks?

E: For
the few kids out there who haven't yet seen the book, Gilbert Arenas
writes the foreword and sets up the book as being about the antics of
NBA players. When it comes to appreciating a players game and antics on
an individual level, Allen Iverson immediately comes to mind. Do you
think if you guys did this book 5-7 years ago, Bubba Chuck would have
warranted a more in-depth chapter instead of a Newport News mayoral
candidacy and a glossary item?

Shoals: We've been asked this a lot. The reason
we didn't do an Iverson section, or anything specifically
Jordan-centric, is because they're too important for that little space.
One or both of them are mentioned in like half the essays. And I
actually think Iverson warrants more consideration now than he would've
5-7 years ago, since we've really gotten a chance to see how wide and
varied his influence has been. Also, perspective has allowed some of
the more visceral feelings for and against him to cool down.

E: This
book is pretty amazing and must have taken quite a while to put
together. Did you guys have any crazy ideas that seemed great in theory
but you just couldn't translate to paper? Maybe something that hit the
cutting room floor?

Shoals: There's a lot of stuff we discussed that we're
hoping to use in the future, so I don't want to spill the beans on
anything. But I will say that there was a comic strip that ended up
falling victim to time constraints, an oral history section
(AI-related, actually) that didn't end up coming together, and some
stats about degree of difficulty that we didn't have the necessary data
for.

E: Speedy
Claxton got a shout out in the amazing 2000 NBA Draft section. He used
to live down the street from me in Havertown. Or maybe his mother did.
I'm not sure. But we always saw his sick Escalade. That was neat.

Shoals: I always liked that he and Lamar Odom were best
friends. And wondered if he ever considered reliniquishing the nickname
"Speedy" when he joined the Sixers, since AI was so obviously speedier.
He should've; sometimes I felt like it was tongue-in-cheek.

E: Regarding
Kobe, I couldn't agree more with the ambivalence factor. I often hate
him but then he's so good that it's hard not to love watching him. The
illustration accompanying his chapter is perfect. Did the art typically
come after the text or what kind of process did you guys use to come up
with some of the imagery?

Shoals: It depended. In the case of the Kobe one, I
had a clear idea of what I wanted and told Jacob (BBB). In other cases,
he'd just work off of the essay himself. Then sometimes, we'd go back
and forth on what visual motifs would both make sense and not look
stupid before he actually sat down and tried to draw something.

E: Finally,
some simple hoops talk. How bout a little Sixers analysis. Can Iguodala
and Thad Young coexist on a successful team in the East? Is there any
hope for Sammy D.? What are your thoughts on the future of the Sixers?

Shoals: I think they should trade Dalembert,
play Brand at center, Young at PF, and Iggy at the small forward. Then
get someone to reliably hit threes at shooting guard. . . as part of
what you get back for Dalemebert. That would solve everything, right?

E: Uh, I don't know how to solve this team.

Thanks, to Shoals for taking the time to answer our questions and you should all really go buy this book right now.

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