Free Rashad, ETO, and the Works

It's no secret that I am a big fan of FreeDarko, and if you are reading this site, I assume you are too. If for some reason you aren't a FreeDarko fan, it's well past time that you start reading the site. So do that.

I bring this up because FreeDarko has recently been running some sensational guest columns by Jay Caspian Kang and one of them, in particular, touched my heart because it was about Rashad McCants, who I wrote a lot about, almost exactly one year ago. That entry was spurred by Rashad's very public musings about his inability to get signed by an NBA team. After a year outside the league, Rashad finds himself in a similar position once again, only this time his plight is even more publically highlighted by an in-depth ESPN magazine article entitled "Born to be hated, and dying to be loved." Jay wrote an entry that was part-response to that piece and part-manifesto, and thus Free Rashad was born. It's my favorite writing about basketball right now, each entry a different approach to the questions raised by Rashad McCants and an expansion on what those questions mean. It's about taking all the signifiers that are pointed at McCants. exploding them out and trying to diagram them. It's examining a big chunk of "what we talk about when we talk about sports" by looking at a subset of issues related to a single player and for all that I'm saying it's actually twice as clever and more thoughtful than that. Even if you don't quite buy that as a great premise, just take my word for it and give it a read will you?

In related, other-places-to-read-FreeDarko-writers news, you can read a really great daily column with Bethlehem Shoals and Tom Ziller at Fanhouse. They are calling it "The Works," and until games start, I can't think of a better daily column to be reading. Also, with the tragic demise of The Baseline, the best place to find Eric Freeman writing about basketball is at his new blog, Early Termination Option.

Hopefully, there will eventually be more stuff for you to read here, but until then, the FD dudes got you covered.