You remember that time about a year ago when I pointed out that weird thing where former Virginia Tech stand out A.D. Vassallo was desperately asking every basketball player he could find on Twitter about what to do since he went undrafted? Of course you do! Who could forget?
Well, did you ever wonder what happened to him? It doesn't matter! I'm telling you anyway! Don't worry; it's a happy ending. Last season, Vassallo was great for Paris-Levallois where he was fourth in the French league in scoring with 17.7 points per game. He also put together some pretty respectable all-round stats, while shooting the ball damn well. He led his team to the play-offs and basically played himself into the Euroleague by earning a spot on ASVEL Villeurbanne, which was apparently the once and future crown jewel of French club basketball these days. Tony Parker owns 20%! So, well done A.D. Vassallo, I'm glad your Twitter desperation turned out okay for you!
The real question: Why was I so curious about A.D. Vassallo's fate? Well, it's because I learned something silly about him and I had to share it with you: According to ShamSports, A.D. Vassallo was arrested during college for shoplifting a 12-pack of Dr. Pepper. Wow. This is beyond hilarious.
This brings me to the main point: ShamSports is amazing! I found that fun factoid about Mr. Vassallo while perusing a page dedicated to tracking the legal troubles of all the players in or on the fringe of the NBA. It is comprehensive and totally great. Check it out! So far, my favorite entry has to be Juwan Howard's page, which details how he was accused of stealing a pair of expensive sunglasses as well as knowingly spreading genital herpes. Twice. That's the kind of thing you'd only expect out of a dude like Troy Murphy.
I had always relied on ShamSports for the amazingly detailed salary information, but I had overlooked all the oddball stuff like the criminal histories page. I will not make that mistake again. It is a special delight for the obsessive compulsive freak-show fan to go through every team salary page and check the mouse-over of ever single player's name in case there is a hilarious hidden joke about said player's contract. Even better are the player cards for each and every NBA player and fringe prospect which feature lots of useful information and then an anagram of the player's name. Example: A.D. Vassallo = "Oval salads".
I know this sounds stupid, but anagrams are the best. As a reference, it's indisputably one of the very best basketball sites there is and the writing on the blog is sweet, sweet heroin to the overzealous basketball fan. It's a great place to find out what happened to players like (completely pulled-out-of-the-air example here) A.D. Vassallo. In these slow days of early August, ShamSports is a lifesaver to idiot obsessives who want to know more about Beno Udrih's brother and what the hell is up with Nene's contract. So, long story short, this one's for you, idiot obsessives, fans of anagrams, and people who like to steal Dr. Pepper.
If you are less interested in stealing Dr. Pepper and more interested in how Channing Frye spent his off-season, click here. Likewise, if you are less interested in anagrams and more interested in my drunk girlfriend's reactions to The Decision, you can click here. If you'd rather have my drunk girlfriend's reaction to the NBA Draft, that is here. If you want serious and trenchant analysis... well, it's a big Internet.
Showing posts with label ad vassallo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ad vassallo. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Tuesday Odds and Ends
The Peculiar Twittering of A.D. Vassallo
When I was creeping around Twitter, I came across some bizarre messages from A.D. Vassallo, former Virginia Tech stand-out and NBA non-draftee. His Twitter was covered in what I think were a little over a hundred different Tweets to various NBA players, siblings of various NBA players, coaches, and owners asking for help since he went undrafted. He was desperately trying to get in touch with anyone who could help him figure out what to do and was shamelessly begging for advice from anyone with any connection to the NBA. He also talked a lot of trash about how he could take Tyler Hansbrough or anyone else from the ACC. It was the most amazingly candid and desperate thing I've seen in sometime. That was yesterday. I check back today and there were only five total Tweets on his page. The one on top announces that he's playing summer league for the Bulls. All the other Tweets appear to have been deleted. Weird. Anyway, for all you A.D. Vassallo fans, here is the new desperation-free Twitter page
Speaking of Which...
Tyler Hansbrough debuted in the NBA or at least in summer league with a pretty decent first game yesterday. Today's game was even better, apparently.Long story short on the Hansbrough front: he's doing the things that made him successful in college plus shooting the three and for some reason people seem surprised. You can keep up with the Orlando summer league here and even stream the games live to show what a stupidly hardcore NBA fan you are.
TRUTH: This blog was almost named "The Sorrows of Young Hansbrough."
Department of Nicknames
Here is a completely awesome list of Chinese nicknames for NBA players compiled on the official NBA page back in 2007. This deserves greater comment, but for now, let's let the thing speak for itself. Also, here is a pretty great list of nicknames for each and every player selected in the 2009 draft. Actually, it bears mentioning that this is a pretty great and hilarious blog. Here is some of the Blowtorch's coverage of Tyler Hansbrough.
Things FreeDarko Addressed Better Than Me
Recently I have tried to address a number of topics and, generally speaking, I think I had something new to add to the conversation, even if I was taking the discussion into a different, and, admittedly stupider direction. What's worse is when freedarko keeps fucking doing you one better, including kicking your ass from the archives. That's the worst. So, without further adieu, I display my inferiority complex and point you to some fine-n-trenchant writing from FD on topics that I've recently written about.
On Rasheed (cf. Durrr, Why Everyone Call Sheed Mercurial?)
On Ron Artest (cf. No Seriously, What's With This Mercurial Thing?)
On Kobe's Sociopathy (cf. The Internet Thinks Kobe Could Kill You and Feel Nothing)
That said, I don't think the things I said are wrong, just more tangential and less interesting than what them FD boys bring to the table.
When I was creeping around Twitter, I came across some bizarre messages from A.D. Vassallo, former Virginia Tech stand-out and NBA non-draftee. His Twitter was covered in what I think were a little over a hundred different Tweets to various NBA players, siblings of various NBA players, coaches, and owners asking for help since he went undrafted. He was desperately trying to get in touch with anyone who could help him figure out what to do and was shamelessly begging for advice from anyone with any connection to the NBA. He also talked a lot of trash about how he could take Tyler Hansbrough or anyone else from the ACC. It was the most amazingly candid and desperate thing I've seen in sometime. That was yesterday. I check back today and there were only five total Tweets on his page. The one on top announces that he's playing summer league for the Bulls. All the other Tweets appear to have been deleted. Weird. Anyway, for all you A.D. Vassallo fans, here is the new desperation-free Twitter page
Speaking of Which...
Tyler Hansbrough debuted in the NBA or at least in summer league with a pretty decent first game yesterday. Today's game was even better, apparently.Long story short on the Hansbrough front: he's doing the things that made him successful in college plus shooting the three and for some reason people seem surprised. You can keep up with the Orlando summer league here and even stream the games live to show what a stupidly hardcore NBA fan you are.
TRUTH: This blog was almost named "The Sorrows of Young Hansbrough."
Department of Nicknames
Here is a completely awesome list of Chinese nicknames for NBA players compiled on the official NBA page back in 2007. This deserves greater comment, but for now, let's let the thing speak for itself. Also, here is a pretty great list of nicknames for each and every player selected in the 2009 draft. Actually, it bears mentioning that this is a pretty great and hilarious blog. Here is some of the Blowtorch's coverage of Tyler Hansbrough.
Things FreeDarko Addressed Better Than Me
Recently I have tried to address a number of topics and, generally speaking, I think I had something new to add to the conversation, even if I was taking the discussion into a different, and, admittedly stupider direction. What's worse is when freedarko keeps fucking doing you one better, including kicking your ass from the archives. That's the worst. So, without further adieu, I display my inferiority complex and point you to some fine-n-trenchant writing from FD on topics that I've recently written about.
On Rasheed (cf. Durrr, Why Everyone Call Sheed Mercurial?)
On Ron Artest (cf. No Seriously, What's With This Mercurial Thing?)
On Kobe's Sociopathy (cf. The Internet Thinks Kobe Could Kill You and Feel Nothing)
That said, I don't think the things I said are wrong, just more tangential and less interesting than what them FD boys bring to the table.
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