Rod Who?

Can't forget another rather memorable encounter of this past weekend. One of my D-League All Star teammates, a guy named Rod Benson (author of the weekly "Ball Don't Lie" blog series on Yahoo.com and toomuchrodbenson.com) and I got into a friendly debate about who had the better online player blog.  

I know, I know-who the heck is Rod Benson and why is this even important. But you see, I take my blog very seriously-it's like my pride and joy. Half the people who even read this segment of my blog won't really follow it. But it had to be addressed.

We went back and forth about the validity and quality of each other's online web logs in the locker-room right before our All Star game; a few teammates took sides, and the NBA TV crew even got some of the debate on tape as things escalated. It died down as we got closer to tip off, but the beef remains.  

I told Benson I'd do him a favor and triple the number of visitors to his blog by mentioning him on mine, so here you go Rod. To all of my loyal readers-just for the record, unless you're under 14, you'll probably find Benson's blog shallow, immature, and fairly corny (I know I did). But check the young brotha out anyway, because I guess there are a lot worse things he could be doing with his time then writing a wack blog. Like I told Rod: if your blog ain't on NBA.com, then it ain't legit!

Those are the words of Utah Jazz rookie and current Utah Flash assignee Morris Almond. He's right, we did play on the same team in the All-Star game and we did go back and forth about each others blogs. He actually came at me first with an outright challenge. In fact, I don't even need to write anything more about it, you can just watch this video and see for yourself:

Well, it would appear that he has struck first blood in the battle. What he fails to realize is that I ALWAYS take things to the next level. No, I won't comment on his basketball ability because we are both D-League All-Stars, which is an oxymoron of sorts. What I will do use my blog as a means to show him that the best bloggers don't have to be on NBA.com.  

Morris, yes I am now specifically speaking to you, as much as I'd want to have the fifth most read blog on the NBA.com homepage (seriously, Flea has more readers) I prefer it on the front of the Yahoo! NBA page. I'll take this time to examine some facts ...

Fact: There are over 20 million unique visitors to Yahoo! Sports each month. I like that.

Fact: Yahoo! chose the BEST NBA BLOGGERS IN THE WORLD, not just the best in the NBA. Guess I just fit the bill.

Fact: More people know how to finish "I'm ready like ..." than can name what team you play for. Well, they know what team now that I told them.

Fact: I write my blogs myself, on my MacBook, three nights a week while watching re-runs of The Office. Do you even write yours or do you phone them in Mr. "I have backup writers." Some other notable NBA.com guys have been known to dial up the web writers and verbally "write" their blogs.  

What I'm trying to say, "Almond Joy" (your MySpace display name), is that you don't wanna challenge me just yet. I mean you can, but try to get your facts straight first. I can do this for the rest of the season if need be.  

Back to you, the reader. I really don't think blogging is something to be so arrogant about, so understand that Mo and I are friends and this is a friendly battle. However, I really like winning, so why don't you help me out. Just to flex our Yahoo! muscle a little bit, why don't you leave a 'Boom Tho' related comment under this entry and show Morris how small time he is in the blogging world. You don't need to put his down so much as hype mine up. I think the most comments he has ever had was 34. We can crush that. It's time to put this battle to rest before it even begins. Although, I must say that I hope he does fire back. I've got fellow blogging associates ready to take on Morris or whoever else. Let's do this.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Rod Benson is a Cal grad who plays for the D-League's Dakota Wizards. He also blogs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on Ball Don't Lie. Read his archive, pay a visit to TooMuchRodBenson.com and always support the Boom Tho movement.

Related: Too much Rod Benson