I try not to talk about the sports media too much here, because (a) most people in sports media are ugly, and (b) I don't want to make ESPN too mad, because this handsome face belongs on TV. But veteran Chicago Tribune NBA writer Sam Smith weighed in on my profession during an online Q&A:

Q: What blogs do you read for sports, basketball or the bulls? How much do you trust their analysis/inside information? Personally I find them great aggregations of information and alternative perspectives…

A: I like this question because I don't read any blogs… How is it I can work for decades developing contacts around the NBA and traveling regularly around the NBA and talking with the decision makers and some guy in his basement in his underwear is writing something that has credibility?

First of all, I don't have a basement. Second, I can't write in my underwear because I have two female roommates, and it would get waaaay too humid in here if I did that. Thirdly, I'm credible because if the evening news has taught us anything, it's that attractive people are trustworthy.

But keep cryin', old man. The dinosaurs bitched, too. All it got them was a trilogy of increasingly crappy movies.