Jonathan Last

The Greatest Sports Heel of Our Time?
July 3rd, 2012

As mentioned by the Czabe, this introduction of David Stern from the draft is priceless–the NBA commissioner seems to have totally embraced his heel heat:

As Czabe noted, the only way this could have been better would be if Stern had exhorted the crowd to stand for the Soviet national anthem.

Ben July 3, 2012 at 2:26 pm

Say goodnight to the bad guy.

Nedward July 3, 2012 at 4:17 pm

IMO possibly the best* piece from the WS decennial anthology was Paul Cantor’s, which applies to this new gimmick equally well.

*of course: among many standouts, ahem. [e.g. David Skinner; both “casuals” by Chris Caldwell; great Last vignette; I sense I’m repeating one or more earlier comments of mine here]

gfaw July 3, 2012 at 9:09 pm

Vince McMahon wishes he could draw that much heat.

SkinsFanPG July 5, 2012 at 10:50 am

I love Czabe, but he’s ripping off Bill Simmons on this one. Simmons has been referring to Stern as a Heel for about 10 years.

John 'The Snake' Roberts July 5, 2012 at 10:26 pm

No worries–I’ll email the JL.com webmaster a suitable replacement theme on, “Strange New Heel-Heat”

"We should have called it The Virtue Rises. Humbug." — JVL

In the midst of PC police, low-budget holiday movies, and mandatory in-law time, the only Christmas spirit on most people's minds these days is the kind that comes in a flask.

"It's long and it doesn't have Spider-Man in it anywhere." — Cody Last

From the all-star cast who brought you The Seven Deadly Virtues comes a book with a look at the good life… or the crazy-stressful-overwhelmed life… of a father. As anyone who has spent time with a child knows, fatherhood is a mixed bag of fun, fury, and failure. So much is lost—no more catnaps during football commercials, no more exotic vacations or impromptu day trips. And yet, as authors like P. J.…

"The best argument for chastity since Bea Arthur." — Andrew Ferguson

An all-star team of eighteen conservative writers offers a hilarious, insightful, sanctimony-free remix of William Bennett’s The Book of Virtues—without parental controls. The Seven Deadly Virtues sits down next to readers at the bar, buys them a drink, and an hour or three later, ushers them into the revival tent without them even realizing it. The book’s contributors include Sonny Bunch, Christopher Buckley, David “Iowahawk” Burge, Christopher Caldwell, Andrew Ferguson, Jonah Goldberg, Michael…

""A powerful argument that the only thing worse than having children is not having them."" — P. J. O'Rourke

For years, we have been warned about the looming danger of overpopulation: people jostling for space on a planet that’s busting at the seams and running out of oil and food and land and everything else. It’s all bunk. The “population bomb” never exploded. Instead, statistics from around the world make clear that since the 1970s, we’ve been facing exactly the opposite problem: people are having too few babies. Population…