R.I.P. FREE DARKO

A website that originated as a means of discussion for a group of childhood friends obsessed with fantasy basketball became the talisman of a long list of irreverent basketball blogs - the website is Freedarko.com and today they posted their final piece.

I have been a fan of Free Darko for years and am sad to see them go. Essentially, Free Darko started as a blogspot site that emphasized the idiosyncrasies and subtle points of professional basketball. After countless posts over the years and two successful books about the N.B.A., the site published its final post Monday.

It's fitting that the final post would be a collection of testimonials of praise from fellow basketball writers, since the two men at the helm of FreeDarko deserve to have a light shone on them much in the same way they did for many of the NBA's unheralded and under appreciated.

The site was maintained primarily by auteur extraordinaire Bethlehem Shoals (Nathaniel Friedman) and illustrator Big Baby Belafonte (Jacob Weinstein), who chose pseudonyms when the site first began, only to find it as a launching pad to greater avenues and the return to the usage of their given names. Other key contributors throughout the years include SilverBird 5000, Dr. Lawyer IndianChief and Brown Recluse Esq.

There's only so much I can convey pertaining to the brilliance of FreeDarko.com. For years it has been one of the first things I looked at each and every morning, and it has forever changed the way I look at the NBA.

If you truly love the NBA, please take the time to search their archives - it is well worth every minute spent. If you love Shoals' work, check-out the NBA playoff blog he has over at GQ.com if you have a chance.

Thanks for reading and enjoy some of Big Baby Belafonte's stuff below: