The Weekly Dis
Irrelevance, intelligence, magnificence
Things got a little squirrelly at Disrespected Media's World Headquarters this week. As Timothy Arace, executive producer, was going about the herculean task of recording, editing and pushing out our first-ever podcast, the Wilfried Nancy-to-Scotland story went international. And then Bill Simmons, founder and multi-millionaire proprietor of a sports/cultural beheamouth known as theringer.com, sprinkled catnip, or some other organic material, down on Columbus by calling the Blue Jackets "the most irrelevant franchise in professional sports."
All signs point to Nancy leaving to becoming the next coach of powerhouse Celtic FC of the Scottish Premiership. Thus, a three-year era that was something like Florence at the time of Michelangelo, DaVinci and Raphael draws to a close, and Hunt Sports Group clambers at the gates.
Left: Executive producer Timothy Arace and one of our company vehicles, a Velotric Discover One (a model that has been replaced in their lineup). Everyone should have an e-bike. Middle: My old CBJ beat partner Aaron Portzline, the mayor of Jacketville, now of The Athletic. Porty did us a solid by being our guest for our first-edition Jackets podcast, "Cannon Balls." He'll be hanging around DM World Headquarters, so stay tuned. Right: Shout out to friend of the program John Buccigross, who gave a Bucci Bump to Ep. 1 of our pod from his perch at https://x.com/Buccigross.
As for Bill Simmons, we can only thank him for the material. We extend an open invitation for him to visit our fair city, as long as he brings his company credit card. One of us sold his company to Spotify for $200M, and I don't think it was me.
We're still in the R&D phase of podcasting, but we'll be rolling more out soon and we'll be coming up with a regular schedule (TBA). A Crew-related pod, The Crewcible, will debut any day now. Look for cues from social media (@michaelarace1.bsky.com) and look for us at Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Speaking of Spotify, if they think Episode 1 of "Cannon Balls" is worth nine figures, or six, or five, or maybe even four or three, but not two, get in touch with my executive producer. Here it is:
Sign of the apocalypse.
Posts
Friday
Michael Arace
OK, he's right. But that's not the point.
Wednesday
Michael Arace
I took the paywall down for this one and it got play in the U.K., where hardcore Celtic fans are wondering what they might be getting in the "mad genius" (a tabloid reference on the other side of the pond). Here in CBus, Crew fans are, generally speaking, crestfallen about the imminent move – albeit not the misanthropes at Aces Radio who had me as a guest on their insane, season-wrap podcast Thursday night.
Monday
Michael Arace
Through Thursday's games, the Jackets were one point out of a playoff spot, four points out of first place in the Metro and six points removed from last place in the conference. It's bumper-to-bumper and 200 mph in the East. Rubbing is racing, as the old NASCAR saying goes.
Also, this happened Thursday night (nice call, Steve Mears).
MO PUT ON A SHOW! 🤯
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) November 21, 2025
The GWG is tonight's @FanaticsBook Goal of the Game! pic.twitter.com/U6Wc3XVdM1
Jerry Lucas and his hook shot assigned to eternity
Jerry Lucas began playing basketball, competitively, as a fourth-grader on a sixth-grade team in his hometown of Middletown, Ohio. It was the winter of 1949-50 and, by the time it was over, he knew he loved the game — and he endeavored to master it. To that end, he spent the summer of 1950, and many subsequent summers, mostly by himself, on a basketball court, usually the one at Sunset Park.
Seventy-five years later, the fruit of his solitary labor and singular mind have been synthesized in bronze, in the form of a statue of Lucas. It was unveiled outside of Value City Arena Nov. 14.
“Words cannot describe how honored and humbled I am,” he said. “It’s the biggest honor I’ve ever had in my life.”
Lucas was LeBron James a quarter century before LeBron James was born. Lucas' Middletown High teams went 76-1 and won two Ohio state titles. (The loss came in the semifinals of the 1958 Class AA state tournament. The score was 63-62. Lucas calls it "the only loss I ever had." The upset winner was Columbus North, the old Polar Bears.)
Lucas' Ohio State teams went 78-6, won a national title in 1960 and made it back to the championship game in 1961 and ’62. He was twice the NCAA Player of the Year. His NBA career included seven All-Star games, one NBA title (with the New York Knicks in 1973) and a first-ballot place in the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. (His Hall of Fame class included two other first-ballot inductees, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West. Pretty good class.)
It all traces back to Sunset Park.
Lucas estimates that he spent “thousands and thousands” of hours shooting by himself. He described this time as “preloading a hard drive.” He invented an acronym — “DAD,” for direction, arc and distance — to guide him. He imagined a clock on the rim and practiced shooting over the “6” (the front of the rim, wherever he was situated on the court). He spent hundreds of hours purposefully missing shots to see what happened when the ball came off different quadrants of the imaginary clock – a preloading of his hard drive for rebounding.
At night, he would put his head on his pillow, close his eyes and cycle through his workouts.
One thing he learned: “I loved the hook shot.”
Lucas loved the hook so much, he asked that the shot be the subject of his statue. There he is, rising up off his left foot, his right leg bending behind him, his right arm fully extended. The ball is coming off his fingertips like a raindrop rolling off a cool, green leaf. It is his iconic, step-back hook shot, one of the deadliest weapons in the history of the game.
Lucas confirmed that the bronze is based on a well-known photo of him sweeping the shot over Cincinnati center Paul Hogue. He and his old Buckeyes loathed Cincinnati – the team that beat them in the '61 and '62 NCAA title games. He can stick that hook in Hogue's face for eternity.
“I began to realize there was a total difference from shooting a hook shot from shooting a jump shot or a free throw or anything else,” Lucas said. “When you’re shooting a jump shot or a free throw, you’re pushing the ball, and your wrist is involved in activating. And with the hook shot, I never bent my wrist. Ever. I just lifted and rolled the ball off the end of my fingers. I shot it so much. I’d shoot it 15-20 feet out, hour after hour after hour. I got to the point where I could shoot it very well.”
Lucas at Ohio State averaged 24.3 points and 17.2 rebounds and shot 62.4% from the field. He shot it very well.
“I could shoot it anyplace, anytime,” he said. “I never got a hook shot blocked, not ever in my life. Because what I did, normally, was I took a step away with my left foot, planted it and then it came out. It was my favorite shot. I just loved it. You couldn’t guard it. I loved it.”
In the 2010 paperback edition of The Book of Basketball, Bill Simmons has Lucas ranked No. 64 all-time in his "Hall of Fame Pyramid." So, there you go.
Have a nice day.
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Michael Arace
