The Daily Sport-February 1st

     As today is February 1^st, and the official beginning of my daily blog (which has been a long time coming by the way), I figured now was as good of a time as any to introduce the small, daily segment I’ll be adding to the blog. I’ll try my best to contribute to the ongoing flow and longevity of the Jock Journal by writing a short paragraph on whatever my thoughts are on the sporting world at the time. Topics could include something that happened the day or night before, previewing something later that day, or future sporting endeavors. Basically, I talk about sports…a lot. The Daily Sport is going to be my way of getting my thoughts out without them being directed at my lovely (and beautiful) fiancé Jess; instead, the hope is that the sports conversation of my day can be aimed at ALL of my readers (I know it’s probably about the same six of us who talk sports on a daily basis as is, but you know, a guy can dream). Feel free to comment, post (you’ll need an account to do so, I believe-Again, this is very new to me) or just sit back and read while laughing at me. 

     Today’s thoughts are on David Stern as he officially retired as NBA Commissioner this morning and turned over the power of the league to Adam Silver (whom he has been grooming for the position for the last several years). Also, side note, as you’ve most clearly noted, I use a lot of punctuation in my writing so get ready to deal with semicolons, commas, parentheses that will make you sick, and appositive phrases that are so unnecessary, yet hopefully relevant and refreshing, that you will either love or hate my writing. Anyway, back to Stern-My first thought as a snot-nosed, bratty mid-twenty year-old kid, is that David Stern was an overbearing, power-hungry dictator that ran the league to his liking and cared little of what the fans and small market teams thought best. But, in an attempt to “grow up” and “see the bigger picture” as good old Pops always told me to do, I think back to what the NBA was 30 years ago when he took over (or at least what I’m told the league was like then). Consider these stats when looking at what he has done for the league:

	1984 (When Stern was hired)	2014 (Stern’s retirement)
Average Franchise Value	$20,000,000	$450,000,000
Average Player Salary	270,000	$5,150,000
Number of Teams	23	30
Dress Code
Number of Countries NBA games are shown in	2	292
Draft System	Results-based	Lottery
Olympic Basketball	College pool only	Dream Team

Now, I still will argue that Stern was set in many of his ways, many of which I found myself on the opposite side of. But, when I look at some of these staggering accomplishments, I’m begrudgingly forced to acknowledge Stern’s massive impact on the NBA and the sport of basketball as a whole.

I'll conclude this first edition of the Daily Sport with hopes that Adam Silver can take this sport to another level just as his often-maligned, yet wildly successful predecessor has done (and while you're at it, get the Magic back to a respectability level at least, just throw in an extra couple thousand ping-pong balls so we can win the Lottery again).

And as one of favorite bloggers has always done, Buster Olney, I will end each Daily Sport on a positive note no matter how negative I may be in future editions:

Today will be better than yesterday-Kyle Vann