Links to the present: Wednesday, August 19th

A roundup of what’s happening, internet-wise, on this here Wednesday:

Shaq vs. got a LOT of ink around the internet. (I guess that doesn’t make sense.) But anyways, a lot of people had thoughts on it.

-Here’s Lang Whitaker’s take over at SLAM.

-And here’s what Scott from Waiting For Next Year had to say.

-And it wasn’t just basketball guys who had thoughts on the proceedings. The Onion AV Club, as did the always-excellent Troy Patterson of Slate. Patterson also weighs in on the cultural phenomenon Shaq has become, and is definitely worth a read.

-The consensus of every review: it’s entertaining stuff, but there is just no good reason why this show should be an hour long.

-And while you’re over at Slate, this article, on the deterioration of Peter King’s relationship with Brett Favre, is the type of thing guys like me just have no power to resist.

-I’m compelled to link to three great takes on the “Brendan Haywood issue” by Kelly Dwyer, Kevin Arnovitz, and Tom Ziller. I’ll mostly let the pieces speak for themselves, but my two cents is that I like that instead of acting shocked…shocked! that there’s homophobia in the NBA and villifying Haywood completely, they see this as a place to start a necessary discussion.

–Pickup basketball with LeBron.

-And according to Windhorst and Mary Schmitt Boyer, the Kurz negociations have hit a snag, but Danny Green appears close to signing. See y’all in a bit.