Saturday Lunch Swing Around SBNation: Ridiculous Upside

Hey everyone, it's time for another SBNation blog profile. For once I'm doing this with enough time to get it done. Last week I had migraines, the week before I'm sure I had some form of good excuse, but this one I've had enough time to get something at least having a semblance of coherency up for you guys.

SBNation hasn't moved up from last weeks 249 blogs, but it's still a pretty staggering number, is it not? Niners Nation has unique content going up daily. We've got posts going up from about ten writers, each with their own strength. Every day there will always be something new to read on the front page, and plenty of things to comment on in the fanposts. There's a good brand of intelligent discussion going on here, good grammar or not the opinions don't get any less valid. There are 248 blogs just like this one with similar things going for it. 248 blogs with a readerbase that works much like our's here. The number and quality does vary, but 249 is a big number regardless.

Last week I took a look at The Daily Forehand, and in previous weeks covered Mocking the Draft, a blog which covers...what else, the draft, and Inhistoric, a blog dedicated to sports history. This week I take a look at a blog called Ridiculous Upside, a blog covering the National Basketball Association's Development League. Make the jump for the details.

Editor: Scott Schroeder

The NBA Development League (D-League) is something I've recently become engrossed in. I have previously known nothing about such leagues in basketball, baseball, etc. This past month or so I've been visiting Ridiculous Upside and doing some reading on the league which, in some ways, I find more fascinating than the actual NBA. 

The NBA D-League is the official minor league basketball organization for the NBA. It functions as a league in which NBA teams can 'farm' talent on. Each team is associated with one or more NBA teams. It's basically like a practice squad.... if you took each team's practice squads, gave them their own uniforms and logos, and had them battle it out each week to prove to their associated teams that they deserve a spot on the roster.

It's kind of a hard thing to get into and get information on--this is where Ridiculous Upside comes in. They have more than enough daily content and cover just about all of the proceedings from what happens each day in the D-League, covering players and call-ups to NBA teams.

Why do I find it interesting? Because I like it when players really, really have something to play for. I like it when one guy will fight and fight and fight to make an NBA roster so he can accomplish his dream (and perhaps start making that scrilla. Ok, I promise not to use that kind of slang again). Also, I find it interesting because... well, it's more basketball, you know? They've got an all-star game, a draft, things of that nature.

There have been many successful players in the NBA who have at one point played in the D-League. At the conclusion of the previous NBA season, 20 percent of players on a NBA roster spent some time in the D-League. That's a pretty large number. (Captain Obvious, reporting for duty).

Ridiculous Upside does a good job of covering the D-League, and has a decent community to boot. There's not a ton of people there, but if you want discussion, you're very likely to get it. It's an obscure blog covering an obscure, yet important aspect of sports. I'm still pretty new to the whole D-League concept, but you can read up on it here on Wikipedia and here is the official website. Beyond that, head over to Ridiculous Upside and see some of the NBA's potential future stars play. As they say over at RU: Where potential is way cooler than reality. Isn't speculation fun?

Another Random Thought From Ninjames

I hope Fooch doesn't mind me putting this in here, but I imagine there are a decent amount of Golden State Warriors fans among you here at Niners Nation. A few weeks back I covered Inhistoric, another SBNation blog. The editor over there happens to be a Warriors fan (it's a tough thing, being a Warriors fan... think Detroit Lions... but without ever having good players like Barry Sanders... or pre-Super Bowl era championships...or... well this could go on for awhile) and his April Fools article was a rather awesome read, for me. It wasn't eloquent, it wasn't slapstick "LOL" funny, but it's one of those "it's so funny because it's true" articles and I just wanted to link to it for any of us here who are also Warriors fans. It's funny, but at the same time... it's so very true, and thus, heartbreaking.

Also, because I'm linking everything (submit your links to ninnyjams@gmail.com for consideration in next weeks article! /sarscasm) I may as well let you guys know that the Warriors blog is Golden State of Mind and it's quite good.

Enjoy your lunch, folks. I'm eating a delicious pizza right about the time this post is going up.. if all goes as planned.