On this edition of the Dagger Report, Mike Prada of Bullets Forever and myself are joined by Mike Jones, currently the Wizards beat reporter for the Washington Times, and Jimmy Toscano of Celtics Blog.

With Mike, we discuss:

  • Dealing with Gilbert Arenas in general and the exclusive he got with him this summer;
  • His reaction when Arenas called the media “lazy”;
  • Developing a rapport with players as a reporter;
  • The current state of the Wizards and Arenas playing with a “video-game mentality”;
  • The path Mike took to covering the Wizards at the Times;
  • The back luck he faced on his first day on the job, covering a Wiz game in Cleveland … of all places;
  • His next move as the Times has decided to cut its coverage of sports;
  • The changing media landscape, its affect on local and national sports coverage, and the presence of blogs.

With Jimmy, we discuss:

  • His foray, like Mike Prada and myself, into the locker room to cover an NBA team up close as a blogger;
  • How Brian Scalabrine recognized Jimmy as a new face amongst the media and took the time to ask him his name, among the other characters of the Celtics locker room;
  • The progression of Garnett’s knee, the statistical production of Paul Pierce, and the Celts in general.

And of course …

We make our predictions for the Wizards-Celtics game tonight. Someone needs to fill our half-empty glasses.

Enjoy.

Episode 5: The Dagger Report – Washington Wizards podcast

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Previous Dagger Reports:

Music in this podcast:

  • “I’m Broke” – Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
  • “Too Late” – Little Walter
  • “I Don’t Play” – Little Walter
  • “Think Twice Before You Go” – John Lee Hooker
  • “Busted” – The Black Keys
  • “Every Day I Have The Blues” – Professor Longhair
  • “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” – John Lee Hooker