Today's spoonful of syrupy man love was nominated by Basketbawful reader Jim in KFalls: "My suggestion for 'Thursday afternoon man love' is the caption from the Clay Bennett e-mails directed to David Stern that Henry Abbott quoted on TrueHoop." Good call, Jim. Very good call.

Here's the full text of Clay's e-mail, which shall hereafter be referred to as An Ode To My Big, Stern Man. As love poems go, it's pretty weak. Hardly anything rhymes, he disregarded iambic pentameter, and there isn't a hint of enjambment. He didn't even include any elegiac couplets. But the prose is still sugary enough to give you a cavity. Or make you violently ill. One or the other. (My vote? "Other.")

"I am concerned that you may feel I have betrayed your trust. David you know how I feel about our relationship both personally and professionally. You are among a very few, notwithstanding our relative brief actual physical time together that have significantly affected my life. I view you as a role model as an extraordinarily gifted executive, a deep and compassionate thinker, and a person with a rare and unique charisma that brings out the best in everyone you touch. You are just one of my favorite people on earth and I so cherish our relationship Sonics business aside. I would never breach your trust."

Is it possible to forward somebody a key to your hotel room over e-mail? Because if it is, Clay must have done it with this one. That one paragraph is pretty telling, though. Clay must have led a pretty sheltered life, because when you share a "relative brief actual physical time" with someone, you don't need to write them a Shakespearean sonnet. Cab fare and a smack on the ass will do. Write that down.

Update: The new graphic was the work of Basketbawful reader Stephen, who also designed the new banner. Here's the picture I originally used.

Labels: Clay Bennett, David Stern, fan submissions, man love