The Boxscore Geeks Show: How I Met Your Mother and the Spurs

Our amazing producer Brian let me successfully pitch a podcast episode on "How I Met Your Mother". Arturo and I are big fans. Don't worry, we have many NBA tie-ins though. Our angle is: how does the disappointing end to "How I Met Your Mother" compare to other NBA disappointments? To keep this show from being all-out depressing, we start the discussion with something happy: the Spurs.

Full spoiler warning for "How I Met Your Mother": Arturo and I discuss the entire run of the show, so if you're not caught up, please do so. We do start the show talking the Spurs, so you're safe until then. However, the rest of this post is rife with spoilers, so don't scroll down if you're not caught up!

The Spurs

So the Spurs? They're really good. Like, greatest of all time good. Side note, I meant "free throws", not "fouls" when I talk the Spurs-Thunder game.

Will LeBron's political sway be enough to help the Heat?

Annoying point, Melo has been able to be great in the playoffs before.

First question to the audience: What are the Spurs going to do with Tony Parker? I think the Spurs show loyalty and keep him around. Arturo says they give him the Bill Belichick treatment. What do you think?

Tim Duncan is an all-time great. Arturo wisely dodges the "where does he rank" by putting him on the "Mount Rushmore" of all-time greats. If we go by generation we get:

Bill Russell (60s)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (70s)
Magic Johnson (80s)
Michael Jordan (90s)
Tim Duncan (2000s)
LeBron James (2010s)

The Spurs have one of the longest playoff streak appearances in NBA history. If they win another title this season, they'll tie the Lakers with 5 rings in 17 consecutive playoff appearances!

The Disappointing Pacers

Wow, so how about those Pacers eh? Arturo's happy with the end of the season because it proves he was right. He may not be a Pacers' fan. How does it stack up to the conclusion of How I Met Your Mother?

The Disappointing Nuggets

Arturo doesn't like the Nuggets' ownership much because they own Arsenal. Arturo doesn't agree with the Nuggets' plan, but thinks they're executing it. I obviously don't like it. What do you think?

More Disappointments

Arturo wasn't phased by my first two questions, so I pulled out the big guns!

To put Anthony Bennett in perspective, he is only the third number one pick in the history of the NBA to average fewer than five points in his rookie season (the player has to play, so Blake Griffin – who missed his entire first year with an injury – doesn't count). Can you name the other two? I'll put them at the bottom of the show notes if you can't think of them.

Arturo had a few disapointments. First up, Kobe!

Arturo's last shot, which I will agree is the best: Derrick Rose!

How I Met Your Mother

So Graph TV (http://graphtv.kevinformatics.com) may very well be the coolest thing ever for popculturists. The rundown of IMDB rankings for How I Met Your Mother is a must. Also, the site's creator, @KevinWuhoo, is criminally underfollowed on Twitter. Fix that!

Arturo makes one of the best comparisons ever: How I Met Your Mother has a George Karl problem. Their tactics are brilliant, but they muck up the rotation.

Arturo and I disagreed on the worst How I Met Your Mother episode. Help us decide:

I argue that season seven suffers from "pace adjustment" as it has some of the strongest episodes, but I feel they are "underrated" by IMDB voters.

The Ryan Reynolds' movie "Definitely, Maybe" is essentially season 9 of How I Met Your Mother. A father is telling his children/daughter how he met their mother. The mother has died/divorced. The father's tale reveals he's in love with an old flame from his past. This even goes as far down as a side story about Ted/Will tracking down a locket/book that means a lot to his love interest. I rarely get to say this, but the Ryan Reynolds version did it better.

Friends, Frasier, Seinfeld, Angel, and Babylon 5 are just a few of the shows we compare to How I Met Your Mother.

I was a bit annoyed that the writers' "fridged" the mother on the show.

I say we do a continuation of How I Met Your Mother doing a new version of Full House, who's with me?

The mother is played by the amazing Cristin Milioti. We manage to both forget this and butcher the pronunciation. Please don't hate us forever!

Best comparison ever - season 9 of How I Met Your Mother would be like if the first Star Wars trilogy ended with the Empire Strikes Back, with the Return of the Jedi tacked on as an extra fifteen minutes. Or if the Return of the King had been condensed (although, I said that was a good idea)

Arturo's wife hated Stella, played by the amazing Sarah Chalke. I was baffled.

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Arturo didn't let me escape the podcast without bringing up a questionable fantasy trade I made this season. As I say in the podcast, I won't respond to any comments on it, I got flamed enough after I made it. That said, if you want to vote on it, well here goes:

Did you answer my trivia on failed number one picks earlier? No? Well the answer is:

Kwame Brown(2001) and LaRue Martin (1972) are the only two other number one overall picks to fail to hit five points per game in their first season.