Dangerous, Dirty, and Unfun

# Dan Shaughnessy checks in today with a particularly poor column about the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers. I’m a Celtics fan, and I can’t stand the Lakers, but even I don’t think they deserve the petulant hit job Mr. Shaughnessy perpetrates here. It just strikes me as sort of immature to whine that the Lakers are sore winners; the fact is, they’ve won four championships this decade, and their coach has the most championships ever. These are undeniable truths! This column also manages to combine two of the most pernicious loser excuses: the ol’ “things would have been different if X had been healthy” and the “this championship isn’t legit because the winner didn’t have to go through Y.” What would have happened if Garnett had been healthy? What if Lebrons teammates actually showed up? What if ants wore hats? We’ll get ‘em next year, Dan! Keep your chin up!

# Also in the Globe, here’s another story about Todd and Jason Alstrom, the heroes behind BeerAdvocate.com. The occasion is this weekend’s American Craft Beer Festival, which your favorite blogger will be attending. Expect a post. I’ll be bringing my notebook!

# Here’s a pretty good explanation, care of Slate, of the allure of the Real World/Road Rules Challenge, whose most recent season wrapped up last week. Regular readers of Dangerous, Dirty, and Unfun understand that the Challenge is appointment television for me. It can’t be overstated how much I love this show!