bill and tom's excellent adventure
(an origin story)

from chris hicks:

The Bill and Tom reference stems from a decision we made in spring 1996 to take on commentator personas when we were playing sega\playstation. At first it was funny, but then we just embraced it. However it wasn't fully embraced until the June 1996 NBA Action Finals between the Knicks and the Rockets where "Mad Max" Vernon Maxwell and the Rockets beat out the Knicks in a 7th game thriller! As we did it more we got nerdier about it. We went from just commentating on the games to pre-game interviews with the coaches (Chris Hicks and Kevin O'Kelley) as well as post game interviews! Not really sure where we got the names Bill and Tom from, but they seemed to stick.

(ed: - nerdy is just the most perfect word for what bill and tom became for us, for me. i mean, jesus, look at the date chris mentions...1996. we were 19 year's old for christ sake! this wasn't something brainstormed and played out by 2 12 year-olds that weren't into dungeons and dragons. it was two, bordering on grown men playing out fantasies of calling nfl (and nba) and college games in our respective rooms/apartments/houses. at some point during this series, i'll try and articulate what bill and tom (and by "bill and tom" i mean chris) meant to me as a foundational element of my maturity. looking back, bill and tom were nothing less than a bridge from my childhood to the adult that i would end up becoming. bill and tom and the countless hours of our lives we wasted playing video game football??? man, i wouldn't trade that shit for the world. and every year i get older, the more i miss having that kind of time and those opportunities to be a kid at heart with chris. until i get around to that post, proper, i'll keep kicking his ass in this draft.)