Just who did cover the best (or worst) Otago Nuggets team of all time - sports editor Hayden Meikle or basketball writer Adrian Seconi? Seconi comes up with a way to answer that question.
What people do not understand about sports journalism is how much your fortunes can fluctuate with the teams on which you report.
Your chances of a getting a front-page story go up exponentially when the team is doing well. And then you get relegated to the back pages when your teams are stacking up losses.
I stacked up a lot of losses with the Otago Nuggets - more than any other reporter at this newspaper, including my boss, former basketball writer and now sports editor Hayden Meikle.
What I did not understand 10 years ago, when I started out in this job, was how I would be held personally accountable for every single missed three-pointer, every flimsy lay-up and every third-quarter meltdown.
Meikle took great delight in telling me I reported on the worst basketball team ''in the world''. He always did love hyperbole. But during a particularly bleak run - the now infamous 33-game losing streak (April 17, 2008 to May 21, 2011) - he probably wasn't over-reaching.
If I can steal a line from Jerry Maguire, it really was a ''pride-swallowing siege that I will never fully tell you about''.
Gradually, things improved at the Nuggets - well, on the court at least. Mark Dickel, bless him, returned and brought with him some very useful basketball players. In 2013, the Nuggets returned to the playoffs for the first time in 17 years.
It all unravelled again last year but I had one magnificent season.
And that marvellous run produced the seeds for my revenge.
I cannot remember exactly how it came about. It was probably a quiet news day but we decided to settle the dispute once and for all via NBA 2K14 on the Xbox 360.
Yep. A video game.
We picked the best teams from our era. There was some overlap, and we had to compromise on the odd player. Technically, Dickel could have played for both of us.
There was also some very robust discussion around how players should be rated. For the most part we agreed on the top players, though.
I had Dickel, and Meikle had the trump card - the greatest Nugget of all time, Leonard King.
The final line-ups offered a fascinating clash of styles.
I had real power under the hoop in Antoine Tisby and BJ Anthony. Craig Bradshaw and Miles Pearce had to start from the bench and I also had Brendon Polyblank in the starting line-up for some extra muscle.
The mercurial Lemar Gayle was my wildcard. He was never much of a team player and left the Nuggets in a storm of controversy. He also gave this reporter a vicious spray before he went. But I needed his outside game and shamelessly picked him anyway.
Meikle had much more depth, the best single player and too many quality shooting guards to squeeze into one roster. He also had Glen Denham and Hayden Allen on the bench and no spot for Donell Morgan in the squad.
All that was left to do was push the start button. The outcome was, to my eternal gratitude, a resounding 4-2 win to Seconi's Nuggets.
Meikle, gracious in defeat as always, said only: ''The computer lies''.
Of course, since we picked our strongest line-ups, we never really got to the bottom of who had the worst team. We lost sight of that. But with 33 consecutive defeats, I think I'm safe.
MEIKLE'S TEAM
1998-2004
Centre: Rob Hickey.
Power forward: Andrew Parke.
Small forward: Phill Jones.
Shooting guard: Ron Grady.
Point guard: Leonard King.
Bench: Glen Denham, Rob Tuilave, Stacey Lambert, Hayden Allen, Michael Fitchett.
SECONI'S TEAM
2005-14
Centre: Antoine Tisby.
Power forward: BJ Anthony.
Small forward: Brendon Polyblank.
Shooting guard: Lemar Gayle.
Point guard: Mark Dickel.
Bench: Miles Pearce, Craig Bradshaw, Leon Henry, Darryl Jones, Nat Connell.
How it all unfolded. -
GAME ONE
An embarrassing blowout
Seconi's Nuggets 97 (Tisby 19, Anthony 19)Meikle's Nuggets 67 (Rob Hickey 12, Stacey Lambert 10)
GAME 2
A thriller
Seconi's Nuggets 82 (Anthony 23, Tisby 13)Meikle's Nuggets 80 (Grady 19, King 17
GAME 3
The fight back
Meikle's Nuggets 95 (King 22, Jones 21)Seconi's Nuggets 83 (Tisby 14, Bradshaw 13)
GAME 4
Another thriller
Meikle's Nuggets 103 (King 19, Parke 17)Seconi's Nuggets 102 (Gayle 19, Tisby 15)
GAME 5
One hand on the trophy
Seconi's Nuggets 96 (Anthony 19, Polyblank 13)Meikle's Nuggets 87 (Jones 19, King 17)
GAME 6
It's all over
Seconi's Nuggets 100 (Bradshaw 21, Anthony 15)Meikle's Nuggets 85 (Parke 19, Jones 17)
LEADING AVERAGES
Seconi's Nuggets
Anthony 17.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.8 blocks
Tisby 14.3 points, 11.0 rebounds
Bradshaw 13.5 points, 6.7 rebounds
Polyblank 11.3 points, 4.0 rebounds
Gayle 11.2 points, 5.8 rebounds
Sparky 9.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 7.7 assists
Meikle's Nuggets
Jones 15.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists
King 15.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists
Grady 12.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists
Hickey 11.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.5 blocks
Allen 9.2 points
Parke 8.2 points, 7.8 rebounds
