A big part of what Vox Media is doing stems from what they are doing with SB Nation. A big part of what SB Nation is happens to be is a product of amazing, unrivaled NBA coverage. Among our NBA blogs few were as good as Canis Hoopus, by any metric: posts per day, page views, community interaction -- or even the sheer number of posts in the game threads. Understandably, a huge part of that was because of the individual efforts of Tim Allen. As a fellow small market, Northwest division, NBA Blog manager I understand some of the challenges Tim faced on this level. I did not know him in person, just as a strong voice in this new medium.
Tim was a smart, hardworking, basketball fan. He knew how to write, stay organized, and remain engaging within a niche community. Effectively, he's everything I aspire to be, as Canis Hoopus is really the kind of blog I am trying to learn from.
Please visit their site if possible, and pay your respects if you are so inclined.
Seth Pollack, the SBN NBA League Manager had this to say:
We are deeply saddened to report the passing of Tim Allen. At this time, details surrounding his death are still unconfirmed and we urge everyone to respect the privacy of his family. The only thing that matters right now is the loss of our friend. We confirmed Tim's death with the proper authorities.
All of SB Nation is struck by this tragic loss including those of us who had a chance to meet Tim in person and those who only knew him through his great work here at Canis Hoopus. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Tim's family and friends as they mourn his passing.
We delayed publishing this news as long as we could out of respect to Tim's family. We wanted to given them as much time as possible to share this devastating news with those they needed to inform.
In the coming hours and days we will follow up with more information about donations in Tim's name and other details as appropriate.
On a personal note, as the NBA League Manager for SB Nation I had the pleasure of working with Tim and was able to spend some time with him in Las Vegas just a few weeks ago. I don't need to tell you what a great person he was and how much insight and pleasure he brought to our world. His departure leaves a giant hole in our lives.
The entire SB Nation family stands with this community and with Tim's family. We will do everything possible to honor his life and mourn his passing as best we can.
The relationship I had with Tim was not some 'buddy-buddy' situation, and I'm not going to play up any closeness that we may or may not have had. He was a great guy. Just someone I did not get a lot of time with. I will miss him more than than I can express. And all of us here, as small market, NW division NBA fans - to the top dog NBA blogs at SBN - will be missing a significant chunk of what we were a few days ago.
The internet almost forces us to be strangers, and sometimes we forget that there's another human on the other end of who we are arguing with. What SBN has over other sites is that we are a community - and I think the more in-person connections we make the stronger our bonds become. In lieu of this point, I wanted to bring Tim back here, and humanize him for all posterity . . . with one of his last tweets.
I just went through my sock drawer and could only find 7 socks that don't have any holes in them. I'm 29 years old.
— Tim Allen (@timallenonline) August 6, 2012