I don’t want to reminisce about what happened at that time. It’s frankly a disservice to drag it back up.” Two years before the BSAM crisis, Mr. Marin began keeping his Whim of Iron blog.

But what should they call themselves? Chong and Marin didn’t have much zing. Did Mr. Marin have any nicknames, perhaps? Cheech & Chong turned out to be a most felicitous solution: It sticks in ...