I put a message up on the Yahoo Football board with a possible compromise to our current situation. Give feedback for those that care on what you think about it.
It's been a long week in my part of the woods and to add to my misery, there hasn't been a whole lot of bad journalism this week. It's so bad even a Bill Simmons column isn't worth tackling for this week and there are times I would love to write about one his columns just to make fun of him.
Before I get to a puff piece Bill Plaschke wrote about an old scout, I want to share a conversation I heard on PTI yesterday between Kornheiser and Wilbon. I just can't even fathom how sportswriters can be so stupid after working in the business for so long...hell, maybe that is the problem they work in the business too long and get stupid. They were discussing Jamie Moyer's move to the bullpen to make room for Pedro Martinez and the conversation went something (I am trying my best to remember...but I get the key points) like this.
(Wilbon) "Jamie Moyer is not happy he is moving to the bullpen with Pedro Martinez, does he have a case Tony?"
(Kornheiser) "He does. He leads the team with 10 wins and even Ruben Amaro, Jr. recognizes he may have misled Moyer a little bit, saying he signed him 'under the pretense of starting.'"
(Wilbon) "He really has been awful this year though. He has an ERA of over 5.00 Tony. That's really not good."
(Kornheiser) "He has 10 wins this year, which leads the team! They can't just put him in the bullpen when he has more wins than anyone else on the staff."
(Wilbon) "He has the worst ERA of all qualifying starting pitchers though Tony, he is not pitching well this year."
(Kornheiser) "Moyer is also a known quantity in the locker room and nobody knows Pedro Martinez in that Phillies clubhouse. I think we could be looking at another Rip Hamilton-Allen Iverson situation here."
(Wilbon laughing that he still has to work with this moron) "You really think this is a situation like that."
(Kornheiser realizing he has made zero sense) "I think it could be a similar situation but I don't see how you just put Moyer in the bullpen."
Why is it sportswriters can't understand that wins are a product of run support? The Phillies scored double digit runs last night, pretty much any pitcher in Major League Baseball could have won the game last night. The best part was when Kornheiser realized he was making no freaking sense he just automatically switched to the "clubhouse leader" argument, which is the standard backup for a journalist when there is really not a case to be made for keeping a player in the day-to-day lineup, no matter the sport. If you have no point or are losing the argument, just say the player is a "clubhouse leader," that seems to be the sportswriter rule.
-Gary Parrish thinks coaches have been fired for less than what Rick Pitino has done.
Remember, Eustachy was pushed out of Iowa State after photographs of him partying with young women and drinking cheap beer surfaced. It was a bad deal, no question. But was it worse than a married man nailing a stranger on a table in a restaurant, and then paying for a subsequent abortion?
Rick Pitino is never going to get fired. There is no way it is happening. If his name wasn't Rick Pitino he would be fired already, but he has a National Championship and has the Louisville basketball team in the Top 25 every single year. People are offended by his actions but a Louisville basketball team that doesn't have the name recognition and recruiting prowess of a Rick Pitino Louisville basketball team offends these people even more.
I never had that much respect for Rick Pitino as it is, but what little I had left is pretty much gone now. His idea the money he gave the woman he was sleeping with was NOT for an abortion and was for health insurance is bullshit. The simple fact is he gave a pregnant woman who wanted an abortion and had no health insurance $3,000. There's no difference in what the money was for and what is was used for. I am sure he didn't write "for abortion" or "for health insurance" in the description part of the check. I am not so stupid enough to believe Pitino when he says the money was not for an abortion.
I'd keep Rick Pitino as my head coach, and all indications are that he will indeed continue as Louisville's head coach. But it took a couple of radio guys in Iowa to remind me that coaches (specifically Eustachy) have been removed for much less,
I don't think Pitino will get fired but this incident has put him on notice at the University of Louisville. Basically the team has one more reason to fire him if the team starts to perform poorly. If the school had any guts they would fire him, but if Pitino had any guts he would quit. I don't know how he is expected to go into a recruit's house and talk about his program with any sort of a straight face. How can he even talk to his team this year with everyone knowing his extracurricular actions have revealed him as someone has sex with women in restaurants, gets them pregnant and then tries to lie about why he gave her money. This is embarrassing for the school, but I fully expect him to be the head coach this year and next.
I am not jumping up on my high horse or anything. There is a different attitude in college athletics towards actions such as this because Pitino is dealing with kids who he serves as a role model for and he is also possibly one of the few male authority figures in their lives as well. There is not a higher standard for him as a person but he should set a higher standard for himself just based on the fact he represents the school and everything he does reflects on the school in some way.
-This is probably my favorite FJMorgan post they ever did. It was about Bill Plaschke and his fascination with puff pieces on old people. Well, Plaschke has done it again.
The old scout has a shuffling gait from years of chasing prospects, deep wrinkled skin cancer from doing it in the sun, declining vision from describing it all in tiny handwritten notes on crumpled paper.
He hasn't literally been "chasing" prospects Plaschke. I would say this "gait" is due to this old scout being old and not being able to walk as well as he used to.
When I first read this sentence, my initial thought was, "I really hope this guy isn't still driving a car," which of course he is. Call me crazy but an elderly gentleman who can barely walk anymore, and can't see either, isn't the type of person I like to meet out on the roads of America.
Even more compelling is what he doesn't have.
No wife, no children, no air conditioning in his cluttered, ancient house on a hill near Dodger Stadium, and no more expense account from his bosses with the Seattle Mariners.
I feel like I am reading a 9th grade paper. Plaschke has a real problem getting subtlety across in his columns. There have been four paragraphs and we have already been treated to descriptions of "a shuffling gait," "his cluttered, ancient house," and "tiny handwritten notes." We get it. He's old.
During the middle of this week's national high school showcase Area Code Games at USC, the old scout excuses himself from his folding chair to return to his battered convertible parked on a nearby street.
Unable to afford the campus lot, he has to feed the meter.
How much is the campus lot? I need to know this because if the meter is $1.00/hour and there are 3 sets of games, he could be looking at paying $9.00 to park. I can't imagine the campus lot would be that much more expensive with a visitor's pass.
Also, where does he get all the quarters from? Is he constantly pulling them from behind a young child's ear?
"I'm beat up and broke down," Phil Pote says, laughing. "If you don't slow down, you will end up like me."
You will end up like me.
I don't even know what that means. His job is to sit in the stands and scout baseball players, then get in his car and go sit and scout other baseball players. This isn't exactly the rat race he is involved in. I know there is a lot of travel involved with being a scout but it seems from all indications in this article that Pote only scouts in a small area. I am not trying to disrespect the profession but I don't get how he needs to "slow down."
Once a scout reaches the age of 76 like Southland legend Pote, there is no way to retire gracefully, so they simply don't retire.
I wonder if Bill Plaschke can write a sentence that is not a cliche.
Why is there no way to retire gracefully? You walk into the office of the team you work for and say you have saved up enough money and are looking to retire. Farewell, goodbye.
When you offer to meet Pote at his home, he sets up two folding chairs down the left-field line of a prep baseball game.
"This is my home," he says.
Oh Jesus. Not only is Bill Plaschke writing in cliches, this Pote guy is a walking cliche. These two are perfect for each other. If there was any justice in this world, these two could get married and move to a gritty ranch in Montana and write books about the majesty of senior citizens together using only cliches, 3-5 word sentences and a paragraph for each sentence.
Plaschke writes like he is writing a children's book. Every sentence would be a new page.
While other scouts are ensconced in bleacher seats in the shade, Pote opts for a better view under the sun.
This could be why he has skin cancer. I don't feel sorry for him, I just think he is stupid for not sitting in the shade if given the opportunity.
"It's not about seeing better, it's about hearing better," he says. "I want to hear the ball off the bat. I want to hear the players talk. I want to hear the game."
Yet he says this with a giant hearing aid in each ear.
Possibly Bill Plaschke is confused about the purpose of a hearing aid. Hearing aids are worn to help people hear things better. Perhaps Bill Plaschke believes hearing aids are worn to signify that someone is elderly, gritty and sun drenched. I don't really know, but I am pretty sure after reading the last sentence he doesn't know what a hearing aid does.
Nothing given, it seems, and everything taken.
We are not talking about soldiers, someone who takes in and cares for mentally/physically handicapped children or a social worker who brings food to poor children in third world countries. We are talking about a baseball scout who makes a living watching people play baseball and then grades them on well they play. Quit the melodrama.
"Like any old scout, I'm full of b.s." Pote says. "But I think I dispelled enough of it over the years that there isn't any left."
You will end up like me.
Quit repeating that sentence. If Bill Plaschke had any pride left in his lisp loving body, he would be embarrassed at the way he repeats statements like this...but he doesn't.
First thing you notice is, it's tough for Pote to watch a game from his spot down the left-field line because his view is increasingly blocked.
Stretched golf shirts everywhere, scouts leaving the stands and lining up to say hello to him, to thank him, to pump that fist.
Everyone either loves Phil Pote or they don't want to give him a chance to scout the players. I prefer to look at it from the jaded point of view that his fellow scouts don't want him to be able to see the game and scout the players they want to scout.
Like many scouts, he not only found prospects, he groomed them, spending more than 30 years coaching inner-city Los Angeles baseball in places like Fremont High, Locke High and Los Angeles City College.
"He would go places nobody else would go," remembers Derrel Thomas, a longtime major leaguer who went to Dorsey High.
(Bengoodfella whispering) "Does that mean he would go where black people lived?"
Derrel Thomas may be a new entry in the category of "Most Underachieving First Pick of the Draft Ever." Check out these badass numbers.
During Pote's 50 years scouting for the Oakland Athletics, Dodgers and Mariners, he signed several notable major leaguers, including Matt Keough, Chet Lemon and Wayne Gross.
Chet Lemon, that was a pretty good signing. Matt Keough sounded pretty familiar to me and now I know why. An All-Star pitcher with a career losing record AND he now he has a slight drinking problem? Now that is a good signing!
The third thing you notice is that Phil Pote does all of this the hard way.
I would like to know at what point doing something "the hard way" became honorable? Call me a jerk but it just seems stupid, not honorable, to try and do your job the hard way.
Unlike virtually every other scout alive, he doesn't use a computer, he has no e-mail address, he has never accessed the Internet. Unlike most scouts, he also doesn't use a radar gun or video camera, nothing but a stopwatch and a stare.
Which, with all due respect, could explain why he has been working for 50 years and his notable signings are all from the 1960's and 1970's. Again, with all due respect to Phil Pote, if you aren't using technology like this to evalute players then you probably don't have a place in scouting today. You should probably be fired. If he worked in what I call "the real world" meaning "my exact job" and I insisted on working with a typewriter and writing all my notes down by hand, I would be fired fairly quickly.
"I came into this world without all that technology, I will leave without it," says Pote.
He came into this world without his hearing aids, yet he still uses THAT technology to hear better. Go figure.
Also, unlike everyone in all areas of baseball, Pote doesn't work from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, as he observes his Sabbath as a Seventh Day Adventist.
I tried this at a job interview once. It didn't work.
Listen to the story of how Crenshaw's Darryl Strawberry signed his first contract with the New York Mets only after Pote -- who didn't even work for the Mets -- assured him that he was being treated fairly.
So far we have been treated to four players who Pote had a hand in signing and two of them have had substance abuse problems at some point in their lives. I just wanted to point this out.
Listen to the story of how Pote's Fremont team wore uniforms with giant numbers because he wanted them to walk into hostile suburban schools with oversized pride.
Well, that and as Bill Plaschke mentioned earlier Phil Pote can't see that well anymore. It's hard to manage a team when you can't read the numbers on your own teams uniforms.
Oversized numbers caused oversized pride? What are the odds the suburban school kids made fun of the oversized numbers and Pote's players by saying the numbers were big because they were stupid or something?
"Phil Pote was my inspiration for that program," says Young, a former major leaguer from south Los Angeles. "I remember I signed my first contract and I bought a new car and I was cruising around when I ran into Phil."
He ran into Phil with his new car? That would be a much interesting story.
"I don't have much time left," Pote says. "I'm just an old beat-up guy, but I'm hoping somebody will still listen."
I am still waiting for a quote from Pote that is not a cliche or cliche based...
Tacked to the backstop of a green gem of a baseball field is a square wooden sign
"Pote Field" it reads.
Here Bill Plaschke boldly takes on decades of English sentence structure rules and decides to start a new paragraph without ending the last paragraph in a period.
By the way, the most sentences any paragraph had on this page of Plaschke's column was 2 sentences and it only happened twice. Yes, every other paragraph is one sentence long...and he doesn't even use run-on sentences like I do.
You will end up like me.
An elderly gentleman with skin cancer who lives out of a car and refuses to use modern technology to do his job and speaks in cliches. I really hope not. That being said, I really like his straw hat.
Cliche count (by sentence): 16.
Showing posts with label gary parrish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gary parrish. Show all posts
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
12 comments Ten Things I Think I Think Peter King Has Not Thought Of: NBA Playoffs and Troublemaker Edition
Today I have an excess of links I want to comment on again. Of course I may have nothing to discuss tomorrow but that is the risk you take when you clean all of your bookmarked articles out in one day. Now that the Clippers have the #1 pick, that Zach Randolph trade really isn't looking that great right now, of course as inept as they generally are, they had no way of knowing they would get the #1 pick.
1. Scoop Jackson and JemeHill, the "experts" at ESPN on the NBA (because they are minorities they are the experts?) want to comment on/avoid a few questions before the Conference Finals (though I know they started last night, I did not post this until today).
Question: Cleveland went 8-0 in the first two rounds. Denver is outscoring its opponents by an average of 16.0 points per game, the best mark ever through 10 playoff games. Which team is playing better right now?
Scoop Jackson: That's a helluva question. I guess the best way to tackle it is to ask, "If Denver and Cleveland were playing in the Finals right now, who would win?"
No, actually that is quite possibly not the best way to tackle the question, by answering a different question. Who is playing better now? It's a simple question. Don't try to guess who would win if the teams played, but who is playing better now. As great as Denver is playing, the correct answer is Cleveland because LeBron James is on a mission and has a great supporting cast built around his talents.
And here's my thing: LeBron and Co. have been making life very difficult for teams, especially on the defensive end, but could they shut the Nuggets down? Could they limit what the Nuggets do offensively?
So far Scoop has changed the question of who is playing better and followed it up with two other questions. Maybe they should ask someone else these questions to get an answer.
But the speed with which the Nuggets have been scoring -- I don't know -- if I'm Cavs coach Mike Brown, how do I prepare my team for that? So I'll say this: Cleveland may be playing better ball right now, but I'm more impressed with Denver.
So Cleveland is the answer but if the question was asked about "who he was more impressed with" (which it was not and Scoop answered it that way for no particular reason) it would be Denver? I feel like I am watching Celebrity Jeopardy on SNL.
We're splitting hairs here. But ultimately, I'm a little more impressed with Denver, because the Nuggets' success and dominance is a complete surprise.
And JemeHill counters his answer with more nonsense. Rather than answering the original question, she answers who she is most impressed with as well. I am also not sure how the #2 seed in the West having success in the playoffs is a surprise at this point.
Scoop Jackson:Jemele, you going to do the Whitney Houston imitation, or should I? Hell to the naw!...Even their leader called them "bipolar" at times. TNT's Kenny Smith made the strongest statement about this team the other day, when he said they "don't deserve to win a championship." I won't go that far, but I ain't mad at him for saying it out loud.
As I have said a few times, blogs are not dumbing down journalism, the journalists are doing a great job of that on their own.
Jemele Hill:Let's not drink from the cup of crazy.
JemeHill wants to chug from the vat of insanity instead. Have you read some of her columns?
Question: Orlando can beat Cleveland because …
Scoop Jackson: … LeBron James could get hurt, and just maybe Jameer Nelson will have the most miraculous recovery in the history of modern medicine. Those things aside, I really can't see the Magic getting past the Cavs.
What about the Nuggets though Scoop? I thought that is who the Cavs were playing...
Scoop Jackson: … they might prove to be a more focused and driven team in the end. Plus, the Andrew Bynum mystery is still hanging over these playoffs. I'd like to know what's really goin' on. A lot of the Lakers' Finals hopes and championship dreams hinged upon his return -- the Lakers having him this time around, as opposed to not having him in the playoffs last year. But what's goin' on? Timing and conditioning are one thing, and not having any playoff experience and trying to get acclimated to the level of play is another -- but when your coach says it's something "mental" and benches you twice during the playoffs, something's not right.
What's the opposite of a "contract push" in the playoffs like Jerome James and Glen Davis have done over the past couple of years when these players were about to become free agents after the season and they played better in the playoffs? If the opposite is a "contract reduction" push, is it possible Andrew Bynum is performing the first "contract reduction" push?
Jemele Hill: Dahntay Jones has become a poor man's version of James Posey in these playoffs. He completely took Chris Paul out of the Denver-New Orleans series.
The real James Posey played against this same Denver Nuggets team and did not fare too well. That doesn't make me as excited about the prospects of what the poor man's Posey can do against the Lakers.
That is all the NBA Playoff prophecies we get from these experts. We are all weeping in sadness because JemeHill and Scoop only have enough time to impart such little knowledge to us.
2. Tim Povtak has a really stupid question to ask. LeBron or Dwight Howard? Which one would you rather have on your team?
My answer is LeBron a thousand times over. I do realize Howard is a quality center, which are hard to find, but players like LeBron are also hard to find.
Only one can make it there, settling the debate -- temporarily -- over which team was luckier to get their pick, which player is better suited to dominate the league, and at which position is it more important to have a franchise player.
This is not even a debate. LeBron is better suited to dominate the league since he is already doing so and it is important to have a franchise player at any position. Point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward or center. It doesn't matter, you still have to build around them. A team with a great center still needs other great players or the team will end up being just mediocre.
Do you want the best center in the game? Or the best perimeter player?
Ok, Tim Povtak needs to be reprimanded harshly for calling LeBron James a "perimeter player." Like he hangs out on the perimeter all the time. He has more inside game than Howard does.
"Lebron is the better all-around player, there is no question about that," former Sacramento Kings coach Reggie Theus told FanHouse Monday. "And I love LeBron. He's going to be one of the best to ever play the game. It's just a tough question, though, [over who to take]. If you look at history. I would have to take Dwight."
Ask the coach of the Kings, one of the worst teams in the league. That's real fucking smart. If given the choice between these two, the Kings would have taken Emeka Okafor or Darko Milicic.
"If you're going to win championships, you have to have great defense, and it's tough to argue with Howard on that one."
Howard won his first Defensive Player of the Year award and his second rebounding title this season.
If I recall correctly, LeBron James made the All-NBA Defensive Team and very well could have and should have been DPoY this year. Rebounding, I will give to Howard, but when Kendrick Perkins shows you up when you are playing one-on-one defense that is not a good thing. I know this blog has become a haven for Dwight Howard haters or at least harsh critiques of his game or lack of game, and maybe we expect too much from him, but a Howard v. James argument seems pretty easy to decide for me.
"I would take the more complete player," said John Gabriel, New York Knicks director of professional and free-agent scouting, and former NBA Executive of the Year. "I'd take the one whose skill set fits better in today's climate, and with the way the rules stand today."
Gabriel would not name James directly, worried about any future free-agent implications,
The Knicks are already worried about tampering with LeBron James. They are going to go after him so hard in two years. They are already preparing to pull out all the stops. They may even invite him to be a part of the cast of SNL and have his own Broadway play if that's what it takes.
"The one guy [James] is clearly a once-in-a-lifetime player. They both are. But what are the chances of being in the position to take a center like that? "
Are there guys like James coming out of the draft every year that I am not aware of? James is better offensively by a mile, defensively they are even, and James is also is able to make his teammates better which is not an ability Howard has shown a whole lot of or can't show a lot of at this point in his career. James by a mile. It's not even a question in my mind.
3. I am proponent of college players having to stay in college for a full 2 years or they can go straight to the pros from high school. I think if they go to college, they have to commit for more than one year, I would like three years but that is too much. I actually would like for all players to go to college before going to the NBA but I know that is not realistic. Gary Parrish has some really interesting data. It concerns the make up of this year's playoffs teams.
Add it up and nine of the 12 leading regular-season scorers (who are currently active) from the Lakers, Nuggets, Cavs and Magic never played college basketball.
I don't know if this year is just an outlier or not and this may not be true for prior years, but this is some interesting information. It almost tells me there is no need for a player to attend college to be a contributor on an NBA playoff team. Of course some of these players are international players where many of the college-taught fundamentals are taught in the pro leagues and some of the pro leagues are actually "college leagues" in that they don't always contain the highest degree of talent. So in essence those who don't come over to America to play at age 18 are going to college. Of course many of the international players come over to America at a young age anyway and never play in any international pro leagues. I am rambling now...
I can't make an excuse like that for the American players who went straight to the NBA. There is no good conclusion I can come to, other than to say going to college to play for a year may not be necessary.
Six (Bryant, Bynum, Smith, James, Howard and Lewis) went directly from American high schools to the NBA, three (Gasol, Ilgauskas and Turkoglu) are international players, and the other three (Anthony, Billups and Williams) played in college for a combined total of five seasons.
This is some interesting data. I wish this talent had all gone to college because I love college basketball, but this year's NBA playoffs team makeup seems to indicate that college is not always necessary to develop a kid into a great player at the NBA level.
4. Jay Mariotti is now giving props to Michael Phelps for persevering through his out of the pool troubles.
Everyone may remember this post where Mariotti tore Phelps a new asshole for smoking pot even though Mariotti admitted to smoking pot as well and then I took Mariotti to task for being a hypocrite. Then I made the mistake of including the name Apolo Anton Ohno in my post because he was quoted in Mariotti's article and a Apolo Anton Ohno message board tried to tear into me. Let's just say it was a long day and if you did not get to experience it I would encourage you to read the comments. It just so happened that I threw a party (the grown up kind) in my attic that night and so my comments get progressively semi-drunker and I wanted the Ohno fans to leave me alone...which they eventually did.
Jay Mariotti originally thought that Phelps needed to continue competing to show children what he did was a mistake, which made no sense to me and still doesn't. Him continuing to compete can also tell children you can smoke pot and still be a top flight athlete.
He was on the precipice: continue to endure the global spotlight or fade away as a 23-year-old retiree, which would give him plenty of time to party and lush out as he pleased. This was no insignificant decision for humankind, either. If a legendary athlete fled years before his time because he couldn't tolerate intense scrutiny, what would it say about Phelps, his priorities, the cruelty of society in 2009 and the peek-a-boo syndrome of advancing technology?
It would say he is rich and doesn't want to have to deal with sportswriters like Jay Mariotti analyzing his every move if he doesn't want to.
Fortunately for Phelps -- and his legacy in sport and life -- he did not run from the problems he created.
Am I the only one that doesn't see the correlation between success in athletic endeavors and how this makes up for his mistakes? His gold medals in Beijing did not make the fact he got a DUI three years earlier any more excusable and if he participates in 2012 that won't mean that the picture of him smoking pot has any more or any less significance. Any attempts to tie these together doesn't make sense to me.
Are we going to forgive him for his mistakes if he brings home more gold medals? To indicate that the American public would do this seems pretty dumb to me. For some reason Mariotti still clings to the notion that Phelps needs to compete to get forgiveness from American and society. I just don't understand this.
5. I don't know if anyone has heard this news or not, it has been a pretty quiet story, but David Ortiz is struggling to hit this year. Ken Rosenthal says the unthinkable, that is would be easy to replace him.
The best part about the Red Sox is that they are unsentimental and it may pay off in this situation. I think this is an interesting situation because he has gone from a feared LH hitter to someone who can't hit the ball out of the park in one year.
Here are the options:
Ortiz's .666 OPS is the 17th-lowest in the American League. However, the league average for designated hitters at the start of the week was only .777. Last season, it was .780.
Keep him around and hopes he snaps out of it, which I think he will do.
The Sox probably could not trade Ortiz, who is earning $12.5 million annually through next season. Even if they tried to be creative — say, by attaching him to a young pitcher — Ortiz would possess enough service time to block any deal.
Unless the Red Sox eat a lot of salary I don't see this happening.
Removing Ortiz from the No. 3 spot would not necessarily help matters. The Sox would need him to produce even if he were hitting seventh; J.D. Drew currently is their only left-handed hitter with power.
I wonder if they could put him at the No. 10 spot?
If the Sox merely confined their search to left-handed hitters in the final years of contracts, they could choose from among the following:
Rick Ankiel (Cardinals), Hank Blalock (Rangers), Jason Giambi (A's), Brian Giles (Padres), Aubrey Huff (Orioles), Adam LaRoche (Pirates), Chad Tracy (Diamondbacks).
Basically look for the Red Sox to make a trade and get a LH bat, possibly a guy like Huff who has experience at multiple positions, and then Ortiz will have more time to break out of the slump, or they can bench him until he gets a key hit in a key playoff game, which is going to happen. I can feel it.
That's your Red Sox update for the day.
6. I am sure you have all heard about this guy (douchebag) who held a homerun ball ransom for memorabilia.
I know you want my opinion. I think he is an asshole. Not because of what he wanted in exchange for the ball, that's not my overall problem with him. My problem is that he continuously does shit like this. He catches homerun balls and then demands a king's ransom from players who did not even hit the ball. Guys who just are teammates with the player who hit the ball, but have nothing to do with the situation. Chris Coghlan, who hit the ball in question, played here in Greensboro two years ago and he was very nice and signed autographs before and after games when he was here. He seemed like a good guy. Sure he is a high draft pick and probably not a great guy, but he seemed that way to me.
The guy even wears a Marlins hat to make it look like he is a Marlins fan so they are more inclined to get him the memorabilia he wants. My problem is not that he wanted Coghlan to do anything for him, but that he wanted a Hanley Ramirez autographed bat. What the fuck did Ramirez have to do with anything? If he would get that smug grin off his face for a few minutes he would realize there is a vast secondary market for autographs and maybe a player who is not even slightly involved in the homerun that was hit does not want to sign an autograph on a bat this guy can sell for a profit.
It sounded innocent enough until I read some of the other shit this guy did. He calls himself the Happy Youngster even though he is 29 years old and has a family. He is not a youngster, he is an opportunistic douchebag. Just read some stuff about him in this post on Deadspin and make up your mind but I think you will agree with me. D-O-U-C-H-E.
7. Mike Freeman thinks that the fans are too close to the action in the NBA.
The NBA has long been asking for serious trouble by sitting its fans so close to the action, where large athletes beat the hell out of each other just inches away from their fans.
I have to admit, it is a bit disconcerting to see Larry David sitting two chairs down from Phil Jackson at the Staples Center (and yes, I still want to call it the Forum). It feels too close to me. The fans want to be that close but they need to realize when they are that close they can get hurt.
The NBA does this because the league desires to make more money. It put a price tag on closeness and intimacy. Fine, that's the NBA's choice. One day, it'll pay the price for that kind of arrogance -- and that day might be coming sooner than they think.
I am never going to make excuses for players going in the stands and fighting the fans but players are human as well and if a fan sitting in a chair courtside keeps heckling a player, at some point a player may lose his temper and lash out at that fan. If you want the fans to feel like they are a part of the action that is fine, but they may end up actually being a part of the action at some point.
The NBA does this because the league desires to make more money. It put a price tag on closeness and intimacy. Fine, that's the NBA's choice. One day, it'll pay the price for that kind of arrogance -- and that day might be coming sooner than they think.
I have heard similar terms being used at games I have attended. The fans feel like they are a part of the team now more than ever and I think it shows in the language they use and how they berate the players sometimes. I personally would never berate a pro athlete because I know that person could snap and come after me. I berated one college player one time, Julius Hodge, at a bar in Raleigh and immediately regretted it. Not only because I was in Raleigh were he was a god, but also because he is a lot bigger in person than he was on television.
It's now only a matter of time before one of these fans at a courtside seat attacks a player. That's definitely the direction all of this is headed.
As much as I hate to agree, I do agree.
8. I haven't bashed Brett Favre in a week, so here is some interesting information about him and how he performs at the end of the year. (This information was only for 2008)
You'll note Favre's completion percentage dropped nearly nine points on average after Game 11, and he threw nearly three times as many interceptions (34) as touchdowns (13) over the combined final stretches of those seasons.
There is a chart at this link that also shows how other "elite" quarterbacks had their numbers drop off at the end of the year but none of those dropped as much as Brett Favre's did. Maybe the Vikings should consider replacing him with Gus Frerotte after Week 11.
From the outside, at least, they reveal a simple but valuable fact: He hasn't had the stamina to maintain acceptable production over a 16-game season for some time.
This is the type of stuff Peter King will not mention when discussing Brett's desire to play football. Favre can still be a great quarterback but he can't play a full 16 game schedule and play at a high level. He just can't do it anymore. Stay retired, would be my advice to him.
According to STATS Inc., Favre has played 14 games in weather under 40 degrees during the 2005-08 span we've been analyzing. In those games, he's thrown nine touchdown passes and 25 interceptions while compiling a 60.3 passer rating.
In eight indoor games during times when the outdoor temperature was less than 40 degrees, Favre threw 15 touchdown passes and five interceptions while compiling a 99.9 passer rating. (Also based on STATS research.)
So over the past four years, the grizzled cold weather veteran Favre has shown that he performs actually quite poorly in cold weather. Again, this is the type of stuff those who throw hyperbole about Favre's desire and ability to play in cold weather will not mention. Peter King won't bring this up in his MMQB, even though he throws other player's statistics on there to show trends. He likes Brett and won't do this to him.
9. Fortunately those who are tired of the Brett Favre situation can look at these 10 storylines and get pumped up for the new NFL season.
I read these ten things that Peter Schrager put up and got overly excited for the football season. The information about how Michael Mitchell was the 73rd ranked safety in the draft by Mel Kiper I thought was interesting.
I am pretty sure I am not excited for Tony Gonzalez's appearance in Atlanta. As long as the Brett Favre talk is kept at a minimum I think I will be able to handle the new football season.
10. Take a look at this picture of Tyler Hansbrough and try not to laugh. I am going to miss making fun of his face now that he has graduated to the NBA.
On another note, he is signing autographs in the town where I grew up and at the pharmacy of a guy who went to my church growing up as well. I am not kidding when I say I grew up around tons and tons of UNC fans.
the home of Sun-Drop, Fred Drust, and James Worthy.
Worthy and Durst both suck but Sun-Drop is badass. I make a habit of getting people addicted to it. It's like Mountain Dew but less diluted tasting, more citrusy and with more caffeine. Call me crazy but I don't buy any for a week or two and then try it again just so I don't get used to the taste. Yes, I know I am insane.
1. Scoop Jackson and JemeHill, the "experts" at ESPN on the NBA (because they are minorities they are the experts?) want to comment on/avoid a few questions before the Conference Finals (though I know they started last night, I did not post this until today).
Question: Cleveland went 8-0 in the first two rounds. Denver is outscoring its opponents by an average of 16.0 points per game, the best mark ever through 10 playoff games. Which team is playing better right now?
Scoop Jackson: That's a helluva question. I guess the best way to tackle it is to ask, "If Denver and Cleveland were playing in the Finals right now, who would win?"
No, actually that is quite possibly not the best way to tackle the question, by answering a different question. Who is playing better now? It's a simple question. Don't try to guess who would win if the teams played, but who is playing better now. As great as Denver is playing, the correct answer is Cleveland because LeBron James is on a mission and has a great supporting cast built around his talents.
And here's my thing: LeBron and Co. have been making life very difficult for teams, especially on the defensive end, but could they shut the Nuggets down? Could they limit what the Nuggets do offensively?
So far Scoop has changed the question of who is playing better and followed it up with two other questions. Maybe they should ask someone else these questions to get an answer.
But the speed with which the Nuggets have been scoring -- I don't know -- if I'm Cavs coach Mike Brown, how do I prepare my team for that? So I'll say this: Cleveland may be playing better ball right now, but I'm more impressed with Denver.
So Cleveland is the answer but if the question was asked about "who he was more impressed with" (which it was not and Scoop answered it that way for no particular reason) it would be Denver? I feel like I am watching Celebrity Jeopardy on SNL.
We're splitting hairs here. But ultimately, I'm a little more impressed with Denver, because the Nuggets' success and dominance is a complete surprise.
And JemeHill counters his answer with more nonsense. Rather than answering the original question, she answers who she is most impressed with as well. I am also not sure how the #2 seed in the West having success in the playoffs is a surprise at this point.
Scoop Jackson:Jemele, you going to do the Whitney Houston imitation, or should I? Hell to the naw!...Even their leader called them "bipolar" at times. TNT's Kenny Smith made the strongest statement about this team the other day, when he said they "don't deserve to win a championship." I won't go that far, but I ain't mad at him for saying it out loud.
As I have said a few times, blogs are not dumbing down journalism, the journalists are doing a great job of that on their own.
Jemele Hill:Let's not drink from the cup of crazy.
JemeHill wants to chug from the vat of insanity instead. Have you read some of her columns?
Question: Orlando can beat Cleveland because …
Scoop Jackson: … LeBron James could get hurt, and just maybe Jameer Nelson will have the most miraculous recovery in the history of modern medicine. Those things aside, I really can't see the Magic getting past the Cavs.
What about the Nuggets though Scoop? I thought that is who the Cavs were playing...
Scoop Jackson: … they might prove to be a more focused and driven team in the end. Plus, the Andrew Bynum mystery is still hanging over these playoffs. I'd like to know what's really goin' on. A lot of the Lakers' Finals hopes and championship dreams hinged upon his return -- the Lakers having him this time around, as opposed to not having him in the playoffs last year. But what's goin' on? Timing and conditioning are one thing, and not having any playoff experience and trying to get acclimated to the level of play is another -- but when your coach says it's something "mental" and benches you twice during the playoffs, something's not right.
What's the opposite of a "contract push" in the playoffs like Jerome James and Glen Davis have done over the past couple of years when these players were about to become free agents after the season and they played better in the playoffs? If the opposite is a "contract reduction" push, is it possible Andrew Bynum is performing the first "contract reduction" push?
Jemele Hill: Dahntay Jones has become a poor man's version of James Posey in these playoffs. He completely took Chris Paul out of the Denver-New Orleans series.
The real James Posey played against this same Denver Nuggets team and did not fare too well. That doesn't make me as excited about the prospects of what the poor man's Posey can do against the Lakers.
That is all the NBA Playoff prophecies we get from these experts. We are all weeping in sadness because JemeHill and Scoop only have enough time to impart such little knowledge to us.
2. Tim Povtak has a really stupid question to ask. LeBron or Dwight Howard? Which one would you rather have on your team?
My answer is LeBron a thousand times over. I do realize Howard is a quality center, which are hard to find, but players like LeBron are also hard to find.
Only one can make it there, settling the debate -- temporarily -- over which team was luckier to get their pick, which player is better suited to dominate the league, and at which position is it more important to have a franchise player.
This is not even a debate. LeBron is better suited to dominate the league since he is already doing so and it is important to have a franchise player at any position. Point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward or center. It doesn't matter, you still have to build around them. A team with a great center still needs other great players or the team will end up being just mediocre.
Do you want the best center in the game? Or the best perimeter player?
Ok, Tim Povtak needs to be reprimanded harshly for calling LeBron James a "perimeter player." Like he hangs out on the perimeter all the time. He has more inside game than Howard does.
"Lebron is the better all-around player, there is no question about that," former Sacramento Kings coach Reggie Theus told FanHouse Monday. "And I love LeBron. He's going to be one of the best to ever play the game. It's just a tough question, though, [over who to take]. If you look at history. I would have to take Dwight."
Ask the coach of the Kings, one of the worst teams in the league. That's real fucking smart. If given the choice between these two, the Kings would have taken Emeka Okafor or Darko Milicic.
"If you're going to win championships, you have to have great defense, and it's tough to argue with Howard on that one."
Howard won his first Defensive Player of the Year award and his second rebounding title this season.
If I recall correctly, LeBron James made the All-NBA Defensive Team and very well could have and should have been DPoY this year. Rebounding, I will give to Howard, but when Kendrick Perkins shows you up when you are playing one-on-one defense that is not a good thing. I know this blog has become a haven for Dwight Howard haters or at least harsh critiques of his game or lack of game, and maybe we expect too much from him, but a Howard v. James argument seems pretty easy to decide for me.
"I would take the more complete player," said John Gabriel, New York Knicks director of professional and free-agent scouting, and former NBA Executive of the Year. "I'd take the one whose skill set fits better in today's climate, and with the way the rules stand today."
Gabriel would not name James directly, worried about any future free-agent implications,
The Knicks are already worried about tampering with LeBron James. They are going to go after him so hard in two years. They are already preparing to pull out all the stops. They may even invite him to be a part of the cast of SNL and have his own Broadway play if that's what it takes.
"The one guy [James] is clearly a once-in-a-lifetime player. They both are. But what are the chances of being in the position to take a center like that? "
Are there guys like James coming out of the draft every year that I am not aware of? James is better offensively by a mile, defensively they are even, and James is also is able to make his teammates better which is not an ability Howard has shown a whole lot of or can't show a lot of at this point in his career. James by a mile. It's not even a question in my mind.
3. I am proponent of college players having to stay in college for a full 2 years or they can go straight to the pros from high school. I think if they go to college, they have to commit for more than one year, I would like three years but that is too much. I actually would like for all players to go to college before going to the NBA but I know that is not realistic. Gary Parrish has some really interesting data. It concerns the make up of this year's playoffs teams.
Add it up and nine of the 12 leading regular-season scorers (who are currently active) from the Lakers, Nuggets, Cavs and Magic never played college basketball.
I don't know if this year is just an outlier or not and this may not be true for prior years, but this is some interesting information. It almost tells me there is no need for a player to attend college to be a contributor on an NBA playoff team. Of course some of these players are international players where many of the college-taught fundamentals are taught in the pro leagues and some of the pro leagues are actually "college leagues" in that they don't always contain the highest degree of talent. So in essence those who don't come over to America to play at age 18 are going to college. Of course many of the international players come over to America at a young age anyway and never play in any international pro leagues. I am rambling now...
I can't make an excuse like that for the American players who went straight to the NBA. There is no good conclusion I can come to, other than to say going to college to play for a year may not be necessary.
Six (Bryant, Bynum, Smith, James, Howard and Lewis) went directly from American high schools to the NBA, three (Gasol, Ilgauskas and Turkoglu) are international players, and the other three (Anthony, Billups and Williams) played in college for a combined total of five seasons.
This is some interesting data. I wish this talent had all gone to college because I love college basketball, but this year's NBA playoffs team makeup seems to indicate that college is not always necessary to develop a kid into a great player at the NBA level.
4. Jay Mariotti is now giving props to Michael Phelps for persevering through his out of the pool troubles.
Everyone may remember this post where Mariotti tore Phelps a new asshole for smoking pot even though Mariotti admitted to smoking pot as well and then I took Mariotti to task for being a hypocrite. Then I made the mistake of including the name Apolo Anton Ohno in my post because he was quoted in Mariotti's article and a Apolo Anton Ohno message board tried to tear into me. Let's just say it was a long day and if you did not get to experience it I would encourage you to read the comments. It just so happened that I threw a party (the grown up kind) in my attic that night and so my comments get progressively semi-drunker and I wanted the Ohno fans to leave me alone...which they eventually did.
Jay Mariotti originally thought that Phelps needed to continue competing to show children what he did was a mistake, which made no sense to me and still doesn't. Him continuing to compete can also tell children you can smoke pot and still be a top flight athlete.
He was on the precipice: continue to endure the global spotlight or fade away as a 23-year-old retiree, which would give him plenty of time to party and lush out as he pleased. This was no insignificant decision for humankind, either. If a legendary athlete fled years before his time because he couldn't tolerate intense scrutiny, what would it say about Phelps, his priorities, the cruelty of society in 2009 and the peek-a-boo syndrome of advancing technology?
It would say he is rich and doesn't want to have to deal with sportswriters like Jay Mariotti analyzing his every move if he doesn't want to.
Fortunately for Phelps -- and his legacy in sport and life -- he did not run from the problems he created.
Am I the only one that doesn't see the correlation between success in athletic endeavors and how this makes up for his mistakes? His gold medals in Beijing did not make the fact he got a DUI three years earlier any more excusable and if he participates in 2012 that won't mean that the picture of him smoking pot has any more or any less significance. Any attempts to tie these together doesn't make sense to me.
Are we going to forgive him for his mistakes if he brings home more gold medals? To indicate that the American public would do this seems pretty dumb to me. For some reason Mariotti still clings to the notion that Phelps needs to compete to get forgiveness from American and society. I just don't understand this.
5. I don't know if anyone has heard this news or not, it has been a pretty quiet story, but David Ortiz is struggling to hit this year. Ken Rosenthal says the unthinkable, that is would be easy to replace him.
The best part about the Red Sox is that they are unsentimental and it may pay off in this situation. I think this is an interesting situation because he has gone from a feared LH hitter to someone who can't hit the ball out of the park in one year.
Here are the options:
Ortiz's .666 OPS is the 17th-lowest in the American League. However, the league average for designated hitters at the start of the week was only .777. Last season, it was .780.
Keep him around and hopes he snaps out of it, which I think he will do.
The Sox probably could not trade Ortiz, who is earning $12.5 million annually through next season. Even if they tried to be creative — say, by attaching him to a young pitcher — Ortiz would possess enough service time to block any deal.
Unless the Red Sox eat a lot of salary I don't see this happening.
Removing Ortiz from the No. 3 spot would not necessarily help matters. The Sox would need him to produce even if he were hitting seventh; J.D. Drew currently is their only left-handed hitter with power.
I wonder if they could put him at the No. 10 spot?
If the Sox merely confined their search to left-handed hitters in the final years of contracts, they could choose from among the following:
Rick Ankiel (Cardinals), Hank Blalock (Rangers), Jason Giambi (A's), Brian Giles (Padres), Aubrey Huff (Orioles), Adam LaRoche (Pirates), Chad Tracy (Diamondbacks).
Basically look for the Red Sox to make a trade and get a LH bat, possibly a guy like Huff who has experience at multiple positions, and then Ortiz will have more time to break out of the slump, or they can bench him until he gets a key hit in a key playoff game, which is going to happen. I can feel it.
That's your Red Sox update for the day.
6. I am sure you have all heard about this guy (douchebag) who held a homerun ball ransom for memorabilia.
I know you want my opinion. I think he is an asshole. Not because of what he wanted in exchange for the ball, that's not my overall problem with him. My problem is that he continuously does shit like this. He catches homerun balls and then demands a king's ransom from players who did not even hit the ball. Guys who just are teammates with the player who hit the ball, but have nothing to do with the situation. Chris Coghlan, who hit the ball in question, played here in Greensboro two years ago and he was very nice and signed autographs before and after games when he was here. He seemed like a good guy. Sure he is a high draft pick and probably not a great guy, but he seemed that way to me.
The guy even wears a Marlins hat to make it look like he is a Marlins fan so they are more inclined to get him the memorabilia he wants. My problem is not that he wanted Coghlan to do anything for him, but that he wanted a Hanley Ramirez autographed bat. What the fuck did Ramirez have to do with anything? If he would get that smug grin off his face for a few minutes he would realize there is a vast secondary market for autographs and maybe a player who is not even slightly involved in the homerun that was hit does not want to sign an autograph on a bat this guy can sell for a profit.
It sounded innocent enough until I read some of the other shit this guy did. He calls himself the Happy Youngster even though he is 29 years old and has a family. He is not a youngster, he is an opportunistic douchebag. Just read some stuff about him in this post on Deadspin and make up your mind but I think you will agree with me. D-O-U-C-H-E.
7. Mike Freeman thinks that the fans are too close to the action in the NBA.
The NBA has long been asking for serious trouble by sitting its fans so close to the action, where large athletes beat the hell out of each other just inches away from their fans.
I have to admit, it is a bit disconcerting to see Larry David sitting two chairs down from Phil Jackson at the Staples Center (and yes, I still want to call it the Forum). It feels too close to me. The fans want to be that close but they need to realize when they are that close they can get hurt.
The NBA does this because the league desires to make more money. It put a price tag on closeness and intimacy. Fine, that's the NBA's choice. One day, it'll pay the price for that kind of arrogance -- and that day might be coming sooner than they think.
I am never going to make excuses for players going in the stands and fighting the fans but players are human as well and if a fan sitting in a chair courtside keeps heckling a player, at some point a player may lose his temper and lash out at that fan. If you want the fans to feel like they are a part of the action that is fine, but they may end up actually being a part of the action at some point.
The NBA does this because the league desires to make more money. It put a price tag on closeness and intimacy. Fine, that's the NBA's choice. One day, it'll pay the price for that kind of arrogance -- and that day might be coming sooner than they think.
I have heard similar terms being used at games I have attended. The fans feel like they are a part of the team now more than ever and I think it shows in the language they use and how they berate the players sometimes. I personally would never berate a pro athlete because I know that person could snap and come after me. I berated one college player one time, Julius Hodge, at a bar in Raleigh and immediately regretted it. Not only because I was in Raleigh were he was a god, but also because he is a lot bigger in person than he was on television.
It's now only a matter of time before one of these fans at a courtside seat attacks a player. That's definitely the direction all of this is headed.
As much as I hate to agree, I do agree.
8. I haven't bashed Brett Favre in a week, so here is some interesting information about him and how he performs at the end of the year. (This information was only for 2008)
You'll note Favre's completion percentage dropped nearly nine points on average after Game 11, and he threw nearly three times as many interceptions (34) as touchdowns (13) over the combined final stretches of those seasons.
There is a chart at this link that also shows how other "elite" quarterbacks had their numbers drop off at the end of the year but none of those dropped as much as Brett Favre's did. Maybe the Vikings should consider replacing him with Gus Frerotte after Week 11.
From the outside, at least, they reveal a simple but valuable fact: He hasn't had the stamina to maintain acceptable production over a 16-game season for some time.
This is the type of stuff Peter King will not mention when discussing Brett's desire to play football. Favre can still be a great quarterback but he can't play a full 16 game schedule and play at a high level. He just can't do it anymore. Stay retired, would be my advice to him.
According to STATS Inc., Favre has played 14 games in weather under 40 degrees during the 2005-08 span we've been analyzing. In those games, he's thrown nine touchdown passes and 25 interceptions while compiling a 60.3 passer rating.
In eight indoor games during times when the outdoor temperature was less than 40 degrees, Favre threw 15 touchdown passes and five interceptions while compiling a 99.9 passer rating. (Also based on STATS research.)
So over the past four years, the grizzled cold weather veteran Favre has shown that he performs actually quite poorly in cold weather. Again, this is the type of stuff those who throw hyperbole about Favre's desire and ability to play in cold weather will not mention. Peter King won't bring this up in his MMQB, even though he throws other player's statistics on there to show trends. He likes Brett and won't do this to him.
9. Fortunately those who are tired of the Brett Favre situation can look at these 10 storylines and get pumped up for the new NFL season.
I read these ten things that Peter Schrager put up and got overly excited for the football season. The information about how Michael Mitchell was the 73rd ranked safety in the draft by Mel Kiper I thought was interesting.
I am pretty sure I am not excited for Tony Gonzalez's appearance in Atlanta. As long as the Brett Favre talk is kept at a minimum I think I will be able to handle the new football season.
10. Take a look at this picture of Tyler Hansbrough and try not to laugh. I am going to miss making fun of his face now that he has graduated to the NBA.
On another note, he is signing autographs in the town where I grew up and at the pharmacy of a guy who went to my church growing up as well. I am not kidding when I say I grew up around tons and tons of UNC fans.
the home of Sun-Drop, Fred Drust, and James Worthy.
Worthy and Durst both suck but Sun-Drop is badass. I make a habit of getting people addicted to it. It's like Mountain Dew but less diluted tasting, more citrusy and with more caffeine. Call me crazy but I don't buy any for a week or two and then try it again just so I don't get used to the taste. Yes, I know I am insane.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
8 comments Why Everyone Hates Tyler Hansbrough
Lately I have noticed a mass of "Why Does Everyone Hate Tyler Hansbrough?" articles on the Internet and they all seem like the kind of article where the title asks a question and then the column that follows answers it by defending Hansbrough. If a player is talked about enough that there is an entire article written about why people hate him, the fact you wrote an entire article about it defending him is EXACTLY why everyone hates him. I could be counted among those people who are not a big Tyler Hansbrough fan, but first a little background into why I don't dislike him more than any of his teammates.
Full disclosure here: I fucking hate UNC basketball. I hate them more than I hate any other team despite the fact when I get married there will be a minimum of three groomsman who are diehard UNC fans and my sister went to school there. I actually have to avoid the subject with each party because they hate my favorite team and I hate their favorite team, but that is the only thing we differ on so there is no reason to ruin a perfectly good friendship over insane hatred. I hate UNC in the most bizarre way, where I can't stand to watch their games because it makes my stomach churn and I want to throw the television out the window if they are winning. I dread Duke-UNC basketball games. I can't stand watching them, I just want them to be over. I clearly need therapy for this because if I am watching UConn-Pitt on ESPN and the announcers say Pitt can beat UNC, I almost always say, "no way, UNC would wipe the floor with them, they are deeper and more talented," yet if Pitt plays UNC I will cheer for Pitt as much as I humanly can without buying a Pittsburgh Panthers jersey and wearing it around...but yet if someone is comparing conferences I always throw the UNC National Championships in there as proof of how strong the ACC is. I once wrote an email to Matt Doherty and Ronald Curry calling them out for the bullshit they pulled in February 2001 during a basketball game. I did not get hit with a restraining order, but I also did not get an email back. I am deranged. I truly believe UNC is going to win the National Championship and I 100% believe this is true because they are the best team in the country and have every single attribute a championship team needs. This post is not about me, though I know it seems that way, but it is about Tyler Hansbrough and I just wanted to Gregg Doyel it up and tell you how much I hate UNC before I actually write something of substance.
First, Gary Parrish wonders why everyone hates Hansbrough. Then he writes this article and it pretty much sums up the reason everyone hates him by fawning over him. I actually feel a little bad for Hansbrough...simply because I don't dislike him any more than I dislike his teammates...still it is pretty obvious why there is a Hansbrough backlash. This article and the next two after that will be Exhibits A-C.
And just like that -- exactly 13.8 seconds earlier than most expected -- Tyler Hansbrough's historic career in this historic building came to a close, North Carolina's all-time leading scorer required by rule to exit the court after his fifth foul Sunday.
The only time Tyler Hansbrough will foul out during a game is when the game is already in hand. He can go over a player's back 100 times a game or commit 10 other fouls trying to get a loose ball and he will not get called for it. I would put the odds of him fouling out at a crucial point in the NCAA Tournament roughly near 1,000,000 to 1.
I also like how Parrish wrote "required by rule" because Hansbrough is seen as such a hard worker, it is impossible to get him off the court unless it is required by rule. He sleeps, eats and goes to the bathroom on the court...refusing to leave, unless required by rule of course.
Because that final walk to the bench was the consequence of a fifth foul, the result of a mistake. So Hansbrough was certifiably pissed during every step of his trek from the far end of the court, and when he arrived at the bench he simply shook the hand of Roy Williams, all business, right to the end.
"I was mad," Hansbrough said. "I was upset with myself."
Nearly every player in college basketball is upset when they foul out of a game. Only one or two get an article written about them mentioning this as a positive attribute that should be celebrated. Hansbrough cares so much more than any other player because he is a competitor. He is like David Eckstein, except really tall and a lot more bizarre looking.
My sister keeps telling me Hansbrough is a peach of a guy and I believe her, but I can't separate this from his on court persona. That would ruin the hatred for me. I must compartmentalize at all times.
In a word, it was sweet. And as he did all this while alternating between a smile and tears, I couldn't help but watch and wonder why more players don't hang around for this type of stuff, why everybody always seems in such a hurry to leave college, ASAP.
I don't know if this is supposed to be a puff piece but I feel like this article should have the hushed lighting of a Barbara Walters interview.
And just so we're clear, you'll never read a column authored by me where a player is criticized for choosing millions over school. In fact, you're more likely to read a column authored by me where a player who turns down millions to stay in school is criticized, because I've long been of the opinion that delaying or risking millions of guaranteed money to play college basketball is stupid.
I think I can agree with this.
But Hansbrough makes me question that opinion.
This is a great reason why everyone hates Hansbrough. Gary Parrish is so resolute that players should choose taking money over staying in college and he thinks those that don't do this are stupid...but yet Hansbrough makes him question his own resolute opinion because of how much fun he looks like he is having in college. Tyler is special, his very existence in college basketball makes other people question their beliefs on whether chasing money in the NBA is a good decision.
Each time he didn't do it, he passed on millions. But had he ever done it he would've passed on all this, i.e., the records, the honors, the legend and, yeah, the normal things that go along with being a college student.
"I'll remember all the fun I've had off the court, too," Hansbrough said. "Going to parties, jumping off frat houses, doing stupid stuff."
Exactly.
Doing stupid stuff.
Don't all of our best college memories revolve around doing stupid stuff?
Parties and movies and all-nighters and girlfriends.
God, this sounds all very High School Musical 4 doesn't it?
Here is a quick study in media perception. While the perception of Matt Leinart is that he stayed in school to take a loaded USC team to a national title, take as few classes as possible and party with his friends, Tyler Hansbrough is glorified and put up on a pedestal for passing up money for hanging out in college and partying. This is exactly why people hate Tyler Hansbrough. It's a minor difference in perception, but there is a difference. Granted Leinart was at USC a fifth year and Hansbrough will graduate in four years, but I am not talking about reality here, I am talking about the perception of both athletes. If we were talking about reality then everyone who hated and praised Hansbrough would be wrong for feeling the way they do. The truth is somewhere in the middle. Each player has a different perception of their decision to stay in college and they differ simply based on how the media talked about their decision or at least how the media shaded their decision.
Matt Leinart- lazy loser for staying in college, partying with his friends, and doing stupid stuff like dating Paris Hilton rather than taking the guaranteed money of the NFL.
Tyler Hansbrough- over achieving kid who "gets it" by staying in college and passing up the terrible lure of the Sirens of the NBA and its evil money. Just enjoying college by jumping off the roof of buildings into swimming pools.
Ignore everything Leinart has done since the NFL, I am not talking about that, but what I am talking about is that Matt Leinart was potentially the #1 pick in the draft if he had come out after his senior year and yet he chose to stay in school. He threw an incredible amount of things away to do the college thing for one more year and people thought he was lazy by talking ballroom dancing for his only class and he is perceived as a SoCal party boy for his antics. Granted, some of this is his own doing and is a result of the location of the school he attended. Tyler Hansbrough has never even been spoken of as a top 10 pick in the NBA Draft, so he has less of a reason to leave school, and yet he is glorified for having the guts to stay in school and just be a kid. I could see an argument that Hansbrough should have gone pro after his junior year because he was never considered a top pick, so he should leave while he is still guaranteed a first round contract. So in a way Hansbrough had more reason to go pro than Leinart. Also, if you think Leinart was partying a lot more than Hansbrough, then you are naive. Leinart lives in SoCal and that is the difference. Chapel Hill, North Carolina has very few camera guys from TMZ hanging around.
If your favorite school signed a prospect in November, wouldn't you hope that prospect would stay four years, earn a degree, keep out of trouble and smash records? Wouldn't that be the perfect scenario? Of course it would! And really, that's all Hansbrough has done. But somehow he's still become the object of hate, for whatever reason.
Everyone wants this. Of course. If your team's biggest rival did all these things and got 100 articles written about him because of it, wouldn't you find it quite annoying? Hansbrough is a great guy but that is the problem everyone has with him...we get constantly reminded of this every time a game is shown and his spastic thrashings on the offensive end is referred to as "hard work" and never chalked up to the talent he has. Hansbrough is a talented guy and that is something that falls through the cracks when writers are talking about how hard he tries.
Yeah," Hansbrough replied, "But people are still going to hate me."
Perhaps.
But good luck trying to understand why.
No need to understand, Gary Parrish just wrote an article that helped exemplify it for everyone.
To quote one of my favorite Sopranos episodes in regard to Gary Parrish's question in the title about why everyone hates Tyler Hansbrough and his column that followed. (This quote was at the wake for Tony Soprano's mother and I am going from memory, but you get the point):
(Janice Soprano) "Maybe Tony, you can tell everyone why Mom kept all of your awards, papers, and drawings from when you were younger, but why I can't find a single thing that she kept around of mine...Even though everyone knew I had a incredible mind for spatial design, she did not feel the need to keep any of my stuff. Maybe you want to explain that Tony?"
(Tony Soprano) "You just did Janice. Wrap it up."
Gary just did a great job of answering why people hate Hansbrough.
My BFF, Gregg Doyel, thinks that Hansbrough should be on the 1st All American team and got screwed.
It won't just be Parrish, either. I'm hearing Hansbrough will be on the outside looking in on various All-America teams this year, which means college basketball got a whole lot better, or Tyler Hansbrough got worse. Or we're sick of him, which is the only conclusion in this nonsensical situation that makes any sense to me.
Or it could be that he is not one of the 5 best players in NCAA basketball. He is not even the best player on his team. That person is Ty Lawson. UNC can win without Tyler Hansbrough, yep it is true, the team would survive with Ty Zeller, Ed Davis or Deon Thompson on the floor at his position, but they can't win without Ty Lawson. Look, Hansbrough is great and deserved Player of the Year last year but this year there are too many players performing at a higher level. Sure, not being picked is going to motivate him and piss him off to where he tears up the NCAA Tournament with wonderful performances every night and the fact he did not make 1st team All American will get written about maybe 1,000 times, but its only going to increase the hatred for him.
For four years Hansbrough has been shoved down our throat by television. Dick Vitale loves him. All announcers love him. If Hansbrough wore a helmet and pads, he'd be Tim Tebow.
Hansbrough is the all time leader in FT made in the NCAA. For three years now (not this year) he has made a living jumping actually into other players and getting a foul called. He doesn't get the player up in the air or anything, he just jumps into them and throws up a shot and gets the foul call. He got away with it, so more power to him, but he got a lot of foul calls on the whole.
Ten more freshmen went in the first round in 2008. All those million-dollar babies, gone. But Hansbrough dominated when they were in school, and he's still here. And he didn't get worse. He is rebounding more, shooting better, blocking more shots, turning it over less and scoring almost three points more per game than he did as a sophomore, when he was a consensus All-American.
I actually think Hansbrough deserves to be 1st team All American. It is probably not helping him that his numbers are down from last year across the board, more than his popularity is actually hurting him. Generally voters like to see players progress from year to year and Hansbrough has played less minutes this year so his numbers are slightly down. He doesn't have to do as much for the team to be successful and it is showing.
Hansbrough didn't have any PlayStation games. He just checks in with something approaching 20 points and 10 rebounds, and he does it every time. But we've seen that before. Now, if he could put up 20-and-10 while balancing a rubber ducky on his nose ...
This is another reason why people hate Tyler Hansbrough. He gets credit for everything he does, even if the writer has to stretch a little bit to give him the credit. He has averaged 20-10 only once in his career and that was last year...and he got the PoY award in response to this. 8.2 rebounds per game is not "approaching" 10 rebounds, that is about 50 rebounds or 2 rebounds a game off the pace.
Griffin will be an All-American everywhere, including here at CBSSports.com, where he joins Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair (15.6 ppg, 12.4 rpg) in the frontcourt. The rest of the first team is Davidson's Stephen Curry (28.6 ppg, 5.7 assists), Arizona State's James Harden (20.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 4.1 apg) and North Carolina's Ty Lawson (15.9 ppg, 6.5 apg).
Every single one of those players improved on his total numbers from last year and that must be what the voters are looking for. I would take James Harden off the list personally but I can understand why others do not do that...especially if that person wants a team with players at each PG, SG, SF, PF, C position.
There have been 13 players mentioned in this story alone. Any of them, in a weaker year for college basketball, would be a legitimate first-team pick. But only five can make it, so most of them will be left out. I'm understanding. Up to a point.
Again, another reason people hate Tyler Hansbrough. Just like Parrish, who has the policy of criticizing players who don't leave for the NBA but Hansbrough almost makes him re-think it, Gregg Doyel understands players get left off the first team All American squad and is usually fine with it, but thinks Hansbrough should be the exception to this rule. Hansbrough doesn't need a crowd at games, he has every journalist in the free world cheering him on.
That point being Griffin and Hansbrough. They're All-Americans. Period.
You are only exacerbating the problem. I don't dislike Hansbrough any more than I dislike any other UNC player but it is hard to feel that way when you read articles like this.
You need another article as an example of why people hate Tyler Hansbrough? I know you do. Here's one.
She sounded as only a member of the dance team at a Deep South flagship state university can. She had just enough brass in her voice -- a voice that will serve her well when she's managing accounts, analyzing financials or selling McMansions in five years -- to seem perfectly justified in her intrusion on the quiet time of a campus legend.
This writing is courtesy of Andy Staples. First off, North Carolina is not the motherfucking Deep South. If the South begins in Virginia, there are three states below it. Check out a map or an atlas or google "map of the United States" and see where it is located in relation the rest of the fucking United States, then re-write this sentence.
This cheerleader could be getting married to a successful person and raising children, telling the Women's Liberation Movement to go fuck itself, just because she goes to UNC doesn't mean Finance is the career path she will choose. I just wanted to give this person other options that don't involve a stereotype of women being successful and career driven if they graduate college from UNC. Or I could just be bitter and not like UNC. Take your pick.
"Come ohn, Psy-cho Tee!"
Seriously, that is his nickname.
North Carolina's all-time leading scorer wore the same expression he always wears before he pours another gallon of sweat onto the hardwood.
Right now I am having a cliche overdose. This sentence is the penultimate sentence on why people hate Tyler Hansbrough, because journalists write shit like this sentence about him all the time. All the time. If anyone doesn't dislike Hansbrough read this sentence three times. You will dislike him at the end of the third time. He averages 30 minutes per game, all of them hard fought, just like every other college athlete in the country. He just looks like he is working harder because he is spastic and overdoes absolutely everything. He probably gasps and throws his body up against the wall when he is taking a piss...just to make it seem like he is expending great amounts of effort.
I also wonder if Hansbrough is pouring his own sweat on the court in this cliche or sweat he has collected from other people?
"It's a hard game to play," said Hansbrough, who scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Or as Gregg Doyel would say, he put up something approaching 20 points and ten rebounds.
Even though Jordan's presence somehow inspired Hansbrough to channel the spirit of Jordan's former Bulls teammate Craig Hodges -- Hansbrough made his 11th and 12th career 3-pointers in the first half
I am sure Michael Jordan's presence made Tyler Hansbrough immediately think of an obscure teammate of Jordan's, Craig Hodges, and Hansbrough was so inspired by this thought he started just making three pointers. It always happens like that. Hansbrough's brain is always working in the form of Six Degrees of Michael Jordan to get inspiration.
I am sure Andy Staples is a grand guy but the beginning of this article is exactly why people hate Tyler Hansbrough. Writers use cliched cliches to describe his effort level all the time and the love for him is never ending from writers. Also, North Carolina is NOT the Deep South...this irritates me greatly.
This guy explains exactly why others hate Tyler Hansbrough. He is of course able to do it more eloquently than I do.
First of all, style of play. It's worth mentioning. Watching Hansbrough is not fun or entertaining or aesthetically enjoyable. It's just ugly.
It is beyond ugly. Whether it is ugly jump shot, watching him glide across the lane turn sideways and throw up a shot in hopes of drawing a foul, watching him flop on the court when hit by an opposing player when the same contact doesn't prevent him from getting an offensive rebound, or his shot-put attempt at a layup, watching Hansbrough is ugly. He is also incredibly effective as well.
But that really doesn't get to the heart of the matter. The real reason why people loathe Tyler Hansbrough is much simpler, much less psychological. People dislike Tyler Hansbrough because the media loves him.
This, in a nutshell, is pretty much the entire truth. I also don't really like him because the media does portray him as a guy who does things the right way, yet he has a tendency to pout when a foul is called against him and he also tends to do borderline technical foul type antics when a call does not go his way. This past Sunday he got called for an offensive foul, screamed at the referee who made the call, and then held the ball under his arm as he walked down the court bitching the entire time. He also failed to draw a charge earlier in the game and convulsed his body on the floor in anger. Since Tyler Hansbrough does everything overblown, it was quite noticeable.
Shockingly the media never seems to talk about his tendency to pout when he doesn't get a foul call his way, they just think he is just being a competitor.
Dick Vitale loves him.
Understatement of the year. Of course what doesn't Dick Vitale like? This is the same guy who spends a good portion of a television broadcast actually not talking about the game that is occurring, so it could reasonably be said that he has never actually paid attention to what is going on when Hansbrough plays.
And of course Vitale is the worst offender; even as his supporters admit that Hansbrough's game likely isn't suited for the NBA, Vitale uses broadcast time to dare NBA teams to pass on the player. It's insane.
He did the same thing with J.J. Redick when even the most diehard Duke fan knew that any time an athletic guy could stay with Redick he was going to be shut down. Basically any type of NBA player would prevent him from getting his shot off and it turned out to be true in the NBA. Honestly, Sheldon Williams failing was more of a shock than Redick failing to Duke fans. As far as Hansbrough, he could be a contributor on a playoff team and there would be nothing wrong with that. I would use a late round 1st round pick on him, but the way Dick Vitale refuses to acknowledge any chink in the armor of these college guys is horrible analysis....which ironically is his job, to analyze.
when you start saying things that don't line up, visually, with what your viewers are seeing unfold in front of them -- you undermine the whole enterprise. Fans, whether rationally or not, turn that disconnect into disgust.
This is pretty much how it is with Tyler Hansbrough. I chalk it up to the announcers that networks like ESPN hire who don't necessarily feel like it is their job to call a game and then analyze that game, but to hype up the game so the viewer feels like they are watching the greatest game EVER. Dick Vitale is the absolute best example of this. He seems like a great person but he uses so much hyperbole when talking about players, when he is actually paying attention, he is pretty much unlistenable.
The unfortunate part is that Tyler Hansbrough can't do anything about the people who fawn over him. He is as helpless from stopping it happen as the public is from having to hear what a great player he is. This always seems to happen to white ACC players for some reason.
This hate doesn't come out of nowhere. It's not organic, and it's not grassroots. It's a response. If the next question is "A response to what," then you just haven't been paying attention.
The public can generally only take so much of someone else telling them how good something or someone is. I feel bad for Tyler Hansbrough in a way because he is a victim of his own success, much like others before him. He did so well so early in his career there is a kind of blowback in negative criticism. I, for one, will never dislike him more than I dislike any other UNC basketball player and that is my vow.
Full disclosure here: I fucking hate UNC basketball. I hate them more than I hate any other team despite the fact when I get married there will be a minimum of three groomsman who are diehard UNC fans and my sister went to school there. I actually have to avoid the subject with each party because they hate my favorite team and I hate their favorite team, but that is the only thing we differ on so there is no reason to ruin a perfectly good friendship over insane hatred. I hate UNC in the most bizarre way, where I can't stand to watch their games because it makes my stomach churn and I want to throw the television out the window if they are winning. I dread Duke-UNC basketball games. I can't stand watching them, I just want them to be over. I clearly need therapy for this because if I am watching UConn-Pitt on ESPN and the announcers say Pitt can beat UNC, I almost always say, "no way, UNC would wipe the floor with them, they are deeper and more talented," yet if Pitt plays UNC I will cheer for Pitt as much as I humanly can without buying a Pittsburgh Panthers jersey and wearing it around...but yet if someone is comparing conferences I always throw the UNC National Championships in there as proof of how strong the ACC is. I once wrote an email to Matt Doherty and Ronald Curry calling them out for the bullshit they pulled in February 2001 during a basketball game. I did not get hit with a restraining order, but I also did not get an email back. I am deranged. I truly believe UNC is going to win the National Championship and I 100% believe this is true because they are the best team in the country and have every single attribute a championship team needs. This post is not about me, though I know it seems that way, but it is about Tyler Hansbrough and I just wanted to Gregg Doyel it up and tell you how much I hate UNC before I actually write something of substance.
First, Gary Parrish wonders why everyone hates Hansbrough. Then he writes this article and it pretty much sums up the reason everyone hates him by fawning over him. I actually feel a little bad for Hansbrough...simply because I don't dislike him any more than I dislike his teammates...still it is pretty obvious why there is a Hansbrough backlash. This article and the next two after that will be Exhibits A-C.
And just like that -- exactly 13.8 seconds earlier than most expected -- Tyler Hansbrough's historic career in this historic building came to a close, North Carolina's all-time leading scorer required by rule to exit the court after his fifth foul Sunday.
The only time Tyler Hansbrough will foul out during a game is when the game is already in hand. He can go over a player's back 100 times a game or commit 10 other fouls trying to get a loose ball and he will not get called for it. I would put the odds of him fouling out at a crucial point in the NCAA Tournament roughly near 1,000,000 to 1.
I also like how Parrish wrote "required by rule" because Hansbrough is seen as such a hard worker, it is impossible to get him off the court unless it is required by rule. He sleeps, eats and goes to the bathroom on the court...refusing to leave, unless required by rule of course.
Because that final walk to the bench was the consequence of a fifth foul, the result of a mistake. So Hansbrough was certifiably pissed during every step of his trek from the far end of the court, and when he arrived at the bench he simply shook the hand of Roy Williams, all business, right to the end.
"I was mad," Hansbrough said. "I was upset with myself."
Nearly every player in college basketball is upset when they foul out of a game. Only one or two get an article written about them mentioning this as a positive attribute that should be celebrated. Hansbrough cares so much more than any other player because he is a competitor. He is like David Eckstein, except really tall and a lot more bizarre looking.
My sister keeps telling me Hansbrough is a peach of a guy and I believe her, but I can't separate this from his on court persona. That would ruin the hatred for me. I must compartmentalize at all times.
In a word, it was sweet. And as he did all this while alternating between a smile and tears, I couldn't help but watch and wonder why more players don't hang around for this type of stuff, why everybody always seems in such a hurry to leave college, ASAP.
I don't know if this is supposed to be a puff piece but I feel like this article should have the hushed lighting of a Barbara Walters interview.
And just so we're clear, you'll never read a column authored by me where a player is criticized for choosing millions over school. In fact, you're more likely to read a column authored by me where a player who turns down millions to stay in school is criticized, because I've long been of the opinion that delaying or risking millions of guaranteed money to play college basketball is stupid.
I think I can agree with this.
But Hansbrough makes me question that opinion.
This is a great reason why everyone hates Hansbrough. Gary Parrish is so resolute that players should choose taking money over staying in college and he thinks those that don't do this are stupid...but yet Hansbrough makes him question his own resolute opinion because of how much fun he looks like he is having in college. Tyler is special, his very existence in college basketball makes other people question their beliefs on whether chasing money in the NBA is a good decision.
Each time he didn't do it, he passed on millions. But had he ever done it he would've passed on all this, i.e., the records, the honors, the legend and, yeah, the normal things that go along with being a college student.
"I'll remember all the fun I've had off the court, too," Hansbrough said. "Going to parties, jumping off frat houses, doing stupid stuff."
Exactly.
Doing stupid stuff.
Don't all of our best college memories revolve around doing stupid stuff?
Parties and movies and all-nighters and girlfriends.
God, this sounds all very High School Musical 4 doesn't it?
Here is a quick study in media perception. While the perception of Matt Leinart is that he stayed in school to take a loaded USC team to a national title, take as few classes as possible and party with his friends, Tyler Hansbrough is glorified and put up on a pedestal for passing up money for hanging out in college and partying. This is exactly why people hate Tyler Hansbrough. It's a minor difference in perception, but there is a difference. Granted Leinart was at USC a fifth year and Hansbrough will graduate in four years, but I am not talking about reality here, I am talking about the perception of both athletes. If we were talking about reality then everyone who hated and praised Hansbrough would be wrong for feeling the way they do. The truth is somewhere in the middle. Each player has a different perception of their decision to stay in college and they differ simply based on how the media talked about their decision or at least how the media shaded their decision.
Matt Leinart- lazy loser for staying in college, partying with his friends, and doing stupid stuff like dating Paris Hilton rather than taking the guaranteed money of the NFL.
Tyler Hansbrough- over achieving kid who "gets it" by staying in college and passing up the terrible lure of the Sirens of the NBA and its evil money. Just enjoying college by jumping off the roof of buildings into swimming pools.
Ignore everything Leinart has done since the NFL, I am not talking about that, but what I am talking about is that Matt Leinart was potentially the #1 pick in the draft if he had come out after his senior year and yet he chose to stay in school. He threw an incredible amount of things away to do the college thing for one more year and people thought he was lazy by talking ballroom dancing for his only class and he is perceived as a SoCal party boy for his antics. Granted, some of this is his own doing and is a result of the location of the school he attended. Tyler Hansbrough has never even been spoken of as a top 10 pick in the NBA Draft, so he has less of a reason to leave school, and yet he is glorified for having the guts to stay in school and just be a kid. I could see an argument that Hansbrough should have gone pro after his junior year because he was never considered a top pick, so he should leave while he is still guaranteed a first round contract. So in a way Hansbrough had more reason to go pro than Leinart. Also, if you think Leinart was partying a lot more than Hansbrough, then you are naive. Leinart lives in SoCal and that is the difference. Chapel Hill, North Carolina has very few camera guys from TMZ hanging around.
If your favorite school signed a prospect in November, wouldn't you hope that prospect would stay four years, earn a degree, keep out of trouble and smash records? Wouldn't that be the perfect scenario? Of course it would! And really, that's all Hansbrough has done. But somehow he's still become the object of hate, for whatever reason.
Everyone wants this. Of course. If your team's biggest rival did all these things and got 100 articles written about him because of it, wouldn't you find it quite annoying? Hansbrough is a great guy but that is the problem everyone has with him...we get constantly reminded of this every time a game is shown and his spastic thrashings on the offensive end is referred to as "hard work" and never chalked up to the talent he has. Hansbrough is a talented guy and that is something that falls through the cracks when writers are talking about how hard he tries.
Yeah," Hansbrough replied, "But people are still going to hate me."
Perhaps.
But good luck trying to understand why.
No need to understand, Gary Parrish just wrote an article that helped exemplify it for everyone.
To quote one of my favorite Sopranos episodes in regard to Gary Parrish's question in the title about why everyone hates Tyler Hansbrough and his column that followed. (This quote was at the wake for Tony Soprano's mother and I am going from memory, but you get the point):
(Janice Soprano) "Maybe Tony, you can tell everyone why Mom kept all of your awards, papers, and drawings from when you were younger, but why I can't find a single thing that she kept around of mine...Even though everyone knew I had a incredible mind for spatial design, she did not feel the need to keep any of my stuff. Maybe you want to explain that Tony?"
(Tony Soprano) "You just did Janice. Wrap it up."
Gary just did a great job of answering why people hate Hansbrough.
My BFF, Gregg Doyel, thinks that Hansbrough should be on the 1st All American team and got screwed.
It won't just be Parrish, either. I'm hearing Hansbrough will be on the outside looking in on various All-America teams this year, which means college basketball got a whole lot better, or Tyler Hansbrough got worse. Or we're sick of him, which is the only conclusion in this nonsensical situation that makes any sense to me.
Or it could be that he is not one of the 5 best players in NCAA basketball. He is not even the best player on his team. That person is Ty Lawson. UNC can win without Tyler Hansbrough, yep it is true, the team would survive with Ty Zeller, Ed Davis or Deon Thompson on the floor at his position, but they can't win without Ty Lawson. Look, Hansbrough is great and deserved Player of the Year last year but this year there are too many players performing at a higher level. Sure, not being picked is going to motivate him and piss him off to where he tears up the NCAA Tournament with wonderful performances every night and the fact he did not make 1st team All American will get written about maybe 1,000 times, but its only going to increase the hatred for him.
For four years Hansbrough has been shoved down our throat by television. Dick Vitale loves him. All announcers love him. If Hansbrough wore a helmet and pads, he'd be Tim Tebow.
Hansbrough is the all time leader in FT made in the NCAA. For three years now (not this year) he has made a living jumping actually into other players and getting a foul called. He doesn't get the player up in the air or anything, he just jumps into them and throws up a shot and gets the foul call. He got away with it, so more power to him, but he got a lot of foul calls on the whole.
Ten more freshmen went in the first round in 2008. All those million-dollar babies, gone. But Hansbrough dominated when they were in school, and he's still here. And he didn't get worse. He is rebounding more, shooting better, blocking more shots, turning it over less and scoring almost three points more per game than he did as a sophomore, when he was a consensus All-American.
I actually think Hansbrough deserves to be 1st team All American. It is probably not helping him that his numbers are down from last year across the board, more than his popularity is actually hurting him. Generally voters like to see players progress from year to year and Hansbrough has played less minutes this year so his numbers are slightly down. He doesn't have to do as much for the team to be successful and it is showing.
Hansbrough didn't have any PlayStation games. He just checks in with something approaching 20 points and 10 rebounds, and he does it every time. But we've seen that before. Now, if he could put up 20-and-10 while balancing a rubber ducky on his nose ...
This is another reason why people hate Tyler Hansbrough. He gets credit for everything he does, even if the writer has to stretch a little bit to give him the credit. He has averaged 20-10 only once in his career and that was last year...and he got the PoY award in response to this. 8.2 rebounds per game is not "approaching" 10 rebounds, that is about 50 rebounds or 2 rebounds a game off the pace.
Griffin will be an All-American everywhere, including here at CBSSports.com, where he joins Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair (15.6 ppg, 12.4 rpg) in the frontcourt. The rest of the first team is Davidson's Stephen Curry (28.6 ppg, 5.7 assists), Arizona State's James Harden (20.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 4.1 apg) and North Carolina's Ty Lawson (15.9 ppg, 6.5 apg).
Every single one of those players improved on his total numbers from last year and that must be what the voters are looking for. I would take James Harden off the list personally but I can understand why others do not do that...especially if that person wants a team with players at each PG, SG, SF, PF, C position.
There have been 13 players mentioned in this story alone. Any of them, in a weaker year for college basketball, would be a legitimate first-team pick. But only five can make it, so most of them will be left out. I'm understanding. Up to a point.
Again, another reason people hate Tyler Hansbrough. Just like Parrish, who has the policy of criticizing players who don't leave for the NBA but Hansbrough almost makes him re-think it, Gregg Doyel understands players get left off the first team All American squad and is usually fine with it, but thinks Hansbrough should be the exception to this rule. Hansbrough doesn't need a crowd at games, he has every journalist in the free world cheering him on.
That point being Griffin and Hansbrough. They're All-Americans. Period.
You are only exacerbating the problem. I don't dislike Hansbrough any more than I dislike any other UNC player but it is hard to feel that way when you read articles like this.
You need another article as an example of why people hate Tyler Hansbrough? I know you do. Here's one.
She sounded as only a member of the dance team at a Deep South flagship state university can. She had just enough brass in her voice -- a voice that will serve her well when she's managing accounts, analyzing financials or selling McMansions in five years -- to seem perfectly justified in her intrusion on the quiet time of a campus legend.
This writing is courtesy of Andy Staples. First off, North Carolina is not the motherfucking Deep South. If the South begins in Virginia, there are three states below it. Check out a map or an atlas or google "map of the United States" and see where it is located in relation the rest of the fucking United States, then re-write this sentence.
This cheerleader could be getting married to a successful person and raising children, telling the Women's Liberation Movement to go fuck itself, just because she goes to UNC doesn't mean Finance is the career path she will choose. I just wanted to give this person other options that don't involve a stereotype of women being successful and career driven if they graduate college from UNC. Or I could just be bitter and not like UNC. Take your pick.
"Come ohn, Psy-cho Tee!"
Seriously, that is his nickname.
North Carolina's all-time leading scorer wore the same expression he always wears before he pours another gallon of sweat onto the hardwood.
Right now I am having a cliche overdose. This sentence is the penultimate sentence on why people hate Tyler Hansbrough, because journalists write shit like this sentence about him all the time. All the time. If anyone doesn't dislike Hansbrough read this sentence three times. You will dislike him at the end of the third time. He averages 30 minutes per game, all of them hard fought, just like every other college athlete in the country. He just looks like he is working harder because he is spastic and overdoes absolutely everything. He probably gasps and throws his body up against the wall when he is taking a piss...just to make it seem like he is expending great amounts of effort.
I also wonder if Hansbrough is pouring his own sweat on the court in this cliche or sweat he has collected from other people?
"It's a hard game to play," said Hansbrough, who scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Or as Gregg Doyel would say, he put up something approaching 20 points and ten rebounds.
Even though Jordan's presence somehow inspired Hansbrough to channel the spirit of Jordan's former Bulls teammate Craig Hodges -- Hansbrough made his 11th and 12th career 3-pointers in the first half
I am sure Michael Jordan's presence made Tyler Hansbrough immediately think of an obscure teammate of Jordan's, Craig Hodges, and Hansbrough was so inspired by this thought he started just making three pointers. It always happens like that. Hansbrough's brain is always working in the form of Six Degrees of Michael Jordan to get inspiration.
I am sure Andy Staples is a grand guy but the beginning of this article is exactly why people hate Tyler Hansbrough. Writers use cliched cliches to describe his effort level all the time and the love for him is never ending from writers. Also, North Carolina is NOT the Deep South...this irritates me greatly.
This guy explains exactly why others hate Tyler Hansbrough. He is of course able to do it more eloquently than I do.
First of all, style of play. It's worth mentioning. Watching Hansbrough is not fun or entertaining or aesthetically enjoyable. It's just ugly.
It is beyond ugly. Whether it is ugly jump shot, watching him glide across the lane turn sideways and throw up a shot in hopes of drawing a foul, watching him flop on the court when hit by an opposing player when the same contact doesn't prevent him from getting an offensive rebound, or his shot-put attempt at a layup, watching Hansbrough is ugly. He is also incredibly effective as well.
But that really doesn't get to the heart of the matter. The real reason why people loathe Tyler Hansbrough is much simpler, much less psychological. People dislike Tyler Hansbrough because the media loves him.
This, in a nutshell, is pretty much the entire truth. I also don't really like him because the media does portray him as a guy who does things the right way, yet he has a tendency to pout when a foul is called against him and he also tends to do borderline technical foul type antics when a call does not go his way. This past Sunday he got called for an offensive foul, screamed at the referee who made the call, and then held the ball under his arm as he walked down the court bitching the entire time. He also failed to draw a charge earlier in the game and convulsed his body on the floor in anger. Since Tyler Hansbrough does everything overblown, it was quite noticeable.
Shockingly the media never seems to talk about his tendency to pout when he doesn't get a foul call his way, they just think he is just being a competitor.
Dick Vitale loves him.
Understatement of the year. Of course what doesn't Dick Vitale like? This is the same guy who spends a good portion of a television broadcast actually not talking about the game that is occurring, so it could reasonably be said that he has never actually paid attention to what is going on when Hansbrough plays.
And of course Vitale is the worst offender; even as his supporters admit that Hansbrough's game likely isn't suited for the NBA, Vitale uses broadcast time to dare NBA teams to pass on the player. It's insane.
He did the same thing with J.J. Redick when even the most diehard Duke fan knew that any time an athletic guy could stay with Redick he was going to be shut down. Basically any type of NBA player would prevent him from getting his shot off and it turned out to be true in the NBA. Honestly, Sheldon Williams failing was more of a shock than Redick failing to Duke fans. As far as Hansbrough, he could be a contributor on a playoff team and there would be nothing wrong with that. I would use a late round 1st round pick on him, but the way Dick Vitale refuses to acknowledge any chink in the armor of these college guys is horrible analysis....which ironically is his job, to analyze.
when you start saying things that don't line up, visually, with what your viewers are seeing unfold in front of them -- you undermine the whole enterprise. Fans, whether rationally or not, turn that disconnect into disgust.
This is pretty much how it is with Tyler Hansbrough. I chalk it up to the announcers that networks like ESPN hire who don't necessarily feel like it is their job to call a game and then analyze that game, but to hype up the game so the viewer feels like they are watching the greatest game EVER. Dick Vitale is the absolute best example of this. He seems like a great person but he uses so much hyperbole when talking about players, when he is actually paying attention, he is pretty much unlistenable.
The unfortunate part is that Tyler Hansbrough can't do anything about the people who fawn over him. He is as helpless from stopping it happen as the public is from having to hear what a great player he is. This always seems to happen to white ACC players for some reason.
This hate doesn't come out of nowhere. It's not organic, and it's not grassroots. It's a response. If the next question is "A response to what," then you just haven't been paying attention.
The public can generally only take so much of someone else telling them how good something or someone is. I feel bad for Tyler Hansbrough in a way because he is a victim of his own success, much like others before him. He did so well so early in his career there is a kind of blowback in negative criticism. I, for one, will never dislike him more than I dislike any other UNC basketball player and that is my vow.
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