NBA 2010

[Ingmar]

ESPN treated it just like the fucking Favre thing. "Oh we're so sick of talking about it! Here's 16 more hours of coverage!"

Fuck right off.

I love it when the talking heads on sports shows talk about how disgusted they are with the way the media is handling things. 

Especially when their own network is the one that broadcast the special.

[Malakili]

ESPN treated it just like the fucking Favre thing. "Oh we're so sick of talking about it! Here's 16 more hours of coverage!"

Fuck right off.

I love it when the talking heads on sports shows talk about how disgusted they are with the way the media is handling things. 

Especially when their own network is the one that broadcast the special.

Yeah, it was ridiculous.   But this is what happens when you have three television stations, and a radio station devoted to cover just sports 24 hours a day.  There just isn't that much to talk about, so when something even remotely important happens they trump it up all over every single one of their shows as if its the end all and be all.  If you've ever spent any time watching like an entire day of ESPN (which I know is kind of ridiculous but bear with me here), the narrative they have running through the day is ridiculous.  Each show brings up the same talking points, in the same order of importance, interviews the same people, and so forth.

Basically they have so little to talk about that they are most often reduced to doing commentary ON THE COMMENTARY of other people. 

[Paelos]

Fuck, you don't even have to watch it all day. Just watch "Around the Horn" and then immediately after that watch "PTI."

They bring up the exact same shit right in a row. The only difference is that on PTI they usually do an interview.

[ghost]

Over half and maybe even 3/4 of ESPN's coverage, in general, is of the NFL.  Which I guess it should be, considering the popularity of the sport. 

[Paelos]

Over half and maybe even 3/4 of ESPN's coverage, in general, is of the NFL.  Which I guess it should be, considering the popularity of the sport. 

During the season, absolutely. In off-season, it's usually only 40% tops, and that includes college football. Right now the majority of the time is going to baseball highlights, NBA free agency, and off the field craziness.

[Rasix]

Eh, it generally takes half of Sports Center just to go through the baseball highlights. Although after the highlights, there usually isn't much interesting to say on that subject.  This part of the year is generally pretty boring for sports related programming. The worst though is the part of the year when all that's left is NBA. SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE.  Nothing interesting happens during the NBA season.

[Paelos]

Nothing interesting happens during the NBA season.

Oh man, I totally agree. The worst month is February after the Super Bowl is over. It's too early for the March Madness, the NFL is over, and hockey isn't even close to the playoffs yet. ESPN is practically unwatchable at that point. All you get are horrible dunk highlights and endless shows talking about tournament bubble teams.

[caladein]

February's not so bad.  Start of spring training, NBA and NHL All-Star Games, maybe a Winter Olympics.

[Paelos]

Three of those are meaningless exhibition games and one only happens every four years.

Tis a cruel, cruel month indeed.

[ghost]

To me, March Madness is when basketball is supposed to end.  And then the NBA keeps going and going and going.  Now they are getting ready for training camp.


Not to bring this into the NFL, but I think the fact that every game is important really lends a lot to the allure of the game.  I really hope they don't add more season games. 

[El Gallo]

The horrible part of the sports season starts after the NBA and Stanley Cup finals are over: when there's nothing but baseball.  The only hope for entertainment is the dream that Bob Costas or George Will will actually die on screen from outrage over Barry Bonds raping Betsy Ross's corpse.

The World Cup delayed this annual dark age for a month this year, for which I am grateful every four years.

[ghost]

Every once in a while we get the summer olympics, too. 

[Paelos]

I used to hate baseball for taking over the entire summer, but then hockey went on strike for the entire year and I had absolutely nothing to watch after football ended. I spent the entire summer just watching baseball and going to games. Mind you, this was still the latter part of the steroid era so balls were flying out of the park at that point.

Still, I never went back to hockey. I had moved to a town with a great baseball team and a shitty hockey team. The beauty of baseball was that it was on every night, and you didn't have to sit there and actively watch every single play to keep track of the game. It was nice background to my other gaming. When there were runners on, I could pause and watch baseball. It works perfectly for my playstyle.

[ghost]

Apparently JJ Redick is worth 19 million dollars.

Wot the fuck.

I suppose my grandmother was right:  a fool and his money really are soon parted.   

[Mosesandstick]

I was going to say that sounds like a good deal for a 5 year contract... 

[Paelos]

The bad economy obviously didn't hit NBA franchises. Good grief.

[WayAbvPar]

The NBA financial model has been utterly and completely broken for decades. The league would be in much better shape if David Stern got hit by a bus tomorrow.

[Paelos]

The NBA financial model has been utterly and completely broken for decades. The league would be in much better shape if David Stern got hit by a bus tomorrow.

Sports would be better if Bud Selig was holding his hand.

[WayAbvPar]

And Gary Bettman. And Sepp Blatter. And probably Don Garber. Goddell gets a pass for now  

[ghost]

Well, the preseason is going strong and it looks like Lebron hasn't really shed the target he had on his back.  It is unfortunate (or fortunate, depending on you point of view) that the Heat's season will probably depend upon the health of Wade.  Without him, they are as weak or weaker than the Cavaliers. 

Heat versus Hawks box score

[Paelos]

Fans in Atlanta booed the shit out of Lebron. Also, that's the most people we've had at a preseason game in like...ever.

[ghost]

Fans in Atlanta booed the shit out of Lebron. Also, that's the most people we've had at a preseason game in like...ever.

It was probably one of the most attended preseason games ever for any team.  I'm not sure Lebron understands how big of a target he pInted on his back with the "decision" special.  I'm going with e Lakers to win again.

[ghost]

The season tips off tonight.  There are three good games, including Heat-Celtics, Blazers-Suns and Lakers-Rockets.

I'm actually a bit excited to see how the Heat do. 

[Paelos]

Tough to ignore Heat-Celtics even if you don't like the NBA. It's a Tuesday. I'll probably check it out while flipping back and forth between the Boise State trainwreck football game against LA Tech.

[ghost]

The NBA has improved by leaps and bounds over the 98-2005 time frame after Jordan left.  Kobe is absolutely turning into a top five player ever and the Heat trio will be a lot of fun to watch.  It should be a good season.

[Paelos]

The NBA has improved by leaps and bounds over the 98-2005 time frame after Jordan left.  Kobe is absolutely turning into a top five player ever and the Heat trio will be a lot of fun to watch.  It should be a good season.

It should be interesting with the Miami Heat taking over the role of the evil empire. That storyline will continue coast to coast where ever they travel. Unless they don't work well as a team and suck.

I'd say this season rides entirely on how well Miami plays. Nobody really wants to watch Kobe get ANOTHER ring.

[ghost]

It should be interesting with the Miami Heat taking over the role of the evil empire

I guess I don't understand all the "hate Lebron" vibes going around.  He is, for all intents and purposes, a decent enough fellow.  He took less money to go to a better team and a cooler city.  He doesn't kill dogs or beat his kids or rape women or get caught snorting coke off a hooker's ass while trying to drive.  And he actually seems to be a bit witty and intelligent.  Sure he has a huge ego, but who doesn't in the NBA? 

[Paelos]

He broke some African-American unspoken rule about sticking with his community or something. It doesn't really make any sense, and frankly it doesn't have to. He was going to make Cleveland something awesome, and now it's back to being just Cleveland. So, they hate him for it. America hates him for the fact he went on national television in his own primetime special to tell his hometown to fuck off.

In reality, he's just immature, but that comes off as him being a total dick. People love to hate something, and he's it.

[ghost]

But they love assholes like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Michael Vick.  I'm a huge Lebron fan.  I hope he does great. 

[Paelos]

But they love assholes like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Michael Vick.  I'm a huge Lebron fan.  I hope he does great. 

Winner, Winner, went to prison.

I won't go into how the community feels about these things (because I have no clue), but they all seem to respond more to those attributes than giving the finger to your hometown.

[Ingmar]

It is the white folks who mostly hate LeBron, not black. I happened to catch some ESPN polling stuff this last weekend while hunting for Giants highlights at the hotel and his 'favorability' is at like 30% with white people and 65% with black.

[ghost]

It is the white folks who mostly hate LeBron, not black. I happened to catch some ESPN polling stuff this last weekend while hunting for Giants highlights at the hotel and his 'favorability' is at like 30% with white people and 65% with black.

Much of the anti-NBA angst is racially motivated.  And the NFL, which has a much much higher rate of arrests and other problems, is the "white mans sport". 

[Margalis]

It is the white folks who mostly hate LeBron, not black.

Of course conversely you could spin it as it's black folks who mostly like LeBron.

[Ingmar]

Of course. But the context of the conversation was people hating LeBron, not people loving him.

[ghost]

I don't think it's spin.  It irritated me that Lebron brought up the race thing, but he was right.