Gregg Popovich: The Bully

[DFLORY]

Seems like a in real life imo.

** 1997 It was Duncan's rookie year, Robinson's coming off an injury and Pop is a young coach. I'm a 25 year old kid working at WOAI and The Ticket, my job description included having access to the Spurs and to Pop. Over my years at WOAi what sticks the most is how nice of a guy Pop was. When it came to the sports media elite I was the equivalent of the guy parking your car, but whenever I ran across Pop he went out of his way to say o and always remembered my name. The image the rest of America is seeing is not who the man is and thats evident in the relationships he has with his players. On a whole the media are complete idiots and i think Pop has an obligation to point this out to them. Sometimes his delivery sucks and i think he gets a bad rap for it but over all its funny as .

[jARS mEsH sEt]

I'd love to have a drink with Pop tbh. I think he comes off as a to these people only because he's an alpha, and most of the people in the press room are beta...

With Amin elhassan leading the pack, tbh. Forget beta. Dude's borderline gamma.

[Manu'sMagicalLeftHand]

After watching and reading Pop in many interviews, my guess is this:

Pop considers that the media shouldn't be asking questions courtside. The NBA would do well to protect the sport side of its product forcing journalists to work only in press conferences and post-game locker room interviews. The way it is now, it only adds to the entertaiment/circus side of things. Those questions between quarters and after the game hardly add any value, just parrot phrasing, cliches and occasionally some player looking like an idiot. What kind of valuable thoughtful answer are they expecting in the heat of the battle? Best they can get is someone slipping and having verbal diarrhea to keep the circus going. Pop is too smart to fall for that, so he keeps them in check with his deadpan answers.

If you want honest, developed answers from Pop, you need another environment. If anyone watched Fabricio Oberto's interview with Pop, that was awesome. Pop opened himself like very few times before, because Fab wanted just to talk basketball and life, he wasn't looking for headlines or entertaiment value.

[LoneStarState'sPride]

my all time favorite is when they just say "talk about ....."

Jesus , this.

It's not enough to ask inane questions....now they want him to just do the work for them. is unreal.

I'm glad Pop lights those fools up at every opportunity.

[tmtcsc]

** 1997 It was Duncan's rookie year, Robinson's coming off an injury and Pop is a young coach. I'm a 25 year old kid working at WOAI and The Ticket, my job description included having access to the Spurs and to Pop. Over my years at WOAi what sticks the most is how nice of a guy Pop was. When it came to the sports media elite I was the equivalent of the guy parking your car, but whenever I ran across Pop he went out of his way to say o and always remembered my name. The image the rest of America is seeing is not who the man is and thats evident in the relationships he has with his players. On a whole the media are complete idiots and i think Pop has an obligation to point this out to them. Sometimes his delivery sucks and i think he gets a bad rap for it but over all its funny as .

I met him once in 1999 after a Jay Howard inside scoop luncheon at the old Veladi Steak House on 410. I approached him at the end of the session and asked him if I could ask a question. He said "Sure, what would you like to ask?". It was weeks before the (eventual 1st championship) season was going to start, and I asked him if both Vinny and Jaren Jackson would be able to fit together on the team.

If you recall, Del Negro had been a Spurs vet for a few seasons but a younger Jaren Jackson had out-played him. Vinny was a Free Agent. Pop was as honest and nice as could be. He told me flat out that they weren't expecting Vinny back. I was a little taken back because this news hadn't made the local sports channels yet.

Can you imagine the CIA Pop we've come to know in interviews sharing that with a fan? Or doing an Inside Scoop luncheon? He and Jay Howard were good friends and Howard's firing incensed Pop. He even went to management about the situation but Holt supported his guys who handled that sort of stuff. It was Russ Bookbinder at the time. Pop did not care for Bookbinder and doesn't care for Bill Schoening as a broadcaster either. In fact, he used to do a pre-game interview with Jay but that came to an end when he was let go. Pop did it a couple of times and soon discovered that Schoening was pretty much an unprepared imbecile.

Here's an example of an exchange between the two:

BS: Pop, what are the keys to victory tonight?

Pop: Rebounding and limiting second chance opportunities for the Jazz is going to be especially important. They are great at hitting the boards and are leading the league in those categories.

BS: The Jazz are known for being a great rebounding team, is that something you'll emphasize to the guys?

Pop: After a few moments of silence...Yes.

And there you have it. The roots of the Pop vs. Media we have come to know and love. How he puts up with Mike Monroe and his "talk about" questions is a complete mystery to me. Monroe just got some "you've been around a long time in a crappy-paying line of work" attaboy chump award. Unbelievable.

[Splits]

the comments on that video are 100% pro-Pop

[DJR210]

"He's just downright mean"

"I think it's bad behavior"

beta got

[DFLORY]

Jay Howard knew basketball. his sportstalk San Antonio show was awful, but he could call a great game and knew what questions to ask. Laura Greene his producer was also really sharp and I think she had a good relationship with the coaching staff. Since then everyone else in town covering anything from game 7 to a tamale cook off are a bunch of hacks.

I still think that culture of accessibility in San Antonio still exists. Maybe not like it was back then but Timmy can still hit the chick filet without getting hassled.