Muckraking Buck Brings Out The Whiners in LA

[GSH]

As always, a few excerpts with a link to the whole article.


Focusing on the positives with Clippers amid the negative
Or - Why Second Place Should Still Get a Trophy
A Story By T.J. Simers

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-...25,full.column

As I travel with our local teams across the country, I'm truly amazed to find so many negative columnists working out there.

Must the glass always be half empty?
Instead of writing about their own players, they want to tear into our fine, upstanding athletes. It's just flat-out muckraking. [ ]

"Nobody is giving me time to develop," Griffin said without complaint while both knees were wrapped in ice after the Clippers' 108-92 Game 1 loss to the Spurs. "I have years to improve, but for some reason everyone talks now about what I can't do."

The Clippers closed to within eight in the fourth quarter, but without their top two players, they eventually got blitzed.

The Spurs won't care and Bucko will feel as if he called it. I have no idea how negative columnists live with themselves.

[GSH]

Does this guy really expect Buck Harvey to write an article that only talks about players in silver and black? Or does he expect him to write about all of Blakey's positives, without mentioning any of the negatives - you know, just to help his development with some glass-half-full comments? Or maybe Harvey should just write about how good Blake Griffin is going to be, after he's had more time to develop?

The real problem is that they don't pay people to write crap like this, unless there is an audience for it.

[kidd_91]

The reason why so many people call out young players is that they come in the league wanting everything to soon. They want to be thought of as All-Stars, they want special ref treatment. But then they can't handing being criticized as a All-Star. Can't have it both ways.

[Seventyniner]

The comments were pretty good. Do yourself a favor and read them.

[FromWayDowntown]

"Nobody is giving me time to develop," Griffin said without complaint while both knees were wrapped in ice after the Clippers' 108-92 Game 1 loss to the Spurs. "I have years to improve, but for some reason everyone talks now about what I can't do."

I'm pretty sure this is exactly what Tim Duncan was saying in the spring of 1998 when he was playing injured in the second round in his first playoffs.

Pretty sure.

[GSH]

The comments were pretty good. Do yourself a favor and read them.

No - Buck Harvey's comments were pretty good. Because they were honest, and accurate. If the guy has a problem with that, he shouldn't be a sportswriter.

Seriously, you want all articles to contain only the positives? You really expect Buck Harvey to write about how good Blake Griffin will be in a few years, when he's had time to develop - instead of writing about how he played in this series? Or do you think that there simply haven't been enough articles about how good Blake Griffin already is? Because I can remember a load of those.

I'm pretty sure this is exactly what Tim Duncan was saying in the spring of 1998 when he was playing injured in the second round in his first playoffs.

Pretty sure.

Echhh... gotta be sarcasm. I'm shocked sometimes, when people say things like that being serious.

[Dr. John R. Brinkley]

Not sure what that writer is complaining about. For whatever reason, during the playoffs, NBA beat writers ALWAYS fly the homer flag and take jabs at the other team. I'm not saying it's always great journalism, but I would say it's been a long-held tradition.

[senorglory]

No - Buck Harvey's comments were pretty good. Because they were honest, and accurate. If the guy has a problem with that, he shouldn't be a sportswriter.

Seriously, you want all articles to contain only the positives? You really expect Buck Harvey to write about how good Blake Griffin will be in a few years, when he's had time to develop - instead of writing about how he played in this series? Or do you think that there simply haven't been enough articles about how good Blake Griffin already is? Because I can remember a load of those.

I couldn't even really figure out the gripe, since the LATimes article is in basic agreement with Harvey that Griffin is playing nice, but not yet fully developed. Calling Harvey "Bucko" and the one-off that "of course" Harvey's first name is "Buck" were also sort of puzzling.

[Interrohater]

I'm pretty sure this is exactly what Tim Duncan was saying in the spring of 1998 when he was playing injured in the second round in his first playoffs.

Pretty sure.

/series

[Obstructed_View]

I'm pretty sure this is exactly what Tim Duncan was saying in the spring of 1998 when he was playing injured in the second round in his first playoffs.

Pretty sure.

[roycrikside]

Such a dumb article. All Harvey was doing was writing a series preview column, and one of the reasons he picked the Spurs to win in four or five games is because Griffin hasn't come closing to reaching his full potential yet and there isn't much around him and Paul over there. There's no way to write a preview column, comparing and contrasting the two teams without sounding negative about somebody, and I doubt it's going to get people reading and talking if Harvey writes about DeAndre Jordan's free throw shooting and Mo Williams' defense. Come on.

Furthermore, it just sounds so whiny and lame to stick up for Griffin because he's 23. 23 or not, he was still a no. 1 pick and much is expected from no. 1 picks. Look at his game and look at where Tim's game was at 22. He was already the best player on an NBA Champ. Griffin isn't even the best player on the fourth or fifth-best team in the West. Duncan at 22 was a guy you could dump the ball into in the post or the wing and he already had like 15 different ways to score. He had freaking Avery Johnson as his point guard. Griffin at 23 can only score in a few ways, almost all of which relying on his ridiculous athleticism, and he has a Hall-of-Fame point guard getting him his points, many in transition.

Even taking Duncan out of the conversation, because he's the best at his position all time, Griffin still hasn't developed his game anywhere near as much as a peer of his, Kevin Love has. Love keeps getting better and better, finding more and more ways to score. Griffin is developing at a slower pace.

It wasn't muckraking, it was telling the truth.

[FromWayDowntown]

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic.

Should have used blue. Figured the sarcasm was obvious.

Tim played through a sprained ankle in 1998 and his team lost to a better prepared, more experienced Jazz team that was on its way to sweeping the Kobe/Shaq Lakers and then pressing the Jordan Bulls in the Finals.

Some sportswriter in SLC might well have written a column just like Buck's back then -- "Tim Duncan is really good and some day, he's going to be really great (actually, by that point, Timmy was already an elite player) but at this point neither he nor his team is ready to beat the Jazz." That would have been a perfectly fair (and correct) assessment, particularly since those Spurs lost in 5 to the Jazz in 1998.

Buck was fairly complimentary of Blake, though he did throw in a blast about the limitations in Blake's offensive game at this point. But Simers, in my view, overreacted. Buck basically said that he thinks the Clippers won't win now, but they will win soon, and that their success down the road will be built in some part on what Blake can become and in part on what he and his teammates learn in playing this series. And, who knows? Maybe they learned enough last night to steal Game 2 and put the Spurs through the wringer over the weekend in LA.

Buck didn't call the Clippers a fluke; he didn't question their substance the way that Geoff Calkins did in Memphis a couple of weekends ago. He didn't blast Blake as being overrated. He just acknowledged that Blake is what he is -- an already-productive player with considerable upside who gives the Clippers a hope for the future that hasn't always existed for that franchise.

[GSH]

Should have used blue. Figured the sarcasm was obvious.

Yeah, I finally figured it out.

I don't know why, but the article really rubbed me the wrong way. Especially this: "Nobody is giving me time to develop," Griffin said without complaint.

Griffin is obviously complaining. The guy thinks he can throw in the words "without complaint" and make it sound noble or something, instead of whiny.

I don't dislike Griffin. He's one of the best bigs in the game. But when guys talk like that, they're already beaten. And unless he shakes the idea that he's being picked on, he's not going to develop much more.

[E-RockWill]

I'm pretty sure this is exactly what Tim Duncan was saying in the spring of 1998 when he was playing injured in the second round in his first playoffs.

Pretty sure.

FIFY

[Dr. John R. Brinkley]

The best part is that a writer from San Antonio has totally intimidated a writer from Los Angeles. That's just hilarious to me. And that the LA writer tries to compare Blake's development to what Buck Harvery was doing when he was 23 years old...what? How is that relevant? This writer seems to fully embody the loser culture of the Clippers. Good times.

[Spur|n|Austin]

His article is about negativity in columnists and he goes and writes a negative article. smh

[SnakeBoy]

Pathetic article. Harvey's comments were accurate and the guy's response is Griffin can play better than "Bucko"...weak sauce.

[FromWayDowntown]

His article is about negativity in columnists and he goes and writes a negative article. smh

Simers is working on momentum right now.

For those who didn't follow it, Geoff Calkins of the Memphis Commercial Appeal got wind of the Clippers' TV team (including the venerable Ralph Lawler) calling the Grizzlies' 2011 defeat of the Spurs a fluke. Calkins wrote a pre-series column referring to the Clippers as all flash and calling Lawler and his TV partner "arrogant and dumb."

Simers, true to his word, chose to respond in kind after Game 1, defending Lawler ferociously while blasting Memphis and Calkins.

A few days later, Calkins went back at Simers, all but calling him the JV columnist for the LA Times.

Simers held his retort until after Game 7, all but telling Calkins to get his shinebox while reveling in the Clippers' win.

Some blogs even predicted continuation of the effort, with Buck coming into the crosshairs.

There's some good stuff in the columns.

I think Simers wants to create something.

It will be interesting to see if Buck indulges him.

[Spursmania]

This guys homerism is pathetic...

[GSH]

Some blogs even predicted continuation of the effort, with Buck coming into the crosshairs.

There's some good stuff in the columns.

I think Simers wants to create something.

It will be interesting to see if Buck indulges him.

Nice find. So it's just a guy trying to be more significant than he is, with a little WWF smack talk. He needs Buck Harvey more than Harvey needs him. I would have just ignored him - I hope Buck Harvey does.

[Mr. Dictionary]

muck·rake
intransitive verb
: to search out and publicly expose real or apparent misconduct of a prominent individual or business

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/muckrake


-----


May I suggest?

yellow journalism
noun
the type of journalism that relies on sensationalism and lurid exaggeration to attract readers

http://dictionary.reference.com/brow...journalism?s=t

[Clipper Nation]

TJ Simers is an insufferable hack, don't even take him seriously. Simers is also the last person who should be whining about columnists bashing the Clippers' players, since he's had a weird vendetta against Mo Williams ever since he got traded here.

[Venti Quattro]

Simers should go die a slow and painful death. How that ing hack is still employed by the LAT is very surprising.

[Rummpd]

I wrote Simers and he actually implied he did not mean Buck Harvey?

[Obstructed_View]

Simers is working on momentum right now.

For those who didn't follow it, Geoff Calkins of the Memphis Commercial Appeal got wind of the Clippers' TV team (including the venerable Ralph Lawler) calling the Grizzlies' 2011 defeat of the Spurs a fluke. Calkins wrote a pre-series column referring to the Clippers as all flash and calling Lawler and his TV partner "arrogant and dumb."

Simers, true to his word, chose to respond in kind after Game 1, defending Lawler ferociously while blasting Memphis and Calkins.

A few days later, Calkins went back at Simers, all but calling him the JV columnist for the LA Times.

Simers held his retort until after Game 7, all but telling Calkins to get his shinebox while reveling in the Clippers' win.

Some blogs even predicted continuation of the effort, with Buck coming into the crosshairs.

There's some good stuff in the columns.

I think Simers wants to create something.

It will be interesting to see if Buck indulges him.

Ah, that casts a bit of light on it. I just assumed it was the loser at ude engrained into the Clippers over the last 40 years. Instead it's a terrible writer appealing to the reality-show market in order to draw readers. Sort of pathetic.