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whiners, phonies, same same....
http://sportsline.com/nba/story/10218805
By Mike Freeman
CBS SportsLine.com National Columnist
Tell Mike your opinion!
SAN ANTONIO -- You are all full of crap.
The entire country, all sports fans. Full of it. Coming out of the ears.
Because you constantly scream about wanting to root for a true team, a selfless team, a team with players who do not chest bump or commit grand larceny.
You go into apoplectic shock crowing about how the media only focuses on the negative. You whine and lament the absence of good guys in sports.
Then come the San Antonio Spurs and you phonies yawn.
They are boring, you say. They dumb down the NBA, you chirp. You root for LeBron Jordan because he dunks. You change the channel to The Sopranos because the pick-and-roll Spurs bore you.
Phonies.
I don't want to hear a single complaint about bad-boy athletes from you message board posters and e-mail flamers when most of you are ignoring the Spurs and sleeping by halftime.
San Antonio is truly a model franchise for all of sports. They are on the verge of creating one of the more unique dynasties the NBA has seen in many years. They are the New England Patriots of basketball with Tim Duncan playing the role of Tom Brady (minus all of the pregnant models) yet you hypocrites don't care.
There is a palpable lack of interest in these Finals or at the very least the country seems to be rooting for LeBron Jordan and against the Spurs, the kind of team fans always say they want to succeed in professional sports. The media is even worse than you fans.
How many columnists and talking heads -- particularly after the brawls in Detroit and New York -- lamented the demise of the NBA? How many writers longed for the days when athletes respected the game?
Anyone with a laptop and half a brain, that's who.
Now comes the Spurs and they are being tagged by many in the media as a yawn-inducing, death knell to television ratings and a cancer to the eyeball. A normally highly sensible and talented Denver newspaper columnist wrote recently: "The men in black are back, sucking all the life and beauty from the NBA Finals. Grudgingly, we must admire the Spurs, whose unsightly 85-76 victory in the best-of-seven series put them one victory closer to their fourth league le since 1999. But that doesn't mean we have to like it. Please, somebody. Stop them. How the Spurs play basketball makes ultimate fighting look like ballet by comparison." So we in the media are a bunch of phonies, too.
The lack of interest in the Spurs is symbolic of where we are as a nation now. We are more fascinated with Paris Hilton's boobs, voting on American Idol and what stripper A-Rod is banging. In other words, the glossy superficial gooey stuff.
If whatever we are watching isn't violent, sex-filled or constantly stimulating us like a bunch of 12-year-olds, we're bored.
Seriously, on CNN on Friday there was a helicopter following Hilton as she made her way to various court appearances. That is just sad.
Hilton and LeBron Jordan are Xbox and the Spurs are a fine game of chess.
Killing the NBA?
The Spurs are rescuing it.
I watch the Spurs and I see a fine piece of machinery. They are not a detriment to basketball, they are a necessity. They are like the cool, steady pulse of electricity: you do not appreciate it until it is gone.
Do not cover your eyes or turn away when they methodically work their half-court offense or engage their strangling defense. What the Spurs are doing should be committed to memory because in this me-first culture of sports the San Antonio and its selfless, purring style might be the last of its kind as dunks and shirt popping take over the NBA.
But you phonies won't see it because they bore you and you'd rather see gorilla dunks from LeBron Jordan.
"Even though people are picking us, people aren't rooting for us," San Antonio's Robert Horry told reporters prior to the beginning of the series. "We've got San Antonio, maybe Argentina and maybe Paris. But the rest of the world, they're rooting for Cleveland. Everyone wants to see Cleveland win and the new MJ come to life."
I love seeing LeBron Jordan transform into a superstar right before our eyes as much as anyone but there is room for both Dr. Dunk and the San Antonio Bores.
Gregg Popovich could win his fourth le. If Popovich does he should be mentioned in the same breath as Riley and Jackson but because his quotes are about as exciting as the San Antonio phonebook he is the most ignored great coach I have seen in 20 years of sports reporting.
Nobody outside of San Antonio cares about Popovich or his team. Nobody. Many hear the name Popovich and ask: is that Paris Hilton's jailer?
"We are kind of (the) vanilla of the NBA," said guard Manu Ginobili.
What the is so wrong with vanilla?
"It's irrelevant how people hold us up or don't hold us up," Popovich said, "talk about us or don't talk about us."
"Character is a big part of it," said Popovich, speaking of one key to San Antonio's success. "Character is a direct reflection of an ability to handle criticism, to be happy for teammate success. People have gotten over themselves and understand we're a group."
A group, a team. A true team.
Do you remember what that is?
You phony.
whiners, phonies, same same....
Derek Fisher said something similar on The Chris Meyers show today. "The Spurs are the model franchise in all of sports."
I don't get tired of hearing this. Maybe it's because I don't live in SA and any Spurs news to me is good. Even if they're singing the same song.
Love 'em, hate 'em, or ignore 'em...it doesn't matter...they'll win just the same...
this article is the best i have ever read ina long time about the spurs. thank you for posting this!!!
I have never thought of the Spurs as boring. I have lived in Texas for the last five years though and San Antonio for the last two.
All this negative attention for the Spurs is rediculous. With Parker and Ginobili all over the court they are certainly not boring at all.
That "almost" alley-oop from Parker to Duncan would have been awesome if it played out.
Anyway, it's just the media trying to make a positive into a negative.
They are also misrepresenting LeBron. He really isn't a whole lot like Jordan other than his ability to power to the basket and dunk. He is always looking for assists... he is a pass-minded player. That game 5 performance vs. the Pistons was great, but definitely not the kind of performance we should expect from him. That was a fluke. For someone to single handedly do what he did was unheard of. I certainly do not look for him to do that against the Spurs. Anyone who thinks he can is
AMEN to this post. Been saying it for a long time. Intelligent basketball consumer praises the basketball they play. The US will no longer be a force to reckon with outside its borders basketball-wise. In the 50-60s.. the US college teams would blow you out for 40 pts. The jumpshot was the main weapon. The big bigs were just coming out of age. It is sad the basketball as we used to know it is disappearing.
Go ahead and praise the dunk king kongs... when you turn around and look over your shoulder, you won't have anybody else following you anymore.
almost everything i want to say, only better.
Great article. I especially like the bolded text part (even if it was interpreted by the the original poster)We are more fascinated with Paris Hilton's boobs, voting on American Idol and what stripper A-Rod is banging. In other words, the glossy superficial gooey stuff.
By the way -- for those who've been here since Round 1, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out which "normally highly sensible and talented Denver newspaper columnist" Mike Freeman is referring to:
to wit:
Finals fading to black with Stern's help
By Mark Kiszla
Denver Post Staff Columnist
Article Last Updated: 06/08/2007 12:32:05 AM MDT
San Antonio
David Stern, the hanging judge, came to Texas to see what his harsh brand of basketball justice has done to the game we all once loved.
Cover your eyes. It's ugly.
The San Antonio Spurs were at it again Thursday night, boring LeBron James and Cleveland into submission, turning America off on hoops, one television at a time.
Hope commissioner Stern is happy now.
The men in black are back, sucking all the life and beauty from the NBA Finals.
Grudgingly, we must admire the Spurs, whose unsightly 85-76 victory in the best-of-seven series put them one victory closer to their fourth league le since 1999.
But that doesn't mean we have to like it.
Please, somebody. Stop them. How the Spurs play basketball makes ultimate fighting look like ballet by comparison.
"Even though people are picking us, people aren't rooting for us," San Antonio veteran Robert Horry said on the eve of the NBA Finals. "We've got San Antonio, maybe Argentina and maybe Paris. But the rest of the world, they're rooting for Cleveland. Everyone wants to see Cleveland win and the new MJ come to life."
The new Michael Jordan? The Spurs made the man who would be king appear as if the young emperor had no clothes or clue.
Frustrated by San Antonio's clutch-and-grab defense, James clanked eight shots before he made one and finished with a buzz-killing 14 points.
"They're selling out on LeBron," Cleveland coach Mike Brown said of the defensive strategy of the Spurs, whose aggressive double-teams so effectively forced James to dribble toward the sideline that one of the few times he could attack the rim, Cleveland's flustered superstar clumsily bounced the ball off his own foot. "They're saying: 'Hey, somebody else beat us."'
Hey, it's not a bad strategy. San Antonio's Gregg Popovich is not the smartest coach in the NBA for nothing.
But has any national act based in Cleveland so relied on the talents of a single man since "The Drew Carey Show"?
The Cavs might be the worst team to appear in the Finals since a young Shaquille O'Neal was in over his head with Orlando in 1995.
The Spurs showed open disdain for the teammates of James.
It was almost funny.
In fact, when James and teammate Drew Gooden appeared together in the interview room following the defeat, there were snickers that grew into belly laughs with each passing question.
Seven consecutive queries were directed at James, as if Gooden were invisible. When his presence was finally acknowledged after several minutes, Gooden said thanks for noticing.
"For us to win, me being the leader of this team, I have to play better in order for us to have a chance down the stretch," said James, who misfired on 12-of-16 shots from the field.
The suffering of James was a group effort. The Spurs do work as a team, in much the same way ants swarm a summer picnic.
What San Antonio does best is ruin everyone's fun.
Should the Spurs go on to win the le, as expected, the trophy deserves to be painted with a big, black asterisk.
Because we all know the championship was probably decided weeks ago in NBA offices rather than on the court, when Stern not only applied the letter of the law, but threw the book at the Phoenix Suns and knocked them out by suspending Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for stepping a little out of line in response to a cheap shot on Steve Nash by Horry.
Asked if that ruling would taint the legitimacy of San Antonio's championship run, Stern insisted he did not want to make light of the feeling Phoenix was robbed, then did precisely that, suggesting that the only people angered were irrational Suns fanatics.
Furthermore, Stern added, there has been no proposal to change the draconian rule that cost the Suns so dearly.
So the Spurs are back in the NBA Finals, looking to win the championship for the fourth time, and if King James isn't brave enough to stop them, who is?
Somehow, you get the feeling we've already seen this movie. Call it "Men in Black IV," starring Will Smith as Cheap-Shot Rob and Tommy Lee Jones as Popovich.
The franchise might soon qualify as a dynasty.
But it's also nearly unwatchable.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-954-1053 or [email protected].
Kiszla is so worthless that this article doesn't even deserve a response.
Kiszla is complete ing loser. I thought it was hilarious that he refused to do an interview with the guys at 760 during the Denver series. Coward.
I enjoyed the first article...Good read. I think someone hit a nerve!
And Kiszla, what the heck? Seriously, I think it's time to move on.
By the way -- for those who've been here since Round 1, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out which "normally highly sensible and talented Denver newspaper columnist" Mike Freeman is referring to:
to wit:
Finals fading to black with Stern's help
By Mark Kiszla
Denver Post Staff Columnist
Article Last Updated: 06/08/2007 12:32:05 AM MDT
SOUR GRAPES from Rd. 1
Kiszla can't be helped.
He'll write damn near anything to diss the Spurs.
He's embarrassing himself.
It's funny to watch from afar. Today, the idiot press trash the Spurs and complain they're so boring. 20 years from now, writers will be talking about Tim Duncan's team as one of the great dynasties of all team and 'how the game used to be played.'
all the A.D.D. sportswriters and their lame ass takes.
Kiszla sounds like someone who has never won a god damn thing in his life.
Maybe so...now...but he has the tools to possibly get to Jordan's level in the future. If he progresses at the rate he is, his game will probably compared to MJ's even more. I personally don't like saying anyone is the next anything, I would love to see a player make his own name a mark on the league.They are also misrepresenting LeBron. He really isn't a whole lot like Jordan other than his ability to power to the basket and dunk.
Oh sure, he can potentially be there. The kid is only 22. Jordan wasn't "Jordan" until he was 26. But like you said he doesn't need to be the "next" anything. He should just be Lebron James
Once he starts hitting jump shots at a high percentage then he will become an unstoppable force.
Love 'em, hate 'em, or ignore 'em...it doesn't matter...they'll win just the same...
+1
Did you look at his face. He looks like a real idiot.
or shooting at people in ty bars, starving animals, drug addicts, murderers, rapist. you know the cool stuff that this country is hung up onIf whatever we are watching isn't violent, sex-filled or constantly stimulating us like a bunch of 12-year-olds, we're bored.
Kiszla makes it sound like LeBron is a little kid that just had his candy stolen by us, therefore depriving his parents of seeing him do a happy dance.
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