Editor’s note: This is a guest post from a friend of SpreeGoogs who happens to be a Sonics fan, offering thoughts on the NBA’s recent decision to keep the Sacramento Kings in, you guessed it, Sacramento.
If you’ve attended a pro or college game, you’ve certainly seen a fan noise meter. This is my favorite version; it’s the Washington Wizards.
Chris Hansen. Will he ever be able to bring the NBA back to Seattle?
I’m not a psychiatrist, but I know, especially since the Pierre McGee trade, that the Wizards’ games are not INSANE!!! For me, these meters always work the opposite effect: I refuse to cheer. I look down on the people who cheer while the meter is “testing,” thinking that their cheering will matter to the meter.
When the NBA relocation committee voted to recommend the Kings remain in Sacramento, I was reminded of those meters. I kept asking myself was I drawing the right cause and effect from the previous 5-year history of the NBA in-and-not-so-in Seattle? Or was I just blindly clapping, oblivious to what is really going on and unable to see past emotion?
After reading most of the articles written from Seattle and a few from Sacramento, I know this much.
First, I know basketball does have cultural value. In 2006, a Seattle City Councilmember, in comments he later regretted, said that the Sonics provide close to no cultural value. Wrong. After the recent vote, Prometheus Brown, aka Geo, a member of the Blue Scholars, tweeted it best:
real shit the sonics was one of the few things a kid from an immigrant family like me had in common w ppl who I otherwise couldn't relate to— Prometheus Brown (@prometheusbrown) April 30, 2013
Five years before, Sherman Alexie wrote in Sonics Death Watch: Vol. IX (a series that extended to Vol. XXVI) this: “Once, in Key Arena, after a big Sonics win, I hugged a stranger and he hugged me back. We were men crying in each other’s arms.” And that’s the cultural value—the ability find common ground with strangers.
But we all know this. We’ve all talked to a stranger about our favorite sport—and maybe hugged him or her too. Second, I know the way you play the game counts. Tom Ziller of SBNation’s Sactown Royalty wrote that Chris Hansen did “things the proper way.” It’s one of the reasons I was rooting not just for the return of the Sonics, but also for Hansen to succeed. If the Kings had relocated, there simply wouldn’t have been the same asterisk as a franchise moved through bad faith negotiations with the city and secret emails. But we all know this too. We remember cheaters.
Lastly, I know that sports are a business. We all know this as well–you hear fans saying this to the losing city’s fans when their team moves. What you also hear, though, when the losing city’s politicians reject public subsidies, that the city simply didn’t support the team; something I frequently heard in 2008. That’s wrong, however, because that’s a fan’s perspective of a business decision. And most of these fans are the same ones who on an individual level laugh at buying courtside tickets to see their team when the Bobcats or Pelicans are in town in February, let alone consider buying season courtside tickets; and the same ones who would never mortgage their house, skip a doctor’s appointment, or demand cuts to their kid’s school to prioritize their team over these basic needs.
So just knowing that sports are a business isn’t enough; you need weigh that against your role as a citizen.
Backed by fans, politicians in Sacramento chose this: A 58% public subsidy for the arena, which is a subsidy worth approximately $258 million, and which is a subsidy that potentially places the general revenue of Sacramento at risk, according to Field of Schemes. And these politicians also chose to give up potentially another $76 million in free parking spaces and billboards.
That might work for Sacramento. Not here. There is no lottery pick for tanking city finances. This doesn’t mean I’m not a fan; it just means I understand that resources are limited; that’s the nature of business. On the other hand, Hansen’s proposal was praised by Field of Schemes, according to King5. It was the right plan for Seattle, even if it wasn’t for the NBA.
And remember this is what Sacramento agreed to pay for:
With the added possibility the team can win championships in the future, a possibility that has existed since the franchise won its first and only championship—the 1951 Rochester Royals.
This sports-as-business also means we can’t allow the business of the NBA through Stern, and soon Silver, to play kingmaker with local politicians. Their main concern isn’t the well-being of our cities. Elected officials are not towel boys for pro sports. The thought of the “NBA’s mayor” makes me as ill as the thought of cleaning Robert Swift’s foreclosed home or collecting Danny Fortson’s compression shorts.
Voters need to base their votes on the economy, housing, schools, infrastructure, the environment, and crime first.
Simply put: if professional sports operates as a for profit business, we need to take off the foam fingers before we sign contracts and vote.
And none of this is fun. We look to sports often as an escape from responsibility—not to understand the basic details of injunctions, subsidies, and environmental surveys.
But it is what is required if we’re going to be the fans that cheer for the great box out, Oooooh in unison at the crossover, rise and talk about defensive positioning. Those are smart fans.
Otherwise, we’re just dumbly cheering at a noise meter, as pro sports plays us.
So while as a Sonics fan, I am heartbroken that the Sonics won’t be returning for next season. As a citizen, though, I’ll continue to root for the Hansen method of transparency and private financing, and I’ll remain proud that we didn’t show feudal loyalty to the NBA, and that in many ways the NBA rejected Seattle because we’ve said to their terms, “No. Not in our House.”
This is a guest post from our friends at FanDuel.com.
Clayton Kershaw. Hopefully he is on your fantasy team.
There used to be a time in fantasy baseball when taking a pitcher in the first round was a huge risk. There were just too many variables from year to year that could prevent a pitcher from performing at a high level. Now that the Steroid Era is for the most part over, the shift towards pitching and defense is underway.
Defense is still widely ignored in fantasy baseball, but pitching isn’t. Gone are the days where you could find quality hitters on the waiver wire if you needed a fix. Now, the top hitters are more valuable than ever. Likewise, pitchers are becoming more and more valuable as true carriers of a fantasy squad.
According to Yahoo!, right now half of the top 10 overall players in fantasy are pitchers. This list includes Matt Harvey, Jordan Zimmermann, Felix Henandez, Yu Darvish and Hisashi Iwakuma. Besides possibly Hernandez, none of these pitchers were considered in any legitimate league as a top three pick. In fact, prior to the start of the season, only five pitchers total were considered locks for the first three rounds of a draft (most leagues consist of 8-12 teams).
All of a sudden, guys like Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander and Hernandez are just as important as all-around hitters like Ryan Braun, Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout and more. This really should be how fantasy baseball is in the first place. Before, pitchers almost had the same status as defenses and kickers in fantasy football. Since pitching is an integral part of baseball, it makes sense that they are now making up closer to half of the equation.
If you haven’t adjusted yet, you need to consider sooner rather than later. Getting a solid ace or even two on your fantasy baseball team can help a person dominate those categories. That would leave you only needing to win a few hitting categories to win the week. The Steroid Era is over, and pitchers are finally becoming as valuable in fantasy as they are in real life.
Much has been made of the NBA’s en vogue trend of playing smaller lineups, with three guards, a traditional small forward and a center or two guards, two small forwards and a power forward or center. Even before that, it was a topic of conversation on a broader level as the United States struggled to adapt to the small ball international game at the Olympics. Luckily, the U.S. has claimed gold in the last two summer games following the debacle that was 2004 in part because LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony are small forwards that are big and strong enough to play power forward for extended stretches.
It’s no coincidence that James’ Heat and Anthony’s Knicks are two of the teams who have embraced the style in the playoffs this year. For both its somewhat of a necessity, as the Knicks have suffered through Amar’e Stoudemire’s injury and the Heat only have one quality big man in Chris Bosh.
So what are the pluses and minuses of going small? Let’s do this.
When you are small and quick, this can happen…
The Case For Small Ball
Playing some combination of four guards and small forwards obviously revolves around getting additional quickness out on the court, leading to additional fast break opportunities, more dribble penetration and, consequently, open 3-point looks.
But in today’s NBA, it also means more space for a traditional big man to operate in the post. A team that has two big men both stationed down low runs the risk of clogging the paint, so the one that receives an entry pass and turns inside towards the basket runs right into a help defender. The alternative is to pivot baseline where it is harder to help, but there’s a reason that teams funnel offenses baseline – it’s almost never the best shot attempt and passing angles are limited.
But if a team passes into the post and has the rest of its players beyond the 3-point arc, it creates ample room for the post player to operate. If the guards sag to help (as they often do), the big man can pass out of the double team to teammates who have a wide open look or a lane to dribble around the closeout and wreak more havoc.
Another advantage is having additional ball-handling out on the court. This (theoretically) should lead to less turnovers and open up the offensive playbook a bit since there are more players that can initiate the offense. Also, guards are usually better passers than traditional big men, so overall ball movement is generally better.
The Warriors are a perfect example of all of this. With the injury to David Lee, they have largely gone with lineups that feature Harrison Barnes at the 4 and a three-headed guard monster of Steph Curry, Jarrett Jack and Klay Thompson. The spacing they have for shooting 3-pointers (which they are very good at), dribbling into the lane (which they are also very good at) and for center Andrew Bogut (ANDREW BOGUT!) to work his occasional post magic all work to their advantage.
But there are reasons that not all NBA teams play small lineups, right? Of course there are…
But this can also happen.
The Case Against Small Ball
The main reason that NBA coaches, or coaches in general for that matter, like to play two big men is that big men usually are good at basketball. I have no statistical evidence to back this up. It’s all anecdotal and just general logic.
For one, size gives you an advantage on the glass. Rebounding is one of the most important stats in basketball, as the ability to limit the opposing team’s possessions and generate additional scoring chances cannot be overstated. I wasn’t surprised to see that the Indiana Pacers were top rebounding team this year, as they start 7-foot-2 Roy Hibbert at center and 6-foot-9 bruiser David West at power forward.
More size on the court also gives a team additional options in the pick and roll, as having two big bodies to set screens for your point guard allows a team to use one post player to set the screen while the other sets up shop in post or set a double screen. And while you can make the argument that you can run a screen and roll with two guards, you can’t argue that if you’re a guard you would rather run into Roy Hibbert than George Hill any night.
A team’s help defense also greatly benefits from added size in the paint. When a guard gets beat off the dribble, having both Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph available to come over and contest the shot is just awesome. It also allows one of them to come over and help and then the other rotate onto the other’s man, unlike Tyson Chandler in New York who is the sole anchor of his team’s defense. Ultimately, the size and length of the opposing defense have as much to do with field goal percentage as shooting prowess.
Indiana and Memphis are at the other end of the spectrum from Golden State, as they rely on their size to beat opposing teams up, outrebound them to no end and post the crap out of everyone. And who can blame them? When you have the talent in the frontcourt that they do with Hibbert/West and Gasol/Randolph, it would be crazy not to.
The bottom line
Which approach is better? Ultimately, I believe it’s a team-by-team case. Teams should play their best semblance of a balanced lineup regardless if it skews a little bit big or small. Notice I was careful not to say a team should play its best five players. What if a team had five amazing centers? They couldn’t get the ball across halfcourt without having it stolen ever.
But I think that coaches would rather have at least two big men with legit starting ability. Most of the teams that are playing small this offseason are doing it out of necessity. As mentioned before, the Knicks are going small because of the injury to Amar’e. The Warriors because of the injury to Lee. The Thunder are playing Kevin Durant at power forward for stretches because with the injury to Russell Westbrook, they need more scoring on the floor that they just don’t get from Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins. The Spurs, Grizzlies and Pacers are only playing small when they want to match up with those three teams from an Xs and Os perspective.
The wild card in all of this is James. I won’t dive too deep into this because I already devoted an entire post to him last week, but he’s the one small forward that is a legitimate power forward when he wants to be. It allows Miami to play him at 4, Bosh at 5, Wade at 1 or 2, and then two of the Shane Battier/Ray Allen/Norris Cole and Mario Chalmers quartet depending on who is hot and drive other teams bonkers.
Anyway, did anyone see the scores of last night’s Pacers/Knicks and Spurs/Warriors games?
It’s right about this time every year where I start re-watching Marshawn Lynch videos on YouTube. It’s like clockwork, as when the draft is over I need to inject a little football in my life.
And there’s no better interview in all of sports than Marshawn Lynch. The man was born to be on camera. His hilarious one-liners and unique worldview make him good for a laugh every time you listen to him, but at the same time, his philosophies are so deep that they help shape how you approach the world. It doesn’t stop there. Even his terminology becomes part of your everyday vocabulary.
Watch one or more of the below. Several times. Guaranteed to change your life.
NFL Rookie Camp Interview Summary: Where the legend of Beast Mode began. One of the many key quotes: ”Fast. Stupid fast.”
My love of Carrie Underwood has been semi-documented on SpreeGoogs. I mentioned in my post a few of the cool things about hockey that one of the all-time coups in the history of sports WAGs was when Mike Fisher put a ring on it. Props, Mike.
Carrie is also the subject of one of my wife’s favorite stories about me. It goes like this: there was one time where I told her that Carrie is a “really nice person.” I’ve never met Carrie, so I have no idea if she is a really nice person or not. Claiming she is a really nice person is basically code for saying that she is smoking hot, but phrasing it in a way that it doesn’t make my wife jealous. Genius, right?
They are both really nice people.
My wife predicted a few weeks ago that Carrie Underwood was going to be the next Sunday Night Football singer once Faith Hill announced she was stepping down. And she texted me as soon as she got the official news from ESPN because she knew I would be excited. I was ecstatic, don’t get me wrong. But a weird feeling about the whole situation has set in over the past couple of days.
While Carrie is the only person who can possibly replace Faith, and she rightfully was the only person even considered for the job, can she really fill Faith’s shoes? Or the more pressing question: can her legs make America drool like Faith’s can?
I did some legitimate research on the topic and it looks like she’ll be just fine, as there a bunch of articles about “how to get legs like Carrie Underwood.” (Side note: can’t believe I just linked to totallyloveit.com). Now that we have that out of the way, we can turn to other pressing matters.
One of the other concerns I have is that Faith Hill is Sunday Night Football. More than Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth or Dan Patrick. When I picture the spectacle, I picture Faith prancing around my television screen, somehow getting me pumped for the crappy NFC East game between the Eagles and Cowboys that is about to ensue. The next week, Faith would do same thing before the crappy NFC East game between the Giants and Redskins, changing the words ever so slightly in that one part that is customized each week.
I don’t know how she did it. Maybe it was because once she came on, you knew that it was go time. That hour you waited between the end of the afternoon game and the beginning of the Sunday night game was finally over. You didn’t have to watch replays of touchdowns you had already seen five times anymore. Maybe it was because Faith is just so American, truly a sweetheart in every way. Or maybe it was just the legs.
Whatever it was, it is going to make it hard to move on for a little while. I’m wishing Carrie the best, though, because she is a really nice person and a great talent. I have a feeling we’ll know right away if she can fill Faith’s shoes, as I am going to need her to help me get excited for you guessed it, a crappy NFC East between the Cowboys and Giants to start the SNF season.
In Monday night’s Bulls-Heat game, we saw an outstanding team performance from Chicago and an even more outstanding individual performance from the formerly anonymous Jimmy Butler, scoring 21 points, grabbing 14 rebounds and matching up with LeBron James to force him into a -15 performance. What’s even more impressive is that Butler did all of that with no rest. Literally not one second of game was played without Butler on the court. And it’s not the first time he’s done that this postseason. He’s done it three games in a row! That’s 144 minutes (and counting) of consecutive playoff basketball for Butler.
If you watch the Bulls play this season, there’s definitely been a stress on Thibodeau’s next-man-up philosophy that expects bench players to fill holes vacated by injured starters and not miss a beat, but the postseason performances from bench-quality players have been unreal. Until Monday night, not many basketball fans outside of Chicago’s base even knew who Jimmy Butler was. Now, all of a sudden, he’s a hero who played 96 straight minutes to close out the Nets then, two days later, stood toe-to-toe with the league MVP on a week’s rest and beat him. Continue reading →
There was a time in my life when I was into the “alternative” sports leagues. I stayed on the Slamball train through the hiatus into its run on Cartoon Network and I still think the NFL should replace its allegedly dangerous kickoffs with the XFL’s “Scrambles.“ It’s definitely a stretch to call it sports (not a stretch, it’s just not sports), but I even watch the Puppy Bowl every year.
However, there’s a point where novelty wears off. There’s a point where these knockoff leagues lose interest. It’s assumed that the athletic ability won’t be on the same level as the pro leagues, but that’s where the crazy league stipulations come in.
The guys can’t jump as high? Give them trampolines. Et cetera.
Sure, we all have entertainment that we find uncouth, tactless, and so personally offensive that we end up paying attention to revel in its failure. The worst part is that most of the time we end up genuinely liking it (see also: the Bachelor).
But I just found out about something tailored so specifically for the lowest common denominator of audience member that it’s already accidentally beat you to the punch to make fun of itself. Get ready for a brand new low: the Bikini Basketball Association (and there’s a subhead that I totally didn’t make up: Basketball League for Sexy Athletic Ladies).
Call it the “Jersey Shore Effect,” but at some point in recent entertainment history, people started making shows that we all love hating: Honey Boo Boo, Hoarders, Duck Dynasty. These people know what they’re doing. the saddest part about the BBA is that I genuinely think they have no idea that they’re creating a laughingstock. Continue reading →
**Editor’s note: This post is the opinion of one writer and does not reflect the opinion of the rest of the staff, especially not the opinion of the head editor.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. That headline is a bold and sweeping statement, you might say.
I don’t think it’s all that far fetched. And I’ll explain why.
LeBron James just won his fourth MVP, and came within one vote of being the first unanimous selection ever. It’s also his fourth selection in five years, the only person to win that many MVPs in such a short time span since Bill Russell did it way back when. And to be frank, the person that voted for Carmelo Anthony instead is an idiot (it could be Dan Le Batard, which would explain a lot).
James averaged 26.8 points, 8 rebounds, 7.3 assists, 1.7 steals and shot a career-high 56.5 percent from the field and 40.6 percent from 3-point range this season. To sum that up, he averaged almost a triple double and absurdly made more than half of his shots despite being the focus of every defensive scheme. I think he could have averaged 40 PPG if he didn’t have Dwayne Wade on the same team and enjoy setting up his teammates so much. He was the catalyst for Miami’s 27-game winning streak. He will likely be the catalyst for their second straight NBA championship. Continue reading →
Hey. I’m the guy. Nice to meet you. No, nice to meet me, am I right? Of course I’m right. I’m the guy. I’m the guy who voted for Carmelo Anthony for MVP.
I could’ve been like all the other guys. The other guys who, upon seeing a list of names of professional basketball players and deigned with the task of selecting one for MVP, opted for the easy way out, the vote everyone could understand, like those oversized text printings of classic novels with the line drawings on every other page. Not me. This year, there’s a new author in town, and he’s re-writing the book of MVP voting in mojumbi, a language I made up to talk to dogs. I am this author. I voted for Carmelo Anthony for MVP.
I know what you’re thinking. That guy, the guy who voted for Carmelo Anthony for MVP – what’s his secret? How is he able to make such important decisions with such clarity of vision, like a doctor referring a gout-riddled patient to the third or fourth best gout specialist in the city? I’ll tell you how, just like I told you who the MVP was this season (Carmelo Anthony): ignorance.
In this fast-paced world we live in, who has time to sit down and watch a basketball game? Certainly not a guy who plays in as many recreational kickball leagues (four) as I do. It’s like my teammate and best friend Shlem always tells me, “Stop bunting every time. Everyone hates that.” I try to live my life and vote for my MVPs by this mantra. This year the baserunner that is the MVP ballot tried to slide right past me, and I nailed it in the head, giving it a mild-grade concussion. Score.
oh yeah i almost forgot. the ghost of brad lohaus said vote for me for hall of fame and you can play carnival games for free forever.
And for those who may ask, how can that guy live with himself? You know the guy, the one who voted for Carmelo Anthony for MVP. Well let me learn you something, trucknut: I live just fine. Not a year goes by that Matt Dillon doesn’t call me up and thank me for helping Crash win Best Picture in 2005, and while I wasn’t able to push Carmelo over the top, I think I’ve earned a lifetime of gratitude and FREE CANDY.
Look, when push came to shove, I went with my heart. When pencil came to paper, it wrote down Carmelo Anthony. When the nice man came to check on me, I hid in the shed. Continue reading →
While I was watching the Lakers-Spurs series (which was the equivalent of a varsity basketball team going against the JV squad), I was reminded of how awesome Tim Duncan’s facial expressions are. Or facial expression (singular).
You know the one I am talking about. The blank, open-mouth stare at the referee after he makes a call that Tim disagrees with. The only time I see the big guy make any sort of emotion whatsoever.
I ran the “Many Faces of Tim Duncan” post title by SpreeGoogs and he immediately caught on to its irony. He also graciously offered to create a collage of Duncan photos to illustrate my point, Brady Bunch-style. Give him some props in the comments.
We trust you’re laughing right now.
Consider this our tribute to the best power forward of all-time. We can’t be too forthright in our praise given our the nature of our editorial, so we had to throw in our trademark sarcasm. But the dude really is amazing, even at 37. Alright, enough mush: everyone do the Duncan!
**Editor’s Note: This post is written by the newest SpreeGoogs writer, Lamar, who will be joining the blog writing under the name Dell Johnson. Lamar is a former NCAA college basketball player who also played on the European professional circuit, so he writes from a position of actual experience, unlike the rest of us. He currently writes for Direct2tv.com.
With the NBA regular season over and end-of-the-year awards coming soon, we’re going to take a look at some of the coaches that should be right in the top of the Coach of the Year voting: George Karl of the Denver Nuggets, Tom Thibodeau of the Chicago Bulls and Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs. Each one of these coaches is doing miraculous things with their teams, but what exactly makes these coaches excel with the players that they have?
George Karl
George Karl
Young teams like the Nuggets, who lost a mega-super star to the New York Knicks, shouldn’t achieve the things that Denver has this year. The Nuggets recorded a franchise record 55 wins this season, something they couldn’t do with the likes of a star like Carmelo Anthony. Even more impressive, throughout a two-month span, 22 of their first 32 games were on the road. They won 17 of those road games on their way to a 38-10 record to begin the season. This is a testament to their coach, George Karl.
How does Karl do it? Simple, his philosophy for hustling is contagious. If you’re not willing to go all-out on every play, then you’re counterproductive to the system and he gets rid of you. He unloaded Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, NeNe and others; preferring to bring in players like Andre Iguodala, Kenneth Faried and keep a true point guard in Ty Lawson who all hustles at all cost. Continue reading →
Jason Collins. Bravo, sir, for being a true pioneer. A few quick thoughts:
Image via SI.com
1. He chose the right vehicle to announce the decision. Doing an exclusive with Sports Illustrated and being able to control the delivery was genius; if he had chosen to do it by press conference it would have been a mad house.
2. He’s very well-written, and I rather enjoyed reading his article. A great lesson to young athletes about the importance of education (especially a Stanford one).
3. He might have earned himself another job next year. Who knows if a 34-year old aging free agent center would have been on the radar of many teams. He could be now, considering a team might want to reap the PR benefits of being inclusive enough to sign him. Continue reading →
SpreeGoogs would like to give ourselves a few props for our NFL mock drafting skills: we called the Oakland-Miami trade, Kenny Vaccaro to the Saints, Jarvis Jones to the Steelers, Alec Ogletree to the Rams, DeAndre Hopkins to the Texans and Cordarrelle Patterson to the Vikings. Two of those picks weren’t exactly where we thought they’d be, but hey, we’d appreciate mental high fives for predicting even a few things right about that crazy first round.
What we turn to now is what is most important about this draft: its fantasy impact, of course. Below are the top 11 fantasy rookies based on what team they landed with. This was admittedly a tough task this year since the draft was dominated by offensive lineman and defensive backs. But you expect us to tackle the tough subjects here at SpreeGoogs, so without further ado, our Top 11 and where to draft them:
11. Tyler Eifert, TE, Bengals (Round 15/FA)
I wanted to include one TE on this list. So here it is, getting it over right away. I don’t trust rookie TEs, but I think the Bengals have designs to have a two TE monster in the mold of Gronk and Hernandez with Eifert and Jermaine Greshman. How many receiving yards that translates into for Eifert remains to be seen, but I think out of the all of the TEs drafted, he has the best chance for production in his rookie season.
10. Geno Smith, QB, Jets (Round 14-15)
Geno Smith
He is going to be the Jets starter. They wouldn’t have taken him otherwise. That means he could be a plug and play guy to stash on your bench for bye weeks or for certain match-ups. The rushing yards he’ll give you will be offset by all the INTs.
9. Cordarelle Patterson, WR, Vikings (Round 13)
Too low? I don’t think so, not when Christian Ponder is your QB. I also think it will take a little time for him to adjust to an NFL offense. If he ever does, he could be one of the top 5 receivers we draft every year. Continue reading →
Taking some inspiration from the brilliant writers over at ProFootballMock.com and their NFL QBs on Facebook, we decided to do a GM version following the first round of the draft last night. The following may or may not be what each of them were actually thinking after the first round concluded.
It’s pretty customary for SpreeGoogs to celebrate drafts with instant, but brief reactions. Without seeing any of the players in last night’s draft play a snap of pro football, I’m about to unleash some instant diagnoses of the picks. And not just any words, strong words. Bold words. Capitalized words. Imagine these picks to be a brief, extra-loud outburst of analysis that is, above all other things, enthusiastic.
A genuine surprise at number 1? What a treat.
1. Kansas City Chiefs — Eric Fisher, OT (Central Michigan): THIS IS HOW YOU BUILD
2. Jacksonville Jaguars — Luke Joeckel, OT (Texas A&M): SEE ABOVE
Guards aren’t sexy, but Pro Bowl appearances are.
3. Miami Dolphins — Dion Jordan, LB/DE (Oregon): LESSER NEED; HE’S A MONSTER
4. Philadelphia Eagles — Lane Johnson, OT (Oklahoma): SORRY GENO, PROTECTORS OUTWEIGH PROTECTEES
5. Detroit Lions — Ezekiel Ansah, DE (BYU): BALLSY MOVE, HE’S PRETTY RAW
6. Cleveland Browns — Barkevious Mingo, DE (LSU): DEFENSES LOVE FAST PASS RUSHERS
7. Arizona Cardinals —Jonathan Cooper, OG (North Carolina): MAYBE THE ROUND’S SAFEST PICK Continue reading →
But I just found out about something tailored so specifically for the lowest common denominator of audience member that it’s already accidentally beat you to the punch to make fun of itself. Get ready for a brand new low: the 
No. Not In Our House
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from a friend of SpreeGoogs who happens to be a Sonics fan, offering thoughts on the NBA’s recent decision to keep the Sacramento Kings in, you guessed it, Sacramento.
If you’ve attended a pro or college game, you’ve certainly seen a fan noise meter. This is my favorite version; it’s the Washington Wizards.
Chris Hansen. Will he ever be able to bring the NBA back to Seattle?
I’m not a psychiatrist, but I know, especially since the Pierre McGee trade, that the Wizards’ games are not INSANE!!! For me, these meters always work the opposite effect: I refuse to cheer. I look down on the people who cheer while the meter is “testing,” thinking that their cheering will matter to the meter.
When the NBA relocation committee voted to recommend the Kings remain in Sacramento, I was reminded of those meters. I kept asking myself was I drawing the right cause and effect from the previous 5-year history of the NBA in-and-not-so-in Seattle? Or was I just blindly clapping, oblivious to what is really going on and unable to see past emotion?
After reading most of the articles written from Seattle and a few from Sacramento, I know this much.
First, I know basketball does have cultural value. In 2006, a Seattle City Councilmember, in comments he later regretted, said that the Sonics provide close to no cultural value. Wrong. After the recent vote, Prometheus Brown, aka Geo, a member of the Blue Scholars, tweeted it best:
Five years before, Sherman Alexie wrote in Sonics Death Watch: Vol. IX (a series that extended to Vol. XXVI) this: “Once, in Key Arena, after a big Sonics win, I hugged a stranger and he hugged me back. We were men crying in each other’s arms.” And that’s the cultural value—the ability find common ground with strangers.
But we all know this. We’ve all talked to a stranger about our favorite sport—and maybe hugged him or her too. Second, I know the way you play the game counts. Tom Ziller of SBNation’s Sactown Royalty wrote that Chris Hansen did “things the proper way.” It’s one of the reasons I was rooting not just for the return of the Sonics, but also for Hansen to succeed. If the Kings had relocated, there simply wouldn’t have been the same asterisk as a franchise moved through bad faith negotiations with the city and secret emails. But we all know this too. We remember cheaters.
Lastly, I know that sports are a business. We all know this as well–you hear fans saying this to the losing city’s fans when their team moves. What you also hear, though, when the losing city’s politicians reject public subsidies, that the city simply didn’t support the team; something I frequently heard in 2008. That’s wrong, however, because that’s a fan’s perspective of a business decision. And most of these fans are the same ones who on an individual level laugh at buying courtside tickets to see their team when the Bobcats or Pelicans are in town in February, let alone consider buying season courtside tickets; and the same ones who would never mortgage their house, skip a doctor’s appointment, or demand cuts to their kid’s school to prioritize their team over these basic needs.
So just knowing that sports are a business isn’t enough; you need weigh that against your role as a citizen.
Backed by fans, politicians in Sacramento chose this: A 58% public subsidy for the arena, which is a subsidy worth approximately $258 million, and which is a subsidy that potentially places the general revenue of Sacramento at risk, according to Field of Schemes. And these politicians also chose to give up potentially another $76 million in free parking spaces and billboards.
That might work for Sacramento. Not here. There is no lottery pick for tanking city finances. This doesn’t mean I’m not a fan; it just means I understand that resources are limited; that’s the nature of business. On the other hand, Hansen’s proposal was praised by Field of Schemes, according to King5. It was the right plan for Seattle, even if it wasn’t for the NBA.
And remember this is what Sacramento agreed to pay for:
With the added possibility the team can win championships in the future, a possibility that has existed since the franchise won its first and only championship—the 1951 Rochester Royals.
This sports-as-business also means we can’t allow the business of the NBA through Stern, and soon Silver, to play kingmaker with local politicians. Their main concern isn’t the well-being of our cities. Elected officials are not towel boys for pro sports. The thought of the “NBA’s mayor” makes me as ill as the thought of cleaning Robert Swift’s foreclosed home or collecting Danny Fortson’s compression shorts.
Voters need to base their votes on the economy, housing, schools, infrastructure, the environment, and crime first.
Simply put: if professional sports operates as a for profit business, we need to take off the foam fingers before we sign contracts and vote.
And none of this is fun. We look to sports often as an escape from responsibility—not to understand the basic details of injunctions, subsidies, and environmental surveys.
But it is what is required if we’re going to be the fans that cheer for the great box out, Oooooh in unison at the crossover, rise and talk about defensive positioning. Those are smart fans.
Otherwise, we’re just dumbly cheering at a noise meter, as pro sports plays us.
So while as a Sonics fan, I am heartbroken that the Sonics won’t be returning for next season. As a citizen, though, I’ll continue to root for the Hansen method of transparency and private financing, and I’ll remain proud that we didn’t show feudal loyalty to the NBA, and that in many ways the NBA rejected Seattle because we’ve said to their terms, “No. Not in our House.”
Rate this:
Like this: