Golden Nugz for 2.3.09
by PJS on Feb 3, 2009 3:00 AM CST
in Golden Nuggets
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PrintIt looks like those in Spartyville are trying to lower expectations for Wednesday's game against Minesota. The Lansing State Journal is writing about a Michigan State team that is "battle weary."
Ohhh, poor Sparty. Losing back to back home games is tough, but this whining might be why the Spartans are on a little skid. Just read what senior Travis Walton has to say (and I think his English teacher would cringe).
"We've got seniors on this team, ain't got no rings, ain't got no championships," MSU senior guard Travis Walton said after the loss and a lengthy team meeting. "Either we're gonna come together and get a ring, or we're gonna go away from each other and the same things are (going to happen) that happen every year."
This "whoa is me" attitude from the Spartans has to be troubling for Tom Izzo. And if you read the article, you'll see Kalin Lucas is saying "We need Raymar real bad."
I was expecting the Spartans to be mad on Wednesday. But if they are simply feeling sorry for themselves, then that might actually bode well for the Gophers.
- We'd be remiss if we didn't give a shout out to three Golden Gophers who are no Super Bowl champions. Gary Russell, Matt Spaeth and Tyrone Carter all played significant roles for the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers.
- A nice article here by Doug Lesmerises of the Cleveland Plain dealer looking at the troubles for Tom Crean in Indiana. Lesmerises rightly concludes that it's all Kelvin Sampson's fault, goes on to note that Sampson is appealing his NCAA suspension. I agree with Lesmierses, the suspension should be extended, not lessened.
- The Manny Harris/Chris Kramer incident has bloggers on both sides sticking up for their players. For a round-up of the discension in the blogosphere, head over to Boiled Sports, who we think has just about every base covered with this post. I tell you, this is what makes blogs fun. And it's the type of incident in a basketball season that speaks to the tension in the conference.
- Brian at MGOBlog puts Jay Bilas in the crosshairs regarding the Manny Harris situation. Do people here like Jay Bilas? I tend to think he's all right.
- The Big Ten Network Web editor just put out a quick midseason awards list for the Big Ten and it was painful to read. His defensive player of the year? Yep, Chris Kramer, thanks to reputation. Damian Johnson is his runner-up. But I ask the writer to look at Ken Pomeroy's defensive stats for block and steal percentage to see which of the two is the more dominating defensive player. The writer, Brent Yarina, also says DJ Swat is a candidate for the conference's most improved player. What are you talking about? DJ is the same player now as he was last year, except you know his name now because the team has been ranked and you see his highlights on ESPN.
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A few things....
(1) “Woe is me” not “whoa is me”
(2) “Dissension” not “descension”
(3) Russell, Spaeth and Carter are “now” Super Bowl champs.
(4) The necessary context is this: Bilas is best friends with Tommy Amaker. Bilas publicly grinds the axe with Michigan every chance he gets because he’s upset his best friend got fired due to horrible recruiting and worse coaching. He’s got no journalistic integrity or ethics to be talking about Michigan basketball other than at Buffalo Wild Wings. This would be akin to KeyShawn Johnson going out of his way to rip Jon Gruden on NFL Countdown every time a Tampa Bay Buccaneer got into trouble the past 4 years. We’d all see right through it and we’d call Key a fraud (I think he is regardless since he hated the media so much when he played, but………). Bilas is a fraud and should never comment about the Michigan basketball program unless he’s reading rote highlights from a tele-prompter.
(5) Sparty sucks. There’s a reason they’re called “Little Brother” in Michigan.
Is this nessessaree?
What, r u a engrish teechur.
If you are.....
Did you really use "He’s got no journalistic……..
Instead of "He has no journalistic…….
Not an English teacher
What is wrong with “He has got no journalistic integrity or ethics to be talking about……”
Even if wrong, it’s a throwaway…..
The problem with that sentence
is its general awkwardness -
He’s got no journalistic integrity or ethics to be talking about Michigan basketball other than at Buffalo Wild Wings.
- man, that is painful on so many levels. However, I don’t really have a problem with it – after all, this is a sports blog, who really cares? I don’t understand why PJS’s errors make you so angry. It’s one thing to rip a sportswriter who’s getting paid for his writing and works with the benefit of editors; it’s quite another to take shots at a guy who’s doing this because he supports his team. There are plenty of other blogs around if you don’t like this one.
The statement “Sparty sucks” is factually inaccurate, by the way – 7 sweet sixteens, 4 final fours and a national championship over the last 11 years sucks? Sparty’s been the envy of Michigan for years. You might want to correct your own errors before criticizing others.
by plinytheelder on Feb 3, 2009 1:18 PM CST up reply actions
I wrote it...
….on a comments board at 800am on a break. If you removed “journalistic integrity or ethics” and replaced it with “basis,” you get my point.
I’m also at a loss on how you can sense anger due to the fact that I’m pointing out spelling errors in a comments board on a blog. I also don’t know why you would suggest I stop reading a blog simply because a guy made a couple typos. I edit for a living (note: I don’t write for a living, that’s clear by the line above).
Finally, my comment “Sparty Sucks” is the by-product of growing up in a Michigan household. Since you have no idea what fan hyperbole is, if you’re a Vikings fan, you might say “Packers suck” or “Bears suck.” It doesn’t matter whether they do or not – in one’s own mind they do because that person supports the rival more.
I’m a football and hockey guy – I could care less what Sparty does on the hardwood. And if you’re talking Spartan football as compared to Michigan, yes, Sparty sucks.
OMG
OK, I"ve had a few. And it’s been a long day. So I can’t help but respond.
I’m a former political journalist. And usually, I think, I do a pretty decent job writing. I always considered myself a better reporter than a writer—that is, I appreciated a clean-up on occasion from editors. But more times than not, I think my content is relatively clean.
So, I’d ask for a little lattitude. I’m not perfect. Usually I double check. Usually I edit. But not always. Sometimes I’m tired. Sometimes I write things at the end of a long work day.
That said, I appreciate people pointing out mistakes. Because if I see them and they are grammatical things, I’ll quickly change them.
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Bilas
I actually enjoy Bilas. I agree with most of his points and I think he goes in depth on some topics that are very interesting, such as his article on toughness last week. I think he, more than any other talking head leverages his experience as a former player to talk about finer points that others would not otherwise see. He provides great analysis. Too often, these analysts fail to really offer anything of value—they state the obvious and play favorites and bandwagoners. I do not always agree with his points, but I think he has sound reasoning for his opinions.
I know nothing of his bias towards Michigan. I have not personally noticed it.
Attached...
…is a good article about Bilas’s rant against Michigan coach John Belein last year….
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2008/01/a_reality_check_for_the_broken.html
Go to www.mgoblog.com to find commentary on his rant against Manny Harris’s elbow last weekend.
The issue isn’t Bilas’s knowledge. He’s a fellow attorney and it’s clear he’s smart. However, his pettiness towards Michigan is pretty ridiculous and tarnishes his work considering he’s best friends with Amaker.
Yes, I support Michigan.
And, Bilas was the guy who started the porno-like description of basketball players as “long.” I once heard him call a player “long” and “incredibly deep” in the same sentence. For that he should also be dinged. How hard is it to say “this player has a large wingspan” or “he can cover a large area” instead of saying “it’s amazing how long (player A) is” and making me wonder if I’m watching an audition for the Spice Channel.
Other than those complaints, I have no problem with Bilas.
I just took a look at that article,
unfortunately the writer (Carty) commits one of the cardinal sins of journalism: he quotes a response that someone made to a statement without providing the original statement. His long citation from Bilas begins with the words “Say What, Again?” – in other words, it’s clear that Bilas is responding to a statement by Beilein (I think this is the correct spelling, not “Belein”?). However, the article omits this statement. Perhaps you could reproduce it here to provide some context?
by plinytheelder on Feb 3, 2009 1:31 PM CST up reply actions
Since you've become the
Daily Gopher ombudsman, I’ll let you do the work. It shouldn’t be hard to find on the Net.
Or, you can e-mail Jim Carty yourself and criticize his work. He’s a 1L at Toledo Law School.
i would like to say
1 ) college announcers are much better than nba announcers.
2 ) manny harris and walter hodge did NOTHING wrong this past week. Their “ball-rips” were completely fine. Harris’ was bit edgy, but not ever to the point to deserve an ejection
and
3 ) Purdue looked awful this evening. Can Painter take a bball IQ test please. I mean, come on! How do you break a zone?—you get the ball into the middle. Instead of doing the latter the Boilers merely went to a 4 wing / 1 post player set. Did Painter not watch Uconn destroy Louisville’s stupid zone the night before? C’mon! Painter cost me five bucks tonight. I am so mad!
by huff huff plop go the bricks on Feb 4, 2009 12:11 AM CST reply actions
I disagree
Harris definitely deserved to be ejected. The defender has a right to his space and it is my opinion that he intentionally threw an elbow at another player’s face. I think an ejection was perfectly reasonable. I would have even been fine with a one game suspension—but at least an ejection was warranted. It would have been one thing if Harris had grabbed a rebound and turned on his pivtot foot and the elbow was incidental. But in this case, the defender was right in front of him and he swung his elbow with (in my opinion) clear intent.
Didn’t look intentional to me. Turning with your elbows out while securing the ball is nothing remotely unusual.
Securing the ball???
He wasn’t securing the ball. He had the ball on the wing and after establishing position he threw an elbow right at the defender’s face. There was no reason for him to swing his elbow like that in the context of the game.
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