Controversy Produced by the Media

Remarks made by professionals  in everyday media whether its TV or radio, can be questionable. Sports broadcasting and journalism is a job where you have to know how to read and write on a high level. What they don't teach is personality. The problem most people struggle with understanding is how some people have these professional jobs and still get to say things that may make some people look around the room at each other. What I notice about people in the media is that they get both slammed and praised by being controversial. They get slammed for saying things that people don't agree with but we continue to watch because they aren't afraid to make certain statements. Two weeks ago Charles Barkley made comments about the Mike Brown protesters. He stated that the looters of Ferguson were "scumbags". Many people were upset about the comments made from Barkley; but it made for great news. As an inspiring journalists myself I wonder if I have the ability to create controversy. Its a thin line between stating your opinion and being outright unprofessional. We as the audience have to remember that professionals are humans, just like athletes are as well. Just because journalists are held to such a high standard it doesn't mean there perfect.

Does the Media need more Athletes doing its job?

As I read articles about NBA games, NBA players, and other subjects associated with the NBA, I notice that many of the writers have no experience playing basketball. I don't think there is anything wrong with somebody writing about a sport if they haven't played it. What I don't like is how writers make articles about how teams are going to do throughout the season and make record predictions. I have also read multiple articles giving grades to different teams on how they have done so far in the season. I believe that in order to give basketball teams a grade, the writer should have some type of background in basketball. I feel as if the media makes statements purely based on records. If you've ever watched the guys on TNT they discuss and demonstrate different scenario's that they went through when they played basketball to back up what there talking about. They point out the weaknesses and strengths of the modern day teams playing and use this to show why a team is struggling or successful. When those old NBA players break down plays and systems of teams it makes everything they say very believable. I think writers should write articles about things less in game related. The writers job is to be creative while reporting. It would be very hard for me to criticize a team or player about his skills if I haven't even played.

The Memphis Grizzlies v.s The Dallas Mavericks

Tuesday night the Memphis Grizzles earned a relatively easy win against the offensively sound Dallas Maverick's. The game ended with a score of 114-105. The player of the game was Marc Gasol who had 30 points to lead the team to victory. This game was televised on NBATV's fan night. This is where the NBA allows the fans to pick the game that'll be televised for the night. Before the game some analyst were attempting to get social media involved in the game. They asked twitter followers to give nicknames for Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol. Since fans and media know Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson the splash brothers, they nicknamed Marc and Zach the crash brothers. I like how the analysts used social media to make watching the game on television fun. As far as the game goes it was officiated fair; and the broadcasters did a good job. The broadcasters  discussed how well the Memphis Grizzlies are doing so far in the NBA and why. They talked about how the Dallas Mavericks score so many points a game and how its like opposite type of teams are playing each other. The game was exciting from the first quarter on because of the announcers making all the threes the Mavericks were hitting seem so unbelievable.  I believe the commentators job is to act over dramatic sometimes so that the audience doesn't become bored. Commentators are a bigger component to a basketball game than most people think.

The Atlanta Hawks v.s The Indiana Pacers

Last night the Atlanta Hawks brushed right through the stingy defense of The Indiana Pacers. The score was 108-92. The players that stuck out this game were Al Horford and Jeff Teague. Al Horford had a great night with 25 points accompanied by Jeff Teague's 21 points and 7 assists. The coverage of this game was different from most because much of the game the announcers discussed The Atlanta Hawks even though they were Pacers commentators. I'm not sure if this was because the Atlanta Hawks were up all game or that they have improved greatly from last season. All I heard was how the Hawks defense has gotten better, Dennis Schroeder has improved, and Kyle Korver can't be left open. I know its a journalists job to be neutral, but they talked about the opposing team excessively. In my opinion the commentators should have at least look to talk about more things pertaining to the Pacers. It seemed as though the only time the Pacers were discussed is when they scored and when they made a run. Other than that, all Atlanta Hawks were the subject of the night.

The Season So Far

This season has come with many surprises, but not much excitement. The Cleveland Cavaliers aren't number #1 in the eastern conference, Andrew Wiggins isn't as amazing as we thought he would be, and teams that weren't projected to do so well are doing great. Its funny how the media makes so many predictions based off of trades, signings, and stats. The media assumed that the Charlotte Hornets would've been much better this season acquiring a good player like Lance Stephenson. They finished 7th in the Eastern Conference last season and now there ranked 12th in the East. Not only is there record horrible, but Lance Stephenson isn't playing the superstar the media hyped him up to be. The rookies that were thought to be the best draft class since forever ago aren't making any noise. It seems as though the media doesn't have much to talk about in the NBA because we haven't heard of any players doing anything crazy like this NFL season. The media as pertaining to the NBA has been strictly about records, injuries, and stats. There hasn't been any off the court stories.This NBA season has been pretty dull to say the least. Maybe as the season goes along there will be more interesting things happening.

Cleveland Cavaliers From the Media's Perspective.

A month in the NBA season has been completed, and The Cleveland Cavaliers have not lived up to the standards placed by the fans and media. Over the summer, The Cavaliers recruited superstars Kevin Love and Lebron James to team up with elite point guard Kyrie Irving  to form a big three. Journalists, analysts, and other people in the media all had big expectations for The Cavaliers to be the top team in the Eastern Conference. One would think they'd be on top of the league or at least #1 in their division. Surprisingly, The Cleveland Cavaliers are #6 in the Eastern Conference! Of course this isn't the worst spot to be in considering they'd be in the playoffs if it started today. The fact of the matter is that they were #1 in the power rankings and now there at the bottom of the NBA teams with a winning record. What is most interesting to me is how the media is responding to the Cavaliers shortcoming. Due to the fact that the Cavaliers were projected to do so great, they are getting so much ESPN talk because they aren't doing so great. Its funny how the media loves proving itself wrong to produce news. No one ever thought about all the other factors that could effect the team. Sure they have three top tier superstars, but chemistry doesn't just come out of thin air. All three stars can score; but where was the defense going to come from besides Lebron James? The media focused on hyping the fans up that they forgot to point out the cons of team. Sports journalists all had a ball when the Heat first assembled together with Lebron James and lost in the finals to the Mavericks. It was such a shock to the world because everyone let the media make The Heat look godlike. As soon as they were exposed by the offense of the Mavericks it made big news. I'm not sure if writers and broadcasters do these things on purpose knowing that the outcome could produce controversy or chaos; or are they fooled to think certain things as fans are. Either way you look at it, there is a long season ahead of us.

The Los Angeles Clippers v.s The Houston Rockets

Friday night The Los Angeles Clippers stomped The Houston Rockets 102-85. The top performers were Blake Griffin and Jamal Crawford. Blake Griffin finished the game with 30 points and 10 rebounds. Jamal Crawford had 21 points to help the Clippers get the win. The announcing of this game was unique. There weren't many cliche terms being used except one. One of the announcers said "putting on a clinic" which is a commonly used cliche. They made hilarious jokes about some of the players. One of the announcers said " I never seen a baby that big!" referring to big baby Davis's body size. What I really liked about the announcing was the random facts and history about the players and the team. They made it interesting to watch because they gave the two teams history playing each other. After Deandre Jordan got a rebound they stated the fact that Deandre Jordan is always healthy not missing many games in his career. They brought up the fact that The Clippers have won the last 9 out of 10 match ups before that game. Watching this game I realized that the announcing would be very boring if they didn't have facts and statistics to bring to the table. The game would literally be the announcers just stating every play and not being original. This game was broadcast on NBATV  because the anticipation the game being a good one. It was two teams in the Western Conference that are predicated to go to the playoffs and maybe meet up there. Overall, the media did a great job of covering the game even though it resulted in a blowout loss for The Rockets.

Washington Wizards v.s Indiana Pacers

The Washington Wizards defeat the The Indiana Pacers 97-90. John Wall led the Wizards in scoring with 18 points. Solomon Hill helped the Pacers make the game closer in the 4th quarter.The announcers for this game were former Indiana Pacers player Quinn Buckner and play-by-play announcer Chris Denari.  For most of this game the announcers discussed the reserves stepping up in place of the starters.What I liked about the announcing is that it wasn't bias. The announcers were on the FOX channel catered towards Pacers fans. Buckner and Denari  pointed out both the bad and good about each teams. What I also noticed was that they never showed emotions. They never talked in a disappointing way. Even when the Pacers were down by close to 20 they still announced as if the game was close. They made the audience at home watch for a comeback from the Pacers.  The Pacers did eventually come back; but couldn't stomp the Wizards out. The announcers did such a great job of keeping the people at home interested despite the poor performance from the Pacers early in the game.    

San Antonio Spurs v.s Houston Rockets

This Western Conference game was not a close one. The Houston Rockets earned there 6th win of the season with the final score being 98-81. Dwight Howard had 32 points, 16 rebounds. James Harden had 20 points, 6 assist. Both of these players played great defense having a total of 5 blocks. The announcers for the game were former Indiana Pacers player Reggie Miller, and play-by-play announcer Kevin Harlan. The way they went about analyzing was reasonable in the first quarter until they began to talk about the Houston Rockets excessively. I'm pretty sure that the reason for this unfairness was the Houston Rockets coming into the game with a 5-0 record. For the entire game all I heard was that the Rockets are starting to develop chemistry, there playing defense, Trevor Ariza is a better fit for the team than Chandler Parsons was, and other statements relating to the Houston Rockets success. What I did like about the announcers, were that that they made the game exciting. They weren't stating the obvious. At one point they mixed in some humor joking about small forward Kostas Papanikolaou's last name. Dwight Howard and James Harden made the game so thrilling that the announcers didn't have to hype it up. Howard had an array of dunks from the help of Harden that kept the crowd entertained. Overall, I believe that the announcers did a pretty decent job. It seems easier announcing the game when the players make it exciting by dunking and making fancy moves to the basket.

Preseason Recap (will it matter?)

Well, here it is, The NBA preseason is finally over. As NBA fans, we were always told that the preseason didn't mean anything. Its really hard to tell if the preseason really matters, because there are so many teams that do bad in the preseason. Then, some of those same teams that did bad in the preseason end up having a great record by the time playoffs roll around. By the end of the 2013-2014 preseason, the San Antonio Spurs had one of the worst records. The playoffs came around and The Spurs became the 2013-2014 NBA champions. Most people would argue that in the preseason the starters aren't used as much. If that's the case, then the Spurs in theory should have had one of the best preseason records as well. Everybody in the league knows that the Spurs have one of the best benches in the league. This year, The defending champions only won one game in the preseason. Also, many of the playoff teams from last year had a losing record in this years preseason. In my opinion, the preseason means something; but it doesn't mean much. I believe the preseason is just a stage to get players warmed up for the regular season. I could be wrong. The only thing us as fans can do is sit back and watch.

Until next time, See ya!

Atlanta Hawks v.s Miami Heat (preseason game)

Good news Atlanta Hawks fans! Center Al Horford made his return to the NBA tonight! Al Horford didn't play much last season due to a torn pectoral muscle early in the 2013-2014 season. He sat out until tonight, when the Atlanta Hawks decided to let him play in tonight's preseason game against the Miami Heat. He didn't have a huge impact on the game only earning two points and a rebound. Still, Atlanta Hawks fans have to be ecstatic for the return of their star player. the Atlanta Hawks won the game 109-103. They scored 43 points in the third quarter to help get them out of a small first half hole. The Heat haven't been doing very well in the preseason (0-4). I'm not sure if this is a result of Lebron James not being their anymore, or the Hawks being a better team (2-1). The Eastern Conference isn't as strong as the Western Conference. That alone should give Hawks fans hope that they'll be a challenging playoff contender this year. They came close to beating the Indiana Pacers in the playoffs last year, but couldn't finish the series strong. One thing is for sure, both of these teams will be fun to watch. Besides, this is just a preseason game. These two will meet again in the regular season. The Heat will be looking to get revenge on the Hawks. They play again November 14th.


Do you think the Miami Heats poor performance this preseason will spill over to the regular season?
Is Al Horford's return to the Atlanta Hawks the spark that'll get them deeper in the playoffs?



Until next time!

NBA Season Opener Preview

Here we go again basketball fans! We are two weeks away from the NBA's first game of the 2014-2015 season. On October 28th, the defending champion San Antonio Spurs will face-off against the the Dallas Mavericks. Later on that night, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers, play James Harden and the Houston Rockets. These two games will make for a great opening night, as Kobe Bryant returns to the court after suffering from multiple knee problems last season. He will be matched up against one of the more elite shooting guards in the NBA James Harden. Dwight Howard will also cause a challenge for the Lakers now that they have lost one of there premiere big men, Pau Gasol. The defending champion San Antonio Spurs look to defeat Western Conference rivals the Dallas Mavericks. Dallas acquired former Houston Rocket Chandler Parsons. Chandler Parsons is an athletic, defensive, three shooter that'll try to contain the explosive skill set possessed by Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard. The Spurs are of course favored to win; though I wouldn't jump to conclusions too soon. Western Conference games have the potential to be nail-biters no matter how "bad" NBA fans believe certain teams are.
This should be a great night for fans all over.

I'm curious to know who you think will come out on top October 28th..
Will the Dallas Mavericks upset the Spurs?
Will Kobe Bryant return as the same Kobe Bryant we know him as?

I guess we will just have to see...Until next time!