A Polite Request
I believe that the NBA blogosphere is the best in sports media. We have interesting people with a wide variety of backgrounds and takes. We have analysts, emotional diehards, stat obsessives, breakdown artists, photoshop freaks, whatever Golden State of Mind is, abstact conceptualists, and Holly MacKenzie. And I will go toe to toe with anyone that thinks their sport can hold a candle to the WebNBA.
But it’s time we have a talk, folks.
Let me provide a template for what I’ve seen from 90% of the NBA Team Blogs I read on a daily basis.Relevant component in bold.
IN CASE OF WIN:
(GETTY IMAGE BY HOOK OR BY CROOK)
-Declarative Statement About How Awesome We Are.
-Paragraph describing heroic individual/team effort.Relevant stats applied.
-Credit given to other team in what they did well. NOTE: Always describe in terms of things your team did badly, not that the other team did well. Make sure to never simply describe the other team as having executed or your team having an inherent weakness.
-List off great performances and plays.
-Complain about specific contributer for your team. Most often point guard.
-Talk about the great win tonight, despite the horrible officiating. You won, so be sure to mention how it was bad on both sides. What you actually mean is you still feel you got screwed on X plays, specifically Y play, but you can’t complain because you won. Specifically reference how Player A gets too many star calls, while your player B gets too few, and player X flops too much for his team. Your team would never do such a thing.
-Recap series, list next game time.
IN CASE OF LOSS:
(GETTY IMAGE OF UNFAIR CALL)
-Express Anger.
-Blame coaching/individual player effort.
-Credit other team with taking advantage of your mistakes. Be sure to tinge every big of compliment with “If our team did this like we should, this would not have happened.” Ex. “If our underrated Center no one appreciates had just rebounded like he does the rest of the time against a guy twice his size who’s an actual All-Star, this wouldn’t have happend. Our guy’s way better! Play like it!”
-Immediately preface with “I’m not saying we lost because of the officiating.’ Proceed to blame the officiating almost entirely with the loss. Specifically point out how frustrating it is that your team GOT HIT and FELL DOWN and yet there was no call. Mention how you accept it’s a physical game, then proceed to rail against any facet of physical play by the other team. Conversely, be sure to mention how the refs should let your team be more physical on defense. Blame the NBA’s conspiracy for certain teams to concede.
I’m asking for us to come together, people. Because I do it, too. I get emotionally involved. The most egregious officiating decision in the last four years (the suspension of Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw) haunts me to this day. But I’ve come around on it. That Suns team lost for a lot of reasons, and it’s hard to pinpoint one. Furthermore, no situation will ever approach that, 90% of the time. But even now, I complain about stars I don’t particularly like getting calls. And I’m wrong every time I do.
But I’m asking you, not to refrain from yelling at the television. Not to resist cursing the refs names to your friends and family. But if you’re writing a piece, a comment, a FanPost, a Bleacher Report, whatever it is. Don’t blame it on the officials. Right now there are Rockets fans complaining about Roy’s star-treatment and Blazers fans saying they’re done with the league. Boston has smacked Chicago around for four games with bigger bodies, then tried to flop repeatedly today. Chicago constantly harrassed Pierce, hacking at him. Noah sets illegal screens. Hinrich was fouled on the offensive rebound in the 2nd overtime. The list goes on and on.
You do your readers, and the rest of us in the NBA writing community a disservice by pinning it on the officials. If your team had executed the way you believe they can, they would have won, in most cases. But they don’t always. And sometimes that’s luck, and sometimes that’s great defense. That’s what makes the playoffs great.
Don’t cheapen it with shirking blame. Your team’s fallible. If it wasn’t, there’d be no joy in their rise above those faults.
I ask you this for the good of our discourse, for the quality of our conversations, for the good of the NBABlogfrica. God Bless You. And God Bless The Association.
[...] Paroxysm just put up a request to team blogs. I am going to repost a quick blurb, but you seriously need to check it out: Immediately preface with “I’m not saying we lost because of the officiating.’ Proceed to [...]
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