#TwitterSports AKA Sporting Schadenfreude

For those who follow on Scribe on Twitter, it’s sincerely appreciated. It has allowed for the growth of the blog and a great launching pad for The Exchange. Coupled with exisiting relationships, Facebook and sheer persistence, Twitter has done wonders both professionally and personally that make the journey worthwhile. Sadly, for the good that comes from it must follow the bad, or in the case of last night, the utterly awful.

You may have run upon the hashtag, #TwitterSports, quite often. No, the social media network has not launched a sports division (thank the tech gods for that) nor have major media outlets launched dedicated Twitter-based apps. As long as Twitter exists – who knows how long that will be – the tag is the strongest use of sarcasm and criticism you’ll ever see from this Scribe.

It speaks to a level of irrationality, bias and sheer stupidity which spreads in ‘real-time’ across a given geography. If you thought those inappropriate comments and inane proposed trades in your barbershop or work lounge were bad, take a dip into #TwitterSports. Overreaction is the name of the game here; shock tweets, bad rumors and unverified stories run amok and catch like wildfire. Despite the good folks that are on Twitter to enlighten and more importantly, be enlightened, there are unfortunately, far more vocal, if not numerous idiots as well.

#TwitterSports, friends, is sporting schadenfreude.

Last night, #TwitterSports was in top form. The story of last night’s Game 4 is not about the Dallas Mavericks finishing the job, it’s the Los Angeles Lakers being swept out of the American Airlines Center a broken mess of bad coaching, listless play and one absolutely DUMB elbow thrown by Andrew Bynum.

This was expected. After all, a franchise with the rich history of the Lakers will have as many detractors, jealous fans and uninhibited ‘haters’ as they do fans, homers and star-hoppers (to put it lightly). We can just begin with the fact that they play in Los Angeles; the entertainment capital of the world juxtaposed with so many conflicting factions of daily society of all socioeconomic backgrounds.

And I haven’t mentioned the key players in this stage act. Phil Jackson’s leaving (and Knicks fans better stop running with speculation RIGHT NOW!), the Dwight Howard cloud hangs over Bynum’s head once again, Pau Gasol’s toughness is questioned with more fervor, Ron Artest’s suspension in Game 3 adds to his psychosis, Lamar Odom is caught up in his fragrance and this below [blurred out handle b/c this is enough attention to the stupidity] …

No matter what you believe about Kobe Bryant and the alleged rape a few years ago, is such a cavalier reference to sexual assault necessary?

So instead of giving much deserved credit to Dallas for better coaching and even better execution, we’re using the Lakers’ folly as the warm-up act for the biggest #TwitterSports show soon to come; the eventual end of the Miami Heat season. Whether they win the NBA championship, lose in the Finals or lose before getting to the Finals, the Heat’s narrative for the 2010-11 season was set up for some of the most biting, vitriolic, and vicious commentary we’ve ever seen.

The chatter will be as if LeBron James literally spat in everyone’s face last July.

At its core, #TwitterSports is a phenomena replicated from what you’d hear on a normal day before we go to work or class. It’s what we utter in inebriated tones at the local watering holes after a long day of mounting frustration with the world. It’s an arena of social media where the more brutal, the more immediate attention received. These are the rowdy kids in the school cafeteria that throw food while the principal stops by to make an announcement.

Sometimes, you look and just think “you can’t be serious?”

So, friends, if you thought last night was bad, we have yet to see the nadir of social media and sports. Brace yourselves.

Pluggin’: if you missed the mentions on Twitter and Facebook, tomorrow’s edition of The Exchange will not only feature friend of the blog, Paulsen from Sports Media Watch, but will be extended to 90 minutes. We’re going to truly break down the hackneyed discussion of sports ratings, big versus small markets and, of course, talk about the latest happenings. We’ll be looking for your questions, comments and concerns through the chat rooms, Twitter and Facebook, so let your minds churn. If you haven’t done so already, follow The Exchange on BlogTalkRadio.

For those who missed out on the great November interview from Paulsen, BOOM!

An Anniversary at the Airport

Five years ago, I was on a flight back from Oakland via Las Vegas. Without going into it, it was a pretty rough day… or month. So rough that wrestling anxiety and anger was best served on my own at Terminal 2 for approximately seven hours before flying home.

The day was essentially spent at Oakland International Airport after leaving San Jose earlier than necessary. Yours truly hadn’t watched a televised sporting event in its entirety since having left home for an undiscovered life in the Bay Area. In fact, outside of a couple of quarters of the Golden State Warriors games, I didn’t watch many sports as hoped – a story worth telling when the memoirs are published.

[Sure, there was the second-greatest Christmas present ever; a long-time New York-reared San Francisco 49ers fan finally took the walk into Candlestick Park for the so-called “Bush Bowl” against the Houston Texans. Yet, that was New Year’s Day; long before this botched relocation fell apart. Life was still so… promising and new.]

The day of infamy began long before hopping on the BART to OAK. After taking a seat and ample aisle room at Fremont, it dawned upon me that if I play my cards right, I could grab some food, perch near a television and watch the AFC and NFC Conference Championship games before leaving California. See, as bad as this day… week… month was, I knew that I could always take solace in watching twenty-two men beat the crap out of each other for an oblong brown ball.

Courtesy of The Guardian (UK)

Pittsburgh Steelers – the sixth seed - traveled to Denver for a date with the Broncos. The game, rather uneventful for anyone that wasn’t part of Steeler Nation, was defined by four turnovers by the Pittsburgh defense and Ben Roethlisberger’s name thrown alongside Dan Marino’s as both were second-year quarterbacks who made the Super Bowl.

Seattle made their first Super Bowl in franchise history when they also capitalized off of four turnovers against the Carolina Panthers. This game stuck out for two reasons: one, this was how Jake Delhomme cemented his reputation as Jake Delhomme and this was how I discovered the Seahawks fan base.

In the town of the Raiders and across the way from the 49ers, seeing ‘Hawks fans walking around the airport and chugging beers at several bars & eateries was a bit startling. Of course, Seattle is about a one-hour flight from the Bay, so there couldn’t be too much of a surprise. However, when you consider that save for Steve Largent and the 2002 realignment which forced the franchise to change conferences, the NFL fans back east couldn’t tell you squat about anyone who ever played for the Seahawks except at-the-time fantasy football king Shaun Alexander.

Seahawks fans were doused in elation and drenched in a ton of “what about us?”-ness throughout that January. It was admirable and certainly enviable. I had yet to start a specific beat for the Beacon, so there wasn’t the struggle of covering a team I grew up despising and eventually respecting in the New York Giants. That I witnessed rookie Alex Smith throw his first career touchdown – countering eleven interceptions thrown in the 2005 season – three weeks before Seattle punched their ticket to the Super Bowl spoke of how mighty the 49ers had fallen.

Watching Seahawks fans huddled around TVs throughout the terminal was a surprisingly pleasant sight. The high-fives and fist bumps, the jubilant drunken cheers, the early and humorously biased prognostications for the ‘Hawks; all were different, all were entertaining, all were just cool to see.

Moments after their win, boarding began for a quick flight to Las Vegas. A one-hour layover in Sin City meant little time to watch any west coast NBA games. Had I not been coming back to New York, I would have enjoyed from the cozy confines of carpeted studio apartment in San Jose. Instead…



By the time the second flight took off for JFK back home, I believe Kobe Bryant had tallied 26 points in the first half. It was going to be a spectacular night – or semi-ordinary for the future Hall of Famer – and the fans, players and coaches who watched were probably thinking 50 was inevitable.

Meanwhile, in the back of the Boeing and adjacent to the men’s room, yours truly is thinking of how he was going to try to get his old gig at the Beacon back (which happened within two weeks).

At some point while hovering into the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, Bryant had his press conference. This post-game presser had to have been like any in NBA history; a conquering king retelling the story of how he dared a weaker, but brave red and black-attired army to take his castle.

Struggling to relax in the upright position, the prodigal son was coming back east. No longer could I brag about being able to watch the Pacific Division teams live without worrying about not getting enough sleep for the next day.

So why tell you this?

There are far worse things in life, but when it comes to the sports world, to be last to have seen something incredible, remarkable… sublime, even, is akin to being the person that played out the latest styles in the streets.

You can’t join in on the barbershop conversations that week because except for pay-per-view fights being rebroadcasted on premium cable the next week, replays of games are so rare that you might as well read wait for a player to write about it in his or her memoirs in thirty years.

You find yourself saying “you mean I missed that game because SOMEBODY (points to significant other) wanted to see Honey?!?!”.

You hate everyone that’s talking about the game, especially the casual New York fan who roots for whichever team is in the playoffs “because it’s all New York”.

When my brother picked me up from JFK, the very first thing he asked me was “did you hear about Kobe?” The temper tantrum thrown in the passenger seat would have made Cuba Gooding, Jr. proud.



When the entire ordeal began at the Fremont BART station, I took solace in knowing that the circumstances gave me a chance to watch all the biggest sporting events of the weekend; to come back to something familiar and slowly ease my way out of a difficult time in my life. Yet, to this day, five years later, there’s nothing that angers me more than knowing that I could have watched a legendary performance while most of the country was in its post-football slumber.

Interview with Paulsen of Sports Media Watch

In the last decade, you may have heard as much about television ratings as quarterback ratings. Whether it’s television, print, radio or online, ‘major’ sports media personalities constantly mention them in some way to justify or belittle the viewership of games. However, with the increased public discussion to viewing measurement, few actually provide proper context behind the much ballyhooed numbers. It’s why a site such as Sports Media Watch has become a go-to destination for media and fans alike over the last five years.

Since 2006, Paulsen has maintained the well-regarded and highly-referenced site which takes a deeper look into Nielsen ratings and major movement in the sports media industry. Certainly one with his own opinions and curiosities about sports media, Paulsen was gracious enough to respond to questions about the purpose of SMW, the public conversation about ratings, social media’s role (or lack thereof) in increasing television viewership and his frustration with the sports media world throughout the LeBron James free agency saga.

In advance, many thanks again, Paulsen.

A Sports Scribe: You’ve operated SMW for a few years now. Could you explain why you came up with the site?

Paulsen: I used to write a lot of Wikipedia posts, which in retrospect wasn’t a great idea. One day in ’06, I read a blog post that quoted fairly liberally from one of the Wikipedia articles I edited, and I realized that it made a lot more sense for me to publish that kind of information on my own blog, as opposed to a place like Wikipedia where you really have no ownership of the things you write.


Scribe: SMW is predominantly television ratings analysis, yet over the past year and a half, you’ve added some excellent in-depth interviews with some major players in the sports media business. How did a passionate fan as you manage to talk to the crew from Inside the NBA and Russ Greenberg of HBO Sports?

Paulsen: I can really thank some very good sports PR people out there for helping me get these interviews, such as Jeff Pomeroy and Megan Bondi at Turner Sports, Nate Smeltz and Diane Lamb at ESPN, Mike Giluyi at PromaxBDA, Brandon Bagley with the Ivy Sports Symposium, and others.

I actually went to Turner Sports in December of last year and May of this year, and they couldn’t have been more gracious and accommodating, from the PR officials like Pomeroy, Eric Welch and Tareia Williams to the on-air personalities like Chris Webber, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson. They showed me an incredible amount of respect, which is amazing considering how bloggers are sometimes viewed by others in the sports media.

In February, I attended the ESPN Wide World of Sports opening, and ESPN’s Mike Soltys and George Bodenheimer were kind enough to take the time to speak with me – especially Mike, who I pelted with sports media questions as we walked through the Disney theme park. Funny story: as Mike and I were talking, a woman came by and just blasted ESPN the Weekend right to our faces. She was the only person I saw who complained.

Also, I should thank Bob Rathbun and Darren Rovell, the first two people I reached out to for interviews.


Scribe: The interviews with former players & coaches turned analysts – NBA’s Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Chris Webber from TNT and former NHLer Barry Melrose of ESPN – were especially enjoyable reads. Did they discuss anything about how they educated themselves on the media business during or after their active careers in those leagues?

Paulsen: Not necessarily. Kenny mentioned how he didn’t really see being a TV analyst as a career until Craig Sager told him how much potential he (and Inside the NBA) had.

Set Meters used by Nielsen for ratings measurement (via AgencySpy)

Scribe: Nielsen television ratings have been around since 1950, yet it truly started to enter the sports lexicon over the past decade. Sports media critics and industry insiders have had conversations about the metrics for years, yet it seems that only now, these numbers are talked up on the air in the same breath as yards per catch and ERA. Do you see a rhyme or reason to it all?
 
Paulsen: People like to compare. They like to say that their sport is #1, and someone else’s sport is less popular. From what I can tell, sports fans use television ratings as a sort of value judgment, where sports with higher TV ratings are somehow better than sports with low TV ratings.

Just look at the NHL-NBA and MLB-NFL flame wars that erupt each year. I think a lot of fans take pride in how their sport does on an overall level, and on a team level as well. Just going from what I see on message boards, Laker fans are proud, for whatever reason, that their team is the biggest draw in the NBA. I guess it’s a good reflection on Kobe. Yankee fans like to point out how World Series ratings drop when their team isn’t in it. It’s a badge of honor, another thing to brag about. That said, I don’t necessarily agree that TV ratings information is as commonplace as yards per catch and ERA – but it certainly seems more commonplace than it was a few years ago.

You know what this is (via Los Angeles Times' Showtracker)

 
Scribe: Until this past July, you were once very active on Twitter; using the forum to engage with your readers outside of SMW itself. Yet, shortly after The Decision, you tweeted “underrated aspect of LeBron saga: the unbelievably poor state of American sports media. And I don't just mean ESPN.” Could you elaborate a bit on that statement?
 
Paulsen: I truly believe the coverage of NBA free agency, and of LeBron James in particular, was the nadir of sports journalism – at least since I’ve been following it. Lots of rumor based reporting, the ‘Allan Houston’s house’ story being arguably the worst of it.

The coverage of LeBron post-The Decision has produced, in my opinion, some of the worst sportswriting in recent memory. There’s one writer who has gone after James in such a personal, unprofessional manner over the course of the past several months that it amazes me he is considered one of the better NBA writers out there. He’s just one of many. The number of cheap shots taken at James, whose only crime is being very full of himself, has been frankly disheartening.

I’m not a big fan of moral outrage, especially when it comes to something irrelevant like sports. I can’t muster up the energy to be offended by something like Hanley Ramirez not going hard after a ball. As far as LeBron’s special goes, I really have no respect for anybody who watched it and then complained about it afterwards. Everyone knew what it would be days before it actually aired. Nobody had to watch it; if they wanted to know where he would sign, they could have just checked any sports website that night. I watched it, and then I got on with my life. I didn’t feel the need to complain about it for four months, and I surely didn’t feel the need to judge somebody on the basis of sixty minutes of easily escapable television.

Anyone who has watched LeBron over the years knows he has a big ego. For me, that’s mildly amusing. For others, that is a high crime. I guess it comes down to perspective – or lack of it, in the case of the sports media. If LeBron wants to think of himself as a “winner” when he hasn’t won, that’s his prerogative. I don’t need to write articles sneeringly pointing out the fact that he hasn’t won a championship. A lot of these guys take James’ hubris personally, which tells me that they need to perhaps take some time off and reevaluate their lives.

The defense of the people of Cleveland has been particularly ridiculous, considering that James was a free agent and owed neither the city nor the Cavaliers anything. The fans of Cleveland deserved nothing from James, or any other player, the same way no fan in any city deserves anything from the people providing them optional entertainment. As far as James not informing Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, I just think of the many, many players who are not informed about trades, or about being cut – like Damon Jones, who in 2008 reportedly found out from his limo driver that Gilbert’s Cavs traded him to the Bucks.

Overall, it was a pretty awful summer for anyone who enjoys rational thought, as opposed to screaming outrage, cheap shots, and the ravenous tearing apart of yet another athlete. There’s a lot of people I lost respect for over the summer, not that it would (or should) matter to them.


Scribe: Being that social media has become part of the new normal, how much of a role do you think it plays in attracting eyeballs for sports programming, if at all.

Paulsen: I think the influence of social media is a bit overstated. I may be wrong about this, but I can’t imagine that a tweet or Facebook message from ESPN or Turner is going to get someone who wasn’t going to watch a sporting event to suddenly decide to tune in. Even in the case of dedicated (as opposed to casual) sports fans, I’d imagine the effect of social media on the decision to watch a sporting event would be negligible.


Scribe: Considering how deep in the forest you are when it comes to the sports industry, do you have the same sporting interests today as when you were younger? If not, how do you reconcile such changes?

Paulsen: Probably not. For example, the first couple of times the Spurs made the NBA Finals (’99 and ’03), I wasn’t necessarily thinking about it through the lens of their negative effect on the NBA’s TV ratings. Once I became more aware of the business of the NBA, it was tougher for me to watch their subsequent appearances without thinking about how poorly the games were doing in the ratings. For games that I know will do poorly – for example, Bucks/Hawks Game 7 last year – there is certainly that feeling of ‘nobody’s watching this’. Generally, games and series that do terribly tend to correlate with games and series that aren’t very fun to watch. I can’t think of very many series that have been entertaining and well-played that still had terrible ratings. Maybe Devils/Ducks in ’03, but perhaps a more astute NHL viewer than I can tell me whether or not that series was actually good hockey (I enjoyed it, at least).

At the very least, I can say that the business aspect of sports is very much present in my mind when I’m watching games.

As far as how I reconcile this with my personal sports fandom, sometimes I have to separate myself from the business aspect of sports in order to enjoy it. It’s been a bit more difficult to do that since I started the blog.

The San Francisco Giants and their fans couldn't care less about ratings (via SF Chronicle)

 
Scribe: Much is made about how this past World Series between the new champion San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers was tied as the lowest rated series of all time despite the teams being from the 5th and 6th largest media markets in the United States. When both teams defeated the favored Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees, immediately there were cries about how the Series would fare poorly because neither team (more so New York) was involved. Do you see some sort of self-fulfilling prophesy when it comes to ratings: if people start predicting doom, doom will happen? If they begin to hype something, ‘everyone will watch’?
 
Paulsen: In a way, yes. It’s kind of a chicken and egg scenario. The Yankees are a big TV draw because they can attract large audiences. Those large audiences watch the Yankees because they’re told the Yankees are popular and important. Here’s my ‘theory’: there’s a base level of popularity these teams bring to the table, which is magnified by media attention. The Yankees are already extremely popular, and media hype just shoots them further into the popularity stratosphere. There’s no doubt in my mind that the Yankees would be the best draw in baseball even without media hype – but if the media gave more equitable attention to the Yankees and other teams, perhaps the gulf between a Yankee World Series (11.7 in 2009) and a non-Yankee World Series (8.4 in 2008 and 2010) would not be as great.

Having said that, one thing that bothers me is when sports fans complain about the Yankees, Red Sox, Heat, Lakers, Penguins, Red Wings, Cowboys, Patriots and others getting lots of nationally televised games. With few exceptions, these teams always get substantially higher ratings than others, and that’s on the fans, not the networks. I’ve heard it suggested that if the Rangers and Giants got more national TV appearances, the ratings would have been higher for the World Series. But the Rangers were on FOX as many times as the Yankees last season (granted, not always as the featured game) and the Giants had two fewer appearances. As another example, just this past week, ESPN aired Suns/Heat on Wednesday and TNT aired Suns/Magic on Thursday. In both games, Phoenix was blown out. The Heat game drew a 1.4, nearly twice the rating of the Magic game (0.8). Why shouldn’t the networks give the Heat more national appearances than the Magic? Say what you want about the Heat hype, but nobody’s forcing anyone to watch.


Scribe: Finally, SMW’s existence is based on a belief that sports fans should care or at least be aware of viewing measurement. As a whole, do you think they do care?

Paulsen: I would say the belief of SMW is not necessarily that sports fans be aware of viewing measurement, but that they have accurate information. There are plenty of newspaper articles that don’t distinguish between a cable rating and U.S. rating, an overnight and a final or even between a rating and a share. Granted, who cares, it’s just TV ratings. But when I see a lot of the incorrect comparisons that go on, it can be a bit frustrating.

As far as whether sports fans care about viewing measurement, I would go back to my answer earlier. Fans want to know how their sport is doing relative to other sports, and from that perspective, I do think they care. They don’t care enough to think about it too frequently, and I don’t think it’s a top of mind concern when they’re watching actual sporting events, but it matters enough for them to want the basic information.

Roundball Roundtable of... Roundness - Part 2

You liked Part 1 of Scribe's first Roundball Rountable of... Roundness? Of course, you did. Here's Part Deux. Once again, the previous questions and bios for those who've come upon this post first.

Everybody JUMP!

Roundball Roundtable of... Roundness - Part 1

Something different for Scribe:

A month from now, the NBA playoffs will take off, getting people into far more heated debates about who’s better than who, which injury hurts more and where will members of the Free Agent Class of 2010 head after the final shot of the season is taken.

So, mark today as special as it’s the first of what will be many roundtables to come. Of course, this isn’t just any blogging roundtable, but one with some twists.

I’ve reached out to three NBA pundits, fans and chatterboxes who can provide different perspectives than what you’ve heard in recent weeks. The questions asked are not going to be “LeBron or Kobe?” and “what’s wrong with _____?”. The responses were quite interesting, to say the least.

Let this roundtable begin with some brief bios on each contributor:

• Stephon Johnson is a name you’ve seen on here before. Beyond having known half my life, he’s a staff writer for the famed New York Amsterdam News, covering a range of news stories as well as hoops for the history African-American weekly paper. In addition, he is also a contributing writer for The Perpetual Post and has done a multitude of music reviews for other websites. Check out his Tumblr and follow on Twitter (Warning: he’s not as good looking as me).
• Rey Moralde is the founder of the very fantastic and popular Los Angeles-based NBA blog, The No Look Pass. Along with great analysis of all four Californian squads (writers for the NorCal teams), if you still think the very existence of Clippers fans is an urban legend or that there’s no such thing as a true Lakers fan, let this site dispel those myths. For further witty banter and superb in-game comedy, you can follow Rey and TNLP on Facebook and Twitter.
• Finally, rounding out this triumvirate is aspiring scribe Kyle Hoffman. A cool cat like Heathcliff (that’s a reference to a Sean Price freestyle), Hoffman is a die-hard Sacramento Kings fan… from Allentown, Pennsylvania? Yes, you read that correctly. A true hoops head, he certainly holds down the fort for other teams as well, as you will read in moments. Follow Monsieur Hoffman on Twitter.

And now, your questions, after the jump...

Phil or Pat? Who Would You Take?

Color me amazed!

A question to Scribe’s Twitter followers got the attention of @NBA_on_ESPN_RV and has inspired a pretty good debate. To elaborate on those 140 characters:

You’re given a team that has been in the middle of the road for some time. There’s playoff potential, but equal potential for them to get embarrassed in the first round. Because of that treading-water phase of the franchise, you haven’t been able to draft a can’t-miss player and cap space is preciously thin. However, while your squad doesn’t have superstars, some players are on the radar of contending teams.

You have a chance to grab one of these two all-time great coaches. Which would you take: Phil Jackson or Pat Riley?

Of course, the question was inspired by Jackson passing Riley as the winningest coach in Los Angeles Lakers history last night.

Personally, I know who I’d make the case for, but I would hear what you have to say first.

State your case in a comment here, Facebook or on Twitter.

Premature

The Orlando Magic reminded us all of the classic adage; NEVER put the cart before the horse.

These are certainly not the NBA Finals most of you wanted, but it’s the series that might provide the better show.

I’ll give you time to pick up your jaw.

Sometimes, the best matchups in sports are not always about superstar player versus superstar player in nearly the same position. The majority salivated from the thought of Kobe Bryant versus LeBron James as the best shooting guard and best small forward in the game would have defended each other for most of the Dream Finals. Yet, now, we have one of the game’s best backcourts in Los Angeles going against one of its best frontlines with those proverbial ‘X-factors’ littered all over.

Let’s cut through all of the broken dreams and the exaggerated “I’m not watching the NBA ever again” histrionics that many people are taking on. If this generation’s Dream Finals came to fruition, based on the game play we ‘witnessed’ in the Conference Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers would have been destroyed in a sweep.

If those Cavaliers – with LeBron James having to do everything short of tying his teammates’ shoes, it seemed – could not get past the Orlando Magic, did you honestly think that they would match shot for shot with the Lake Show? The Magic has a pretty good roster; shooters abound with Hedo Turkoglu, Mickael Pietrus and Rashard Lewis (who has been the best second-fiddle this postseason), heady point guard play between Rafer Alston and Anthony Johnson and the overlooked backup center in Marcin Gortat.

The Cavs, while still boasting a solid roster, would have had no answer for the depth of forwards the Lakers boasts between Pau Gasol, Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom (who could be a sixth man or starter, depending on matchups). Even the Lakers’ bench, as inconsistent as it had been for stretches in the season, is superior to Cleveland’s as Luke Walton, Jordan Farmar, Josh Powell, Sasha Vujacic and Shannon Brown certainly provide more than Wally Szczerbiak, Ben Wallace, Daniel Gibson, Joe Smith and Sasha Pavlovic.

Of course, the most intriguing one-on-one matchup will be between the beast that is Dwight Howard and the coming-back-to-form Andrew Bynum. It may not be Patrick Ewing versus Hakeem Olajuwon in the best pairing of centers in the last two decades of the Finals, but there’s a potential for a classic battle in the paint.

To those who opined for Kobe-versus-LeBron, there was a pretty good chance that you would have been more than disappointed. Kobe-versus-Courtney Lee doesn’t scream ‘marquee matchup’, but the Lakers versus the Magic may be the best way to cap off what has been a banner year for the league.

Say What?!?!: While I believe that ratings should be taken in the proper context, TV by the Numbers wants to know how you think these Finals will fare. I say pretty well.

Sabotage

Deep down, I want to see the Denver Nuggets and Orlando Magic in the NBA Finals.

Realistically… no one has a clue which teams will play in the NBA’s Spring Classic.

Oh, sure, there are millions who want the spoon-fed Cleveland Cavaliers/Los Angeles Lakers matchup just as they clamored for these same Lakers against the eventual champion Boston Celtics eleven months ago.

There are millions who just don’t want to see Kobe Bryant playing in his sixth Finals; skeptically wondering if – or vehemently demanding to know why – we’re supposed to forget about Colorado as the arguably best player in the world has found himself back in the spotlight for sterling play. He’s also finding himself back in the good graces with some on Madison Avenue as there is a player of comparable skills, intensity and jersey sales that he can be paired up with (hint: it’s LeBron James!).

There are plenty who do want to see KB81, Pau Gasol and their teammates lose again in June; harkening the pointing and laughing that the New England Patriots endured after losing to the New York Giants in Super Bowl 42 as if the word ‘hubris’ was created for that thrilling, but agonizing night.

There are many in the masses who want to see James shine again in the Finals, but with a different result. After being annihilated by Tony Parker and the San Antonio Spurs in 2007, the Cavs reloaded for what has been destined to be a return appearance. The cast of characters should be far better in this play as Mo Williams, an underrated Delonte West and a very good team defense should give us a better show. For all of the Biblical references that surround him, James has done everything humanly possible to match the hype and expectations since he arrived on the scene. Yet, as we all know, that means little in this ‘win today or leave tomorrow’ culture.

Deep down, I want to see the Denver Nuggets and Orlando Magic ruin all of our visions of seven grueling games of Number 24 versus Number 23.

I don’t want to sabotage the Dream Finals so much as I wonder how many of these recently converted NBA fans are really going to hunker down and watch teams from seemingly unsexy markets do battle for the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

Neither the Nuggets nor the Magic have that superstar – a term used far too loosely these days – who brings instant recognition from the unfamiliar. Denver’s Carmelo Anthony has been one of the best players in the NBA since he arrived with James and Miami’s Dwayne Wade, his fellow classmates of the 2003 Draft who have actually reached (in Wade’s case, won) the Finals before Anthony finally made it out of the first round during these playoffs. Dwight Howard came out of high school one year later and is a consistent jump shot away from truly becoming the league’s most dominant big man. Yet, ‘Melo has never seemed comfortable in the non-basketball glare while for Howard and his goofy-but-fun personality, big men other than Shaquille O’Neal or Yao Ming don’t sell the way the ‘little’ guys do, regardless of what Greg Oden tells you.

Neither the Nuggets nor the Magic were supposed to be in the conversation of the best teams in the league. Yet, despite Boston’s title defense and hype around western teams such as New Orleans and San Antonio, this quartet features the teams that have been the absolute best from start to finish all season long. It took a long time to warm up to Denver, even after the trade for Chauncey Billups, because of the franchise’s recent implosions. The Magic were supposed to have been a second-round casualty because their offensive playbook consisted of just two plays: throw the ball inside to Howard and shoot a three.

These are two teams that outside of the keenest NBA observers are not following the script. In Johnny Ludden’s column for Yahoo! Sports, Kenyon Martin said it perfectly after his team spoiled The Lake Show in Game 2:

“Y’all can go home and play NBA Live or something,” K-Mart grunted, “if y’all want to see that matchup.”

“They got a fight on their hand over here,” Martin said. “And Cleveland got a fight on their hand, as well. It ain’t just going to be us and Orlando lay down, so they can play in two weeks.

“That ain’t going to happen. I’m going to make sure it don’t.”

If both of these teams win out and meet in the Finals, will many of you turn off the TV because the Dream Series that has been projected since last fall did not come to fruition? Any combination of these final four teams will provide us with a great championship series, no matter which names receive top billing. Let’s just hope that the sporting public will afford the same interest and appreciation, regardless of which teams are left standing.

Say What?!?!: Speaking of Madison Avenue, this article just came through Advertising Age's website while putting this post together. Not everyone will be excited if this 'dream' comes true.

Work

For those of you who have lives, in all likelihood, you missed Kobe Doin’ Work last night. So in taking one for the team – or not having a life – here are some quick thoughts on the Spike Lee project for ESPN.

Before anything else, you should know that if you believe that this is about the person that is Kobe Bryant, you’re not going to find much of that in the film. This is about the profession that defines Kobe Bryant as he explains his thought process from the last pre-game words in locker room to the moment he joins his wife and kids for the ride home after the game. It’s a documentary meant for the true basketball aficionado, although it’s the perfect opportunity for those looking to learn about the game no matter what level of interest.

What makes this film work is that this is one in a native tongue, sort of speak.

Since this movie delves into a critical contest for Western Conference supremacy (it was a blowout win of the then-champion San Antonio Spurs), Bryant is game-mode. As he speaks through each play and sequence, he’s talking in the game’s lingo. If you believed that basketball was as simple as putting a ball through the hoop or flopping to get the referee’s attention, you’ll find that there’s far more.

For example, when Bruce Bowen is on offense, he considers himself a roving defender; akin to a safety in the NFL (he references Ed Reed and Troy Polamalu). Yet, when Michael Finley subs in for Bowen, Bryant talks about the matchup change and discusses a switch to playing cornerback – in the case of the hardwood, he’s now man-to-man against Finley as the former Dallas Mavericks star is a greater offensive threat than Bowen.

As he’s watching the footage from when he’s on the bench during timeouts and when resting, he admits that he had no clue he talked so much. He's talking to his teammates about the plays that could have been, should have been and would have been. He's giving pointers to Jordan Farmar about setting up his own shot, telling Pau Gasol to set up for a play to get the Triangle offense going and imploring Lamar Odom to go back on the low block (near the rim) and get his post game going. He's giving reminders to Derek Fisher, the lone teammate he has that went through the wars during the Lakers' threepeat earlier this decade. He flips between English and Italian with The Machine! as he tries to get him going.

You have a sense that with his constant banter with his teammates that he may not fit the exact mold of the selfish player that everyone from Jay Mariotti to Bill Simmons to your cubicle neighbor believes he is. Maybe with this particular cast of characters, he's shedded some of the impulsive "I need the ball for us to win" characteristics he had in the pot-Shaquille O'Neal era. Yet, he's letting you, the viewer, decide that.

There were two discrepancies that depending on how you like your basketball, you might notice.

For starters, the film score seems a bit unnecessary. Considering that this was an actual game with Bryan adding his commentary over it, you may have been content with hearing the natural sounds of the game. The film provided its own music throughout much of the 90 minutes because you hear sneakers squeaking, players and referees chatting with and over each other, edited trash talk between opponents and whistles. It’s the rare glimpse into the intimate dimensions of the game and you didn’t need much else to get you immersed.

The other issue was another unnecessary sound; Spike Lee, himself. He did not interject much and for the most part, he did ask Bryant some insightful questions. They were inquisitive and smart questions that – to borrow some coach speak – were teaching points about the game, such as when Lee asked why more teams don’t run the famed Triangle offense.

Yet, as mentioned before the start of the movie, Lee reminds us that Bryant provided his voiceover after his 61-point brilliance against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Lee takes off his director hat and immediately puts on his crazed Knicks fan hat. Suddenly, the conversation veers into the game he just finished instead of staying the course. The reason could be that in the filmed game, the Lakers were coasting away from the Spurs and in Lee’s mind, there may have not been much more to talk about. This might work for some, but for others, it might have disrupted the flow.

Despite all of the analysis on highlight shows, pre- and post-game shows, you don’t ever hear from the players about what their craft when they are actually practicing it in front of our very eyes. We have to rely on interviews and speculation from the media on what had and had not happened on the court in order to gain an understanding of what really goes on in a basketball game. The unprecedented access Lee and his team was granted to make Kobe Doin’ Work succeeded in bringing us closer to the physical and mental preparation these players need to perform every other night.

If you’re a hoops head or at least hungry for some knowledge about the intricacies of the game, Kobe Doin’ Work is a treat as you get to see things from the mind of arguably the best player on the planet.
Personally, after watching this and seeing Tyson recently, I hope that we have more sports films like this, where we get to hear from the athletes themselves about their trades, not just from our own assumptions and opinions.

Note: If you’re asking yourself why Kobe Doin’ Work aired on Saturday night as opposed to prior to today’s Game 7 between his Lakers and the Houston Rockets, there are a plethora of reasons that can be assumed (and likely right). The first airing was commercial-free on ESPN from start to finish, with ads placed in the repeat airings on ESPN2. Because Saturday is almost a wasteland for television viewing, there wasn’t much potential ad revenues lost for the commercial-free airing on the Worldwide Leader’s end of things. However, there was little programming last night that could have competed with the film; it was even helped with a rain-delayed Rockies-Pirates game on MLB Network.

Say What?!?!: Maybe it’s just me and having differing musical preferences, but am I the only person who’s tired of seeing the Amazing ads for the NBA Playoffs? On this end, it has nothing to do with the visuals so much as it’s the audio. If going the Kanye West route was desired, I can imagine there’s a better track to use.

17

Funny things about the Celtics winning their 17th title in franchise history:

So NOW Paul Pierce is a Celtic legend?!?! The guy carried the franchise for a decade, yet it seems that now he's appreciated not just throughout the country, but in New England.

Danny Ainge winnng Executive of the Year is a bit odd. Luck and a long-lasting friendship with Kevin McHale shouldn't be reasons to be given the award.

Thrilled for Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. Absolutely thrilled. P.J. Brown... not so much. Some fires won't ever be put out ;).

I kid. Congrats.

It may seem crazy, but Rajon Rondo has a game similar to Tony Parker, except that the jumpshot isn't there just yet.

As for the Lake Show: as one of the Boston-area commentors mentioned on a ESPN Conversation board, this is nice right now, but the Lakers will have their day. Don't doubt that for a second.

The best team in the league all season long was outplayed in every game by a team that never strayed from their game plan. Will they figure that out in November remains to be seen.

Kobe is going to single-handedly destroy the PLANET in Beijing.

Finally, no matter what, ESPN/ABC must do everything possible to keep their lead broadcast team of Mike Breen, Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy together.

Bezerk

If you have yet to see Kobe Bryant's Hyperdunks stunt... well, it's hard to have missed it.

If you're Dr. Jerry Buss, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers franchise and on the precipise of another NBA championship with the best player on the planet... you're having a conorary attack with the mere mention of this video.

You're also talking with team lawyers, league lawyers, Kobe's lawyers, contract negotiation specialists, agents, Nike executives... everyone under the sun to ensure that he never pulls off such a stunt again.

And it may not be enough.

A recommendation: use sports' greatest motivator.

Fear.

Fear in the package of Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator (and former head coach) Gunther Cunningham.

(WARNING: Gunther's a little... animated - from HBO's Hard Knocks series)

Twiddling

So you're trying to figure out how to pass the time until baseball starts up again (in Tokyo, if you need a reminder, Red Sox and A's fans). In all honesty, that's kind of sad, but it's your perogative. Yet, there are plenty of other sports that give thrills, chills and if you attend live, unfortunate beer spills. It's very easy to just say watch more basketball or hockey or even read a book, but instead, here are five games and events in February to keep an eye on.

Of course, Scribe advises that you should just watch anything where there's a ball and a bunch of people running for it, with it or at it.

• Saturday, February 9th: San Antonio Spurs @ Boston Celtics - Though the defending champs are not clicking on all cylinders at the moment, these two games will be considered NBA Finals previews. Neither team has played each other this season, but the always-intriguing matchup between Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett will take center stage. With Tony Parker out of the lineup for the Spurs, Rajon Rondo may avoid the same fate as Daniel Gibson suffered in last year's Finals. Parker sped past Gibson so much that the Cavaliers guard is still chasing the Frenchman's shadow. The rematch takes place on Monday, March 17 in San Antonio.
  


• [Above] Saturday, February 16th: Kelly Pavlik-Jermain Taylor II, Undisputed Middleweight Championship - Boxing had an outstanding 2007 and much of this can be attributed to this gem of a fight. Back in late September, an undefeated champion, Taylor, had scored a knockdown on Pavlik in the middle of the second round. With still over a minute left in the round, Taylor threw just enough to keep Pavlik at a distance. Big mistake. Pavlik fought himself back into the fight to the point that judges had scored the fight even leading into the seventh round. And then, Arkansas' son crumpled in the corner from a beautiful combo from Pavlik. The Youngstown, Ohio native shocked the boxing establishment with his win and set up this rematch at a catch weight of 166 pounds. Taylor's no bum, but even in his previous fights since defeating Bernard Hopkins for the undisputed championship, he hasn't looked like the anointed boxing star he was supposed to be. With the loss to Pavlik, there are more questions surrounding the former champ than with his two questionable wins over Hopkins. Order the fight, go to a sports bar or get real close with a friend (just not me).
  
  
• Wednesday, February 20th: Phoenix Suns @ Los Angeles Lakers - You know that ESPN or ABC will scramble to air this game nationally, even if it means telling Lost to get lost for a week. Yes, the whole Shaq versus Kobe angle was played out long before the Disney broadcasters pushed it on us in recent Christmases. However, the Suns, whose up-tempo, seven-seconds-or-bust style has been compromised (to say the least) when they traded Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks for the fourteen-time All-Star and four-time NBA champion. No one knows what to expect from O'Neal - or even if he will play - but expect the Lakers to have worked out some of the kinks as their newest acquisition settles in. Pau Gasol should have two more weeks under him with his new team by then (also helped by the All-Star break). The Lake Show will have its first post-break test against a team still widely considered to be Western Conference contenders.
  
  
• Ongoing: The head coaching search of the Washington Redskins - Giants fans and 'fans' (those bandwagoners that suddenly believed in Eli Manning after the Super Bowl ended), be very, very afraid. Not that the personnel will suddenly forget how to play defense when the new season rolls around, but if first-year defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is offered and accepts the head coaching position with rival Washington, it may not bode well. Owner Daniel Snyder loves the big splash of free agent signings and coaching hires, even if the success has not followed. Though he would join in on a trend of hiring the hot, young coordinator, hiring the architect of the league's most talked-about defense would put the Giants in a very peculiar spot of having to find another DC who can utilize the players in a similar manner. Spanoulo originally came from Philadelphia, but it is unlikely that New York would look in that direction again. The respect and admiration that he gained from that lockerroom is something that cannot be replicated with just anyone if he departs, and neither will the production if they end up defending their Super Bowl championship without him.
  
  
• All month: College basketball - while Scribe doesn't delve too much into college sports, March Madness is just around the corner. Duke's win over UNC tonight should serve as a reminder of how intense the games are getting right about now. What should also stay on the periphery: top-ranked Memphis host (7)Tennessee and the hopes are that loading the home schedule with big-name national opponents will garner the best possible bracket in the NCAA Men's Tournament. Also, (6)Georgetown and (19)Connecticut command Big East attention, fifth-ranked UCLA has (17)Stanford and (9)Washington State to worry about and Kansas will test their number 4 ranking with some tough outs [Baylor, at (12)Texas, a rematch with Kansas State and (18)Texas A&M]. Can't forget the ladies, either.

Say What?!?!: Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa, Florida will feature the NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers and the AFC Champion New York Jets. No worries, Jets fans. As you have come to expect, the good fortunes are just a cruel joke. They'll find a way to let Alex Smith throw seven touchdowns in the second half for the red-and-gold's sixth championship.