February 24th, Friday... "Don't believe the hype!" Especially if it's about you!/ Now that Jeremy Lin has met the Miami Heat and had a sub-par game, maybe the media will stop creating the "super hero" they want Lin to be. Lin got the chance to be in the NBA... That's all! He can hang out but he is not going to dominate the thing. What has been proven so far is that there are a lot of bad defenders in the league or, for the sake of entertainment no defense is played to keep the game moving. Miami did not get that memo!
No fault of Lin's. He did not create the hype. He just went into the game, when told, and did what he does! ("Does what he do!" for you Ebonics readers!) He is a basketball player and he strengths and weaknesses like all players. It's the "ding-dang" media that is responsible for the (created) hysteria that surrounds Jeremy Lin.
What I like about the (personified) media is when they create something, then back off of it when called on the carpet. What is proves, to me, is that the media believes that everything that happens is a story and when it is not all that of a great story, they will hash it out until they think it is! Please!
Lin is an innocent bystander in all of this and now he may have to bear some pain because the Miami Heat exposed him. Hopefully he is of sound mind. But, no worries... The Knicks are corporate owned. They have plenty of cheese! They can hire a personal psychiatrist if Lin needs one. They can put him/her on a retainer and fly him/her out when needed!
Keep the faith Lin. You are in the city (Manhattan) where the fantasy becomes the reality! (If you lived in Brooklyn, reality would smack the shit out of you everyday!)
Showing posts with label media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label media. Show all posts
Friday, February 24, 2012
Friday, April 10, 2009
A Warped POV by A. Dacosta Brathway
April 10th, Friday/ I'm sorry... I cannot do it anymore! I have been doing it for years and now I have to draw the line. I can no longer sit and listen to pro athletes interview for the media. I mean, I don't know what I am listening to anymore? There used to be a time when I could not wait to hear what a popular athlete had to say. Could not wait... Now, what the hell am I waiting for? Do I want to hear Terrell Owens whine about all the attention he is getting for not attending "voluntary" training with the Buffalo Bills, when it is he who manages to be in the right place, right time, when a camera and mike are present? Do I really want to hear that over and over again from him? Change the channel...
Just yesterday I was listening to the sports news and Tiger Woods was being interviewed. I get it! He is the man! Golf was boring until he showed up. So I am sitting there listening to him explain something about his putting or whatever. My freakin' eyes rolled into the back of my head! He just kept rambling on and on... I was wondering when he was going to relate his putting to solving the economics of the globe!
Maybe it's NOT their fault. I remember when MJ was playing. He was never asked about his political position on ANYTHING! Maybe he had an opinion, maybe he did not. Maybe he was reminded about who was paying him and how much his opinion would affect his cash flow if he said yea or nea about an issue. I remember being party to conversation about my race and the expectation of me not repeating it or else.
Whatever. make your deal with the devil and live with it. All I am saying is stop beating "Joe the Fan" over the head with this bullshit. I mean, I do not want to hear an answer from an athlete about anything when I know he/she can be reprimanded and/or fined for "Tweeting" at half time while on the gig. In as much as I understand that there is a question about professionalism, I also understand "plantation" mentality and everyone involved needs to understand their place in it!
Just yesterday I was listening to the sports news and Tiger Woods was being interviewed. I get it! He is the man! Golf was boring until he showed up. So I am sitting there listening to him explain something about his putting or whatever. My freakin' eyes rolled into the back of my head! He just kept rambling on and on... I was wondering when he was going to relate his putting to solving the economics of the globe!
Maybe it's NOT their fault. I remember when MJ was playing. He was never asked about his political position on ANYTHING! Maybe he had an opinion, maybe he did not. Maybe he was reminded about who was paying him and how much his opinion would affect his cash flow if he said yea or nea about an issue. I remember being party to conversation about my race and the expectation of me not repeating it or else.
Whatever. make your deal with the devil and live with it. All I am saying is stop beating "Joe the Fan" over the head with this bullshit. I mean, I do not want to hear an answer from an athlete about anything when I know he/she can be reprimanded and/or fined for "Tweeting" at half time while on the gig. In as much as I understand that there is a question about professionalism, I also understand "plantation" mentality and everyone involved needs to understand their place in it!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
A Warped POV by A. Dacosta Brathway
April 7th, Tuesday/ PHEW! The NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament is finally over and, man, what a ride! The University of North Carolina took the top prize by beating the crap out of Michigan State and all is right with the world. Well... Not really.
For whatever reason, there is a lot of drama attached to the tournament. Maybe there is a general concensus that the games are not enough to create the kind of anticipation the NCAA tournament committee thinks is necessary to make the games a success. Here is what goes into building the tourney: First, the college basketball season has to start. The Division I members are the only division that is deemed important, according to who is in charge of making that determination.(All of the other divisions in college basketball have a tournament!) However, Division I gets all the play!/ There is a pre-conference schedule, a conference schedule, a post season conference tournament, and then the BIG ONE... THE NCAA DIVISION I TOURNAMENT! Taa daaaaaa...
Now the fun starts. First it has to be determined who is going to play in the tournament. There is a set mumbo-jumbo criteria the teams have to follow to be selected. If they meet said criteria, the committee selects the teams. Then there are the brackets. The brackets place the teams in the order of games that are to be played. The drama that goes along with that is stifling. There are the favorites, the bubble teams, the conference winners, the selected teams, the seeds, who gets what seed, what region each team is going to, the 4 regions, who has an advantage who is at a disadvantage, who belongs, who does not belong, what is fair, what is not fair, blah...blah... yap...yap...
Then there is the mystery of the seeding. There is a (dubbed) "Cinderella" team. That is a team that will go deep into the tournament surpassing everyone's expectations. There is the dreaded 12-5 seeding. That's the bracket selection where a #12 seed will beat a #5 seed. How that happens I have no idea. There are the #1 seeds, who are supposed to be better than everybody else. Which brings me to the favorites... Which team is supposed to win? Who the hell knows? It's a tournament! All things being equal, it's a crap shoot. Really?
Okay, all of that being said, it turns out that Michigan State makes it to the finals to play UNC. Michigan State, a #2 seed played Louisville, a #1 seed and beat them to get to the Final 4. Then they beat UCONN, another #1 seed to get to the championship game to play Mighty Carolina who was the preseason pick to win it all! Nice setup!
THEN... Some spin doctor decided to add extra pressure on Michigan State... Michigan State was mandated to save America! That's right! They were told that they were the cloud with the silver lining that would make the people of Michigan feel better in spite of the failing economy, in general, and the crumbling car industry, in particular! Never mind that Carolina was steam rolling over everybody in the tournament and that should be Michigan State's focus. Save the world boys from something you had nothing to do with creating! Help people forget the dire straights they are in for a few days through your representation. HELP!!!
So, here we are... The day after... Carolina gutted Michigan State like a fish! It was surreal to watch the Spartans forget everything they knew how to do and suffer through 40 minutes of pain! Why not just go to the dentist and have all of your teeth pulled out? (Without gas or the needle!)And then... and then... Wake up the next day, look out of your window and realize that the state of Michigan is no better off than it was the day before, you played the worst game of your life on the biggest stage of your life and be recognized as a failure, just like the economy has failed the people you were mandated to represent! DAMN life ain't fair!
For whatever reason, there is a lot of drama attached to the tournament. Maybe there is a general concensus that the games are not enough to create the kind of anticipation the NCAA tournament committee thinks is necessary to make the games a success. Here is what goes into building the tourney: First, the college basketball season has to start. The Division I members are the only division that is deemed important, according to who is in charge of making that determination.(All of the other divisions in college basketball have a tournament!) However, Division I gets all the play!/ There is a pre-conference schedule, a conference schedule, a post season conference tournament, and then the BIG ONE... THE NCAA DIVISION I TOURNAMENT! Taa daaaaaa...
Now the fun starts. First it has to be determined who is going to play in the tournament. There is a set mumbo-jumbo criteria the teams have to follow to be selected. If they meet said criteria, the committee selects the teams. Then there are the brackets. The brackets place the teams in the order of games that are to be played. The drama that goes along with that is stifling. There are the favorites, the bubble teams, the conference winners, the selected teams, the seeds, who gets what seed, what region each team is going to, the 4 regions, who has an advantage who is at a disadvantage, who belongs, who does not belong, what is fair, what is not fair, blah...blah... yap...yap...
Then there is the mystery of the seeding. There is a (dubbed) "Cinderella" team. That is a team that will go deep into the tournament surpassing everyone's expectations. There is the dreaded 12-5 seeding. That's the bracket selection where a #12 seed will beat a #5 seed. How that happens I have no idea. There are the #1 seeds, who are supposed to be better than everybody else. Which brings me to the favorites... Which team is supposed to win? Who the hell knows? It's a tournament! All things being equal, it's a crap shoot. Really?
Okay, all of that being said, it turns out that Michigan State makes it to the finals to play UNC. Michigan State, a #2 seed played Louisville, a #1 seed and beat them to get to the Final 4. Then they beat UCONN, another #1 seed to get to the championship game to play Mighty Carolina who was the preseason pick to win it all! Nice setup!
THEN... Some spin doctor decided to add extra pressure on Michigan State... Michigan State was mandated to save America! That's right! They were told that they were the cloud with the silver lining that would make the people of Michigan feel better in spite of the failing economy, in general, and the crumbling car industry, in particular! Never mind that Carolina was steam rolling over everybody in the tournament and that should be Michigan State's focus. Save the world boys from something you had nothing to do with creating! Help people forget the dire straights they are in for a few days through your representation. HELP!!!
So, here we are... The day after... Carolina gutted Michigan State like a fish! It was surreal to watch the Spartans forget everything they knew how to do and suffer through 40 minutes of pain! Why not just go to the dentist and have all of your teeth pulled out? (Without gas or the needle!)And then... and then... Wake up the next day, look out of your window and realize that the state of Michigan is no better off than it was the day before, you played the worst game of your life on the biggest stage of your life and be recognized as a failure, just like the economy has failed the people you were mandated to represent! DAMN life ain't fair!
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