NBA shows Hypocrisy in "Green Week"

If you have been paying attention to the NBA recently, you will notice players wearing different warmups, green headbands, armbands etc. This is because the NBA tipped off Green Week, where it encourages being environmentally conscious to its fans and tries to convey a message of sustainability and overall green-ness. Make no mistake, this is about something green for the NBA, but not the one they are telling us about.

On the surface, this seems like a very noble thing the NBA is doing, raising awareness and the like. For instance, the new warmups are made of "100-percent organic cotton" and the green headbands also made of organic cotton. These warmups also will be available to the public at the nba.com fan shop. Two years ago, the NBA went so far as to have certain teams where green uniforms during the week.

So let me get this straight, the NBA promotes sustainability and using less by making brand new warmups for each of the hundreds of NBA players--warmups that they will only where for a couple of games. Maybe its just me, but the NBA could simply make the permanent warmups out of organic material, but instead of this, they use the old material on those and make a big announcement about the players temporarily wearing "green" warmups. 

The NBA is a business. My economics professor once told me that everything a for-profit company does  is aimed at helping their bottom line. When they do charitable things, they make sure you know about it by displaying giant checks and so forth. Don't get me wrong, I am not condoning that, I think it's great the companies can be generous. The NBA is no different--green week is all about money. All the commercials are great PR while selling organic warmups, that only get used for a week, bring in the green for them. 

My Rather Tame Response to Mike Barrett

Recently, I made some rather critical comments about Mike Barrett on blazersedge.com. Most of these comments were slightly exaggerated, but they caught the eye of a certain local broadcaster. Here Is Mike Barrett's email to me.

Tom,

We’re in OKC to play the Thunder tomorrow night, and I’ve just been surfing around the various Blazer sites tonight.  I don’t often get a ton of time to do this at home because I’ve got a 5-year old, and a 4-year old, and well, you know.  I do like Blazersedge and greatly respect Dave and Ben for what they’ve built with that site.  I got to know Dave back when it first started and it’s amazing how big it’s become.

For the first time tonight I noticed a thread about the Blazer announcers, and started reading down the list.  Now, I do know that in this business there will be people who like you and people who don’t like you.  I’m okay with that.  You can’t very well have thin skin in this biz.  But, after reading several of your posts, it became clear that you really, really don’t like me.  I’ve never e-mailed anyone like this before (probably should have), but my curiosity got the best of me here.  You seem very well read, and very well informed.  I even checked out your blog, because I’ve got one of those myself and I know they’re not easy to maintain.  You do a good job with yours.

Believe it or not, I do take to heart honest suggestions from viewers and fans, and would never brush off any comment.  None of us will ever have this broadcasting thing totally figured out.  And, no matter what we do, not everyone will like our style, personality, or even our voices.  I get that.  I’ve got my favorites too, and remember them well as I watched them as I was growing up.

Because your comments were particularly harsh, and because you seem pretty reasonable, I thought I’d ask you for specifics.  Again, I do care about this stuff, because we are here for viewers and fans like you.  I’m not trying to win you over here, because that kind of looks to be a lost cause at this point.  But, I’m just curious what exactly it is that you dislike so much.  Emotional swings in games, too wordy, too reactionary, too much of a homer, not enough of a homer (believe it or not, I’ve heard both, about the same amount)? 

I guess to sum this up, it’s easy to just simply choose not read stuff and to brush aside those who disagree with the way a job is done.  But, I like input, and will always be a student in this profession.  We all should be. 

I just wanted to give you a chance to voice directly to me what it is you really don’t care for.  Again, I take everything to heart and respect every opinion.  It’s an unrealistic goal to think that every single Blazer fan will love the job we do on every single night.  I don’t mind that you feel the way you do, and understand that everyone has an opinion.  I don’t ever get upset reading certain things, but just mainly like to learn the reasons behind the comments.  In other words, you’ve got every right to say what you said, and feel the way you feel.  I’m just curious why- especially if it’s something that can make me better.  Every little thing, both positive and negative, can ultimately make you better at your job.  That’s what I’m after here.

Thanks for the time.  This is my personal email address, so feel free to shoot me back your thoughts if you want.

Here is was my response.

Looking back at my comments, I realize I was much too harsh than I really felt and some of my comments were exaggerations. 

I know a lot of people complain about you guys being "homers," but to me, you are the blazers announcers and should be homers to an extent, so that is ok in my book. I also find your banter with The Wild One very entertaining.

My biggest beef with your announcing is you always seem to assume the worst is going to happen. For instance, when the Blazers lead by 10, and the other team cuts it to 6, you talk as if the Blazers are going through a meltdown. You say things like, the lead that was once 10, is now down to 6--like the blazers falling apart. 

Now I realize the blazers are just 29-12 when leading after 3, which is rather poor in comparison to other teams around our position--but three of those came in that 6 game losing streak earlier in the year with the Blazers were clearly not themselves. Those three being against Utah, Philadelphia, New Jersey--plus two more that the Blazers blew in the third. My point in going down there is that fretting back then would have made sense, but taking away that streak, our record after three quarters is pretty close to the Denvers and the Thunders of the world.

Now, I am not saying that you should never be worried or aways assume the Blazers will hold onto every lead, but I think there should be a balance. This game is a game of runs--six to eight point runs by certain teams should be expected.

Again, I would like to apologize for the harshness of my comments, those were definitely exaggerations. And thank you again for the time you put into this. I also realize you have been doing this for a while and I am just an  "armchair announcer" and if I want an announcer that I agree with all the time, I should just become an announcer. 

These are my opinions, thank you again for your time.   

While I still don't like Mike Barrett as an announcer, I have a lot more respect for him now for taking the effort to communicate with fans.

This Post is about Brandon Roy

When I look around the internets, all I see is that Roy is done, how his only value to the Blazers is his spot up shooing and occasional clutch scoring. To that, I say bah:

Steve Smith wasn't here for too long, but in that short time he became my favorite blazer as a child and would go into the street to do his free throw routine. (Left hand holds the right bicep, four dribbles, wipe both brows, four more dribbles, swish) To me, Steve Smith was one of Bob Whitsitt's two great trades. The Blazers aquired him for JR Rider and Jim Jackson before the 1999-2000 season. (For the record, his other great trade was getting Pippin for peanuts, now granted, it was a lot of peanuts, but still, peanuts)

Because his short time here occured when I was very young, I don't have a clear picture of him. As we all know, players from our youth tend to become more of a myth than what was actually the case. For this reason I went back to watch the 2000 Western Conference Finals again on YouTube--well, just the games the Blazers won. I think this really shows what he did.

2000 NBA Playoffs: Blazers at Lakers, Gm 2 part 9/13 (via jdm7131)

(note: the Blazer did hold onto this one)

From what you could plainly see, Steve Smith routinly beat Kobe and whoever else they put on in the post, and was also a knock down shooter from the perimeter. In that series, Steve Smith shot 60% from down town and over 50% from downtown in the playoffs.

Statistically looking, Roy and Smith have identical career three point shooting percentages at around 35%. However, Smitty shot 39% in his first year here and shot 47(!)% a couple of years later and would have another season of over 40%. Roy has the ability to hit the three, but I think he should work on it this off season are really hone it in.

The other thing I saw Smitty do was work the post, and I have seen effectiveness from Roy there as well. Roy isn't as big as Smith was, but he still has decent size and is an extremely smart player. He is great at finishing in the paint as well as grabbing offensive rebounds at his size. I think that Roy can be a very potent weapon down there, especially if he has a smaller guy on him.

Roy has slowed and isn't a great defender, Smitty also wasn't the most athletic player or the best defender--but he was still effective. I think that if Roys works on his outside shooting game to move closer to 40% in the offseason and starts going down low in the post more often, then he will be an extremely valuable piece to this team going forward. 

Gerald Wallace should start

Gerald Wallace is currently not starting for the Portland Trail Blazers. I think he should be starting for the Portland Trail Blazers. I say there are three myths, and I hope to do my best to break those right now. 

1. He hasn't had enough practices with the team to learn the plays.

I don't understand this one at all. Nenad Kristic started his first game with the Celtics, Camby started right away last year. He is not a point guard who will be calling the plays and running the offense. HIs main job is defense and crashing the glass. And for someone who doesn't know the plays, he still managed to have our best plus minus ratio among the Blazer's regular rotation players in each of the last two games. 

2. He doesn't provide floor spacing.

When the Trail Blazers obtained Wallace, this was his big knock, and it simply isn't true. Gerald Wallace is shooting 33.6% from downtown this year. Nicolas is shooting 33.7%. Rudy is shooting 34.3%. His floor spacing looks pretty similar to the floor spacers we have right now.

You might think that this is a fluke for him, but last year he shot an even better 37.1%, better than Rudy's 36.8% from last year. That percentage this year would be good for second on the team.

3. You can't break up the chemistry of a starting lineup that has been playing well.

This starting lineup has had some wins, but many have come against very poor competition. 3 wins against the Timberwolves--two by single digits, a six point win over the Cavs, a six point win against the Rapters, a five point win against the dysfunctional Pistons, a win over the reeling Hornets and an overtime win against the Kings. Now granted, there have been some nice wins, like the one over the Spurs and the Bulls, but by and large, this starting lineup has been edging a lot of bad teams.

It seems to me that the Blazers are trying to work in Wallace while avoiding disrupting the chemistry of the starters. I say the Blazers should get Wallace into the starting lineup sooner rather than later so he can develop chemistry with the starters come playoff time. 

Stick Figure Blazer Recap

New Picks

Me:

49ers
Lions
Patriots
Falcons
Titans
Buccaneers
Bengals
Ravens
Texans
Redskins
Colts
Seahawks
Eagles
Cardinals
Dolphins
Packers

season:
21-11

Anthony:

49ers
Vikings
Patriots
Saints
Giants
Steelers
Bengals
Ravens
Texans
Colts
Seahawks
Redskins
Eagles
Cardinals
Jets
Bears

season:
19-13

Week 2 picks

Winners:

Seahawks
Falcons
Ravens
Chiefs
Bears
Eagles
Packers
Titans
Dolphins
Buccaneers
Raiders
Jets
Chargers
Texans
Colts
Saints

Anthony:


Seahawks
Falcons

Ravens

Chiefs

Bears

Eagles

Packers

Titans
Vikings

Panthers

Rams
Jets
Chargers
Redskins
Colts
Saints

What a difference a week makes

Looking through sports websites, specifically ESPN, I just laugh how much overriding opinion changes.  Going into the season, the Jets are one of the favorites to win the AFC--and now, after one week against a very tough Ravens team, everyone is ready to write them off.  It's almost as if they changed over a week. Now granted, Sanchez threw for 73 yards on Monday, but this is something people should have expected coming into the year.

Last season Sanchez threw 12 touchdowns and 20 interceptions. It's not like he was great last year and his poor performance is some sort of shock. Going into the season, the Jets had a strong D and running game but poor quarterback play. The Jets D gave up just 10 points and had a few take-a-ways, and the quarterback struggled. This isn't some sort of new revelation about the team, it just a young quarterback, who was bad last year, and had a bad game against one of the best defenses in the NFL..

The records will show that I didn't pick the Jets to make the playoffs for that very reason--Mark Sanchez. He isn't very good at this stage of his career, but let's not pretend we didn't know that going into the year.

Week 1 Picks

The rest of the NFL begins tomorrow night, so its time for my weekly picks.This year I have decided to go one on one with my picks against by brother, Anthony, and I will be keeping tabs on the both of our records throughout the season. Lets the records show that I picked the Saints in my NFL preview, as did Anthony. All right, here we go.

Broncos at Jaguars

me-Jaguars
Anthony-Jaguars

Dolphins at Bills

me-Dolphins
Anthony-Dolphins

Lions at Bears

me Bears
Anthony-Bears

Raiders at Titans

me-Raiders
Anthony-Titans

Bengals at Patriots

me-Bengals
Anthony-Patriots

Panthers at Giants

me-Panthers
Anthony-Giants

Falcons at Steelers

me-Falcons
Anthony-Falcons

Browns at Buccaneers

me-Buccaneers
Anthony-Browns

Colts at Texans

me-Colts
Anthony-Colts

Cardinals at Rams

me-Cardinals
Anthony-Cardinals

Packers at Eagles

me-Packers
Anthony-Packers

49ers at Seahawks

me-49ers
Anthony-Seahawks

Cowboys at Redskins

me-Redskins
Anthony-Redskins

Ravens at Jets

me-Ravens
Anthony-Jets

Chargers at Chiefs

me-Chargers
Anthony-Chiefs

If I wasn't pushing the deadline, I would provide some analysis, but we'll leave that for the upcoming weeks.

NFL Preview

Well, I was going to write a post trying to convince everyone the Felix Hernandez should win the Cy Young award, but I couldn't figure how to import my beautiful chart, so I decided to write an NFL preview.


 I know what my loyal reader will say, I always start writing about the NFL for the beginning of the year, then quit about half way through the season; but alas, this year will be differently. To start out, lets see how my previous year's predictions faired:


I correctly picked Tom Brady as the comeback player of the year, and was close on the MVP race.


Oh, and my Super Bowl was the Chargers over the Seahawks.....yeah, I won't apologize for being a homer.


I have never been much for writing intros, so lets get under way.


Predicted Order of Finish


AFC


west-


San Diego


Kansas City


Oakland


Denver


One sentence analysis*: yeah, you read that right, Oakland over Denver. And on that subject, I am sick of people saying Tebow will succeed in the NFL because he is a "winner." You know who else was a winner in college? Ty Detmer. What has he done in pros? JaMarcus Russell was a "winner". When David Green was drafted, he left Georgia as the all time winningest quarterback in division 1 college football history, has anyone outside of Anthony ever heard of him since then? Point is, being a winner in college is more about being on the team with the most talent rather than the quarterback's swagger.


north-


Baltimore


Cincinnati


Pittsburgh


Cleveland


One sentence analysis: The Ravens are flat out good, especially since the Seahawks are giving them their few good players.


east-


Dolphins


Jets


Patriots


Bills


One sentence analysis: The Jets will be this year's Bears, who were the previous year's Brown's who were the previous year's 49ers, who were the previous year's Dolphins.


south


Colts


Texans


Titans


Jaguars


One sentence analysis: Peyton Manning


Order of Finish:


1. Colts
2. Ravens
3. Chargers
4. Dolphins
WC: Bengals
WC: Texans


Texans beat the Chargers and Bengals beat the Dolphins in the Wild Card Round
(yeah, that's right both road teams winning)


Colts beat the Texans and the Ravens beat the Bengals in the Divisional Round


Colts beat the Ravens in the AFC Championship


NFC:


west-


1. 49ers


2. Cardinals


3. Seahawks


4. Rams


One sentence analysis: For those of you keeping track at home, this is the first year I will not have the Seahawks winning the NFC.


north-


1. Packers


2. Bears


3. Vikings


4. Lions


One sentence analysis: Brett Favre falls back to earth this year, and drags the team with him.


east-


1. Cowboys


2. Redskins


3. Giants


4. Eagles


One sentence analysis: While I am not a huge fan of McNabb, I think he is a good fit in Shanahan's system.


south-


1. Saints


2. Falcons


3. Panthers


4. Buccaneers


One sentence analysis: Tampa's quarterback Josh Freeman will turn some heads this year, but unfourtuantly, he plays for the Buccaneers.


Order of Finish


1. Saints
2. Packers
3. Cowboys
4. 49ers
WC. Falcons
WC. Bears


Bears over the Cowboys and the Falcons over the 49ers in the Wildcard Round.
(again, that is both road teams winning)


Saints over the Bears and the Packers over the Falcons in the Divisional Round.


Packers over the Saints in the NFL Championship.


Colts over the Packers in the Super Bowl.


Awards:
MVP: Aaron Rogers (GB)
DPOY: Patrick Willis (SF)
OROY: Dez Bryant (DAL)
DROY: Ndamukong Suh (DET)
COY: Jim Caldwell (IND)
Comeback: Mike Williams (SEA)


Weekly Picks are coming later, if I don't get them in by tonight's game, let the world know I picked the Saints.