Today's Poll -- Kevin McHale Spits Ether At Us Edition

for the failed professional b-ball career of one Harold Miner.

that media, and bloggers are a big fun and painful entertainment machine that sometimes….just every now and then, takes black eyes over throwing tooooooo much gasoline onto a match.

Thankful we are to the seekers of truth and all that is right, but….

alot of the times….the stupid rumors are the fun part of being a fan. not that I or some of us don’t despise the per-pet-u-ators of the bad info later but it is fun when it’s “real”,…sometimes.

bayless getting irritated about playing time…eh…who don’t expect that though right?
demanding a trade? that’s getting a bit out of line…. so we’re grateful that it was a bad terrible lie…

 but some people sure did have fun with it. :)

that McHale actually makes a valid point. Media availability is so widespread and, many times, so completely anonymous, that anybody could be posting anything about anyone and make it seem credible. Like fake trade “rumors” for instance. Heck, this even happens with people who are credited with being part of the media. How often have we all laughed at Sam Smith “trade rumors”?

So when McHale points out that everybody with an opinion, whether credible or not, now has an open forum for discussing it, then it does open up the huge potential for front offices, players, agents, etc to make judgements based on less than truthful material.

Now, I will also say that any front office of a major business such as a sports team that lets anything written on the internet affect their decision-making process, well, maybe that business needs some management changes. Kind of like the Timberwolves. hmm….

Dave and Ben and other bloggers like them probably aren’t the reason front offices change or coaches get fired (at least they shouldn’t be), but that doesn’t make McHale’s point less valid.

Sadly, that post ended up drawing more commentary than Dave’s treatise on statistics. Which is a damn shame.

True, yet most of the comments were questioning the validity of the statements in the first place. Also, as well-written as Dave’s piece was, there was 1) not much to say afterward because it was well done, and 2) not much discussion because many posters probably already knew the info (although it would be very helpful for those who didn’t).

TiH, jscot, Mortimer and I will all blame it on you and Dave. We’re wily net veterans and we see through the gauzy haze you have wrapped Blazers Edge in to the throbbing gristle that is the heart of your evil plan to dominate the interweb tubes with your knee-jerk commentary and Jarryd Bayless-centric mind control.

Thankfully, I wear a Reynold’s Wrap™ helmet whenever I read your site.

From the worst of the night:

The Minnesota Timberwolves: Not that anybody expected them to beat the Cavs, but they still lost by 23 points at home. It was their 11th straight defeat and sixth in a row since Kevin McHale took over the coaching reigns. But since McHale thinks that bloggers are costing coaches their jobs, I’m not going to say anything.

Look, I take blogging like everyone should take everything: with a grain of salt. The Wolves and McHale can’t blame anyone but themselves for losing 11 in a row though.

I just pick whichever answer amuses me the most.

Although, that option would not allow me to pick the funniest answer of the bunch which leaves me conflicted.

Either way I’m pretty sure McHale thinks the internet is just a series of tubes.

Some bloggers themselves to enrich
Post the basest of all that is kitsch
Heed this warning I pray
Don’t believe what they say
Any more than you trust Rod Blagojevich

passing up Roy, Mayo, and i am sure many more

‘Cause that’s the sound it makes: “b-b-b-b-b-B-B-BLLLLLOGGGG-G-G-G-G-G-G!!!
BLOG! BLOG! BLOG-OG!” [ mouthwipe ]

Sometimes that starts forming the opinion of people in front offices, too, and owner.

Terrible English.

Is he intimating that HE (and/or the owner) is letting the blogosphere influence his/their opinions? Wow, that’s giving a lot of power to the rabble. We all know there are good blogs and bad blogs and on good blogs there are good comments and bad comments. Now I certainly see blogs influencing fans, but front offices? Kinda scary.

And I wish that the term “blogger” was used only for the people “owning” a blog, not all the people commenting on it.

I do worry that newbies – from fans to bloggers to team executives – who visit here will take some comments at face value not knowing that there are standard replies for many events. “Fire Nate”, “Trade Travis”, etc. They may look at a highly sarcastic “Trade B-Roy!” and think that the poster actually means it. And they’ll return to their own blog or comment on another that there are fans out there who want to Trade B-Roy. Not that I think we should stop that silly stuff – that’s family tradition, but everyone who ever reads ANY blog should have a big salt shaker nearby.

anyone got a link?

how much the players and the front office listen too, or pay much attention to bloggers. I would guess it really varies from player to player and person to person. Actually, now that I think about it, it may be more likely that players react to internet stuff then would the coaches. Most players seem to have such big egos, they would probably pay more attention to media hype (thankfully, not my Blazers). Coaching staff, not so much.

A lot of player have their own blogs now, Oden and Frye for example. If they are blogging themselves, they must be at least reading responses? Oden’s gloomy looks on the bench are probably a result of all you nay-sayers out there!

Bowing/bending/reacting to the swirl of opinion around you is rediculous if you

    + have more/as many facts compared to the ones opining
    + have more/as much experience compared to the ones opining
    + have more/as much expertise compared to the ones opining

IF you don’t have those — it is even more rediculous for you to be in an NBA front office.

This post pushed it too far down the page.

I blame Ben.

…so many folks talk about bloggers as if they are a monolithic entity.

Are there bloggers with credibility problems? Heck yes. And there are newspapers with a credibility problem…..to wit, the National Enquirer. But rarely do people go around trashing all newspapers because of the trash that the Enquirer publishes. I don’t know anyone that would equate the National Enquirer to the Washington Post, LA Times or New Yor Times. Yet folks like Kevin McHale, and even Kerry Eggers, love to talk about bloggers as if they are all the same. Dave and Ben, as well as Henry the Godfather, are the Washington Post and New York Times of the NBA blogoshere.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, there are blogs that fit the National Equirer role in he blogoshere. The fact that people like Kevin McHale can’t tell the difference is pretty baffling…..

In other news tonight, scientists report that “TEH INTRAWEBS” is actually a massive, globe-spanning technology that allows individuals the same capacity to reach massive audiences in ways that were only possible in the past by the cloistered gatekeepers behind newspapers, radio, and television.

So, guess what happens when you mix these two things together? Well, you get exactly what you see every day. Really, the only thing that shocks me is how others are shocked that this dynamic even exists. We all knew that the Jim working down the hall was a frustrated stand-up comedian, and his wife Sally really does make the best Snickerdoodles you’ve ever tasted. Their ability to share these facets of themselves with several million others doesn’t change who they are, and if one of them chooses to spread silly rumors or trash talk a coach, what difference should that make to the organization.

The bottom line is that all the Internet is doing is ALLOWING that organization to hear the random conversations that baskbetball fans have been having for decades. How they choose to respond to this newfound awareness is completely up to them. The Trail Blazers chose to respond in a positive way, and now we have a high character organization from top to bottom. Kevin McHale chooses to respond in a negative way, by whining about the people who PAY. HIS. SALARY. with their entertainment dollars.

Remember. People say stupid things. That includes me, you, some wacky pastor in Idaho, and the Head Coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

So if all 100 regulars on Canis Hoopus threaten to abandon the team if coach and GM aren’t fired, it just might work ;-)
On the other hand, I think they demand McHale be fired for years…