Style vs Substance

Style -The way in which something is said, done, expressed, or performed

Substance- The essential part of anything; the most vital part

Any sport can be a thing of beauty, and there seems to be an agreed upon form of sports that is pleasing to the eye.  In general that which is pleasing often involves scoring, and not just any type of scoring.  What appears to be most aesthetically pleasing is a massive amount of scoring, free flowing offense that makes the game almost feel like nobody is even trying to stop the opposing team.  Fans cannot contain their emotions when these moments occur, in fact it brings them to their pinnacle of fandom.  

It is important in all sports to win, and there seems to be an agreed upon formula for what it takes to win it all.  If you look across all major sports the general idea is to stop your opponent from doing what they do well.  We generally associate this with the term defense, and we know it when we see it.  Defense changes things, it stops what normally happens.  When don't always see defense, in fact when it is really good you just have to understand that it is the substance behind the success.  Defense occurs in a split second, a tiny disruption that altered a positive result for the other team. 

I have been a reader and traveler of many message boards over the last ten years, and I honestly feel like style get in the way of substance more often than not.  My question for the fine folks of the bedge is pretty simple.  At what point are we overlooking the substance of what the Blazers are doing simply because we are unsatisfied with the aesthetics of the product.  People want Miller because he can "run", and people don't want Brandon to be the primary offensive weapon because it is too "slow".  

I don't care what the schedule has put in front of us so far, we are a much improved defensive team this season.  My fear is that some of the fans are falling in love with the beauty queen that is "running" and forgetting that defense wins rings.  The answer has been and always will be substance over aesthetics.  

I am open to hearing how and when the better defensive team did not win the ring.