SB Nation User Blog: hobobob

Some L*ker hate, good article

hobobob — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 14:56:03 -0000

Some L*ker hate, good article

The Suns SBN blog led me here. They have a poll about L*ker hate. It looks like they're the most hated in the world. Go figure.

Costliest Injuries: Rafe's in there

hobobob — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 20:13:24 -0000

Costliest Injuries: Rafe's in there

Oden also gets an (dis)honorable mention.

Let's Panic

hobobob — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 05:24:24 -0000

Well, that was demoralizing. But, it was just a game. One game. We lost. As I texted my stupid L*ker fan friend, we can still go 81-1.

Greg's out for .... who knows. That's sad. Poor Greg. I'm not exactly worried, and I don't know why. My brain's screaming things like ... well I'm not even going to say.

We've been beat down with the whole "don't expect too much too early" jargon from all the analysts. Good call by them. The Blazers were NERVOUS. You could see the pressure on them.

Does this lift the pressure? Maybe a little?

Did you see that stuff Oden had on Bynum? Did you see Rudy come in and provide some ENERGY? Did we see Outlaw start coming back to life at the end of the game? Did we see Roy regain his shot? Did we see Bayless throw his body into K*be? Did you see Batum with the steal?

That game sucked, but I saw so much that makes me wanna see the next game. I'm not happy at all about how that went down. Still, they're playing again. There's so much to be excited about. I'm so happy to be a Blazer fan.

So.... the game hurt. Every loss does. How do you feel about it? Am I retarded (please only use this post as an example)? Are you jittery or still excited? Does anyone else think the real season begins on Friday?

Roy MVP mention

hobobob — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:51:41 -0000

Roy MVP mention

So he calls him Patrick Roy. He still says he'll be in the LBJ, K*be, CP3 talk. That's cool.

"MVP - Lebron James - Kobe had his last year, now it's time for King James to pull in a trophy. The young phenom is bound to do it one of these years, and you gotta figure he hates losing and believes he's the best. He'll put up impressive stats, and carry his team to the NBA Finals in a nice NBA campaign this year. And don't be surprised if Patrick Roy is mentioned up in the candidates along with Chris Paul and Kobe. Roy has Oden this season and a shot to put up a ton of assists and shots."

I'm not sure this guy's worth listening to, but, it's nice to see

GREAT article on Blazermania, Blazerphobia

hobobob — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:42:39 -0000

GREAT article on Blazermania, Blazerphobia

I think he was the first to coin the term Blazerphobia. I like the sound of that.

A J Quick Vindication, rec this

hobobob — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:01:45 -0000

At the end of the Olive podcast yesterday (http://blog.oregonlive.com/blazers/2008/10/1023_quick_chat_oden_improving.html) Quick had a few comments for the fans about his article on Oden. He wasn't all that pleased with us as a fan base.

I'm with him.

I won't defend him based on the tenor and tone of his article. It needs no defense. If you thought he was somehow incriminating Oden, you simply misread and misintrepreted the article. A writer has an obligation to make his point obvious, or apparent, only to a certain degree. He did so. If you misread it, you'd do well to seek interpretive assistance at a community college prior to posting comments again.

Let's get things very clear: reading doesn't mean recognizing the language and forming an opinion based on nothing more than the concomittance of a few sentences. There is an implicit obligation on the part of the reader to try to understand the point of the author. The project of journalism is discursive (a matter of discourse). A reader who does not attempt to interpret the point of view of the author is guilty of trangressing the intellectual endeavor. In lay speak, if you don't try to understand what the author is trying to say, you make the world dumber (it doesn't have electrolytes). Why bother reading if you don't try?

Our population has become accustomed to hearing and reading what it wants to read and hear.

Journalism is a business. Because of business interests in an ever more crowded market, Panda Bear journalism replaces the critical and fact checking press we used to have (or at least I pretend we used to have). Big money figured out that if you tell people what they already think, they give you their money: the lesson of Fox News. Can we blame Murdock for trying to make a buck? Not really. But, because it worked, it totally destroyed television news' coverage of political events. You simply cannot trust what you see on TV.

This is the audience that reacted so vehemently to Quick's article. These readers didn't want to read that Oden was 'underwhelming.' Nothing in their worlds taught them recently that they ought to attempt to understand why Quick wasn't telling them what they wanted to hear. Instead of considering the point, they lashed out, telling Quick he had no right to write or say such things.

He had the right. Even the obligation as a journalist. As a beat write, Quick creates a narrative with his columns. They aren't isolated snapshots of time. He gives us a sense of how things are moving, shaping and developing. It's a peek into the world the Blazers let him see everyday.

Part of the narrative he created was that Oden would be AWESOME. Quick reported more than a few times that that would be the case. He's still reporting that. He probably mentioned that he thought Oden wasn't quite playing as well as he'd expected (and thus relayed to us) because he felt obliged to update us on the narrative he brings us. But, that hardly seemed like the point of the article that drew the ire of so many.

Quick lamented publicly that Oden had a lot of pressure on him, that he was part of it. Anyone that's read Quick knows he loves this team and cares for them tremendously as people and players. That article read as an apology to Greg, and a map for fans to show support and a possible indictment on the fans and media for putting so much pressure on Greg. It read of an impending tragedy: Greg might lose his personality under the weight of our combined gazes. The tone Quick struck was clearly a message to us, not to Greg.

Well, maybe he was subtextually saying sorry for calling Greg underwhelming. But that seems a stretch. Quick had no need to apologize.

Quick's care for the team, and diligence in reporting on the team should be recognized and appreciated. He clearly established a relationship that is something beyond what the casual reader understands.

I've been following Quick since he arrived at the Oregonian. He's dedicated, intelligent, and committed to writing solid narratives of the team. He KNOWS BASKETBALL, and what he ought and ought not to say. He's established that many times over. It's time we respect him for the things he gives us: his insight, expertise and access.

Quick, you took a beating on this one. Totally underserved. I'm embarrassed to be categorized with the fans that bashed you so harshly. (Also, I've been drunk for like 8 years, so if I wrote something to bash you, I'm so sorry, but I don't think I did, and if I did, I didn't mean it that way)

As an aside: the comments on Olive never seem well thought out. I never bother posting over there because it seems like the riff raff get to it and dominate it. One liners are lame.

Celtics fans hating on Miles

hobobob — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 15:55:49 -0000

Celtics fans hating on Miles

Uh, there's a lot of I told you so going on here. The comments are awesome.

A bad prediction of the Top 10 in the West

hobobob — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:54:18 -0000

A bad prediction of the Top 10 in the West

Seriously?!?!?! Clippers at 7?!?!?!?!? I cannot see it.

Miami Heat lose forward James Jones for 3 months

hobobob — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:01:34 -0000

Miami Heat lose forward James Jones for 3 months

Who is KP? Let's pseudo figure it out and challenge him to a battle of the wits

hobobob — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 21:07:13 -0000

So, by now everyone knows that KP reads BE, even posting once in a while. But, for some strange reason (I think it has to do with elves) he won't tell us who he is.

While it would be fun one day if KP outed himself, we can't really encourage it right now because his posts would be a matter of record. We KNOW Canzano would be trolling through old posts. If KP's who I think, he's said some very, very funny things. But it's not the sort of professionalism he'd need to publicly maintiain. On the other hand, if KP just posts informative NBATV boring types posts he's pretty safe.

Now, this all changes if KP delivers the mother of all treats, and NBA Title, he won't need to hide behind a moniker. At that point, he'll be so popular nothing (and I mean nothing) could bring him down.

THIS IS MY CHALLENGE TO KP. IF/WHEN THE BLAZERS WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP, PLEASE REVEAL YOURSELF TO US You're already the best GM in the league. It's not only because you nail nearly all your decisions, but because you interact so well with fans. This would be your Blazers Edge coup de grace ( meaning awesomeness not mercy). It'd be sort of like shaving your head or getting a faux hawk (which would just be sooooo cool, but maybe a bit much to ask).

Well, KP, if you see this, let us know. I get my Blazer news mainly from Dave and Ben here, O-live (Quick or Freeman, but I think quick qould be a funnier person to relay such a message), Barret's Blog, and of course from Senor Holdhallllllllll. I'm sure if you told someone else, we'd all the word though.

In the meantime, let's get some suggestions about who KP might be. I've long thought it was Mortimer, but this guys zaruga sounded pretty KPish lately. If I can get some suggestions, I'll throw a poll up and we can all vote.