Did I call or it or what?




SOT, you're one of the most passionate sports fans I know on these boards. But you're passionate to a fault. Don't take this the wrong way but you tend to get cross eyed and delve into the realm of irrationality on some of these issues.

I can think of plenty of players and teams that whine about officiating, especially during a game. Why am I able to do this? Because I am dispassionate about basketball and therefore have no favorites. I'm not watching the games with preconceived judgments and the echos of opposition players ringing in my ears, which may or may not have been done out of a truthful belief or for a purpose such as to put a bug in the referees ear and influence them in their decision making going forward. I watch objectively. And watching objectively you'd be able to spout off many a player and many a team with multiple players the past 20 years who whine about officiating.

I don't recall the scientific term for it but it basically states that people tend to find things they are already looking for and that can skew the results. If Rondo says the Heat whine, you're going to take that in and every time a Heat player seems to question a call/non call it's going to register with you. So the Celtics could complain 8 times and the Heat complain 5 times and you're not going to notice that fact, instead falsely believing the Heat to be far bigger whiners. I'm not saying the Heat don't complain about calls. Just making an observation.

This is exactly my point. He's said a handful of things over 6-7 years. Much of it when he was a 19-20-21 year old kid dominating grown men. And like Lebron it's mountains out of mole hills.

Ask Red Wings fans and they'll go absolutely ape *spoon*. Why? Because after winning his first cup he was so excited and inundated by reporters on the ice didn't rush to the front of the handshake line and actually missed a couple of Red Wings players. To Wings fans that was just the height of arrogance and doochbaggery. In my eyes, he was excited, it was his first cup and no, he didn't put the handshake line at the top of his priority list. I can understand why it happened and didn't take it as a personal slight against my team.

He also used to whine about not getting calls in his favor. As if this was a new invention. So he got a reputation (as a freaking 19 year old) that he was a whiner. To this day he can't shake it. Wayne Gretzky was a whiner. Lemieux whined. Yzerman whined about calls. But Crosby can't so much as talk to a referee w/o being labeled. Kind of like Rondo calling out the Heat. You know, b/c the Heat players are the only ones who moan about officiating during games. But b/c someone says it the story gets legs and they're a bunch of whiners from here on out.

Crosby hate is largely irrational. Lebron hate is equally as irrational. Both players are good role models but b/c they're so dominant, b/c they are the faces of their respective sports, they are going to be polarizing by default. Remember before Tiger's big meltdown. Although beloved by many, he was hated by plenty of folks as well b/c he was so good.

I don't care if somebody doesn't like a certain player. But at least call a spade a spade, be honest about it and don't reach for reasons and put words in people's mouths. Like saying we're hear to win 8 championships. That's not code for I'm better than MJ.

I still don't see any real Crosby quotes. You keep comparing the two but keep not actually providing any proof. Until Lebron does or does not win a championship the fans can continue to root against him. Lebron's quotes are from 2010-2011 made as a 26/27 year old.

Dan

alright, let's change the subject a little.


better career, jason kidd or gary payton?


Kidd - 1 ring, 3 Finals appearances, ROY, Top 2 all time assist leader, 3rd all time 3-pt scoring leaders


Glove - 1 ring, 3 Finals appearances, DPOY, 1st team all defense 9x straight, held MJ to his worst Finals performance ever, 2-time gold medalist. Spending the majority of his career in the Pacific northwest a lot of people kinda slept on GP for a long time.



personally, gary was a better player, but kidd had a better career.

Whoa, a Gary Payton shout. Haven't heard that name in awhile. I'm not much of a basketball historian so at first blush I would say Kidd just b/c I heard about him a lot more. But I wouldn't doubt you're saying he was a better player. I just didn't get to see near as much of him.