Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Huh?

One team stinks, the other team is 8-1 in January... but both are 'floundering':
John Hollinger, ESPN.com:
There are some years when things go pretty much to form. This isn't one of them.

The two best teams so far have been in the East, the three presumed powers in the West are dealing with insurgents like the Lakers, Hornets and Blazers, alleged contenders like the Bulls and Cavs are floundering, and the champs of two seasons ago (Heat) are already dead and buried.

The only thing we can still count on is that two deserving teams won't make the playoffs in the West, and two undeserving teams will make it in the East.

I disagree.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've discovered that the lag time between when we in Ohio realize things about Cleveland sport teams and when ESPN and the national outlets realize things about Cleveland sports teams is about equal to when the U.S. picks up on a pop-culture fad and when, say, Sub-Saharan Africa picks up on it.

I think Hollinger is one of the better NBA writers ESPN has (at least he's fairly objective and seldom writes with an anti-Cavs bias unless they actually deserve it.) But not even Hollinger might be aware that the Cavs are 10-2 since Christmas. He just looks at the Cavs' 22-18 record and says "THESE are the defending East champs??"

Anonymous said...

Weird. I JUST got done reading that and subsequently came here to see what you had written about the Heat game. My thoughts exactly.

I agree with Erik, so many national writers don't follow Cleveland sports, they just don't seem to know what's going on.

Still, that was pretty bad mistake, just in terms of being so off the mark about a sport that you cover. Although, I also agree Hollinger usually is much better than the other hacks over at ESPN.com who cover the league.

Zamboni said...

ESPN analysts expected to know what they're talking about? They don't in any other sport, so why should the NBA be any different?