espn gives me a rash

I used to love it. The pioneer guys I still love...Berman (jose can you see that cruise missile) , Olberman etc but increasingly it all seems like too cute contrived smarmy hollywood crap. I somehow wound up with a scrip to "the mag" and picked up the nba copy to find out there is no content in there. It is front running, Kobe gazing, shoe selling short attention span crap. Sportscenter is unbearable. A coarsening of the culture. Flash and pop, all hat no cattle. Hollinger and all of their nba writers kneel at the Lebron altar and worship the tomohawk jam and other cheap thrills. In part becoming a part of the decline of the beauty of the game.

Anyway I could go on but I could also be full of crap. What do yall think?

Jeb

ESPN was a lot more fun two years ago when they were kneeling at the altar of the new look Celtic's Big Three.

Crap just the same but it was our crap and I reveled in it. Nowadays not so much.

GC

GC

One thing I dug was that the experts were picking Lakes in 6. Across the board. We couldnt deal with Kobe. It was fun to watch them be forced to adjust to a new reality...one where Kobe was just a selfish player against a better all around team and Phil was looking very common and clearly being outcoached.

Agreed. They had to adjust to the new reality that teamwork and "d" beats Kobe like a drum. Will again this year, too.

The only reason I return to ESPN is for the Stein NBA rankings which I find compelling. Hollinger....not at all anymore. I had to toss his computerized (boop, beep, bip, bop, BING, BING, BING) ranking methods out the window sometime back in favor of Stein and his committee of one. I could follow Stein much easier.

Otherwise, maybe for scores but with no running commentary/analyses.

Sure as hell would not pay for "Insider" info. That smacks of pure B.S., a cross between grifter come on and Ernest Angley faith healing.

GC

Dude did you just say Ernest Angley?

God bless you. That makes me as happy as Mr Wrestling #2.

Jeb

I only watch it now for nba, college football and baseball games. If I have to hear more than 1 minute of Michael Wilbon and his dramatic and stupid sportswriter opinions I'll puncture both eardrums and become a nun.
When I want a Celtics fix I go to Boston Herald and the Globe or here. When I want Pro football I've been reading blogs. To me it's kind of like Fox News. They have an agenda and thats it. No objective enough for me.
Hoop

Hoopdeedoo

The agenda ...like a sweet puppy lick the hand that feeds them. They wont do or say anything that threatens the money train.

I go to their nba page when I am desperate but always leave wishing I hadn't.

Jeb

It will be interesting to see how theTim McConagy thing is handled. My guess is there will be no hard reporting on the subject. Just get the broom out like were told.
Hoop

The officiating in the nba is crooked as a slinky. We all know it.

jeb65 wrote:GC

One thing I dug was that the experts were picking Lakes in 6. Across the board. We couldnt deal with Kobe. It was fun to watch them be forced to adjust to a new reality...one where Kobe was just a selfish player against a better all around team and Phil was looking very common and clearly being outcoached.

I have to admit, I kind of enjoy all the experts falling all over themselves to pick the Lakers, Cleveland, Orlando, etc. etc., especially the Lakers. I would think that it would almost be a tool that Doc can use at times.

Sorry to ruin Mike Breens night in Boston. He's the biggest NYK lacky but also a Kobie kiss-up! You could hear that he was shocked at how Boston took out Chicago.

112288

My internet been out. But boys the Mavs just shellacked the Lakes.

Whom looked 1. entitled 2. old 3. whiny 4. humiliated 5. out of sync

If i was a towel I would have been worried Sasha was gonna 1. throw me 2. use me to wipe up his eurotears.

all in all a fine night of hoop.

jeb65 wrote:
If i was a towel I would have been worried Sasha was gonna 1. throw me 2. use me to wipe up his eurotears.

all in all a fine night of hoop.

A new "do" for Sasha if you've not noticed.

Shorter, thoroughly modern, naurally curly, easily maintained (blow dry now optional) young-man-on-the-goish and frames the face perfectly, sans headband.

Accentuates those dark, expressive eyes, those pouty lips and that chisled dimpled chin... instead of that greasy, shaggy ass pelt.

Sasha, can a photo shoot in Playgirl mag be in your future? Horoscope, please!

GC

Sasha is 100 % Laker. He spends 1800.00 per year on "product" and has a man purse. His voice quivers when he speaks to Kobe.

Seriously, Ray broke him. Lakes are a force but they aint got anywhere near the bench we do. The crowd was booing. And then they were chanting mvp at Kobe. It must be hard to have to get out of bed every morning and decide who you are going to be that day.

Laker D was pretty awful. No effort. Just expected the Mavs to quake in terror.


Jeb

In honor of how Jeb is still a part of the board thought I'd bring this thread back to light. Has some classic Jebisums.

WWJD

(what would Jeb do)

And Greeny, we all can adapt! Many a time I've typed something but instead of hitting send... I hit delete, it just wasn't worth it!

beat

As far as Jeb is concerned, he was truly unique and never will be forgotten. As for ESPN, mostly glitz, not much objectivity. They go with the soup da jour. If you want fair & balanced, look at Fox News, or use a scale (nothing Fishy, or Derreky. ESPN goes with stories that they feel will give them ratings and will report them in a way that they feel will appease most of the viewers. They have their tin gods, (Lebron, Wade, Kobe) and they will not tarnish them unless they become embroiled in something like a Penn State fiasco, then I'm sure those same reporters would turn on those three like a school of JAWS (not Jaworski). There are not enough reporters like Pam Oliver for Fox. Pam's been covering the NFL for about 25 years now and will not soft peddle any journalistic question regardless of who the interviewee is. To me she's the best but doesn't get her due recognition due to gender and race. Jackie Mac doesn't play favorites either. Jemelle Hill has potential, but she toes the ESPN party line too much and I can't ever totally forgive her for her anti-Celtic and anit-Boston remarks of several years ago. To me. they were akin to when Jesse Jackson called NYC Heimi town.

MD!

I just lost my dinosaur phone. Not a big loss, it was old and getting a bit flaky and due to be replaced anyway, but I had been saving all the texts Jeb and me exchanged.

The value of things aren't necessarily what the fair market price is, but what is contained in them. This was a priceless loss.

If I find the SOB who took it, I'm going to club him like a baby seal.

bob

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Bob,

I hope you find your phone. You think someone took it? I've always considered one of the advantages of my dinosaur phone that no one will possibly want it, let alone take it.

If you do find it, did you know that you can forward text messages to your email? If you do that, you can save those texts on your computer so that you have them in a less vulnerable location.

But first, find the baby seal that has your phone.

Outside

Bob,

Sorry about your phone. I hope it will turn up.

So often, I look at the picture of the five of us in San Francisco: you, Jeb, Mustang, my wife and myself. There was remarkably little in common between us except for the love of basketball (except for my wife, and fortunately she understands my love of the game) and mutual respect. It turns out that that night was one of the most important in my ever-lengthening life because it represented one more brick in my personal foundation of what life is and should be all about.

At the time, I had no way of knowing the evening would eventually become a reminder of how fleeting life is and how important it is to treasure every second and every friendship. Yet another brick in the foundation.

I know how much you miss Jeb, and so many of us share that feeling. I firmly believe it's the job of those of us whose lives he impacted to honor him by perpetuating his memory in our thoughts and deeds.

Sam

Boy---when I saw this posting my heart jumped a bit. I miss my buddy Jeb so much, he was such a kind and loving guy. He always was so receptive to what ever it was I had to say. From when we met on BDC to all the time we spent on this site before he left us, he was absolutely the best. I have been very fortunate in my life to have had such a wonderful relationship with him, but also all of you who have put up with me for all these years.

His memory will live with me forever, Thanks for bringing this up and reminding us all of his value to all of us.

The old dinosaur had limited capacity, so I found myself deleting texts from my inbox and sent box every day, so it wouldn't automatically delete the oldest posts, which were Jeb's.

Sometimes Jeb would text me about what was going on in a game, like our own private Game On thread. Other times, when he was out with friends or his wife (or in the hospital for a procedure/tests) and wasn't watching the game, he'd text me asking for an update. His request for an update was usually a one line question, "Talk to me, Goose". For those of you who saw the movie Top Gun, you'll remember that after Tom Cruise's friend and "back seater", Goose, was tragically killed Cruise sought guidance from his dead friend by saying those words.

The irony of our role reversals has not been lost on me. Every time, for the past year, that I have logged onto this site and looked at my Avatar I have said "Talk to me, Goose".

bob

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Bob



beat

I don't know is anyone has noticed this, but sometime really soon, bobheckler will become the member of Sam's Celtic Forum with the second largest post count. Number One is, and has always been, Sam, with Number Two in the post count list being Jeb.

Congratulations to bobheckler for his many contributions to this board!!!

gyso

PS: Has your phone turned up yet?

gyso wrote:I don't know is anyone has noticed this, but sometime really soon, bobheckler will become the member of Sam's Celtic Forum with the second largest post count. Number One is, and has always been, Sam, with Number Two in the post count list being Jeb.

Congratulations to bobheckler for his many contributions to this board!!!

gyso

PS: Has your phone turned up yet?

gyso,

Kudos for verbosity, huh? So much for "it's better to keep you mouth shut and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt".

Thanks.

No, my phone has not. You'll know it has when you read in the police blotter about a savage beating being delivered to a lowlife tweaker in the SF Bay Peninsula area.

bob


.

Not only does he have the most posts, he has the most informative posts and great clips of games. Always right on top of it all, Bob. You are most appreciated.

I was wondering the same thing as gyso, any luck with the phone turning up??

Rosalie