Lookin' for Trouble
by Stop-n-Pop on May 30, 2008 6:00 AM CDT
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PrintWhat they should do: Draft Stanford center Brook Lopez, who would give the Wolves a big, athletic presence in the middle and allow Al Jefferson to play power forward, his natural position.
What they shouldn't do: Draft USC guard O.J. Mayo, who has J.R. Rider written all over him. A Rider-type goofball is exactly what a young team doesn't need, particularly one that already has a few questionable psyches (Rashad McCants comes immediately to mind).
It should also be noted that these 2 paragraphs are contained in an article entitiled "Wolves need to avoid a mistake." You don't say. The Times also carried a story in the Health section entitled "People need to drink water."
I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that Dave DeLand has never met or spoken to OJ Mayo. I'm going to extend as much journalmalism to this post as Mr. DeLand does to his Mayo column and float a guess that the reason why he wrote that Mayo is a "Rider-type goofball" is because he read something about Mayo that included the words "agent," "money," and "scandal." I'm not exactly sure how the St. Cloud Times Sports Editor covers the gap between an allegation where all of the facts have not yet surfaced and a psychological declaration of a "questionable psyche," but I'm probably unable to grasp this device on the account that I am nothing more than a dirty blogger.
To cap it off, his actual reasoning concerning Brook Lopez is...well, what other "big, athletic" presences can you think of in the draft that would allow Al Jefferson to play power forward, his natural position? I myself am partial to David Padgett and Devon Hardin. Here's some more DeLand-esque journalmalism for Big Dave: you sir, are a crackhead.
What Wolves fans should do: Read on-line coverage at the Rake, MinnPost, TWolvesBlog, and (inserting shameless self-promotion...) Canis Hoopus.
What Wolves fans shouldn't do: Read anything by possible crackhead Dave DeLand.
And people wonder why newspapers are tanking.
Matt Birk skipped the Minnesota Vikings' Organized Team Activities this week, primarily because he's miffed about the team's reticence to extend his contract. And this could turn into a problem.
It doesn't send a good message to Vikings veterans when Zygi Wilf will give Jared Allen a record-breaking contract before he plays a game in Minnesota, but won't give an extension to Birk, a six-time Pro Bowl selection.
Birk is also a leader and a good citizen on a team not exactly noted for its stellar citizenship. If you won't take care of a guy like that, who will you take care of?
The Vikings should extend Birk's contract for a couple of years, even if they might not have him that long. It's the smart thing to do from a public relations standpoint — and this team can use any scrap of good PR it can get.
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As much as I don't like Lopez...
I’m not sure the downfall of mainstream media is due to this gent suggesting the Wolves draft him instead of Mayo. Opinions are like rear ends, most everyone has them, and in the case of smaller town publications, they play it safe. A LOT. St. Cloud isn’t the most diverse crowd in the world to be writing for. I mentioned in a comment to Brian Lambert in his Mpls-St. Paul Mag post regarding Reusse’s recent slam of sports bloggers that if anyone reads my stuff, they will know I’m not a threat to the MSM. I am quite certain that some people think I am as big of a buffoon as you think Dave DeLand is. But I think “citizen punditry” is important these days-given the current corporate/political spin feel of MSM sports journalism and journalism in general. As long as I can generate decent content, the technology is available, and you and the other esteemed colleague here at Canis don’t think I totally suck, folks can think I’m an idiot for all I care. In the end however, it’s really all speculation, whether it’s here or in St. Cloud. Lopez-or Kevin Love for that matter—may end up being a great addition to the team. I doubt it, but the fate of this team doesn’t rise or set on what I think or what I think I know. So it goes…dammit!
I debated....
...whether or not to put the paragraph about his actual thoughts about Lopez in there. In hindsight I guess it distracts from my main point that this guy wrote a column out of thin air and he was willing to namecall a guy he doesn’t even know based on absolutely nothing.
The only reason why guys like Deland can write the kind of crap he writes is because there’s a certain amount of institutional give in the newspaper business. The paper is delivered to my doorstep and I value things like A1, Metro, and the opinion pages, and I am wiling to trade a certain amount of BS for what I deem to be useful information. Unfortunately, this ratio has gotten way out of hand in the past few years; it’s most noticable in political and sports coverage where a sort of village-based group think has been the backbone of columns that do little more than grow and group the prevailing opinions of the villagers.
Anywho, I should have left out the stuff about Lopez. This was all about some reporter who has a guaranteed readership being a slack-jawed yokel by putting together a column based on little more than what he may have heard on talk radio. I just took his logic a bit further and instead of calling someone I don’t know a “Rider-typegoofball”, I labeled him a crackhead. Hey if it works for the papers, it has to work for the dirty bloggers.
I also tried to deal with what I believe to be the racial undertones of this sort of column that has been prominent in MN sports media since the days of Donte’s little hands.
It's all my doing
Sorry guys, but I’ve got to poison the well a bit in order to have my way in the draft. Being a Blazer fan, I’ve got to stop you from selecting Mayo at #3, and the only way I could do that is with a smear campaign. Now you’ll take Lopez, keeping you at the bottom of the league for another couple years and we’ll be able to do a trade with NY for the pick and get Mayo for ourselves.
Trust me, you’re better off this way. You wouldn’t want to pick a kid like that. He’d help you win games and put butts in the stands, and you can’t have that. How would you ever get rid of McHale if you started to be good? So, I’m really doing this for your own good. You can thank me later.
If, however, my bysantine plot should go awry, what would it take to get the pick from you?
Here’s my offer:
Marko Jarik and #3 for #13 pick, Channing Frye, Jarrett Jack, Sergio Rodriguez, and Josh McRoberts. Frye is a good PF/C, Jack is a solid combo-guard, and Sergio is a PG with flair. McBob can be a good back-up. You’d also have the #13 pick which could net you JaVale McGee. Everyone would have very reasonable contracts too.
Well, you may end up being right about Lopez...
...he’s in town today for a workout. I’d have to go with a big no-go for the trade idea. The Wolves’ fan base would go ape shit if something like that went down. They can’t afford to move down that far in the draft without netting something a bit bigger in return. The Wolves will have the chance to walk away with Mayo or Beasley and I don’t think they’ll move down to 13 if they do make a deal.
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