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!

...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.

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.