I will go further.... The ON air hate is Intentional, playing to their audience. If you look at their writers...they have it evenly split at 12 for the Heat, 12 for the Lakers/ That is fair. If it was 16-8 for the Lakers..that would be fine as well with me. But somehow the ON AIR talent is all for the Lakers except for Broussard in his lonely island. NOT a coincidence.
So now "hate" is just not picking your team to win it all? Half the network is "for" your team and that is hate?
It's a little misleading. The few hundred seats left are the last two rows in the 400 level which is the extreme upper deck. These tickets were part of the mandatory hold back that the league requires and could not be sold as season tickets. They are also doing tiered pricing. this game against the Magic is $150-175 per ticket. for the Nets game next week, it's less. They are going to have a hard time moving those seats at that number. Particularly since you can get lower court seats on the secondary marlet for not much more. Bottom line, as long as the fans show up early, which the Heat has begged them to do, ESPN will not get a camera shot of an empty seat.
I loved the NBA in the 80's when you had great teams and players like the Lakers (Kareem, Magic), Sixers (Dr. J, Barkley, Malone), Celtics (Bird, McHale, Parrish)...then MJ and the Bulls came along and kind of pushed things to a new level, but the NBA has been going steadily downhill since then. I would rather watch Bowling or a European soccer game over an NBA game. The players are nowhere near as talented as back in the day, you have few guys who can shoot over 50% these days, except the big men who can only dunk, and you also have few good rivalries anymore. Sorry, to me it's a watered down product.
The Heat kept these tickets in reserve for the last minute and are trying to gouge the prices. We’re basically talking nosebleed seats ranging from $180-$400. They’ll sell out at the ticket counter in front of the AAA. That’s not what he’s saying, and you know it.
It is different to say that there is "hate" and to say that the on-air talent thinks the Lakers are still the best team. The Heat lead every SportsCenter segment and have multiple segments within. That is not "hate".
If you look at it this way, it's not about hate: the people who are picking the Heat are more the "stat geek" kind of guys like Hollinger who think that A+B+C=championship, and the people who are picking the Lakers are more "oldschool" (like Jalen Rose, et. al.) and believe that a team needs to gel and learn to play together, etc. Not a lot of stat geeks become on-air talent.
That’s not what he’s saying. So your claim is that because the team is being covered, it’s not hated? That’s a joke. Look at the substantive content of the segments, not the fact that the segments exist. The tone is completely different from when the Cavs led or were near the lead of SportsCenter. Jon Barry is writing a book about how the Heat “hijacked” the NBA, for crying out loud. Jalen Rose has been one of the few on-air defenders of the Heat on ESPN. He likes the team.
Man everyone loves to talk about how amazing the Heat are with Wade, Bron and Bosh all on the court - but the two real advantages they have are that when LeBron sits - Wade is still there and vice versa. It is less when they are on the court together but more that they are never both off the court. The other huge advantage is their defense. When they turn it on it is over.
Actually, after going back through this, I believe it is I that is in the minority. Good for the NBA... bad for me ....
I disagree that they aren't as "Talented". They have much more talent, just mush less fundamental skills. I think having one, they have gotten by without learning the other. Same reason that Duke players rarely make it in the NBA. Like him or hate him, Coach K still teaches the living HELL out of Fundamentals, but rarely has the most "Talented" team on the court.
Today's athletes are much more athletic and have the rules benefit the star players. It is two or three highlight plays and then just a bunch of free throws.
at 2-0 and undefeated its the Nets thread. from here on out if your record is sullied by a loss you are not allowed to discuss them here. only those that know perfection can be discussed. thunder and nets and blazers, etc. all others you have failed. Be gone with your imperfections, your flaws and blemishes. This is a thread for the Gods
My interest is at an all time low personally. I simply have no interest in the game anymore. Even being a born and bred Miami boy, Wade,Bosh and James teaming up on the Heat didn't have any affect on me. I'm pretty much down to Pro Football as the only Pro sport I'll watch and support.
