Fuck Yea[h] NBA

simplybasketball:

In regards to the Kevin Garnett talk, I love the guy he brings the grit and physical game on the 80’s which not many new players have anyway people should read this and stop crying about The Big Ticket because chances are the people whinging about him have been in basketball for about 2 seconds and own Kobe and LeBron jerseys. http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/basketball/celtics/kirk-minihane/2011/02/08/how-kevin-garnett-became-most-hated-man-nb

A few things about this post, and this will not be kind, so avert your eyes.

First, Kevin Garnett is a hall of fame player and the single biggest reason the Celtics won a title in 2008. No one disputes this, and I’d go as far to say he should have won a second MVP in his first year with Boston. He drastically altered the destiny of a franchise that had been stuck in the NBA doldrums for almost two full decades. 

*Secondly, it would be nice if some punctuation were thrown into this post so I didn’t think I was reading my 6 year-old cousin’s stream of consciousness during his second grade “free writing” block.

Third, there’s a little window in the text field where you can hyperlink a story to whatever you’re writing. It looks a lot better than simply messing up the html code. Like WEEI scribe Kirk Minihane does when individual players are mentioned in the post you (attempted) to hyperlink to:

It’s true. He’s the man now. It’s complete. NBA Public Enemy Numero Uno. Ask Phil Jackson. Or Alvin Gentry. Or Channing Frye. How about Charlie Villanueva? Or Andrew Bogut? Bogut’s not good enough, you need an All-Star center? I’ll give you Dwight Howard.

Fourth, Kevin Garnett is extremely easy to dislike when you actually watch how he acts on the court. It was hard for a lot of people to catch him in Minnesota where he wasn’t winning and (not so coincidentally) kept his barking to himself. He’s the personification of a puffed-up tough guy, but without a team backing him, his exhortations resemble a tired whimper. Kendrick Perkins was a nice complement for Garnett because Perkins is big and legitimately tough. I think Garnett is tough (anyone that can survive all the hours he’s logged at the NBA level, has played through pain), but the difference is he thinks intimidation needs to involve atavistic screaming and glowering. You know who terrified people? Larry Bird, but he didn’t need to scream to do it. He’d just saunter up to an opponent and whisper something in their ear and they were done. Same with MJ, Magic and the best ever at intimidating opponents with physical play and head games: Bill Russell.  He was in their head and they were scared and no screaming was necessary. The same could be said for Paul Pierce, who has always maintained a regal air about him whenever others on the court are losing their cool (i.e. Garnett). 

Why did I reblog this with such disdain in my tone?  Because this post is similar to Garnett; it speaks with a haughty air of “I’m better than you” because you appreciate the true “grit” inherent in the game during the 1980’s, and anyone that chafes at Garnett’s behavior is probably a part-time fan. You believe, incorrectly, that anyone who critiques Garnett’s childish demeanor on the court is probably a casual fan that doesn’t really get the primordial beauty of basketball on a gut level like you (all those words were mine—so feel free to correct me). This is exactly what Garnett does when he pounds his chest. He’s letting the viewer know he’s more amped up for the basketball game than everyone else. If you’re a Celtics fan, you love him the way Detroit loved their Bad Boys, but you’d have to be rather juvenile and naive not to realize the antipathy Garnett engenders around the league since he arrived in Boston. I don’t have the time to note all the instances of his behavior, but the guys mentioned Minihane are a good place to start.

Now it’s true I had to make some leaps with your syntax just to make sure I was getting it right because, unless English is your second or third language, there is no excuse for the muddled run-ons you felt necessary to share with everyone that follows your blog. And yes, maybe primordial was a bit much—but I was attempting to satirize your thinking. 

Even if William Strunk and E.B. White wrote your blog post, it wouldn’t change the fact it’s wrong and misguided and I couldn’t let you just post it to your followers without a rejoinder. Also, the article you mention is almost a year old (Feb. 2011), and Garnett’s churlish behavior on the court has been universally acknowledged for quite some time. Why you felt the need to defend him NOW is beyond me.

Frankly, I’m disappointed because I really enjoy the photos you post to your blog.

*I have made more copy errors on this blog and probably even in this post than is standard practice. And I’ve spent time as a paid editor, so there’s no excuse because I know most of the important rules. But, this wasn’t merely a missed comma, a run-on, a fragmented dependent clause or a misspelled word (there is spell check!). No, it was just really hard to read, which means get someone to proof you before posting.