I was, and it sucked. It was soul sucking. The best thing about it was ending and having Buss buy the team and creating Showtime. This is one reason why everyone loved Magic so much. Dude reaked of positive energy. Made us all forget about the previous eras. Now it is ancient memory.
I'm your huckleberry. This is how I found Clublakers back in 2005, searching for information on Kwame and the rumor Lakers were after him during those dark days. And once CL was found, a kind of place I didn't know existed for hard core Lakers fans like myself ..... I was hooked. But early on experienced culture shock with players being called, "garbage" ..... and hated all the crap said about Chris Mihm after his horrific ankle injury, whom I liked a lot prior to his injury. Kid had a lot of promise and some nice skills. Just wasn't Shaq of course at 80 lbs lighter and frequently called soft like AD is today.
SAS is an embarrassing clown. People like him existing would be sad if it weren't for the fact it adds to the downfall of society with ridiculous hot takes that do nothing other than drive people apart. And when people criticize him, I've heard people defend him by saying haters are just jealous. No. I don't care about how much money he makes. In fact, I'd be happy if his salary was doubled if it meant I never had to see him or Skip Bayless again.
I kind of hope this inspires a chain reaction from other NBA players to go ham on Stephen A Smith. I like to see a podcast from ex NBA players going off on these big mouth commentators like SAS
why do people get so triggered by guys like SAS and bayless? they're literally playing a character. shock value is the only goal for those two case in point
Unpopular opinion apparently ... I like a lot of the hot take factory/talking heads like SAS and Skip. I like putting on shows like First Take and Undisputed in the background while I work. They boil down some of the key underlying narratives about the sports I love into entertaining and easy to digest content. Obviously I don't go to them for in-depth analysis, nor do I necessarily buy the narratives they try to frame. I can take the content with a grain of salt and understand the context they present is not reality. Because I'm not seeking nuanced takes when I watch their shows. It's fun to get worked up in the way it is watching a wrestling "heel", but I never take it personally or think these guys are inherently bad people. Skip, for example, plays the bad guy. You're supposed to hate him. With that said, yeah it was low of SAS to go after Kwame. Should've just ignored him. He is right in that he never did attack Kwame personally. But Kwame is right in that it doesn't matter, SAS helped perpetuate a narrative that this dude was a bust. Which ... may be true and worthy of sports discussion, but when you are delivering overly dramatic takes and exaggerating Kwame's failures for ratings, that's messed up and can impact a kid like Kwame.
Here's where I disagree with you. It's entertainment for you. But a lot of people listen to these guys for analysis. Also, while wrestling is completely scripted and you know everyone is in on it (like any other movie or TV show) the things Skip, SAS, etc. are saying pertain to real people with families and kids. Triple H insulting The Rock is him insulting the Brahma Bull, not the actual man Dwayne Johnson. Getting worked up for fictional entertainment is one thing. But SAS, Skip, etc. breed animosity towards real people that have lives outside basketball. Kwame Brown the basketball player is still Kwame Brown the human being. That's a lot different than Randy Orton talking smack on Roman Reigns. These talking heads yelling at each other are having a profound effect on society. The cable news networks, ESPN, etc...it's a problem. Maybe you can separate it, but there are obviously a lot of people who cannot.
that line is important, and our society has just blurred or completely erased it in public discourse. everybody has to understand it's a bit. if they don't, then you're a bad actor in more ways than one.
Precisely. Even something as egregious as Skip's Lebron takes (which border on parody) are taken seriously by a lot of people. Just look in the comments of those videos. People actually buy it. Most people don't, but there are still some that actually see reason in Skip's Lebron Vendetta.
I would like to see Brown get ahold of Smith and slap him around for talking so much smack. See if he yells like he usually does laying on the ground.
