Here's the lede from Dan's column today:
The game goes on. The NBA is like the Post Office and the Iditarod. It has no fear of a little snow. There can be parking bans, whiteout conditions, orange alerts, and/or projections of Doppler doom, but the games always are played as scheduled.Not exactly. In January 2004, Memphis had two games postponed due to ice and snow. In December 2000, a game in Chicago was canceled because the visiting Nets' flight to Chicago was blocked by a snowstorm. On Jan. 26, 2000, a Knicks-Wizards game was snowed out. And that's just what a simple GoogleNews search came up with.
Hey Dan, there's this new invention called the Internet. Might want to try it some time.
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On Sunday, Dan looked at the commonplace of gambling in sports, and the look-the-other-way attitude of athletes and fans. It could have been a hard-hitting and, for a change, relevant piece. Instead, Dan crapped out. Reason: Overreliance on rumor and innuendo.
Two examples.
1. "On Tuesday, when details of the ring surfaced, Gretzky said, 'The reality is, I'm not involved, I wasn't involved, and I'm not going to be involved,' but two days later the Newark Star-Ledger reported that wiretaps had Gretzky on tape talking about the gambling ring and potential damage the news would cause his wife and himself."
Today came news from the AP that the wiretaps were conducted after Tocchet was arrested. (We should also note that The Great One's, ahem, bettor half has not been charged.)
2. "This was a problem when Michael Jordan was losing big at golf, and there's still suspicion that his first 'retirement' from the NBA was actually a suspension ordered by NBA commissioner David Stern (Stern always has denied the theory)."
Hey Mr. Science, something that has no substantiation whatsoever does not a theory make. Slander is more like it.
Is this the Globe, or the Enquirer? It's hard to tell sometimes. (Probably the copy desk's fault.) This is AM talk radio trash, not journalism.
There's no doubt gambling is a problem in society. A good reporter would want to know just how pervasive it is among athletes. But hey, this is Dan were talking about here.
5 comments:
How Precious!! You found four games in the NBA, a winter sport,that were postponed out of approximately 7,500 played since 2000 in a league that includes games in N.Y., Portland, Seattle, Minnesota, Toronto, Boston and the Rust Belt. Unfortunately, the blogger's reading comprehension problems continue. You say that that in January 04,Memphis had two games postponed due to ice and snow. Seems you haven't quite mastered this new Internet thing. One of the games involving Memphis was postponed because the team couldn't travel to St. Lake City --not because of snow in the venue where the game takes place. The other was postponed due to "freezing rain and ice" in Portland, it wasn't snow. In neither instance was the game postponed due to "a little snow." Oh and the columnist points out that the C's haven't been snowed out in 28 years, but why let the facts about what he was writing about get in the way of a good rant.
Not sure of the point behind the comment about the Gretzky wiretap, since it was based on the context every newspaper in America gave it. The columnist's reference to Gretzky's wiretapped musings was clearly in the context of Gretzky's wondering aloud of the damage the public allegations would do.
And as for Jordan and gambling, there is substantial evidence that he bet heavily, in casinos and on the golf course, in the time leading up to his 'retirement'.
Today's entry reads like the droppings of the daily Republican spin machine; avoid the story by taking minutia out of context.
"The NBA is like the Post Office and the Iditarod. ... the games always are played as scheduled."
I guess someone must have changed the meaning of the word "always."
And you are either blinded by your Danlove, or you simply can't admit that he pulled a Cheney on Gretzky: he took aim and fired without checking the surroundings. All your blathering about context doesn't change the fact that he wasn't involved, and no one (other than you) is saying he was.
Finally, I guess you missed that little item about Jordan's dad being brutally murdered. Ever wonder why baseball, in the aftermath of the Rose fiasco, would sign to a contract an athlete on suspension for gambling? Repeat after me: The absence of proof is innuendo. Dope.
Chief:
Speaking of corrections...
Rick Tocchet has not been arrested. He was summonsed to court. Hate to nitpick, but facts are facts.
Otherwise, keep up the good work showing the world what a jackass Shaughnessy is.
Actually I would think postponing four games in five years in a game played INDOORS is fairly significant, or at least significant enough that a reporter might actually want to double check before he claims that ZERO games were postponed.
OB, are you even vaguely aware how bad you look constantly trying to make excuses for Shaughnessy's errors?
Anon 1:38:
You are correct: Tocchet has been charged, not arrested. Thanks for the catch.
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