"I came back from Europe talking about all the good food, good wine and good women of Milan and Paris. I wish I could be talking about the good Knicks basketball."
- Marc Berman
Marc:
With all due respect, Mr Berman, you want respect as a sports journalist, you need to earn respect.
You wish you could be talking about "good Knicks basketball"?
Fine. Then define "good Knicks basketball" in incremental steps and monitor the progress like any other growth chart. Write about how "good Knicks basketball evolved from 1966 to 1969 with a gradual infusion of new parts that culminated with the Dave DeBusschere trade. You must know this ain't something you flip a switch on, no matter how many times the Knicks security staff has pissed you off. Get over it. You are supposed to be a professional and David Lee ain't walking through the locker room door.
Start over. Rinse yourself of Stephon Marbury and Isiah Thomas. Sure, we get the fact you have been around them too much and you are on a deadline, so are most people every day of the week. The difference? You have a dream job with free season tickets. Do as most passionate, analytical and hopeful fans have done and take a critical look at what is in front of you like any lead guard on a fast break. Write about what you see and not what you think you see through some lens you refuse to wipe clean. This is not politics. This is entertainment. Entertain us and make us laugh every once in a while. If I want bitterness I can watch sore losers like Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity.
Enough.
Write about what you see during, not after, practice. Write about the nuance of the skill sets and not individual preferences. Then talk about how the correct combination of players should be deployed. Write about the assistant coaches roles in focusing on position players. Do some investigative research and write about the college coaches. Has there been ONE article about a person who guided Landry Fields at Stanford that lends some preview of what to expect in the pros? Hell, Jim Boeheim is practically in the same area code. Give him a call about Andy Rautins. Talk to Shawne Williams about his past and present. Take a trip to Memphis and walk around his neighborhood. The barbecue is great at Interstate. Forget Rendezvous.
"My Russian sources say foul trouble will be a major issue for Mozgov in the NBA. During the exhibitions of the World Championships, he constantly was in foul trouble."
My Russian sources? Where? ... at the freakin' KGB? What "sources"? Show me a quote and name names like any journalist worth his salary would. hen write about what that "source" learned about watching Mozgov develop through the four years of Euro tutorial. What were his personal study habits that apply to developing in the NBA?
Do I need to come to New York and do your job FOR you?
Damn
Respectfully,
The Answer Man