Posted by Alex on January 17, 2009
Jemele Hill and L.Z. Granderson are two ESPN columnists who share a common goal: bore readers with social issues that infringe upon our love of sports. The interesting thing is, they’re both featured as part of ESPN.com’s “Page 2,” a sideshow of sports media coverage which generally displays a humorous undertone. Hill and Granderson are two columnists who stray far from humor, however. In our Utopia of sports, they’re the buzzkills who tend to rain on our parade. Think of the guy at your party who drinks diet soda, sits in the corner, and refuses to participate in anything fun. That’s Hill and Granderson in a nutshell.
In recent months, Hill (pictured at right) has written articles on the abolition of fan voting when it comes to the Pro Bowl (no one watches anyways, so why take away the only fun part of it), a scathing rebuke of the Plaxico Burress incident (what, like you’ve never shot yourself in the leg?), and a profile of her father and her faith (touching, but definitely lacking intrigue to non-Hills everywhere). At one point, she compared the World Champion Boston Celtics with Adolf Hitler, netting her a suspension from ESPN for her unenlightened (or, perhaps, overenlightened, in her mind) point of view. Granderson (pictured at left), for his part, has interviewed New York Knicks rookie Danilo Gallinari (who?), the inspiration of Mia Hamm (did Sounders fans even read this?), and a piece entitled “Why are we still talking about Pacman?” (why are you still talking about Pacman? Face.).
Now I’m not trying to insinuate that what they’re doing isn’t respectable, because it is. It’s just not what we, as sports fans, want to hear about. Sports, like television and movies, are our break from reality. When we indulge ourselves with sports, we don’t want to hear about the social ramifications of Player X’s actions, or be chided for not reacting in a certain ethical way to what occurred with Player Z. Understandably, Hill, Granderson, and other columnists like them have an opinion on what occurs. That’s great. It’s expected. But we don’t care. We don’t care about why we should appreciate your charity case’s outstanding performance in the Lesbian Professional Curling League. We don’t care about your kid sister’s outlook on life. We don’t care about things like that. We want to be awed, overwhelmed, entertained. We want to laugh, we want to cry, we want our blood pressure to rise. We don’t want grim seriousness. We don’t need flatlines. It’s something that the socially conscious journalist–like an Oscar-winning dramatic film director or the great American novelist–may never understand. What you do is fantastically amazing in the grand scheme of life, but to the everyman, it’s just not that cool.
L.Z. Granderson and Jemele Hill are good storytellers. If they were writing for Time or Life, maybe then we could fully appreciate what they’re trying to bring to the table. But as sports fans, we just can’t sit idly by and deal with their oh-so-holy bullcrap. You may find a certain level of acceptance in soup kitchens or book clubs, but here, in the Great Wide World of Sports, we’re not having it.
Posted in Beyond Seattle, Featured Articles, Sports Media | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Alex on January 17, 2009
You can say this about the Oregon State Beavers basketball team. At least they try hard. Which is better than last year, when the only thing they did well was pick fights with their opponents. Like that one time, in Corvallis, when the Huskies came to town and were victimized during their afternoon shootaround, greeted by a gaggle of Beavs who wanted to take things out into the parking lot for no real reason at all. They even followed the Husky contingent back to the team hotel, willing to spar seemingly wherever necessary in order to prove their point. That beautiful moment was all of one season ago, but the Beavers are a changed organization these days.
These days, the once-proud program is coached by a relative newbie, one Craig Robinson (pictured left), who you may have heard is Barack Obama’s brother-in-law. It may be a neat, fun fact, but the reality is Robinson was Oregon State’s last hope to take over the floundering program. Everyone else approached about the job was hesitant to commit to a team of supposed thugs who couldn’t play basketball nearly as well as they could throw haymakers. But Robinson, previously head coach at non-scholarship Ivy League school Brown, couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to advance in the coaching ranks. From a school not really known for their basketball prowess to a school that, at the very least, could claim their place in one of the nation’s power conferences, Robinson jumped at the opportunity to take over a Pac-10 program.
Now, after an entire decade of futility, the Beaver basketball team actually looks to have some purpose and direction each time they take the floor. After four unproductive years of over-confident, underwhelming swingman Marcel Jones, the Beavs have turned to a younger, better, more athletic star in sophomore guard Calvin Haynes (pictured right). Haynes, a 6’2″ score-first type of player, is averaging 15.3 PPG for OSU after a quiet freshman campaign last season (5.5 PPG). Unfortunately for Robinson and Co., Haynes is the only player averaging double-figures scoring in the newly-implemented slow-down offense. Right now, the team resembles Washington State circa 2005, meaning they’re destined to lose for the rest of this year at the very least.
But that doesn’t mean they’re not headed for greener pastures. Like the Cougars, if the Beavers can buy into Robinson’s style of play, they may find a fair amount of success in the coming seasons. Already, they’re doing much better than last year’s team that finished a miserable 0-18 in conference play. In just their second Pac-10 game of the year, Oregon State managed to knock off a powerful USC team in a 62-58 overtime nailbiter. So what if they haven’t won a game since. Baby steps, people, baby steps.
The Dawgs shouldn’t have too much trouble in dismantling the Beavers. Talent should reign supreme in this matchup of less-than-epic proportions. But for Husky fans who get a chance to see this game, take a good look at Oregon State. Who knows, they may be the future of the Pac-10.
Posted in Husky Basketball, Husky Gameday, Pac-10 Basketball | Leave a Comment »
Jemele Hill and L.Z. Granderson are two ESPN columnists who share a common goal: bore readers with social issues that infringe upon our love of sports. The interesting thing is, they’re both featured as part of ESPN.com’s “Page 2,” a sideshow of sports media coverage which generally displays a humorous undertone. Hill and Granderson are two columnists who stray far from humor, however. In our Utopia of sports, they’re the buzzkills who tend to rain on our parade. Think of the guy at your party who drinks diet soda, sits in the corner, and refuses to participate in anything fun. That’s Hill and Granderson in a nutshell.
In recent months, Hill (pictured at right) has written articles on the abolition of fan voting when it comes to the Pro Bowl (no one watches anyways, so why take away the only fun part of it), a scathing rebuke of the Plaxico Burress incident (what, like you’ve never shot yourself in the leg?), and a profile of her father and her faith (touching, but definitely lacking intrigue to non-Hills everywhere). At one point, she compared the World Champion Boston Celtics with Adolf Hitler, netting her a suspension from ESPN for her unenlightened (or, perhaps, overenlightened, in her mind) point of view. Granderson (pictured at left), for his part, has interviewed New York Knicks rookie Danilo Gallinari (who?), the inspiration of Mia Hamm (did Sounders fans even read this?), and a piece entitled “Why are we still talking about Pacman?” (why are you still talking about Pacman? Face.). 
