I was really impressed when I read Steve Weinman's apology to Rasheed Wallace. The Detroit Pistons are my team in the NBA and I have appreciated what Rasheed had done on the plus side: helping us get the ring against the Lakers in '03, making those championship wrestling belts, the cool "get hype" dance he does at the beginning of games, even the pre-Pistons "both teams played hard" quote. However, I do hold two things against him: leaving fellow Crimson Tider, Robert Horry open for that game winning three in the Finals vs. the Spurs, and the meltdown in game 6 against the Cavs, especially when Anderson Varejao stuffed his supposedly unblockable baseline turnaround jump shot. That being said, the boy 'Sheed has been hoopin' this season and KILLED the Suns this past Sunday. If many members of the media would just watch the games and not carry personal biases against athletes, then I think we could get more balanced reporting on complex cats like Rasheed Wallace. So big ups to you Mr. Steve Weinman you have earned my respect (as if that means anything to you).
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
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2 comments:
Ill have to disagree with you on Sheed. I was very dissapointed with his disparaging remarks about how there was no way in the world the Cavs would upset them.
When a team plays well against you, its disrespectful to the sport and to the team to try to take away their hard work. It was very low class of him. Being a huge AI fan, I could care less about what you look like, but I do care what comes out of your mouth-and SHeed has already used up his 3 strikes.
AI is on strike 2 after WE TALKIN BOUT PRACTICE X 27 times...
I will say that the Pistons got rooked by the refs in that series against the Cavs. LeBron and Wade were Sterns poster boys. Thats why the cavs made the finals and the refs gave Wade a total of 85 free throws in the final 4 games with the Mavs.
In my opinion, the Pistons are still the team to beat. Boston will have to prove it to me...
I'm not waving the pom-poms for Rasheed, I just think the reporting on him needs to be a little more balanced. By all accounts the people who know him the best (his teammates) love the guy. So there is something redeeming about the guy. However, there is negative too, as you have already observed. I don't think him saying that the Cavs couldn't beat them was bad sportsmanship. I think it was a case of him not seeing the Pistons for who they are and have been for the past several years. The Pistons are unbeatable if they bring their lunch pail to work and play defense the way they did under Larry Brown. If they do not claw, scrap, and fight for every rebound and loose ball and aren't relentless about closing out open shooters, then they are an extremely beatable team. It's that arrogance that frustrates me about him and the rest of the Piston starters (even though Rasheed may be the only one voicing it, it is evident in the way the team plays at times). His getting kicked out of Game 6 against the Pistons was akin to Mike Tyson biting Holyfield's ear the second time. It's like they understood that they couldn't beat their opponent straight up, so they did whatever it took to get themselves disqualified from the competition (Mike nibbling on Evander’s ear and ‘Sheed going nuts at the ref in order to get T-ed up and thrown out of the game). I did lose some respect for Rasheed based on that, but I must view him from a 360 degrees perspective and not just for the parts of the pie that I don't like.
The Pistons are the team to beat in the East. Doug, you are a very wise man!
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