Let me tell you one thing - going to games can suck. I've started to try to lose weight and exercise yet again, and I was stiff all over when I went to the game on Sunday.
The good thing was that I met an old friend of mine who has covered the Dream before (and, obviously, is covering them now). He also covers the Hawks in Atlanta. It's tempting to think, "okay, I'll cover the Hawks - the other major writers are covering NBA teams, why not me?" but frankly I'm stretched from six days to Sunday. I don't know how people with children do this; it's enough for me to haul my bulk around.
We ended up losing this one in overtime, 82-77. The Dream have played 4 3/8 games on four days, and this was a back-to-back. Lin Dunn stated that she thought the Fever could take out the Dream due to back-to-back fatigue. The Fever had a whole day to rest, the Dream had come back from playing against a tough Chicago team (which might be a contender to repeat as regular season champs), and the Dream's throw-it-in-the-air-and-pray style of basketball might not be conducive to a quick recovery.
So some random observations.
* They have brought food back to Philips Arena. This is truly great. The last time members of the press got anything to eat was in the 2008 season. Ron Terwilliger's Dream provided nice meals, but there was a problem. Freeloading members of the print media (I'm looking at you, AJC) would go to Philips Arena basically for a free dinner, and then pretty much ignore the Dream. In 2009, Terwilliger closed the free chow wagon and it's been closed ever since.
Sunday's mean? Hot dogs. Which is better than nothing. The Dream currently have a secret plan in place to keep any freeloaders away. Namely, the assistant PR guy has the plates. I don't think this plan will work; print media will probably start bringing their own plates.
* Shoni Schimmel reverted to rookie form. I've heard a lot of chatter on Twitter about how Schimmel can't play defense and throws the ball away too often to be a successful point guard, but she makes things happen. Although on second thought, our perimeter defense was pretty much terrible. I'm supposing we're going to wait for Celine Dumerc to show up in June and show Shoni how it's done. If Dumerc can play better D, she has a shot at taking Shoni's spot.
* Angel McCoughtry looked a little weak handling/gripping the ball in the first half, but got better. I suspect that McCoughtry and Lyttle are both banged-up-till-doomsday. They basically play all year. My friend said that NBA players get about three months off, but even that much time really isn't enough to heal.
* Swin Cash is looking like a bust. The Fever went on an 8-0 run when she was on the floor while McCoughtry rested; Cooper put Cash back on the bench and she didn't appear again.
* Matee Ajavon looks like Matee Ajavon. As Cheryl Reeve said, "You can't change what you are." Why GMs/fans are high on Matee Ajavon, I'll never know. Although it would be embarrassing to think that the Sky got the better of the Swin Cash/Courtney Clements deal.
* Angel McCoughtry hit a three pointer during that interminable fourth quarter which briefly put the Dream ahead. I also saw a crossover dribble she made that - well, the last time I saw something like that it was Chamique Holdsclaw doing it. When your mind sees something amazing, it slows down. She's got handles, that McCoughtry.
Anyway, the three pointer. She had a look on her face that read, "Yeah! Take that bitches!"
* Talked to Lin Dunn real quick before the Fever ran to their plan. The last time I spoke to Dunn - last year, before a playoff game - she was in a "let's get this over with" mood. This time, she was positively buoyant. No wonder people love talking to her.
* The Michael Cooper interview took about two minutes. A lot shorter than either the Marynell Meadors or Fred Williams interviews. Cooper was bizarrely positive. I don't know if this is just an act he puts on. Something tells me he's not going to talk long when he comes out of the locker room.
Next time: Dream versus Seattle, on Friday. 6 pm. Ugh, means I have to leave work at 4 pm.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Connecticut is Superman, and that's the problem
It appears that Katie Lou Samuelson, one of the top ranked prep players of the class of 2015, has committed to Connecticut. By the time Samuelson dribbles her first basketball, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis will be playing for some WNBA team but Breanna Stewart and Moriah Jefferson will be seniors. So odds are Samuelson will pick up a NCAA championship as a freshman. Nice work if you can get it.
So for the foreseeable future, it looks like really compelling race is who will finish second to Connecticut. There's not going to be much of a point in watching a bunch of blowouts, and I plan to steer clear of any game on television that has UConn in the title. Oh sure, they'll promise you real excitement with a game against Notre Dame, or Baylor, or Stanford, but trust me you'll be watching the Huskies roll over another outgunned opponent. I might be tempted to watch the South Carolina/Connecticut game but I don't really think that the Gamecocks have what it takes to dethrone UConn.
This actually puts UConn in a bind - this is a team that's not going to be interesting until it loses a game. Huskies games were pretty much devoid of suspense last year, and they'll be devoid of suspense this year and the following year is Samuelson is really all that. UConn fans are already talking about another 90 game winning streak. Yes, I've heard the argument that Excellence is Compelling, and who would pass up watching a team with such obvious great and dedicated players?
My counterargument is that Connecticut is basically Superman, or in the role of Superman in the DC Comics pantheon. He's got the super intelligence (Auriemma), the super strength (Mosqueda-Lewis), the heat vision (Jefferson), the invulnerability (Stewart). As Seanbaby so rightly put it, Superman seems to have about 150 super powers and they keep making up one or two per issue. It's the same with the UConn women's team.
The problem is that Superman is a very difficult character to write, oddly uncompelling due to his utter lack of vulnerability. True, Superman will wilt like a hothouse flower when exposed to Kryptonite, but there is no Kryptonite in the women's basketball universe. Hell, the UConn version of Superman can probably see through lead.
There are no General Zods anywhere in the American Conference, no mad scientists with freeze rays or anti-gravity missiles that might cause Superman to actually break a sweat. No one there has any Kryptonite. East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa are the equivalent of
a) the pool hall owner who is also the local bookie and fence of stolen goods
b) the man running the local meth ring, and
c) the old man who has been flashing the little old ladies at the park
All disturb the local order, but you don't need Superman to take care of any of those. You couldn't sell a comic book with those sort of opponents, much less a movie.
Batman's movies draw zillions of dollars, whereas there hasn't been a really good Superman movie since Superman II, and I'm grading on a big curve. Even the Superman animated series wasn't any good. Batman might be South Carolina.
But before those following the analogy assume that Batman will beat Superman because that's how it happened in The Dark Knight Returns, remember that in the comic book it took Kryptonite for Batman to beat Superman. South Carolina will have no Kryptonite. And UConn will have heat vision, freeze breath, and be able to fly. In a true Batman/Superman matchup, Batman would be Batpaste. I think South Carolina will do better against UConn than Batman would do against Superman, but Gamecock fans will learn that you don't tug on Superman's cape without consequences.
So for the foreseeable future, it looks like really compelling race is who will finish second to Connecticut. There's not going to be much of a point in watching a bunch of blowouts, and I plan to steer clear of any game on television that has UConn in the title. Oh sure, they'll promise you real excitement with a game against Notre Dame, or Baylor, or Stanford, but trust me you'll be watching the Huskies roll over another outgunned opponent. I might be tempted to watch the South Carolina/Connecticut game but I don't really think that the Gamecocks have what it takes to dethrone UConn.
This actually puts UConn in a bind - this is a team that's not going to be interesting until it loses a game. Huskies games were pretty much devoid of suspense last year, and they'll be devoid of suspense this year and the following year is Samuelson is really all that. UConn fans are already talking about another 90 game winning streak. Yes, I've heard the argument that Excellence is Compelling, and who would pass up watching a team with such obvious great and dedicated players?
My counterargument is that Connecticut is basically Superman, or in the role of Superman in the DC Comics pantheon. He's got the super intelligence (Auriemma), the super strength (Mosqueda-Lewis), the heat vision (Jefferson), the invulnerability (Stewart). As Seanbaby so rightly put it, Superman seems to have about 150 super powers and they keep making up one or two per issue. It's the same with the UConn women's team.
The problem is that Superman is a very difficult character to write, oddly uncompelling due to his utter lack of vulnerability. True, Superman will wilt like a hothouse flower when exposed to Kryptonite, but there is no Kryptonite in the women's basketball universe. Hell, the UConn version of Superman can probably see through lead.
There are no General Zods anywhere in the American Conference, no mad scientists with freeze rays or anti-gravity missiles that might cause Superman to actually break a sweat. No one there has any Kryptonite. East Carolina, Tulane and Tulsa are the equivalent of
a) the pool hall owner who is also the local bookie and fence of stolen goods
b) the man running the local meth ring, and
c) the old man who has been flashing the little old ladies at the park
All disturb the local order, but you don't need Superman to take care of any of those. You couldn't sell a comic book with those sort of opponents, much less a movie.
Batman's movies draw zillions of dollars, whereas there hasn't been a really good Superman movie since Superman II, and I'm grading on a big curve. Even the Superman animated series wasn't any good. Batman might be South Carolina.
But before those following the analogy assume that Batman will beat Superman because that's how it happened in The Dark Knight Returns, remember that in the comic book it took Kryptonite for Batman to beat Superman. South Carolina will have no Kryptonite. And UConn will have heat vision, freeze breath, and be able to fly. In a true Batman/Superman matchup, Batman would be Batpaste. I think South Carolina will do better against UConn than Batman would do against Superman, but Gamecock fans will learn that you don't tug on Superman's cape without consequences.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
The convention closes
Today is the last day of the Doctor Who convention in Minneapolis. Aside from providing moral support from the audience during a friend's panel, my presence was not required anywhere. Until I return to Atlanta tomorrow, I've basically got the entire time off.
The Dream went on the road and beat the Fever 90-88. It bugs me a bit that we don't have a decisive, beginning to end victory yet, but I'll take a bad win over a good loss any day of the week. Shoni Schimmel had like what, 10 assists? The PR guy at the Dream front office stated that this was the best total of assists over the first two games of a career, tying her only with Suzie McConnell-Serio. My understanding, however, was that McConnell-Serio was not all that great, so someone needs to be following Schimmel at all times, whispering into her ear, "Remember, thou art mortal!"
Another person needing someone to whisper that is Angel McCoughtry. She's had a couple of good games coming back, although due to a reported hip injury, she didn't start the second game and just came off the bench. Of course, there was someone on Twitter implying that it might have been a case of McCoughtry ending up in Cooper's doghouse just two games in - her reputation is so bad that people won't even give her the benefit of the doubt anymore.
If I were McCoughtry, I'd be concerned. Part of McCoughtry's invulnerability comes from the fact that she's indispensable. She's the player on all the billboards. But if Schimmel - who looks more popular over the last two games than McCoughtry has been over the last two years - continues to shine, then McCoughtry's Atlanta pedestal might be a bit more shaky.
The Dream went on the road and beat the Fever 90-88. It bugs me a bit that we don't have a decisive, beginning to end victory yet, but I'll take a bad win over a good loss any day of the week. Shoni Schimmel had like what, 10 assists? The PR guy at the Dream front office stated that this was the best total of assists over the first two games of a career, tying her only with Suzie McConnell-Serio. My understanding, however, was that McConnell-Serio was not all that great, so someone needs to be following Schimmel at all times, whispering into her ear, "Remember, thou art mortal!"
Another person needing someone to whisper that is Angel McCoughtry. She's had a couple of good games coming back, although due to a reported hip injury, she didn't start the second game and just came off the bench. Of course, there was someone on Twitter implying that it might have been a case of McCoughtry ending up in Cooper's doghouse just two games in - her reputation is so bad that people won't even give her the benefit of the doubt anymore.
If I were McCoughtry, I'd be concerned. Part of McCoughtry's invulnerability comes from the fact that she's indispensable. She's the player on all the billboards. But if Schimmel - who looks more popular over the last two games than McCoughtry has been over the last two years - continues to shine, then McCoughtry's Atlanta pedestal might be a bit more shaky.
Saturday, May 17, 2014
In Minneapolis with Doctor Who
Today is the third day that my wife and I have been in a Doctor Who convention at Minneapolis. I haven't had the chance to see Stars @ Dream last night, because my outdated browser on my outdated Macbook (I've lost the disks and can't upgrade) will not show the game on Live Access. I could see it on my iPhone if I wanted to, but that's a helluva way to see a game. I won't be seeing Dream @ Stars tonight, either, and I miss it terribly.
Have read about Shoni Schimmel's performance. Eleven assists is worth knowing about, although Griner dunked twice in her first game last year and never again since. I'm hoping yesterday wasn't the high water mark of her performances.
If you're reading this, you've probably never attended a science fiction convention. I wonder why science fiction fans dress in the schlubbiest way imaginable at conventions. Thin t-shirts stretched over 350+ pound beer guts. Neckbeards. Suspenders that don't quite suspend. Does this make me a shallow person pointing it out? It probably does.
The high part of this convention - aside from meeting and being with old friends, which was our true reason for coming - was seeing Deborah Watling, a woman who played one of the Doctor's companions (Victoria) for one year in the 1960s. She's a little wisp of a thing, a little old lady now.
I touched a Dalek (well, a home made Dalek). I attended a panel on Doctor Who lost episodes which quickly devolved to the usual fan griping. This should be expected, if you've had any experience with fans.
I've written a post at Swish Appeal about the success of women's basketball teams that manage to snag the #1 or #2 high school recruit in any given year. It appears that the reception is generally favorable. I'm glad. Trust me, I know from years of fandom that all it takes is one bad experience to turn you off of something forever. One critical comment drowned out by lots of positive ones? I think I can live with that, that's better than you usually get in women's basketball fandom anyway.
Have read about Shoni Schimmel's performance. Eleven assists is worth knowing about, although Griner dunked twice in her first game last year and never again since. I'm hoping yesterday wasn't the high water mark of her performances.
If you're reading this, you've probably never attended a science fiction convention. I wonder why science fiction fans dress in the schlubbiest way imaginable at conventions. Thin t-shirts stretched over 350+ pound beer guts. Neckbeards. Suspenders that don't quite suspend. Does this make me a shallow person pointing it out? It probably does.
The high part of this convention - aside from meeting and being with old friends, which was our true reason for coming - was seeing Deborah Watling, a woman who played one of the Doctor's companions (Victoria) for one year in the 1960s. She's a little wisp of a thing, a little old lady now.
I touched a Dalek (well, a home made Dalek). I attended a panel on Doctor Who lost episodes which quickly devolved to the usual fan griping. This should be expected, if you've had any experience with fans.
I've written a post at Swish Appeal about the success of women's basketball teams that manage to snag the #1 or #2 high school recruit in any given year. It appears that the reception is generally favorable. I'm glad. Trust me, I know from years of fandom that all it takes is one bad experience to turn you off of something forever. One critical comment drowned out by lots of positive ones? I think I can live with that, that's better than you usually get in women's basketball fandom anyway.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Who speaks up for the student, or student/athlete?
There's been some more movement on the Leti Romero situation. Romero, if you don't know, is a player for the Kansas State women's basketball team. She's a native of the Canary Islands in Spain, and she was recruited to Manhattan by (then) Kansas State head coach Deb Patterson. Romero led the team with 14.2 ppg as a freshman, but the Wildcats finished 11-19. This cost longtime head coach Patterson her job.
Enter new coach Jeff Mittie. Romero, feeling a personal connection with Patterson, wants to transfer now that all of her old connections have moved on. The K-State athletic department, however, refuses to let her go, even though they've let other athletes in similar situations go. The only comments from the athletic department hint at (although do not state) that there is some sort of interference from the ex-coaching staff. Are coaches promising that they can bring Romero to their future school?
The newest movement is that virtually the entire old Kansas State coaching staff has ended up at Northern Colorado. This should make it easy for K-State to budge. Just release Romero on the condition that she can't enroll at Northern Colorado. Done deal, right?
Nah.
The normal out for an athlete is leave the school, enroll at your intended destination, and sit out a year while you pay your own way. However, Romero only has a student visa. She can't go to school without a scholarship in the US and her family doesn't have the money to pay a year's worth of out-of-state tuition. She's either stuck at Kansas State, or she goes back to Spain and gives up playing in the US.
Everyone is a loser in this situation.
Romero is obviously a loser. She has no good choices. Stay in a play you don't want to be, or give up your goal of a US education and a NCAA career.
Mittie is a loser. He's stuck with a player that doesn't want to be there. He'll have to keep any future recruit away from her during official visits, lest Romero say something that badmouths the school.
The Kansas State athletic department is a loser, or at least women's basketball is. The reputation of K-State is clouded. If you're a recruit, do you really want to sign at K-State? The strategy from Manhattan is to remain silent and hope this blows over, but it ain't going to blow over.
But the biggest loser is the NCAA. The whole situation highlights one thing : there is no one to advocate for the "student athlete" in organized college sports. The NCAA is entirely on the side of its member institutions and could care less about those that play its sports. Once a scholarship is granted, they consider their work done and from that moment on, the only response they expect from a student is deference.
Even the term "student athlete" is one coined by the NCAA to put students who play sports at a disadvantage.
A player gets seriously injured on the playing field. "Sorry, you're a student. You're doing this as a volunteer. We don't have to recompense you if we don't feel like it." Well then, since I'm a student I really need this time to study for my physics exam. "Sorry, you're an athlete. That would take you away from practices and we might take away that scholarship we gave you. And you can't major in physics. Maybe sociology. "If you're ever confused about what the duties of a "student athlete" are, an easy (and often correct) way to interpret this term is that the "student athlete" is a student when it's most advantageous for the NCAA to have them be a student and they are an athlete when it's most advantageous for the NCAA to have them be an athlete. If there's a conflict, the matter is decided in terms of what is most advantageous for the NCAA.
And there are people out there who honestly can't figure out why the Northwestern football players were thinking about forming a union?
There is no one to advocate for Leti Romero's case, except the fans. If a school makes a bad decision, where can Romero go? The answer is "nowhere", and that's exactly the answer the NCAA would give in an unguarded moment. The NCAA's stated job is to be the enforcement arm of the rules of college athletics, to make sure that no school has an unfair advantage over any other school. But their unstated job is to make sure that all schools have an unfair advantage over their athletes. Athletes are starting to recognize their power and there might be great changes over the next couple of decades, but these changes will probably come too late for Leti Romero.
Enter new coach Jeff Mittie. Romero, feeling a personal connection with Patterson, wants to transfer now that all of her old connections have moved on. The K-State athletic department, however, refuses to let her go, even though they've let other athletes in similar situations go. The only comments from the athletic department hint at (although do not state) that there is some sort of interference from the ex-coaching staff. Are coaches promising that they can bring Romero to their future school?
The newest movement is that virtually the entire old Kansas State coaching staff has ended up at Northern Colorado. This should make it easy for K-State to budge. Just release Romero on the condition that she can't enroll at Northern Colorado. Done deal, right?
Nah.
The normal out for an athlete is leave the school, enroll at your intended destination, and sit out a year while you pay your own way. However, Romero only has a student visa. She can't go to school without a scholarship in the US and her family doesn't have the money to pay a year's worth of out-of-state tuition. She's either stuck at Kansas State, or she goes back to Spain and gives up playing in the US.
Everyone is a loser in this situation.
Romero is obviously a loser. She has no good choices. Stay in a play you don't want to be, or give up your goal of a US education and a NCAA career.
Mittie is a loser. He's stuck with a player that doesn't want to be there. He'll have to keep any future recruit away from her during official visits, lest Romero say something that badmouths the school.
The Kansas State athletic department is a loser, or at least women's basketball is. The reputation of K-State is clouded. If you're a recruit, do you really want to sign at K-State? The strategy from Manhattan is to remain silent and hope this blows over, but it ain't going to blow over.
But the biggest loser is the NCAA. The whole situation highlights one thing : there is no one to advocate for the "student athlete" in organized college sports. The NCAA is entirely on the side of its member institutions and could care less about those that play its sports. Once a scholarship is granted, they consider their work done and from that moment on, the only response they expect from a student is deference.
Even the term "student athlete" is one coined by the NCAA to put students who play sports at a disadvantage.
A player gets seriously injured on the playing field. "Sorry, you're a student. You're doing this as a volunteer. We don't have to recompense you if we don't feel like it." Well then, since I'm a student I really need this time to study for my physics exam. "Sorry, you're an athlete. That would take you away from practices and we might take away that scholarship we gave you. And you can't major in physics. Maybe sociology. "If you're ever confused about what the duties of a "student athlete" are, an easy (and often correct) way to interpret this term is that the "student athlete" is a student when it's most advantageous for the NCAA to have them be a student and they are an athlete when it's most advantageous for the NCAA to have them be an athlete. If there's a conflict, the matter is decided in terms of what is most advantageous for the NCAA.
And there are people out there who honestly can't figure out why the Northwestern football players were thinking about forming a union?
There is no one to advocate for Leti Romero's case, except the fans. If a school makes a bad decision, where can Romero go? The answer is "nowhere", and that's exactly the answer the NCAA would give in an unguarded moment. The NCAA's stated job is to be the enforcement arm of the rules of college athletics, to make sure that no school has an unfair advantage over any other school. But their unstated job is to make sure that all schools have an unfair advantage over their athletes. Athletes are starting to recognize their power and there might be great changes over the next couple of decades, but these changes will probably come too late for Leti Romero.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Atlanta's last year, until next year
Had a conversation with a friend of mine last night who swears that 2015 will be the last year of the Atlanta Dream. He bases this on the pre-season Dream/Liberty game he attended on Sunday which was sparsely attended at best from the photos I've seen, and from the Dream's attendance woes. He figures that with the hiring of Coach Cooper and the signing of Swin Cash that the Dream should certainly make it past 2014 but 2015 will be another story.
I think that since I've known him that he's made that prediction for a number of years now. Granted, things have looked dire for the Powder Blues before and the Dream is on its third set of owners. (Incidentally, the current ownership group has been in control the longest of the three.) I don't really know what to think. He states that for Brock and Loeffler, the Dream is nothing more than an expensive vanity toy "and the rich get rid of their toys when they get tired of them". He puts down their acumen, stating that they are really nothing more than two overgrown fans that don't have a clue as to how to put together a WNBA franchise or how to determine whether or not their moves are successes or failures.
But if you think about it, an argument can be made that the Dream is one of the most successful franchises in Atlanta. Oh, I'm not talking about the three Eastern Conference Championships that the WNBA team has won. You have to go back to 1999 for a World Series appearance by the Braves, 1998 for a Super Bowl appearance for the Falcons, back to Saint Louis for any sort of men's basketball success, and the two hockey franchises in Atlanta came and went without notice.
Rather, the Dream's success comes from the fact that Atlanta is fucking buried in the local media - as far as the average Atlanta sports fan is concerned, the Dream might as well not exist at all. The philosophy of the local print media has been benign neglect, or perhaps, malign neglect. The AJC is only interested in the Dream's collective faux pas, like the Elmo Game in 2009 or the McCoughtry/Meadors fallout a few years ago. Actual accomplishments on the court are pretty much ignored.
When the Braves and Hawks fail to draw, the media asks, "Why don't Atlantans support their teams? Don't you love Atlanta? Don't you want us to pull together and RISE UP? Aren't you ashamed of the embarrassment?" When the Dream fails to draw, it is considered a just and proper thing, almost self-evident, and why didn't you guys leave town earlier?
Let's look at the Thrashers. They were in this town for 12 years, and they had at least twice the support (that's an understatement) by the local press, from corporate sponsors, from television and from sources near and far. The Dream is now going into its seventh season without any of that. Brock and Loeffler would have done things illegal and embarrassing to get that kind of support, on the order of Indecent Proposal.
And yet, the Dream soldiers on. Even if my friend is right and the 2016 Dream becomes the California Dream or just goes on perpetual hiatus like the Houston Comets, I will consider the Dream to be one of the most successful franchises in Atlanta history. The rule for WNBA fans is not to think about the future, getting to tomorrow is victory enough.
I think that since I've known him that he's made that prediction for a number of years now. Granted, things have looked dire for the Powder Blues before and the Dream is on its third set of owners. (Incidentally, the current ownership group has been in control the longest of the three.) I don't really know what to think. He states that for Brock and Loeffler, the Dream is nothing more than an expensive vanity toy "and the rich get rid of their toys when they get tired of them". He puts down their acumen, stating that they are really nothing more than two overgrown fans that don't have a clue as to how to put together a WNBA franchise or how to determine whether or not their moves are successes or failures.
But if you think about it, an argument can be made that the Dream is one of the most successful franchises in Atlanta. Oh, I'm not talking about the three Eastern Conference Championships that the WNBA team has won. You have to go back to 1999 for a World Series appearance by the Braves, 1998 for a Super Bowl appearance for the Falcons, back to Saint Louis for any sort of men's basketball success, and the two hockey franchises in Atlanta came and went without notice.
Rather, the Dream's success comes from the fact that Atlanta is fucking buried in the local media - as far as the average Atlanta sports fan is concerned, the Dream might as well not exist at all. The philosophy of the local print media has been benign neglect, or perhaps, malign neglect. The AJC is only interested in the Dream's collective faux pas, like the Elmo Game in 2009 or the McCoughtry/Meadors fallout a few years ago. Actual accomplishments on the court are pretty much ignored.
When the Braves and Hawks fail to draw, the media asks, "Why don't Atlantans support their teams? Don't you love Atlanta? Don't you want us to pull together and RISE UP? Aren't you ashamed of the embarrassment?" When the Dream fails to draw, it is considered a just and proper thing, almost self-evident, and why didn't you guys leave town earlier?
Let's look at the Thrashers. They were in this town for 12 years, and they had at least twice the support (that's an understatement) by the local press, from corporate sponsors, from television and from sources near and far. The Dream is now going into its seventh season without any of that. Brock and Loeffler would have done things illegal and embarrassing to get that kind of support, on the order of Indecent Proposal.
And yet, the Dream soldiers on. Even if my friend is right and the 2016 Dream becomes the California Dream or just goes on perpetual hiatus like the Houston Comets, I will consider the Dream to be one of the most successful franchises in Atlanta history. The rule for WNBA fans is not to think about the future, getting to tomorrow is victory enough.
Monday, May 12, 2014
When good beats great
Whenever I read about the demise of print media, about blogs, about paywalls, etc. , I think about an argument probably made elsewhere on the internet (I forget where) about the history of the VCR, the video cassette recorder. For those of you born after 1990, you can look it up on Wikipedia. I'm old enough to remember when the VCR didn't exist.
Initially, we had to suffer from the format wars. There were competing formats, once called VHS and one called Betamax, or Beta for short. On an objective scale, Betamax was the better format. It had better picture quality. I'm sure some in the industry predicted that this was going to be the tipping point that would drive VHS off the market.
However, the Betamax had one problem. The most recording you could get on a Betamax tape was two hours. With VHS, the extended play setting would store six hours worth of material. Granted, that material might have poor picture quality, but you could store a lot of material on it. If you wanted to record anything longer than two hours on a Betamax, you had to remove the cassette when it reached max capacity and pop in another one.
Betamax was great, but VHS was good - good enough for what people wanted to do. VHS began to drive Betamax out of the market. When you went to Blockbuster (you can also look that up on Wikipedia), the store would be dedicated to thousands of VHS tapes and a small shelf of tapes for those still dedicated to the on-life-support-and-irrevelant Betamax format.
Right now, print media is Betamax. Yes, the articles you'll read if you pay that $10/monthly to the New York Times are of much greater quality than the articles from the blog your Crazy Uncle Ed publishes on-line. But, honestly, there are a lot of bloggers out there working for free whose quality is not necessary great, but good - good enough, at any rate. And about 15 years ago, I took a college course from a man who stated that his motto was "You shall not pay for something you can get for free." Bloggers are VHS in our analogy.
Print media has a Catch-22. In order to entice people to pay for quality on-line journalism, you have to show them what you're selling. But since these are articles you read, once people read the article the value of the article drops to something near-zero. Basically, you have to sell people something they're not allowed to see and that's a tough row to hoe. When I'm directed to a link on line that leads to a paywall where I'm offered the low deal of $10/month for the high quality journalism of the Boston Herald (if that's the price), I decline and look to see if:
a) someone is offering the same information for free,
b) someone is excerpting the article in full,
c) someone is excerpting the article in part, or
d) someone is summarizing the article
I'm sure that the NYT/Washington Post/Boston Herald/Times of London believe in their heart of hearts that if I just read enough of their articles, I'd be so astonished by the quality that I'd be gladly willing to pay. Well, they've not won their bet yet. The only two places I pay online for content are at wbbstate.com and WNBA Live Access.
As for the WNBA website, its content isn't even good. Rebkell, with its sometimes trollish invective and occasional posting of rumor-as-fact beats the WNBA website by about ten miles. The website should frankly just post a link to Rebkell or ESPN and be done with it.
Initially, we had to suffer from the format wars. There were competing formats, once called VHS and one called Betamax, or Beta for short. On an objective scale, Betamax was the better format. It had better picture quality. I'm sure some in the industry predicted that this was going to be the tipping point that would drive VHS off the market.
However, the Betamax had one problem. The most recording you could get on a Betamax tape was two hours. With VHS, the extended play setting would store six hours worth of material. Granted, that material might have poor picture quality, but you could store a lot of material on it. If you wanted to record anything longer than two hours on a Betamax, you had to remove the cassette when it reached max capacity and pop in another one.
Betamax was great, but VHS was good - good enough for what people wanted to do. VHS began to drive Betamax out of the market. When you went to Blockbuster (you can also look that up on Wikipedia), the store would be dedicated to thousands of VHS tapes and a small shelf of tapes for those still dedicated to the on-life-support-and-irrevelant Betamax format.
Right now, print media is Betamax. Yes, the articles you'll read if you pay that $10/monthly to the New York Times are of much greater quality than the articles from the blog your Crazy Uncle Ed publishes on-line. But, honestly, there are a lot of bloggers out there working for free whose quality is not necessary great, but good - good enough, at any rate. And about 15 years ago, I took a college course from a man who stated that his motto was "You shall not pay for something you can get for free." Bloggers are VHS in our analogy.
Print media has a Catch-22. In order to entice people to pay for quality on-line journalism, you have to show them what you're selling. But since these are articles you read, once people read the article the value of the article drops to something near-zero. Basically, you have to sell people something they're not allowed to see and that's a tough row to hoe. When I'm directed to a link on line that leads to a paywall where I'm offered the low deal of $10/month for the high quality journalism of the Boston Herald (if that's the price), I decline and look to see if:
a) someone is offering the same information for free,
b) someone is excerpting the article in full,
c) someone is excerpting the article in part, or
d) someone is summarizing the article
I'm sure that the NYT/Washington Post/Boston Herald/Times of London believe in their heart of hearts that if I just read enough of their articles, I'd be so astonished by the quality that I'd be gladly willing to pay. Well, they've not won their bet yet. The only two places I pay online for content are at wbbstate.com and WNBA Live Access.
As for the WNBA website, its content isn't even good. Rebkell, with its sometimes trollish invective and occasional posting of rumor-as-fact beats the WNBA website by about ten miles. The website should frankly just post a link to Rebkell or ESPN and be done with it.
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