You know [these types of stories] always leave me scratching my head.
We could go back and forth all day about the credibility of Simmons who is fast becoming a pariah to whole host of people. I am less concerned that he likes Kevin Love, UCLA's Top Recruit, more than Mayo. But when coupled with PTI/The Washington Post's Michael Wilbon comments last week I see an interesting pattern taking place.
I could care less if Simmons likes Love over Mayo to me it has nothing to do with one going to SC and the other going to UCLA, of course some will champion Simmons piece but these are the same people who would trash him if said one nit-picky thing about their beloved program so to me their noise is STILL not credible. I have been more than critical of Mayo and his antics so I'm not worried about someone calling me a homer. I've tried to be fair but I have not been afraid to drop the hammer when I feel he made a knuckleheaded move.
The "E" in ESPN stands for entertainment we all know that and when the Magic/Bird and Jordan era ended there really wasn't a standard bearer to take their place so the NBA embraced the Hip-Hop era and all the crap that came with it. It was really the only way that they could market their product in order to keep the new fans in the seats. Of course the acceptance of the Hip-Hop era by the NBA trickled down to the college and high school level and ESPN's thirst for ratings put them in the position of televising high school games in order to get the earliest peek at the latest "phenom" that everyone was talking about.
Here's an excerpt:
No shit Sherlock! Because of all the hype that the 4-letter network and others gave these types of players the word spread like Dandelions blowing in the wind and everyone wanted to be the next... fill in the latest superstar HERE.
The Recruiting rags were no different giving these kids more exposure than they could handle. Unfortunately we live in a throw away society where our various wants and needs can acquired at the click of a mouse. What's cool today is not cool tomorrow and yesterday's stars are thrown out with the trash when they fail to continually perform to expectations.
Because of the MSM's thirst to be out in front of the latest and greatest they unwittingly gave acceptance to this type of behavior. Everyone wanted to be on Sportscenter so they had to show up the latest cool dunk or hot play and that made everyone want to be involved. That's really where I think Simmons is disingenuous with this piece He's part of thee problem and of course when it's in vogue to bash players bad behavior in order to break the story first most of these guys are blood suckers in my eyes and they are no different than those who cheat thee players for their own game.
I've never been a big fan of Simmons work and he has gotten worse over the years in quest to try and be fresh and continually accepted. The other thing about this article that intrigued me was numerous references that this was not a black and white issue; I wouldn't have given it a second though except for the fact that he mentioned it 3 times in the article. That's what happens when you embrace a certain behavior one minute then try to separate yourself from it the next when it gets too uncomfortable to you.
Feeling a little guilty Bill?