Emails in on Blake Griffin & the Clippers
The new emails are in, and all five or six Clipper fans in America have written about my suggestion to Blake Griffin to let the Clippers know that no way is he signing with them.
Ulysses: “They honestly allow idiots like you a chance to write a news column. I can’t believe such a desperate attempt to get Blake Griffin to the Thunder. Your attempt is so obvious, you have no shame. First of all, they have a lottery and a draft, so player and family members can’t just go where they want. If they choose to do so, they will not be able to play in the NBA, and the Clippers will always own his rights to play in the NBA. I can’t believe that you don’t get the fact that. Playing in the NBA is a privilege, not a right, and Blake Griffin and his family should be honored to be a part of the NBA family, no matter where he plays. What a jackass, and if everyone in Oklahoma feels the way you do, who in the hell would ever want to play there?”
You’re a Clipper fan, and I’m the idiot?
Halo: “Your so-called article on not letting Blake go to the Clippers is a complete joke. What in the world do you know about pro sports when you live in Oklahoma, for crying out loud? Please stick to college football, cause its pretty obvious you know nothing about Clipper basketball. If you had a chance to live in LA and cover the Clippers, I bet you would jump all over that chance.”
Yes, covering the worst franchise American sport is my life’s desire, and I assume playing for the Clippers will meet all of Blake Griffin’s dreams.
Scott: “Tramel, you, like the rest of the Oklahoma sports people, are hacks. If you ever wonder if Oklahoma will be a major player in the world of sports, just simply take a look around. Do you see anything in this state that would ever make Oklahoma a true player? By the way, don’t show your ignorance and point to the Thunder, the team with a WNBA name. All the Thunder are is a team for the Clippers to point to and state, ‘see, we aren’t the most pathetic team in the league.’”
Goofballs in California, I can understand. But here’s what I don’t get. Why someone who lives here has such anger. Get the heck out of here if you hate it so much.
Zach: “What a jack***. Writers in Oklahoma are really starting to get desperate, to try and reach out to the player’s father and encourage Blake to be a prima donna. Horrible writing. Oklahoma should be ashamed that you write a sports column for one of their newspapers. I never read anything like that before.”
Then you don’t follow the National Football League.
Shlomo sees the other side: “Blake Griffin is of no use to a team for whom he refuses to play. Therefore, if that team wants something rather than nothing, they have no option but to deal the rights. That won’t hurt Blake Griffin’s name and will most definitely help his game. I would love to see him a Knick. But for his future, I hope that he winds up with a good organization that will help him to grow.”
The Knicks are a total mess. Bad management, bad locker room, just praying for LeBron James. And they’re still a million miles ahead of the Clippers.
Rob: “Great read about Blake and the Clippers. The sports world vilified the Mannings when they wanted out of San Diego, but in this instance the entire sports world totally understands the situation and shouldn’t blame the Griffins one bit.”
Anyone who stands up for themselves against the establishment is vilified. Then soon enough wildly cheered.
Chris: “Blake Griffin has way more class than you ever will, you worthless hick! That’s why he will not only be drafted but also play for the Los Angeles Clippers, and not the Sucklahoma Blunder. Any columnist that calls on a player to weasel out of a contract simply because he may not be going to the team of his dreams is a lowlife dirtbag. You qualify. Enjoy Durant, Westbrook et al for the next few years before they become free agents and hightail it out of OKC the first chance they get.”
You’re a little confused. Getting drafted doesn’t mean you have a contract. It appears the intelligence level of the Clippers is matched by the intelligence level of Clipper fans.
Jason wrote about a different aspect of Blake Griffin: “I like your thought of Blake as a kickblocking specialist. I would add one other position that I would have liked to have seen him in the BCS title game against Florida: goal-line specialist. Line him up in the shotgun like Florida does Tebow; 6-10, 250. No 11 men on the planet are keeping him out of the end zone from the 1-yard line. Tebow may be as John Gruden said, ‘cyanide soaked concrete,’ but Griffin would go through or over the pile. That would be cool to see — diving sideways over the goal line with a finishing monster dunk over the goalpost for the 2-point conversion.”
I love Blake Griffin, but he would never see the 1-yard line. Florida’s defense would smother Griffin before he sniffed the end zone. It’s interesting, don’t you think, how we transfer athletic feats from other sports to certain stars. Taken to the extreme, you’ve got Ed “Too Tall” Jones trying to box and Michael Jordan trying hit a double-A curveball.
Keesee wrote about former OSU quarterback Josh Fields, who now is with the White Sox: “He has been replaced by Gordon Beckham (2008 first-round draft choice from Georgia) at third base. Played DH last night. But with Thome and Quentin, I don’t see a future for him there. Seems Fields is very disappointed. Fields has politely indicated 26 is not the time to consider a reserve role. Your paper has often cited sources that believed Fields could have went professional in football. At age 26, is it still possible? I just don’t think Fields has much trade value. His fielding is suspect and he now has a reputation for weakness to the low outside fastball and inability for timely hitting.”
I don’t remember us ever touting Fields as a pro quarterback. Fields was an excellent college QB but didn’t have the arm strength for the NFL.
Josh, a self-proclaimed OSU psycho, likes to play the what-if game with potential three-way ties: “I know the chances of a three-way tie scenario are slim, but with OSU being a preseason top 10 team, and it being the offseason the scenarios are fun to think about. Anyways, here is my scenario. Oklahoma finishes 10-2, 7-1 (losses to Texas and Miami; let’s say that Miami wins the ACC, earns a bid to the Orange Bowl). Oklahoma State finishes 11-1, 7-1 (loses to OU and has beaten a Georgia team that finishes 10-2, second in the SEC East, earning a Sugar Bowl bid). Texas finishes 11-1, 7-1, wins the tiebreaker, goes to Pasadena. Now pretend you are the Fiesta Bowl, who do you take? Do you take an OSU team with the most wins in school history, a team that might not have a chance at a BCS bid for who knows how long, victories over two BCS teams, and making their first Fiesta Bowl appearance since 1974, Or do you take an OU team that is a lock for decent ratings, is a regular in the BCS lineup and will likely be back in the near future, and has lost five straight BCS bowl games, with a chance for a rematch with Boise State?”
You know, this is fun. So here’s an answer. OSU gets the Fiesta. Unless it is Boise State. Then the Fiesta couldn’t resist a rematch.
Craig wrote about my take that ABC’s Mike Breen is awful broadcasting the NBA: “Can’t disagree with you too much, but my worst announcer is Mike Tirico. He has a weird delivery.”
If you tied Mike Tirico’s tongue, put a sock in his mouth and made him watch the game with his eyes closed, he would call a better game than Mike Breen.
Bill wrote about the public schools/private school spat over classification: “Please write an article to the administrators that are so worried about private school sports, and all others who think private schools have a sports advantage. Ask them to stop being afraid and stop obsessing about a bunch of white Catholic kids playing sports. Never in my life did I think I would see people worried about the sports prowess of white Catholic kids. Stunning, amazing. Tell them, ask them, plead with them, to better spend their time trying to see what they can do to try to save their students from the failed public school paradigm that the kids are in that they as administrators are responsible for. And to quit worrying about a bunch of lily white catholic kids. And the dirty little secret is they have almost one-third more to spend per kid per year than the private schools have to spend. They criminally waste money. They are failing their kids, this is just a smokescreen.”
Well, first off, Jonathan Bluitt, Terence Crawford and Daniel Orton, the three most decorated McGuinness players the last decade, aren’t white, lily or otherwise. And I believe some readjustment in classes is warranted. But the point is well made. Public schools do face a lot of serious issues unrelated to gold balls.
PJ wrote about OSU’s failure to win the NCAA golf title: “Are you aware that Mike Holder was on the committee to change the format of the championships, a move that probably cost OSU the championship this year? It appears to me that it might make it more TV friendly or more fan friendly, but probably hurts OSU, which usually has one of the top two or three teams in the country. From looking at this year’s results, when you take the top eight teams in the country and put them in match play, it is a coin flip as to who wins the match. Much like the Ryder Cup, the team with the best players doesn’t always win. Maybe seldom wins.”
I don’t understand all the fuss over the new golf format. How does match play produce all that much more parity than stroke play? Seems to me, match play brings out the best competitors. How is that not a quality you want in a champion?
Steven asked an off-the-wall question: “Do you think Michael Vick could land a spot backing up Tom Brady or running the wildcat offense in New England.”
Sure. When you run a tight ship like Bill Belichick does, you can take a chance on a guy, because you can cut him loose quickly.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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If I remember correctly, what cost OSU in the golf championship was the fact that their stroke play lead merely seeded them 1st for the match play rather than having that lead as a cushion through a continuation of stroke play to determine a champion.