By Richard Ray:
I don’t know if Pfizer has come up with a cure yet, but these premature evaluations by sports reporters needs to be stopped.
I can remember when sports reporting on television consisted of a two minute segment in the 6 and 11 o’clock news. Eventually there was a highlight show that came on at 11:30 pm on Friday nights. Does anyone remember George Michael’s Sports Machine? Inane analysis and debate was saved for sports talk radio and that could only be found on your local AM stations.
Fast forward many years and ESPN essentially revolutionized the way we view and analyze sports. 24/7/365/ They are now hardly alone. Beside 3 or more ESPN stations, there is Fox Sports, CBS Sports network, NBC Sports, NBA TV, MLB Network, NFL Network, SEC Network… The list is longer than I care to keep typing of 24 hour sports related networks.
With all of these networks on all of the time, content is always a constant challenge, and so what sports talk that was once relegated to die hards on radio now has multiple homes with international audiences. It’s funny. Men often mock women of their daytime television interests starting with Oprah, Dr. Phil, The View, Wendy, The Real, Dr. OZ… another list that goes on an on, but how different are they to what daytime sports network shows have become. First Take, much of the content on SportsCenter, Undisputed, Mike and Mike, Colin Cowherd…
All of this need for content leads to hours upon hours of debate and conjecture. I get it. Sometimes the shows are entertaining. Sometimes the personalities overwhelm, but that usually makes for better ratings, right Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless? Love it or leave it, the choice is ultimately for the viewers, but clearly there is an audience for this. Guys, may not be sitting around discussing their feeling with each other, but they are likely talking about the games and debating who is the greatest from the past as well as present.
Most of these debates are inane at best, but this NBA Finals, the schizophrenia and the absurd have been taken to new heights on a nightly basis by these so called professional sports analysts who are guilty of premature evaluation at every turn when it comes to their analysis of all of the potentially compelling storylines centered around the NBA Finals.
Has Kevin Durant surpassed LeBron as the best player in the league? Are Kevin Durant and Steph Curry the best duo to ever play together in the Finals? Is this Golden State Warrior team the greatest ever? Could this Golden State team have beaten the 95-96 Michael Jordan lead Chicago Bulls?
All of these questions could be interesting to be debated, but the problem with the absurdity is that they are all too premature. There are only 2 games played as of this writing in the Finals. Yes, they were both blowouts, but has anyone forgotten only a year ago the Golden State Warriors were up on the Cleveland Cavaliers 2-0 as well having won by an even larger cumulative margin than this year. Golden State went up 3-1 before the 73 game regular season record team lost 3 straight including game 7 at home. This year’s addition of KD makes this years Warrior team different than last years, but let’s not forget KD was also part of a team up big last year that lost. (OKC lost to Golden State after being up 3-2)
I am not saying that Golden State is not going to win. I am simply saying hold the coronations and discussions of best ever or passing the torch of best player from LeBron to KD at least until the series is over. Does anyone not remember the Super Bowl in February, where a team down 25 came back to win in the unlikeliest of circumstances. These professional prognosticators should know better. Anything can and does happen in sports. Sports debates can be entertaining, but stop the madness. Let Golden State actually win first before we even debate whether they are one of the greatest teams. Let KD beat LeBron in the Finals before we even disrespect LeBron with the debate over whether KD has surpassed him. Let KD and Steph Curry win multiple championships before we even allow whether they could caddie for the greatest duo ever; Kareem Abdul Jabbar (arguably the GOAT) and Magic Johnson and their 5 championships.
Debate on, but let someone win before any coronations begin.
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