by Rodimus Dunn
Exactly one month ago I wrote about how Carmelo is a loser because he won’t say what he wants, he’s sabotaged 4 teams with this nonsense (Denver, New York, New Jersey, and Detroit), and he’s planning to leave a good team for a craptastic one (the team that trades for him will be gutted and tossed away like flounder). Very little of consequence has happened in that month, except there’s incessant news reports about there being no news on every sports television/radio channel and website. The NJ Nets owner facetiously ended trade talks with Denver, the Lakers were allegedly interested in Anthony, and apparently Isaiah Thomas is orchestrating the deals for the Knicks.
I don’t care about where Carmelo goes at this point, but I’m concerned with how this never ending saga is going to influence the future of sports coverage. Last NBA season was annoying filled with questions regarding Lebron James’ free agency. The games were a second fiddle to discussions on contract negotiations, private meetings, cap space, and players’ entourage guys making decisions for them. This (forgive the soon to follow terrible play on words) “Car-melo drama” is many levels worse than Lebron’s idea of creating The Decision. Will we experience the same scenario this season in baseball with Albert Pujols? Now that he’s not going to entertain contract talks until after the season, will ESPN and the like overinflate coverage on his contract status? Will there be reports on how the contract issue is affecting his swing every time he goes 0-4 in a game? How many times will a Cardinal player or coach be asked about if the contract issue is a distraction to the team?
Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, and over half of Miami’s team are going to be free agents at the end of the year. No one is really talking about any of them, but in 2012 Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, and Deron Williams will all be free. I’ve already read articles talking about this factoid, and it’s only the 2nd month of 2011! I blame all of this on Carmelo Anthony. He has set the ridiculous precedent that it’s perfectly okay to ask for a trade while under contract. The awesome caveat is that I will only accept a trade to one team. Good luck negotiating guys. Sports networks are going to continue to cover this idiocy ad nauseam because now it’s considered acceptable. Holding 4 teams and their players is now acceptable. Giving interviews about the situation and acting like you have no clue what’s going on to come off as a sympathetic character is now acceptable. Media coverage of certain things has been extreme and highly annoying for the last few years (Brett Favre coverage comes to mind), but this situation is pushing it even further. Carmelo Anthony sucks, and he just may have ruined watching sports for me forever.
Andy
December 6, 2012
What you’re not talking about is how D Wade and LBJ were getntig EVERY call from the refs. Game 1 2Q was controlled by the referees. Game 2, same thing. Every time the Knicks get a momentum play, the refs call a foul at the other end. Their bias towards the Heat in addition to Wade and LBJ’s constant flopping/acting completely gives the Knicks no chance to win. I watched both games on constant rewind, I couldn’t believe how many obvious flops were rewarded by the refs. This isn’t basketball
Cah
December 7, 2012
i would give you that but several calls didn’t give the heat a double figure advantage, you should consider that it wasnt a 2 point game, it was a blowout and it wasn’t because of the refs, it was because of the horrible offense by the Knicks and tough defense by the Heat, and also i don’t really think the refs manipulated the series, the officiating has been bad from both sides, but it hasn’t been determining at all because again the wins were by double figures