Walton should be banned from any building the Blazers are playing in. Or practicing. Or eating, sleeping, using a public restroom, etc. Better yet, just shoot him if he tries to enter the state.
Im a casual fan of his. WHen I want some good commentating of whats happening on the court, he sucks. WHen I want a good laugh, he is one ofthe best.
makes a good case for not having basketball in Vegas....gambling, lack of sleep, too much distraction...they should hold summer league in Des Moines Iowa..won't have this problem
True dat. It's also a basketball game featuring current and potential Blazers players. As with any basketball game for which I take precious time out of my day to watch, whether it's high school, grade school, college or whatever, I'd kind of like to watch the actual game. These broadcasts have next to nothing to do with the game; like jlprk said, it's wall to wall interviews and non stop talking about anything and everything they can think of to talk about that doesn't involve the game going on in front of them. Importantly to me, these summer league games provide a rare and much anticipated opportunity for each of us to see and evaluate, in our own way, the players involved, which also leads in to our always amicable discussions about players and potential trades here at S2. I don't care as much about the score keeping as some fans who would like accurate information so they can compare and analyze statistics, but I care a lot about the non-stop distracting conversations, the near constant split screen which makes it difficult to see the game and distinguish the players, the repeated close ups of certain players and coaches and interviewees during the game, and the nauseating, eye crossing, vertigo inducing sky cam bullshit that makes watching impossible. In short, just a shit production all around.
It's clear that the NBA/ESPN don't think that the games themselves are entertaining enough, which is why they add all that fluff. You know what would make the games more entertaining? Some friggin analysis of what's going on. I want someone who knows what the fuck they're talking about to tell me what they're seeing from some of those players. When a guy makes an NBA level pass, I want someone to talk about that. The fluff is super annoying for people who actually want to watch the games.
Oh, my, god, that was the most HORRRRIBLE and pathetic mockery of a television broadcast of our beloved and life-giving sport of basketball in the history of mankind, alien-kind, the animal kingdom, and every civilization in every galaxy in the universe.
What's strange to me is that summer league has grown organically for something like the past 20 years. It went from zero coverage and just box scores back when Jermaine and Bonzi were doing it, to the Blazers sending Wheels down there to call the games on the radio (which I listened to religiously) to the Blazers showing the games on their network, to streaming on NBA.com, to now being on cable television. I don't know why they have such little faith in the content because clearly there has been enough interest for them to keep growing it.
To add to this: Who exactly is their target audience for summer league basketball games? If they are trying to appeal to the casual fan by conducting constant interviews, and showing the interviewee and the interview panel on the screen during the game, these productions are even more of a FAIL. No casual fan gives two shits about watching these interviews. And I think in most cases someone who is such a fanatic that they are actually watching a "meaningless" summer league game, would rather watch the game. I know I would (if you couldn't tell ).
Sorry. But at some point i got to take a stand. That is Bill Fucking Walton you are talking about. What the actual fuck is your problem? The dude is like royalty to Blazer fans. Or at least should be.... When did it become reasonable to call for someone... Anyone... Let alone the greatest center the Blazers have ever had the pleasure to have on their roster to be shot entering the state. I get it. The rules on this site allow it but this post seems idiotic at best. Notice i said the post was Idiotic. Not the poster.....
Bill Walton gifted the Portland Trail Blazers with it's only ever Championship. 4 decades later it's still the most enduring moment of unity and pride the entire state of Oregon has known. If he gets his kicks now by making innocuous banter with other aged sports heroes, he's certainly earned the right to do so.
But they're actively damaging the broadcast because they diminish the game that we want to watch so we can see three people sitting around a table talking. If it was just them talking over the game I wouldn't care. I can mute that. But they make it very hard to see what's happening when they split screen. Can you imagine trying to watch a movie in the theaters and suddenly they split screen so you can see the actors and director sitting around talking about the movie? That would be fine as a feature, but would you want that to happen while you were watching it for the firs time?
