Aside from people who don’t hold the door open for those behind them, nothing in life pisses me off more than poor sports. Of course as a little kid I’d flip out if I lost in games and I’d be ruined. I try not to do that as I’ve grown up but it still comes out. Granted I’m talking about video games or board games, but it is still childish and lame to freak out about losing. Freaking out about that stuff when you’re a kid is one thing, but for an adult professional athlete making millions of dollars a year to act like a baby after losing is something that drives me over the edge. When you’re a grown ass man and you lose, own up and accept it like a man then use it to go back and get better. Don’t go around bitching or making excuses.
I hate it when people pull a Carmelo Anthony and make a bunch of excuses as to why their team lost and then say, “But I’m not making excuses.”
I hate it when greatest fighter of all time Anderson Silva dodges all of Vitor Belfort’s punches, easily discards Vitor’s takedown attempt, and then kicks Vitor in the face and lays him out and a few weeks later Vitor starts saying Silva only won because of luck, but he doesn’t believe in luck, but basically he’s saying it was luck.
I was once briefly a LeBron James fan but gave up on him after he started acting like a prick. The epitome of his pre-The Decision dickness came after losing to the Orlando Magic in the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals. Rather than shake hands and tell Dwight Howard and Co. good game as the series ended, LeBron stormed off the court refusing to shake hands or talk to the press. His reasoning for this was because he’s a “winner.” No, I’m pretty sure it is because he’s a baby.
But last night I was not pleased when the Chicago Bulls finally closed out their first round series against the Indiana Pacers. Granted that was a very happy moment as the Bulls routed Indy 116-89. Derrick Rose took it to a whole new level in the third quarter. When the Pacers got within four, Rose assisted Taj Gibson on a jumper. That was the beginning of the end for Indiana.
Watch this. Rose, injured left ankle and all, hits a three. Then he goes and blocks a Roy Hibbert dunk, and yes Hibbert is over 7 feet while Rose is maybe 6’3”. Then Rose hits two more threes. He even hit a free throw somewhere in there too. That beefed up Chicago’s lead and essentially finished the game. Up until the deciding game when Chicago ramped up the intensity and blew Indiana out of the water, it was a tough series and both teams played hard, my man. But Indiana’s star player Danny Granger had to ruin it.
In his post-game interview, Granger said Bulls center Joakim Noah is a dirty player. He said this because during Game 5 Noah’s energy and intensity which helped pump up the Chicago crowd and the rest of the team, got under the skin of some Pacers. Josh McRoberts threw some womanly strikes at Noah and got ejected for it. McRoberts was claiming Noah elbowed him in the throat so he had to retaliate. While there was an elbow by Noah it should be pointed out McRoberts was shoving him at the same time and this series has been classic physical playoff basketball so it is whatever. Later on Tyler Hansbrough started getting pushy with Noah as well since Noah was acting in a way Granger described as “cowardly.” With this being one of the most physical playoff series in recent memory, I tend to think it was more frustration out of getting stomped out and sent home than Noah being a dirty player.
Joakim Noah is not a dirty player at all. To somebody who is not a Bulls fan Noah may be ugly, annoying, and an asshole but to say he is a dirty player is ridiculous. Bruce Bowen was a dirty player, Derek Fisher is a dirty player, Kevin Garnett can be a dirty player, but Noah is not like that. Noah brings so much energy and heart to a game that if he’s on your team you’d love him but if he isn’t on your team you think he’s an annoying dick. The latter was the view the Pacers took and it led them to act like babies.
But Granger wasn’t being a baby, man, he was just standing up for his teammates. He tried to go after Noah when the players were shaking hands after the game. Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau intervened, which I’m sure was terrifying for Granger since if you type in Tom Thibodeau in a Youtube search, the first search suggestion is “Tom Thibodeau yelling.” Thibs is an intense man. Granger is a punk bitch.
Granger went on to say that once “you start cheap-shotting people it gets out of hand.” Ah yeah, those god damn fucking son of a bitch Chicago Bulls and their cheap shots and dirty play reminiscent of the 2007 San Antonio Spurs. Uhhhh what? All series we’ve heard about the lack of physicality from the Bulls. Scottie Pippen said the Bulls had to start fouling people hard and standing up for themselves….because the Pacers were the team using dirty tricks and hard fouls.
As Basketbawful pointed out earlier, Pacers reserve center Jeff Foster was at the forefront of dirty play as two of his fouls against the Bulls were ruled as flagrant. First he went after Rose’s face, then he cheaply elbowed Deng in the head. Also in Game 1 Rose got in his face after a cheap foul that involved Foster clubbing at his head. Josh McRoberts, Johnny I Have To Defend Myself Against Blows I Feel Are Cheap, cheaply elbowed Rose in the face following Rose’s monster dunk in Game 4.
After seeing that shit, how am I supposed to believe Joakim Noah is some dirty player because in a scramble for a rebound he got into it a little with McRoberts and Hansbrough? Keep in mind the Bulls did not once call McRoberts or Foster dirty players. When asked about Foster’s cheap foul in Game 1, Tom Thibodeau just said Foster is a hard worker and given a lot of great years to the league. Everybody said it is playoff basketball and this is the game. Then after a massive blowout loss ending the Pacers’s season, Danny Granger tries to make Joakim Noah look like a shit head.
And McRoberts and Hansbrough can go suck a fat baby’s balls for getting so upset that Noah was constantly attacking and bringing energy while their team was losing. It wasn’t even like Noah was dancing like LeBron James when the Cavs would beat shit teams. Noah was just pumping up the crowd in the United Center and was working his ass off. His grandfather who had never seen him play in the NBA was there so he was pumped, and this was the series clinching game for a Bulls team with championship aspirations. The Bulls were flat all series and Noah's energy was the catalyst behind their good play last night. He wasn’t shit talking the Pacers, they were just being sore losers. I wasn’t aware trying hard and pumping up the crowd is “cowardly.”
Noah had nothing but praise for the Pacers after the game, saying they played hard as hell. Swingman Kyle Korver pointed out that the playoffs are physical so this stuff happens, as well as stating the Pacers were upset because they were down by a lot so they were frustrated. He also pointed out the Pacers were the team giving hard fouls through the first four games so this anger at the Bulls makes no sense. Agreed.
Either way, this has only given me more reason to not like the Pacers. McRoberts and Hansbrough were punks for trying to get into it with Noah just because they were losing, Foster is a punk for head hunting, and Danny Granger is the biggest punk of all for having a selective memory over what has happened in this series. McRoberts and Hansbrough going after Noah in the heat of the game can be understood I guess since in the heat of the game you get crazy, but Granger acting like a child and talking trash after the game is messed up.
As Don Vito Corleone told Johnny Fontane, “You can act like a man.” When you lose, lose with dignity. Karl Malone still gave the Bulls props when losing to them in the Finals for the second straight year in 1998. Even when the Phoenix Suns got screwed against the San Antonio Spurs in 2007 Steve Nash still hugged Spurs players and gave them props, he didn’t try to confront them and start shit. McRoberts’s wussy punches and Granger’s trash talk hurts that reputation as a tough, scrappy team the Pacers built in this series and instead makes it seem like they have a weak ass childish leader and are sore losers. Rather than just say it was a good series, Granger had to let his frustration of almost toppling a championship hopeful only to get smashed take over and say stupid things.
On the bright side though, the Indiana Pacers are out of the NBA Playoffs.
And let me just state my above statement on KG being dirty from time to time does not change the fact he's one of the best ever and one of my favorites ever. I'll cry when he retires, but that doesn't change the fact he undercut Channing Frye and smacked up his dick.
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