Its been crazy, sleepless and fun the past few days.
Listening to everyone speculate about what the Lakers might do is always entertaining.
Listening to everyone speculate about what the Mavs might do is fun when it comes from fans. Love or hate what we do, might do, or have done, as long as fans have an opinion, thats always a good thing. It shows passion, and Mavs fans are certainly passionate about our team.
Which leads to a question ? In the Entertainment biz, they have very honest job descriptions. Someone who creates and reports gossip is called a gossip columnist. Joan Rivers, Page Six, Cindy Adam, etc, etc dont pretend to be reporters. They get well paid to dish out gossip.
Can we please start calling the Sam Smiths and Peter Vesceys and Chad Fords of the world what they really are ? Sports Gossip Columnists. They dont have regard for the truth. Why pretend they do ?
Its always these old favorites that seem to slime their way to the top. I was listening to the Dan Patrick Show, and they had Sam Smith on. My buddy from the Chicago Tribune. Lets just hope the accountants for the Tribune Company have a higher regard for accuracy in reporting than Sam the Sham does.
Perfect example of Sam in action is Jerry West going on the air during the draft saying the Grizz cant afford to trade for Shaq. Then sham chimes on the show saying Shaq is going to Memphis. Sam then does his daily rip on the Mavs, and in particular, our new draft pick, Pavel. Who he calls a stiff.
How about this for a challenge Sam the Sham Smith ?….I will donate 10k dollars to the charity of your choice if you can prove that you have ever seen Pavel play, in person, or on tape (excluding the footage on the ESPN draft shows, 2 mins of ESPN tape doesnt qualify as scouting). If you lose, you change your business card title, and Tribune byline to Sports Gossip Columnist.. I will even pay for the cards.
Doesnt the Tribune Company realize that you are a blight on the entire company ? I brought this up to an exec I met who works at the company. He told me they knew it, but that you were like the crazy old uncle they had learned to live with. Great support from your company Sam.
If they only knew how many times I have told brokers and possible investors that they shouldnt buy Trib stock because if they cant get simple details on their sports pages right, how can you trust their accountants ? Corporate culture either values accuracy or it doesnt. The Tribune Company obviously doesnt.
******Stop The Presses********
No lie. After I wrote this blog entry, I sat down to read the NY Times. And there in the business section is an article accusing among others, the Tribune Company for inflating audited subscriber numbers…..Maybe the company encourages Sam to lie.. who knows….Is lying pervasive at the Tribune Company ? Corporate culture is amazingly powerful ....
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Then of course there is Joan Rivers Vescey. Joan is wrong so often its hard to keep up. This week he wrote (calling it reporting would be so wrong…) that Steve Nash was mad at the Mavs because we hadnt made an offer to him….Where in Europe did your “sources †talk to steve. He has been on vacation since the end of the season, but Im sure he is talking to your â€sources†instead of visiting the Eiffel Tower. I guess I should ignore the emails he has sent me and believe what you wrote instead Peter.
Where do you get this stuff ? And why are you stupid enough to write it as fact ? Why are you so lazy that you have NEVER EVER called or emailed me to confirm a single thing you have written ? Could it be that you dont care about the truth ? Arent you embarassed that Page 6 in the Post has a better track record than you do ?
And while we are on the topic of fantasy masquerading as fact, let me set everyone straight. The Mavs will not trade Dirk. We have never discussed a trade with Dirk or Steve for that matter.
As far as making additional trades, its no secret that we have discussed trading Antoine Walker. Walk did everything we asked of him this past year. He played every single position on the court,l from point guard to center. He defended guys twice his size. He changed his game to fit our needs. He is an amazing talent.
While other players might have gotten upset or complained, Walk went to war for us. I cant tell you how much respect I have for Walk, and what a positive he has been in the locker room and in representing the Mavs Organization. Its because he went to the wall for us, that we told him that we would see if there was a better fit on another team. His flexibility was a big plus for us, but he would excel even further if he could find a specific role and focus on it.
We also told him that we wouldnt just trade him just to move him. Guys who work as hard as Antoine, and are as versatile arent easy to come by.
Im off to see our new guys workout.. We play against China this week. I cant wait to see Pavel against Yao!
