I hope that Amazon will take this back…

Sorry, trolls. Go forage for sustenance on your own. You’re dead to me.

I’ll admit I went to GSoM and stirred some of the hornets nest. I did that last time too. But, I’ve noticed that GSoM expects that people agree with their regulars there (like Jae) or hell must be payed.

Thing is: I don’t agree with Jae. He keeps stating that Spencer Hawes CAN’T improve his rebound rate. I disagree with that. It’s not that I’m a homer about this stuff; I just think that Spencer’s total impact has not been helped by the difficult coaching circumstances and his time played in the league.

(Actually, that’s not what Jae is saying. He’s using data he’s collected for the last, nearly, 30 years and arguing that the trend suggest Hawes won’t improve his rebounding rates.)

Nobody here was more disconcerted by Spencer’s 0 rebound game vs Atlanta, or his awful bounce back game against Charlotte the next night, than I. At the same time I don’t think he’s been utilized to the best of his ability. (Like the ability he has now and not necessarily any abilities he could develop over time.) If he only gets 8.5 boards for the season, and that’s all he gets, than I’ll go along with GSoM’s opinion of him.

The problem is I’ve felt the whole thing is just to simply define how important THEIR guys are by proving how little valuable players like Hawes has to the Kings. Which is why I’ve chafed so often, so continuously over there despite the obvious strife it’s caused.

Some people saw some of the stupid crap that was flung about Sac over there. (Or here.) Do I care about that stuff? No. But, at the same time, I don’t feel any reason to prove I’m nicer than they are by laying low on my real opinion of the Bay Area. I don’t care for the place. If I did, I would be living there.

None of this has anything to do with StR. I just thought that the whole reason it irks them is because they don’t get it. They are like a ton of fanbases, and blogs, where if opinions aren’t being agreed upon and generally agreed with, it’s not going to go over well. There are a lot of taboo subjects, and we just scratched the surface of those. Oh well.

I suppose the reason why I don’t translate well into places like GSoM is that StR is not that place. That’s a credit to TZ, 214 and recently G I suppose, but the community in general just as much if not more. We let a lot go in the name of making a point. You can talk about politics here to a limited degree that it has an overall point or doesn’t detract from the overall topics.

That’s what makes StR so special. Censorship is stupid; in fact it’s harmful. It keeps actual discussions from happening. It’s safe to say, I think, that most of StR was against Prop 8 from happening. (I bring this up because I saw a kid reading a Seattle “Gay” newspaper, and it talked about the legalization of Prop 8. Of course there was a rally in Seattle. And, I bet in SF & LA too. And, this means what?)

The point is that this stuff tends to be taboo because that usually detracts from the conversation which is, and should largely remain, basketball.

But what line do we cross when we talk about Artest’s issue with his dog or why his wife throws a pot at Artest’s Hummer windshield? (Talking to my mom the other day she laughed saying that’s what Artest gets for driving the Hummer. She said this after hearing what happend between Artest & his wife. Or hearing about the issue’s and whatnot. Needless to say she doesn’t take domestic abuse lightly, but even she gets there is a line of what’s reasonable and what is not.)

At what point do we cross the line of saying what’s basketball and what’s not? Yet another reason why I like StR. (And Artest not being here. I get tired of that crap quickly. Like, immediately after it happens.)

I like the topics here because they routinely get at the heart of the matter. Quality fanposts are usually pounced upon quickly (see furious post today about Westphal for the recent example of this), and the bad crap gets flagged and thrown in the trash where it belongs. (Or it does when TZ gets around to it. I gotta admit it’s fun to poke the morons with a stick and see how much fire and vitriol they got.)

The only reason I’ve ever stuck around StR because the language, while sometimes foul, is top notch and among the best anywhere on SBN. Only Blog a Bull strives for a similar quality, and like StR, there is no real language barrier.

 When you start introducing limits, and saying what’s acceptable or not, you also limit the quality of what can be argued, enjoyed and discussed. I’m glad StR is not that place. If it was, I would have left almost as quickly as I re-entered.

Thanks, everyone.