Obviously Iām not from anywhere near Charlotte (or the US at that) but I find it weird for this reporter to be so obsessed in discrediting the LaMelo so early in his career.
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/scott-fowler/article249255740.html
I thought that was pretty fair. My take away from the article is Ball is amazing and has an incredible future, but he definitely needs to keep working hard on his game and be more consistent. That seems like a reasonable take.
I think heās just criticizing the notion that Ball is already an MVP candidate and everybody needs to get out of his way.
Eh I think heās being grouchy because he was wrong.
As soon as he tried to bring Batum in as any comparison it rank of sour grapes.
āJust keep on being you Melo!ā
Like weād ever do that.
Heās not putting up consistent Lebron numbers yet.
Fāking please.
I donāt know, Iāve long had my issues with Fowler, and this article kind of reinforces why.
He was dead wrong about Melo on draft night. I normally donāt have a problem if people have opinions or if they feel a certain way. But he wrote the article in a very declarative, insulting manner. That the Hornets were wrong, Ball wonāt be a star, blah blah blah. Its like anybody starting a new job, and the manager saying how terrible youāll be before you even do a task. I canāt even emphasize how much I loathe people like this.
If its a true mea culpa, you just say how you were wrong, and thats it. No buts. You get more respect that way. The fact that he was trying to make an excuse in his apology article shows heās not coming in good faith. All the little things a 19 year old rookie can work on can be part of another article.
The arrogance of mediocrity on full display. David Newton from ESPNās Pantherās beat is another one cut from the same mold.
Sorry, old man rant over.
Donāt disagree with any of this, but I sense weāre also interpreting the fan base largely from our lens filled with conversations like we have on here and his lens where heās got thousands of people saying insane things in the regular. I see thus more to the crowd that is non existent here but much more popular on stupid Twitter and article comments along the lines of āMelo is GOAT, Get out of Charlotte.ā
But really Iām not trying to spend too much energy defending the guy. I think writing for sports for a living in mediums that are largely dying with fans that seem to know everything is probably much more challenging than most of us realize.
I do get that, and I know sports people get plenty of abuse from online trolls. My issues with Fowler goes way earlier than the rise of the internet as a supervillain. I think he started at the observer a few years after the original Hornets began. He takes a particular pride in not being a homer to āprove how objectiveā he is, which has always been a dumb excuse to me (I donāt need a homer, but I do like someone that at least roots for the team, kind of like how Steve Martin was)
He can write fine sometimes, but then he tries too hard to prove his non bias that he materializes negative issues for no reason. Its happened with many a Panther and Hornet player here in the past, and so when he tries to welcome a new rookie with such negativity to start his career, its gotten beyond annoying to me at this point.
I donāt hate all Observer writers, I actually have corresponded with Tom Sorenson a few times when he was still with them, always was pretty cordial.
I get exhausted with the takes-of-bad-faith many of these guys make.
While many of us pile on Rick for being kind of a sasquatch around stomping on people online and being a reverse market indicator, I noticed him absent from the āKemba, you should leave Charlotte for your own goodā crap that the Observer ran and WFNZ/WZGV that matter. I call that particularly out because that was a period of time where I think we got to see many a fugly sports take from local sports media.
What radio has that print media lacks is the ability to repave their takes daily until they can seem on the right side of history. IMO, they are NOT on the right side of most history. Guess I am saying that I really, unequivocally, unquestioningly loathe Fowlerās takes. I find some of the radio folks afforded to say things that are much more irresponsible and never have to make a mea culpa because they just repave, repave, repave and later claim they have always felt āxā way.
Bottom line for me is that if you are local sports media, you donāt have to be a āfanā of the team. This is something Rick goes out of his way to show he is not. You should however prioritize ālocalā though and take the persona of the local audience and interest.
As much as we all canāt stand Bonnell, he has very much backed off badmouthing the team over the last few years. That was the biggest problem I have always had with him.
Fowler made a mistakeā¦ bullshit. There was a call from above for that article to be written and Fowler jumped for it. It was such an unnecessary article at the time, when things were beginning to look up for the Hornets, to try and knock the team back down a notch.
He basically said, Wow I was wrong, but he isnāt the most perfect basketball player of all time so I wasnāt all the way wrong.
Fowler bringing in Nic Batum was some of the dumbest writing Iāve seen in a long time. None of what Batum did compares to Lamelo outside of statistics. My lord
You know our fortunes have turned when we make it to SNL.
We should call him CaroMelo.
Better than Caramelos.
@QC_Thundercats this as a faux branding opportunity had me thinking of what genius graphics you could dream up (for the Caramelos).
Well, I hadnāt dusted off the old photo chopper machine in a while. Takes time to crank that thing back up.
That is the first funny thing snl has done in a decade. I love the regional humor, I wonder which writer was from around here.
LaMelo is only three steals away from leading the league in steals
If he leads the league in steals year 1, damn damn damn.
LOL I walk past the Cannon Ballersā stadium a few times a week in downtown. Itās pretty nice around there! Itās interesting what they are doing to the former mill town. Ever been, Ziggy?
It would be amazing to have LaMelo visit for something like that.