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Jason Whitlock is a big fat(fired) idiot.

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Danke. Want some more?

Here's another article that makes me fume, though I would not go so far as to lump it in with Whitlock's slop:

ESPN.com's Chris Sheridan said:

It didn't take long for Mike Krzyzewski to screw up royally in his new job as coach of Team USA. He did it before day one was even in the books.

Rather than tell the team its job is to win the World Championship on the night of Sept. 3, Coach K gave the players exactly the kind of misguided advice they didn't need to hear.

"We have to go out there and be dominant for 56 quarters -- every quarter of every game we play. That's our mission," Gilbert Arenas told me following Team USA's first practice Wednesday.

"Who on earth told you that?" I asked.

"Coach Mike," Arenas replied.

Well, Coach Mike or Coach K, or whatever you want to call him, is dead wrong, and Insider is not afraid to say so. This isn't 1992 anymore. This isn't about playing like the original Dream Team, for which Coach K was an assistant under Chuck Daly. And this should not be about restoring American dominance following three losses at the 2002 World Championship and three more losses at the 2004 Olympics.

This should be about having the U.S. team playing at its peak when the games really count, and that won't happen until the single-elimination stage of the World Championship arrives at the end of August with the Round of 16, then the quarterfinals, the semifinals and the gold-medal game -- the only four games that will really matter. Sure, it'd be nice to beat Senegal by 107 in the opening round, but nobody back home will care all that much about that if, when the games really mean something, France or Spain is one or two points better.

You know what would have been a better message, Coach K? How about this: "I don't care if you lose, and I don't want you losing your confidence if you do lose. I want you playing at your peak seven weeks from now. I want us at our best when this mission finally gets serious."

You can't be dominant if you're not even superior, and right now there's a team in Argentina that has first dibs on worldwide rights to being the best. Manu Ginobili and Co. earned that distinction fair and square in Athens, and they get to keep it until somebody knocks them off their perch.
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First of all, don't do that. Mike Krzyzewski doesn't need to be questioned by anyone - including the mighty Chris Sheridan - when it comes to training, coaching and leading basketball players. Second, anyone willing to say that USA Basketball is not capable of being dominant on the international level needs a reality check. Have the past few performances been lacking? Even embarrassing? Absolutely. But don't for a minute suggest that we don't possess the most talented roster in the world, top-to-bottom. I'm sure Manu has a fantastic team playing around him; they know each other's strengths, each other's weaknesses, and they clearly know how to win. But allowing that Coach K is capable of bringing that kind of Duke-esque hive mind team mentality to the table, is it at all unreasonable to expect a team comprised of Gilbert Arenas, Chris Bosh, Bruce Bowen, Elton Brand, Kirk Hinrich, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Joe Johnson, Shawn Marion, Chris Paul, Amare Stoudemire and Dwyane Wade to run through the competition like a hot knife through butter? Is Argentina's twelfth man as good as Kirk Hinrich? Because if he is, I'm sure there are about thirty or so GMs out there wondering why they haven't offered him a contract.

I understand the frustration people have developed with USA Basketball. The 1992 squad set the bar pretty damn high, and it came as a real shock to people that the rest of the world didn't enjoy getting trounced and decided to dedicate themselves to closing the gap. Regarding Coach K's philosophy, though, I don't see what possible harm could come from reminding this team that they are - without question - the best in the world at what they do.
 
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redskinbucksfan said:
Skip "Please Pass the Prune Juice" Bayless? Discuss.
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Skip Bayless. I know it's wrong to want someone to die but I can't help wishing it every time I see him on tv.

Ravens winning the Super Bowl? Haven't they been the preseason favorite like the last 5 years? Seattle, Pittsburgh, Dallas, New England, Tampa Bay, Carolina, maybe Washington, and Indianapolis are all better candidates than Baltimore.
 
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NFBuck;618875; said:
Good grief I agree with something Whitlock has said/wrote. Great, now my left eye won't stop twitching.
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Completely agree. ESPN wants a company full of yes men. Scoop Jackson is a joke too, he comes off like a total clown. Good for him for having the "testicular fortitude" to stand up to the suits at ESPN. Hard to believe but I now have some respect for the man.
 
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