Hey everyone. I know that this has been the subject of quite some controversy across the blogosphere (am I allowed to say that? Or is it only Steve's word?) and I want to put my two cents in, and let everyone know why it isn't worth the time anymore.
The guys over at Straight Outta Vancouver love having us, and have expressed that, and I don't want to discourage visits. But I ask that if you have something to say regarding how terrible the city of Memphis is and how much you hate the Grizzlies and all their fans, you keep it away from there (and here. Steve has asked me to emphasize that bashing the city of Memphis will not be tolerated in any capacity on Clips Nation). I also ask that when you go over there looking for intelligent discourse, you not get distracted by any Memphis-sided comments on the boo-fest. It's their blog for a reason.
After the jump you will find a modified version of a comment I left on SOV earlier regarding my opinions on this matter.
It is possible that memphis fans boo’d the jumbotron, or the refs. I think that to say all Grizzlies fans were booing Blake when there were some alternate sources available is overreacting. I also think that anyone who says that the crowd was only reacting to the refs with no regard to Blake’s injury is in denial. I was pissed when the crowd was booing him. Maybe it’s just because I am from a mostly white, crime-free suburb of Los Angeles, but in every league I’ve ever played in, everything stops when someone gets hurt. When he stands up to go back to the bench, the whole crowd (affiliaton regardless) claps for him. I have never once (playing in youth leagues, playing high school ball, playing club all over, being at college games, watching college games on TV, being at NBA games, watching NBA games on TV) heard a crowd boo an injured player before. So I was pissed.
But guess what? It was a closeout playoff game in a series that was closer than 3-1 going into last night. The refs were terrible (both ways, but a home crowd only ever notices half the bad calls) and the players on both teams got emotional. When players get emotional, fans go insane. And so I understand the adrenaline and whatever you want to call it. I won’t agree with it. I believe that I would never boo an injured player regardless of circumstance. I certainly will not forgive it. But I’m over it.
I can sit here and talk to someone who boo’d at the time and then afterwards realized that their emotions and mob physcology got the best of them and I’m over it. What infuriates me to no end is the people, including many on SOV (who curiously I hadn’t seen all series until this incident), who still think that the action is defensible the next day. Who still think that it is justifyable to boo an injured player.
Not all Memphis fans are classless- this series has given me the opportunity to meet several intelligent basketball minds who live thousands of miles away, like you Kevin and Marcus. So Memphis isn’t a terrible city. Not all Memphis fans are classless. Not everyone who was in that arena booing is classless. It’s the fans who sit here 18 hours later and have no conscience of their actions who are classless. And browsing countless comments regarding this incident have led me to realize that these select few classless fans will always be classless, and there’s no point wasting my time.