Happy Rudy Fernandez Day

In case you haven't heard, Rudy Fernandez will be arriving at Portland International Airport soon. Consistent with the hysteria with which Rip City citizens have surrounded the man, a mass of folks plan on showing up (2) to greet him. Driving into the DeceptivelyQuick satellite HQ this morning, I heard local sports radio urging people to take an early lunch and head to the airport to cheer for the man. The hype tornado continues.

I hate to ruin a good hero-worship session, but I am starting to feel like I am either the last sane Blazer fan or the only insane one. I am still confused as to why nobody is at least discussing his apparent ignorance (1 , 2).

When that infamous slant-eyed photo hit the news, I looked forward to reading some of Rip City’s premier bloggers discuss the photograph. I was sure it was coming. It seemed important given Rip City’s obsession with Rudy, with having “good guys” on the team, and with the sizable and growing Asian population in the Portland-metro area.

I was naive.

Obviously, not all blogs could be expected to delve into the issue. For example, the ones earning pay checks from Paul Allen. Indeed, Trail Blazers Center Court wasn’t about to touch the controversy. In a bit of unintentional comedy, on August 12th, shortly after the photo hit major spots like Deadspin, Center Court posted an entry entitled “Everything you need to know about Rudy Fernandez in four pictures.” The most famous picture to date featuring Rudy was not included. Must not be important.

Center Court has the excuse of being team owned, as does Mike Barrett’s Blog. It was far more disappointing to me to see how the controversy was covered by Rip City blogs that are Vulcan-free. The best of these are Blazers Edge and the Oregonlive Blazers Blog. These places are where to turn to read talented writers who don’t have anything in their job descriptions related to towing the Blazers company line. Their importance can’t be emphasized enough. And they both ignored this.

Dave and Ben, the excellent Blazers Edge writers, have combined for 66 stories to date that carry the Rudy Fernandez tag. You can spend hours in the archives devouring in depth analyses of Rudy’s game. You won’t find one discussing the photo. All the site has to offer on the topic is a thread posted by a commentor. The comments are great on Blazers Edge, but the bulk of us visit the site interested in what Dave and Ben have to say. We’re still waiting. We’re still waiting for Sean Meagher at Oregonlive to give us his perspective as well.

For a fan base that screamed of a need for "good guys" for years, why the free pass for Rudy? Do we just want to ignore the negativity for a while and bask in the warm fuzziness? Maybe. Is it related to the fact that Rudy's skin color is close to the vast majority of Blazer fans? I hope not. It would sure be interesting to hear what others have to say.

UPDATE: Wow.

A Reminder from Mark Cuban

Ignorance.

OK, so what do YOU want?!?!?

No secret that posting around here has been slowing down, but things are truly at a creep in Rip City right now. Try as I might, I have trouble getting excited about discussing who will get the 15th roster spot. Or should I talk about this? Yeesh.

Historically, when times get lean, I've called on the DeceptivelyQuick readership to submit blog posts of their own. We've had some good results. So again I call on everyone to submit any kind of entry you like to me via email (take the link above) and we'll see what happens. Please help. I'm down to sharing random youtube clips.



Some slacks and some gators on the way home! Damn I wish this man were a Blazer.

DeceptivelyQuick to NY

No, not to cover the seemingly imminent Z-Bo trade (assist to Slam), although maybe I should. It is pretty amazing that someone will still trade for Zach Randolph given everything we know, right? But hey, you get 20ish and 10! And this is what else you get!*

• Micro-fracture knee surgery
• A few run-ins with the law
• A few gangster friends
• A very slow, sometimes horrific, offensive style
• And locker room poison!
  

Sounds great! See you Monday.

*Defense, passing, and winning not included.

Rudy Fernandez finds life outside his bubble scary

I'm so happy I added Dwight Jaynes' blog to my links list, it is well worth your perusal.

He pointed out a Spanish language interview checking in with Rudy Fernandez at the NBA's version of new employee orientation (google translated, Dwight's take here).

The article covers Rudy's shock over things that are "barbaric" to him. You know, gold-diggers, family asking for money, and people who know drug addicts.

Rudy, this may surprise you, but not all people are children of professional basketball players. Family members ask for money!? Shocking! Some people have drug addicts in their family!? Like on TV?! Mercy! The world outside your cozy bubble can be scary indeed, Rudy.

This interview, coupled with the infamous photo, are leading me to form a certain perception of Rudy Fernandez. Hopefully there is something lost in translation here and I'm wrong, but the dude is giving off the vibes of straight up ignorance.

Rudy may want to pay particular attention to those media training sessions. How long until he gets a little Bogut-ey? The countdown begins!

Throwback post! Also, I'm lazy

Any questions regarding recent posting activity can be answered by visiting this DeceptivelyQuick entry from exactly one year ago. The US Open remains the sporting event I'd most like to attend that I haven't already.

By the way, I like the Djokovic impressions as much as the next guy, but don't forget who started that stuff:



Plus if all this Beijing hangover business is real, the best press conference athlete in the world could steal himself a slam. Back to the TV I go!

On that Outlaw wanting more shots thing

We have all read it by now. In fact, the Travis-saying-he-wants-more-shots issue has been pretty much covered (1, 2). If not for my hyena streak I would probably leave it alone at this point, but I can't resist the possibility of crumbs on the carcass. Yummy carrion.

Outlaw will experience a little backlash from some fans over this. But what did he do, really?

1) He used human reasoning ability to deduct that adding offensive perimeter talents Bayless and Fernandez will result in a diminished role for him in the offense.

2) He was concerned about this.

3) He voiced these concerns to a reporter.

The problem is not #1, all Outlaw is guilty of here is possessing some logical thinking ability.

Perhaps the issue is #2. Surely, a true team-player would be happy to welcome additional talent to the roster. If it means reduced individual achievement, that is a small sacrifice for the ultimate goal of team success.

Before you buy that consider Outlaw's position. He struggled until last season, when he broke out and experienced the first sustained on-court success of his career. He is still young, and probably rightly believes his ability is still growing. I can understand how Outlaw feels that he is finally on the cusp of something very good. In a way, he has had the rug pulled from underneath his feet. He has the right to be a little upset about the deal. Would you really want a player that in his heart would be truly happy to be less involved with the team?

Then we come to issue #3, which caused this whole mini-storm. Outlaw showed candor we don't see all that often. Actually, such public honesty and openness will be very rare on this team that is stacked with some self-aware and conscientious talent. Maybe he knew management and MacMillan would be deaf to his concerns, and decided to go public with his hissy. Perhaps Outlaw will learn a lesson from this and go Clyde Drexler with the media from now on. Speculation is fun.

Whatever his motivation, Outlaw is well within the normal range of human reaction to his situation. We are reminded, once again, that these people are human beings after all. He isn't living up to some idealized expectation that probably doesn't exist. We don't want normal humans with insecurities to play on our team. It ruins the whole illusion.

Speaking of insecurities, please believe Outlaw has them. Sometimes he says things that taken literally can definitely give off the vibe of another athlete with delusions of grandeur. As Dave says from Blazers Edge:

If you had a Ferrari, you’d want to drive it fast sometimes. You may understand the need for a speed limit. You may agree with it. But when most of your life is spent driving 65 it’s hard not to envy a guy in Germany who can drive 120 whenever he wants. I mean, it’s a Ferrari, dude. Travis is pretty sure he’s a Ferrari. And looking at some of the things he’s able to do on the court it’s hard to disagree.

I'm not so sure Travis actually thinks of himself in this way. On the court, his sporadic confidence issues have been noted by many. His bluster seems more likely to be an attempt to deny these insecurities than to reflect his true feelings. Is it outlandish to think Outlaw feels a bit threatened by the arrival of Bayless and Fernandez? Would such a feeling be abnormal?

The broad underlying issue from all of this is how the Blazers will handle being stacked with so much talent. Not just any talent, but the young, ambitious, and flourishing variety. The type that wants to get shots and shine. The organization has excelled at obtaining such wealth of personnel, now we get to see how adept they are at managing it.