goguen@cheers.DEC (Don Goguen 381-2565) (06/07/85)
I'm rather surprised that I haven't read any comments on the
extremely poor job that Dick Stockton (and Tommy Heinsohn) have been
doing at being "objective" broadcasters. Both seem to be ardent Laker
fans, by the comments they make. I don't know if Tommy is bending
over backwards because of his Boston affiliation, but Dicky has been
the major culprit.
The praise never seems to stop for the "grace, beauty, and charm"
the Laker athletes, but it seems to hurt to say something good about
the Celts. I'm wondering if Laker fans have picked this up at all...
A few examples from game 4 (aaahhhh, game 4):
- A number of times in the 4th quarter, with Boston ahead by 2 or 3
points, Stockton commented, "The Lakers just aren't out of this one
yet." That seems like a pretty strange comment about a team that is
only a couple of points behind. Was he thinking that his beloved
Lakers might choke again? I don't think anyone in America thought
the Lakers were out of it at those points...
- Whenever LA went on a 4 to 6 point run, he commented, "The Lakers
look like they're going to go on one of their patented runs again."
I think they only ran off 10 straight once, and the others weren't
much to speak about. Most teams have lots of small spurts. No
comments were made about Boston's ability to stop most of those
4 to 6 point spurts from becoming 10 to 20 point runs...
- After Byron Scott hit a few (2 or 3) from the outside, his comments
ranged from "Scott is burning up" to similar drivel - the fact is
that Scott has been putting up more bricks than most of the players
in the series so far - Dicky just can't wait to praise him for any-
thing he does...
- Though I respect Kareem as a great all-time player, Dicky is ready
to make him a king. My respect for Jabbar stops when he cries after
every foul called on him. Sure, most players will gripe to some
extent on probably half of the fouls called on them, but Kareem is
trying to replace Moses as the only player in the league that has
never really fouled anyone... (It's funny to watch the replays after
some of those calls - the fouls are so obvious that I wonder what's
really going thru Kareem's head.)
In general, the entire tone of the broadcasting is that the Lakers
are the better team, and what right do the Celtics have being on the
same court with them. The fact is, the Lakers may have better athletes
than Boston does, but that does not make them a better team.
I wonder how Dick would have reacted if that were a Laker making
the game-winning shot at the buzzer. I think it would have been tough
for him to not do his best Johnny Most imitation...
Don Goguen
DEC / Nashua, NH
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Distribution:
NM%RHEA::DECWRL::"net.sport.hoops"stan@tikal.UUCP (Stan Tazuma) (06/10/85)
You must be joking. Dick Stockton has always been very Pro-Boston.
Tom Heinsohn--well, how can you blame him for rooting for Boston, too?
He was a Boston player and coach.
The bias becomes apparent when you hear what point of view is being
expressed the majority of the time, and also by the tone of the voice
when those views are being expressed.
Those two continually speak in terms of what Boston has to do, what
Boston is about to do. When leads are being lost, they continually
speak in terms of what Boston has to do to complete the comeback, or
to hold back the Lakers.
Dick Stockton has a noticable rise in his voice when he discusses
things like the "Great Larry Bird" (his comment about Kareem after the
first game "he just plain got whipped by Robert Parish" {pretty strong
words}), "The 8-0 record of Boston vs. LA",
"Boston is One of the Greatest Cities in the World (Game 6)" (didn't
say much about LA except that it was hot),
"Boston has some of the Greatest Fans in the World (also Game 6)"
(his corresponding comments about LA fans are demeaning, except to
say that there were plenty of stars).
- I will allow that Dick Stockton did game 6 more even-handed (in spite
of the above-mentioned comments).
- Heinsohn has great praise for Worthy, a bit less for Magic, but after
that he doesn't say too much in LA's behalf.
- They talk only about Bird's injuries when he doesn't shoot well
(when have they ever mentioned good defense by LA which caused him
to miss?)
It was a great Game 6 for the Lakers, I'm glad they won.
I'm not a big Laker fan, but in an LA vs. Boston series, I'll take
LA any time. Boston gets away with things more often than other teams
(twice Larry Bird did obvious charging but didn't get called for an
offensive foul); lack of fairness is disgusting to watch, and loses
fans (almost is losing me).roy@hpmtla.UUCP (roy) (06/10/85)
>- They talk only about Bird's injuries when he doesn't shoot well > (when have they ever mentioned good defense by LA which caused him > to miss?) I disagree with this statement. In games two and three DS and TH constantly referred to the fact that LA was pushing the ball at Bird to force him to work on defense, taking away from his offensive game. The thing that drove me nuts(or more nuts depending on your perspective) was that TH kept talking about the "brute force" dominance exerted by LA. I don't care how much you beat a team up, you win with rebounds and defense. Thug tactics did NOT win the series. Aggresive play did. roy P.S. This is not coming from an LA fan either.