ESPN is about ratings and trying to appeal to the casual fan, not a diehard fan. I’ve noticed across all sports, espn is more positive about teams from big market bases or ones that have big followings. ESPN could care less about teams like Purdue, because Purdue hand Indiana have a very low market share. However a team like Duke and Notre dame with national followings will be rated higher than they should be. Teams from big markets like usc and ucla will also be ranked higher than they should because they are from LA. Look at the pros. How many articles will you see about Bronny? And how many articles are about Cleveland? Can anybody outside of Cleveland name their starting 5? The casual fan knows nothing about OK city’s star player.
The problem you run into is a forum like this that has both casual and diehard fans. And the diehard fans like to tell the casual fans how dumb they are and how smart they are! I once had a fantasy basketball team just to prove to the diehard fan that a casual fan with a little knowledge about stats and database can be just as successful. I won my league against the diehards just with a knowledge of stats. I had no idea who the players were and if they were awesome players. I pissed off a lot of diehards who knew everything about the game. Instead of knowledge about the game, I used my brains.
It’s kind of like googling. Just act dumb and there will be a diehard that will do your search for you to prove how knowledgeable they are.
Smith is an awesome college player. Will his game translate to the NBA? Maybe not. But why should we worry about his nba career? This is a Purdue forum, not an nba forum.
I have no idea who is playing for Indiana, nor do I care. I know about Sisley because painter recruited him. And I thought anybody painter recruited must be good. I’m not a Duke fan either but I’ve heard of the boozer twins. I have no idea who plays on any other team other than Purdue, nor do I care!
I’m a casual fan! My priorities are not sports! My priories are people and how they treat other people! No person should berate others just because they don’t as much as others do. You should share your knowledge and talents rather than berating people just because they are not as knowledgeable as yourself. I don’t know much about sports. That’s a given. But you don’t see me berating your singing ability. My talents and abilities are different than people on this forum.
And my talents were not to force my son to follow my career path of desires unlike people like Mount and others who want to live their dreams through their children. My son is nothing like me and I’m ok with that. He’s at Oregon today for the Big 10 track championships!
The only thing he learned from me is not to berate others! Rather than following my advice, he is living his dreams and is successful at what he does! And for my birthday, he gave me tickets to the Michigan / Ohio state football game!
Something we don’t talk about much. Many of us can do many different things . But we shouldn’t berate others just because they cannot do something as good as ourselves. People who work at Morton’s of Chicago don’t berate workers at McDonald’s. So why do people on this forum feel the need to berate casual fans.
I was once a member of the Purdue Varsity Glee Club. And I was good and our Glee Club is world famous for the music we created. But the reality is Purdue does not have a music school and none of the members of the Glee Club are music majors! They are all regular students and are basically casual musicians rather than diehard musicians! But their concerts are still sold out!
ESPN like Fox is about ratings! Their purpose is not to be a die hard fan of every team in college basketball. That is not what they are paid to do! They are paid to entertain. Sure. They get some facts incorrect and they are not as detailed as some diehards would like! But their job is to entertain everyone, not just diehard Purdue fans! ESPN is the Toyota Camry of sports! I’m sorry they are not the Lexus or Porsche that you prefer! If you don’t like them and they are not good enough or not detailed enough for you, that is no reason to berate them.
I had a friend who is a high school football player. I mentioned him to the football forum. At the time he had zero stars and zero offers from any division 1 team. He attended an under armor camp last month . He now has a 3 star rating and multiple division 1 offers. No is not a 5 star. But he did receive an offer to visit Michigan and Purdue. But the diehard football fans here berated him because they didn’t know him and because of his rating. Sort of like Smith and Edey! If they went somewhere else, I have to believe Purdue fans would berate them as being nothing special. If Smith had gone to IU instead of Purdue, I’m quite sure you people here would say he was worthless. I’ve been around long enough to remember what the experts here said about Zach Randolph and Scotty Skiles when they went elsewhere. Sometimes the diehard fans here can be very harsh on other fans with differing opinions and talents And also on players that don’t play for Purdue.
I will finish by saying, I post on other forums. The diehards and experts who post here and berate others are no better or worse than the diehards and experts that post on other forums about other teams. Some of those forums are now no longer in existence because the fans became too passionate vand argued too much!
ESPN used to have fan forums but the fans were out of control. Straight no chaser was formed by a group of IU students. I like their music. I could care less about where they attended college or their basketball team. I think I’ll go to another one of their upcoming concerts. Something to think about. I know I am not as great as they are, but they have never berated me because I am not as good or as talented as they are. Can some of you posters make the same claim? Everytime I come here, there are several of you constantly putting somebody down. If not myself. It’s somebody else. I guess that makes you happy. Better me than yelling at your wife and kids. I attended all of my son’s high school basketball games. I heard all the boos. I felt sorry. Not for my son, but rather for the fans who got upset we didn’t live up their expectations and dreams. As a youth they were never as good, but they felt by berating others that somehow made them better!
