It’s all about Kidd’s kind eyes, Lebron’s energy and Kobe’s flawless skin
The local NBC affililate in Portland has sent a reporter to cover the Olympics, which is what they do. But not a sports reporter, a NEWS reporter — probably because, you know, it’s too big of an event for a plain old sports guy. I’m sure it takes a hard news reporter to handle the enormity of it all. But since this is sort of a U.S. vs. the world sort of event, reporters feel it’s fine to fawn over our athletes. Professionalism flies right out the window. It’s nothing new but I have to tell you, for old curmudgeons like me, it can be pretty amusing.
In this blog post, KGW’s Stephanie Stricklen tells us about her encounter with some U.S. basketball stars:
“WOW. Wow. wow….
“I had a great day yesterday. First of all.. a small army of you voted and made it clear that I was supposed to, no.. destined to.. eat a scorpion. Which I did. I’ll include that in one of my 5pm reports.. probably Tuesday because I have big plans for Monday.
“Monday I want to show you what my day was like at the Team USA Basketball practice. I got to hang out with LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Jason Kidd. But the star of the show for me was our own Nate McMillan! He was smiling and chatty and I had a blast interviewing him about his work. And it was very refreshing to hear from some of the world’s best basketball players about what they think of him.
“Here’s a little photo slideshow.. Kobe (#10), LaBron (#6) and our own Coach McMillan are in these photos, along with other notables. Practice started with us on the gym floor with the guys. Then when the pace picked up– we moved to the second floor to give them all the room they needed. That’s when I brought out my camera (okay.. Joe Donlon’s borrowed camera that I’m learning how to use).
Team USA Basketball slideshow
“GO TEAM USA!!
“On an aside.. I was telling my friend Bill Hernandez (who emailed me to tell me how he’s liking the headband I’ve been sporting since I can’t tame my hair in this dratted 90% humidity).. amyway, I was telling Bill that when I was watching practice and interviewing these guys.. I was really impressed.
“Kobe is articulate and thoughtful. And, since this has no business in a news story, I can share it here– his skin is so flawless the dude looks like someone airbrushed on makeup. He also told me he is one of the “short” guys as I stood next to him and got a crick in my neck looking up at him.
“Jason Kidd has this sense of maturity about him. He strikes me (editor’s note: She is not the first woman to use “strikes me” when talking about Jason Kidd) as the kind of guy you will quickly learn to respect. He takes practice seriously and is business-minded. He also has very kind eyes. And LeBron? Well, LeBron is nothing but pure entertainment. He had Dwight Howard in stitches (notice the makeshift cape in the photo slideshow?). LeBron was making fun of himself.. making fun of us.. making fun of his teammates.. breakdancing (poorly), hollering, rapping, and generally living life huge.
“As one guy pointed out to me.. LeBron is young. He has energy. Yeah, I’d say so.”
I learned so much from Stephanie. Kobe Bryant is articulate? Wow, indeed. Jason Kidd has kind eyes? I guess I may have read that in a deposition somewhere. Lebron has energy? I had never noticed. Kobe’s skin, though — I think we can all agree we’ve taken note of how flawless that is.
Media, Olympics | Dwight Jaynes | August 21, 2008
Wow. I wonder if Jason Kid’s ex wife knows about his kind eyes? I’m sure she did learn to respect him during their ten year marriage for fear of being beaten. At least Kid has the maturity to be no worse than a wife beater and adulterer.
I’m with you Dwight. This is garbage. I’ll cut it SOME slack because it is just a blog entry and not a KGW story but man… Writing like this about these guys, even in a blog, goes against any credibility she may have to write about sports figures.
Just proving that when it comes to the Olympics, sports really isn’t considered part of the package.
I heard Stricklen tell a story on air about racing Kobe, and I thought to myself, “They sent her to Beijing for this?”
She definitely sounds like a star-struck teenager. I wonder if Lebron was making fun of her Alfred E. Newman toothy grin.
Funny also how Kobe was thoughtful. Thoughtful of taking her to a secluded Colorado spa for some “rehab,” I’d wager.
This blog has been alive for only a week and a half and you already have a link from DeadSpin. Congrats.
http://deadspin.com/5040247/those-redeem-team-players-just-cant-help-being-so-damned-charming
Who greenlighted the idea of sending that dimwitted bubblehead over to cover the Olympics ???
I’ll take S. Stricklen any day of the week over Canzano from the Oregonian. He goes to the other extreme of the spectrum by ripping into Galen Rupp for not ‘being Prefontaine’. Forget that he was the highest finishing non-African and set a record for an American, Rupp never claimed to be ‘Prefontaine’, only the media (Canzano) tried to pin that label on him. Canzano is like the Colin Cowherd, I can listen to him for about one minute and then I have to change the station, Canzano I can read for about one paragraph before I can’t take it anymore!!!!
You’re using her blog post as if it were supposed to be “reporting”? It is a blog posting. The format calls for being candid and opinionated. Imagine if someone took some of your cranky post dripping with jealousy and posted it as if it were a worthy news article. Why you would look just as professional as ms. Stricklen.