Worth thinking about

Stewart Mandel on Tim Tebow:

One of the more bothersome trends I’ve noticed among college fans in recent years is the inevitable backlash occurring toward pretty much any great team or player as soon as people feel said team/player receives too much “hype.” Rather than celebrate a player’s greatness, we feel the need to tear him down.

Why do we do this?

I understand in today’s age of media overkill, the most popular players get an extraordinary amount of coverage, and I understand we media types tend to throw hyperbole around too generously. But to anyone who’s tired of reading or hearing about Tebow’s on- and off-field greatness, I ask you: Who/what would you rather hear about instead? The prima donnas who view college as an unavoidable stopover on the way to the NFL? The guys who know they’re so good that they only play hard when they feel like it? The guys who don’t go to class, run afoul of the law and are genuinely jerks?

Backlash

Jason Williams on Stephen Curry: “He’s a great player … but sometimes I really question a lot of his shot selections. One game I saw him, I think it was versus N.C. State, he had 44 points, but he took 33 shots. Granted, he didn’t have anybody else on his team to take shots. But I know once he gets to the next level he’s going to have to be a point guard, and he’s going to get drafted to get people into the game. … Will he be able to carry on the same kind of shooting and have the same shot selection in the NBA? I don’t think so. I think he might struggle the same way you see J.J. Redick struggling. When the plays aren’t run for you all the time, now all of a sudden, instead of getting 33 shots, you might get four or five, and you’re expected to make those shots. And if you don’t, you’re going to have a hard time kind of getting in that true circle of a team’s rotation, so I see some struggles ahead for him if he can’t turn himself into more of a point guard/shooting guard.”