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This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

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Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

This fight is for everything.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

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You are here: Home / Sports / Preserving the Sanctity of the Post-Game

Preserving the Sanctity of the Post-Game

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I actually saw these two idiots whining about this because the boys were watching it when I went in to get more coffee:

They also went on an extended rant about professional clothing at press conferences.

Reader Interactions

92Comments

  1. 1.

    gogol's wife

    I’m putting this under the “Sports” rubric. Joan Crawford on my teevee (in Johnny Guitar) just said, “Boys who play with guns have to be ready to die like men.”

  3. 3.

    SiubhanDuinne

    This may possibly be the most cryptic Balloon Juice post I have ever seen. What does it even mean? I have no idea who any of those people are.

  5. 5.

    David Koch

    If the kid had been white there would have been zero complaints.

    They would never take a white athlete (like Brady) to task for bringing their kids to a presser. In fact they would have fawned over them and called the athlete a great dad.

  7. 7.

    Mike in NC

    Bags are packed. Off to Tampa in the morning. Temperatures there in the low to mid 90s. Hoping for no run-ins with Florida Man, but if necessary we’ll stand our ground.

  11. 11.

    Arthur

    Just a reminder…these assholes make their living reporting the accomplishments of other people that happen to be professional athletes.

    They are hanger ons.

    They are paparazzi.

    They are losers.

    Little wonder why they whine…they didn’t get their expected, timed feeding.

  15. 15.

    kindness

    Curry’s kid is damn cute and anyone who expected an actual press conference with an adorable 4 yo there has never had kids. Screw them.

    I’m still blown away the Warriors are this good.

  16. 16.

    Davebo

    @kindness:

    Did you like, miss their entire season?

    I’m amazed the Rockets kept it so close.

    And I can’t wait till Curry is staying in my house in a few days. I successfully cursed Blake Griffen and I’m pretty sure I can so the same with Curry!

  17. 17.

    SFAW

    @SFAW:

    And after watching the video of that terrible child having the gall/temerity to upstage her father – who is perhaps the most important man in America, not just today, but for the last 150 years – I would respectfully suggest that Skip Bayless either (A) go fuck himself, or perhaps (B) find a good surgeon to help him remove his head from his lower intestinal tract. Same for Windhorst (whose name auf Deutsch, means “Bag of hot air” [Amir: Bleib stumm on that last one, OK?]).

    The kid is cute, Steph looks like he has a good time with her, and beside, it’s just a fucking playoff game, not a doctoral dissertation.

  18. 18.

    madmommy

    This is so silly. Athletes, for the most part, are not going to give you anything juicy in a post-game presser. Especially if they’re on the winning side at the beginning of a play-off series. He is going to know his cliches, and he is going to use them like Crash Davis tried to teach Nuke Laloosh in Bull Durham.

  19. 19.

    joel hanes

    At some point, perhaps around 1980, TV journalists became confused about who is the star of the show and makes the news, and who is just part of the production crew. I would like to say it’s worse in sports journalists, but can’t.

    The disease spread to print journalists, and is now epidemic.

  20. 20.

    SFAW

    @madmommy:

    tried to teach Piyush “Nuke” Laloosh in Bull Durham.

    Sorry, I couldn’t resist, especially after your absolutely-unnecessary apology near the end of that other thread. (Meaning, you had nothing to apologize for.)

  21. 21.

    JCJ

    The kid was great.

    They also went on an extended rant about professional clothing at press conferences.

    Were they complaining about what NBA players wear to post game press conferences? Wow, are they trying to look like clueless white guys? On the coverage on TNT after the game I enjoy when they show what the players wear and to hear the comments of Shaq, Chuck and Kenny. I’m a 53 year old white guy and I sure don’t expect a 25 year old NBA player to dress as boring as I do.

  23. 23.

    Arm The Homeless

    You people and your hoop balling.

    On another note, Golson goes to Free Shoes University. I think if he refrains from petty theft, he has a leg up on the last guy. At least in my book.

    I hope he chose a fulfilling course of study. FSU has many wonderful programs, and lovely trees.

  26. 26.

    jl

    I hope more players with kids bring their toddlers to after game pressers, they would be more interesting.

    I’m not sure what those clueless grouchy doofuses meant by ‘professional clothes’. At first I thought they meant they wanted the players to give post game pressers in game uniforms.

    They want them to dress like the sportscasters, like sketchy aluminum siding salesmen at a regional conference? WTF? Who cares? Anyway, Curry would look better than they would if he just pushed his head through a garbage bag and showed up in that.

  27. 27.

    Mike in NC

    @SFAW: We must stop picking on people with names like Piyush who are self-loathing minorities and token conservatives who wished they were born with blond hair and blue eyes into a good Baptist family from Montgomery, Alabama. (See D’Souza, Dinesh and Malkin, Michelle etc.)

  28. 28.

    Arthur

    @JPL: just to add…the craptastic dialog is from ESPN, THE most expensive channel on basic cable.

    Years ago, cable providers raced to the “mother ship” and agreed to any terms just to lasso new subscribers. As time passed, ESPN prices went up, and so did your cable bill. Cable providers just accepted the charges as just the way business goes.

    Now we are stuck with BSPN coverage where the channel’s actions are now part of the news…not enough to highlight a leading scorer from a game winning team….they have to tell you about their feelings regarding the game.

  30. 30.

    Alex

    @David Koch: There have been several kids in post-game interviews this year — Derrick Rose’s son was also really cute.

    I have no idea why anyone cares this time.

    Players bringing their kids to the scrum is far more interesting than the generic sports cliches that everyone is required to say.

  31. 31.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Baud: To be fair, it also had a link to pictures of 11 adorable babies swimming underwater – I presume it was some kind of homage to Nevermind.

  32. 32.

    jl

    @madmommy:

    ” He is going to know his cliches, ”

    Especially Steph Curry, he is old school in rattling off bland cliches. Like coach Kerr, he does throw in mildly interesting and true observations that oblivious sports reporters cannot seem to grasp. So, usually an interesting three second sound bite can be salvaged from the post game.

    Like, yeah, come to think of it, when you play a hard fought series with one team, you are thrown off a rhythm you learned in the last series and you have to adjust when you first play a new team. That kind of thing is not ruined by a two year old gurgling in the background.

  35. 35.

    JPL

    @David Koch: The post interview isn’t to give the player time, it’s to give the reporters air time. What happened was the little girl stole the show and someones ego couldn’t handle it.

  36. 36.

    jl

    @David Koch: Thanks. They should do it whenever they can. Post game pressers are mostly boring rehash of nothing much. This Warriors team and coach seem to understand, and blandly treat them that way, which makes them more tolerable than most.

  37. 37.

    Elizabelle

    Rand Paul is filibustering against the Patriot Act.

    I give him credit for that. Crazy as a mung bean, yes, but I love when people get off their ass and do something …

  39. 39.

    Valdivia

    @Baud:

    I know, right? It was just a post about something that was popular on facebook. But I guess it’s content. I only picked that link because the rest where from such ridiculous websites I would have been embarrassed.

  40. 40.

    Baud

    @Valdivia:

    I only picked that link because the rest where from such ridiculous websites I would have been embarrassed.

    Seeing as where you’re commenting right now, that’s a frightening thought.

  42. 42.

    Baud

    @Elizabelle:

    From GOS

    1:27 PM PT: Sen. Rand Paul began what he’s calling a filibuster early Wednesday afternoon, and has been joined by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT). It’s not really a filibuster, because the extension that he is opposing isn’t actually on the floor, but it is eating up time. If the House does end up leaving for Memorial Day recess midday Thursday as planned, Paul’s delay could achieve the expiration of the PATRIOT Act provisions.

  43. 43.

    Eric U.

    @Elizabelle: I’m trying to think of the patriot act analog to his dronz filibuster. Where one day, he spent 13 hours telling an empty chamber how horrible dronz are and should never be used, and the next day how it would be ok to use a drone to kill a guy that stole $50 from a liquor store holdup.

  44. 44.

    Valdivia

    @Baud:

    hey I consider this a very high brow place, with the best commentariat on the whole internet. Where else can we talk about naked mopping and 80s pop culture all at once?

    The first that came up was a thing called popsugar. That sounded scary to me so I went with Time.

  45. 45.

    PhoenixRising

    “sports” “journalists” are the laziest employed people in America.

    Seriously, WTF was Curry going to say that made your job easier than his preschooler just did, Skip? Spend a day busting rocks, and then come back and complain about the lack of seriousness with which your timed feeding was treated by someone who works for a living.

  46. 46.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Eric U.:

    I’m trying to think of the patriot act analog to his dronz filibuster

    That he would be fine with the states doing any of the things he objects to the Feds doing.

    @Valdivia:

    The first that came up was a thing called popsugar. That sounded scary to me so I went with Time.

    Scary indeed.

  53. 53.

    Valdivia

    @Baud:

    :)

    Is John Prince Charles? And who would be the queen mother?

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    See I knew I should not click on it! ;)

    The company publishes channels on such topics as shopping, beauty, fitness, entertainment, food, children, home and pets

  54. 54.

    Baud

    Fascinating

    State lawmakers are within reach of making Nebraska the only red state in recent years to ban the death penalty, voting 32 to 15 on Wednesday to end the practice at a time when capital punishment has received increased scrutiny at the national level.

  57. 57.

    David Koch

    @Baud: So they’ll bring up the PA for a vote tomorrow and in order to expedite the vote they’ll ask for unanimous consent from the body to dispense with procedural rules and he can block that by simply objecting. So that will be the real test. And if he does object, that means the senate will let it expire, if only temporarily, or cancel their vacation.

    Some how I got a feeling Paul won’t object and block the vote, yet the usual suspects will still take him seriously.

  59. 59.

    Baud

    @David Koch:

    We’ll see. Paul is officially running for Prez now, so people are watching him more carefully. But nothing he might do would surprise me.

  64. 64.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Baud: Mary?

    @Valdivia: So you shared it with everyone? Not cool, not cool at all.

    @Baud:

    I wonder if Phillip shaves the royal cat’s ass.

    There are so many ways one could run with that.

  67. 67.

    Valdivia

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I guess both better and worse. He always struck me as a sort of cold fish, kind of stiff as a person? (all this gleaned from the Helen Mirren movie) So better in that the image is one of someone loser with himself. But worse because Phillip wasn’t on my list of people I wanted to imagine naked (mopping or whatever else)

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    You brought a book to mind, which is also not the context in which I expected to remember it, talking about Phillip and cat asses being shaved.

  71. 71.

    Valdivia

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Ahem.

    It’s called Las Edades de Lulu by Almuneda Grandes.
    I am afraid if I explain why I ended up thinking of the book I will blush forever.

    @Gin & Tonic:
    More blushing, I know, it’s actually not. Now I am going to seem utterly certifiable.

  72. 72.

    Gin & Tonic

    BTW, it being springtime, I dined on a sublime black bass over fiddleheads, asparagus and pea greens. *That’s* seasonally-appropriate.

  73. 73.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Valdivia: Wasn’t that made into a movie starring Francesca Neri?

    ETA: And badly rewritten in English under the title Fifty Shades of Grey?

  74. 74.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Valdivia: Here’s a synopsis, according to Wikipedia.

    Lulú, la protagonista, es al comienzo de la obra una joven de quince años carente de afecto que siente atracción por Pablo, un profesor de universidad, amigo de su hermano. Después de su primera experiencia sexual, Lulú alimenta durante años fantasías sobre aquel hombre que acaba por aceptar como permanente el juego amoroso de ella. La pareja vive en un mundo de experimentación, fantasía y acuerdos privados hasta que Lulú, ahora mujer de treinta años, decide buscar nuevas experiencias fuera de ese entorno seguro, lo que la involucrará en relaciones diversas de sexo de pareja, tríos, travestis y orgías.

    My Spanish is very lame, but seems to be almost adequate in this case.

  76. 76.

    Cacti

    The presence of a child really distracts from all those gripping questions like…

    “So how do you feel about tonight’s win?” asked 20 different ways.

    or

    “So how do you plan to keep this momentum going?” asked a like number of times.

    Yep, sports reporters have a tough job in the post game pressers.

  77. 77.

    Valdivia

    @Cacti:

    I have been watching a lot of soccer lately and have been impressed with how the Spanish League conducts its press conferences. They’re all so professional. Also fascinating to see players and coahces from all over Europe speaking spanish sicne this is where they live and work.

  78. 78.

    Valdivia

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I never read that magnum opus, Fifty Shades, but from what I could gather from reviews and commentary I think that unlike Lulu it was written with the purpose of titillating a certain demographic? In Lulu the titillation seemed to me incidental to the story Grandes was telling.

  79. 79.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Valdivia: Having not read any of the books and having seen only on of the movies (the Neri one, dammit), I am not in a position to opine.

  80. 80.

    Valdivia

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    for a second there I was going to tease you about watching Fifty Shades.

    I never saw the film with Neri so have no idea if the darkness–real darkness, not play/pretend darkness like in FSG–comes across. In the book you definitely feel the sexual trangressions are slowly building towards an abiss she can very well fall into, it’s not consequence free, not a rose strewn happily ever after romance with a touch of S&M.

  83. 83.

    Death Panel Truck

    “The sanctity of the post-game”? Seriously? We’re talking about a game where overgrown adults throw balls into holes. It ain’t fucking church.

  86. 86.

    gogiggs

    Is there anything more amusing than sports “reporters” getting all butthurt when someone refuses to play along with their empty charade?
    Yes, lots of things are more amusing, but none are more silly.

  88. 88.

    NonyNony

    @madmommy:

    This is so silly. Athletes, for the most part, are not going to give you anything juicy in a post-game presser. Especially if they’re on the winning side at the beginning of a play-off series.

    When sports journalists get angry about stuff like this, it seems to me that it’s because the athlete in question is breaking the suspension of disbelief that is necessary for viewers to continue to think that sports journalists are adding anything of value to the conversation.

    And I imagine many of them are terrified that someday people might realize that they’re basically entertainment reporters. Which is why they try to make what they do seem serious when really what comes out of the mouths of players in a post-game press conference is probably about as trivial as what someone is wearing on the red carpet for a movie premier.

  89. 89.

    MCA1

    Let me preface with a number of things I believe: Skip Bayless is a jackass; sports journalists by and large have massively outsized senses of their own importance and competence; the sports media entertainment industrial machine is a bad thing and has helped create a culture in which the amount of time the average person talks about, reads about or discusses sports far eclipses the amount of time they spend actually watching those sports, which itself far, far eclipses the amount of time they undertake physical activity of any kind themselves; Steph Curry’s daughter is a cute 4-year-old; Steph Curry’s an amazing player and solid guy; ESPN blows in many regards; the sanctimoniousness displayed by Bayless and Windhorst on this is over the top; 95% of what’s stated in postgame press conferences is cliché and uninteresting.

    Now, all that said, here’s my get off my lawn contribution here. Stephen Curry is contractually required to do postgame interviews and pressers. It’s written into the CBA. It is, quite literally, part of his job. It may seem like a pointless inconvenience, but the quotes he gives, however trite and empty, are a necessary part of the writeups of the game that are ravenously consumed by fans the next day. That presence, coverage, postgame analysis and all the other sludge spewed out by the sports media, pays Steph Curry’s incredible salary. The pressroom is, in fact, a workplace.

    Skip Bayless is no doubt the wrong, entitled, old white guy douchebag messenger, but I can understand the critique that athletes’ kids at press conferences is a distraction. I would be rightfully annoyed if a client chose to bring their child into my office for a meeting that I needed to properly represent him/her, unless there were circumstances explained to me. Of course it’s not intentional, but the message conveyed is one of disrespect. Is it a huge deal? No. But just because Curry’s daughter is cute and Skip Bayless is a poor excuse for both a journalist and a celebrity, doesn’t mean Curry’s not breached etiquette here, even if only in a fairly small way.

  90. 90.

    Marth

    @MCA1 , the problem is that you are applying the sensibilities of other business settings to the business of sports. Tell me one business setting outside of sports in which you are required to answer questions while naked or half-naked, just out of the shower and dressing up? I will wait…

    So once we understand that this is not a regular business environment we can abandon trying to apply such sensibilities to it – that is all. The part that is most closely aligned with traditional business responsibilities is the play on the court where you are judged and evaluated based on your productivity. It not be good for Steph to play a game while babysitting his child because that will reduce his productivity. Your analogy of a client chosing to bring their child into your office for a meeting only applies to a case where Steph is playing the game while holding his daughters hand. Everything else outside of the court cannot be judged by traditional business standards – it is entertainment. The productive value of entertainment is whether or not people choose to watch and given by the number of retweets and vines on the video, I think Steph, aided by his daughters presence was very productive during that interview session.

  91. 91.

    Downpuppy

    @MCA1: Simmer down there. The NBA is an entertainment business. How in the holy regions of Hell is it wrong to add some entertainment to a boring part of it?

  92. 92.

    SFAW

    @Downpuppy:

    to a boring and usually pointless part of it?

    It’s rare that the post-game has anything as interesting or useful as Jim Mora or anything from Bill Parcells.

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