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Spurs' Success Starts at the Top

This is a terrific article by ESPN's John Hollinger (1, 2) about the Spurs' organization. I think the national media may be waking up to exactly what it is we've been doing here for many years now. I think I even heard several "experts" publicly praising us - who have never, ever praised us - now that we've won 16-straight, and in dominating fashion. Greg Anthony, Tim Legler, Jeff Van Gundy, and more.

This is an ESPN "Insider" article, which means it's an article you only get to read if you pay ESPN for their Insider package. I'll let you know now, I'm not the one who ripped it and posted it. That credit goes to georgestephanopoulos. But I give the guy a ton of thanks for sharing an incredible article with a ton of people who would have otherwise not seen it.

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Once the rest of the league starts to pay attention to what we've been doing for years & years, I think they might start to figure it out. Then again why has it taken them so long? More importantly once the media drops their "old & aging team" moniker that has been present since about, oh 2007, perhaps they'll also realize this franchise isn't gonna have a rebuilding stage. We're gonna be there - competing with the best of them - winning 50 games a season - for many, many years to come. My only hope is that Timmy & Pop stick around a little longer.

Wages

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Yay For No Shutdown (yet)

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Better Start Paying Attention

Att: media, Spurs haters, doubters, overlookers, Laker fans, Heat bandwagon jumpers, etc.

Wait is overlookers a word? Ehh I don't care. Yet another domination of one of the media's favorite handful of teams - on national television, no less. It's about to get really interesting!

...Oh nevermind - it already has been!

Please go check out the final boxscore! We're talking about some seriously amazing stats in this game:

• Franchise record 17 made threes (17 of 28 for 61%)
• Eight players in double figures - How often does that happen for any team during any season? Maybe twice?
• 29 assists on 46 field goals (that's 63%, and anything over about 50-55% is exactly what you want)
• Bonner went 6-7 from three-range by himself, and in 24 minutes
• Manu had 20 pts. 7 asst. 3 reb. and 2 steals in 26 minutes (that's a per-48-minute mark of 37 pts. 13 asst. 5.5 reb. and 3.7 steals)
• Including FTs, LeBron put the ball up 26 times to get his 26 points


Yeah that says 125-95.. ~~ Game recap here ~~

It's all just so hilarious. I actually watched some of the re-broadcast telecast of this game, which was not only broadcast on our home network with our own announcers, but ESPN as well. I will always opt for our own home announcers. Bill Land, Sean Elliott, Andrew Monaco, et al. I have already made a post regarding the worst game announcers there are. It just happens to be ESPN's own Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy, and the guy who does the play-by-play (usually Mike Breen).

Some comment comparisons:

"The Miami Heat are one of the best defensive teams in the league." -- Mike Breen

Sean Elliott: "The Heat have no clue how to stop the simplest play in basketball - the pick-n-roll. Time and time again, they can't figure it out."

"This team is explosive on the offensive end.. they can turn it on at any time." -- Mark Jackson

Sean Elliott: "If we keep shooting threes like this, and playing this Spurs defense, there is no way the Heat get back into this game.

"If you're the Spurs you gotta slow it down and play half-court basketball" -- Mike Breen

Mike obviously hasn't done his homework here. This Spurs 2010-11 team is not that type of team. We've scored a bunch of points most games all season, and slowed it down very little, as is obvious by our points-for and points-against statistics.

"They can't beat the great teams, but when it's playoff time, this team will be a force to be reckoned with." -- Mark Jackson

Miami is 0-8 vs Spurs, Mavericks, Celtics, and Bulls. 2-2 vs. Orlando, 1-0 vs. Lakers at this point.

Then for the whole fourth quarter, all they talked about was how the Heat could be improved. I now realize that Jeff Van Gundy was not present for this broadcast, but the dialogue wasn't any better.

"This is a thrashing that can't be tolerated by the Heat. This is bad.." -- Mark Jackson

Nothing the Spurs did was ever praised. Especially considering all the stats I mentioned above. ESPN - take note! ..or don't. Kudos to Sean Elliott and Bill Land. Serious kudos.

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Subscriber Fees List Shows What You Pay For Cable Channels

After the spat between Cablevision and Disney invaded the Oscar telecast last Sunday, the fees channels charge cable companies (who then pass them along to you) have come into the spotlight. All Things Digital posted a list from industry analyst SNL Kagan that shows the wholesale prices each channel charges cable companies for their product.

The list is making the rounds as fodder for a la carte cable activists. It makes it very apparent how much of your bill goes to sports programming -- which tends to irritate people who hate sports. Alternatively, you can study the list and count how many stupid makeover shows you are unwillingly paying for.

Keep in mind these are wholesale prices, cable companies obviously mark-up the prices, profit, etc. Meanwhile, it seems that the whole ABC/Cablevision was just a dress rehearsal for the real showdown: Time Warner Cable vs. ABC. Look for that to get crazy in August as TWC's deal expires.

Hate Paying for Cable? - Here’s Why [All Things Digital]:



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