Yay For Sports Writing Incompetence

I used to really love FanHouse. They had awesome articles, awesome interviews, awesome writers. I still swing over there to read guys like Ziller and Matt Watson, who are among the elite in this whole blogging thing.

But then you get crap like the following. The bold is text from the article, non-bold is me.

Chris Paul is Overrated-- Brett Pollakoff

Anytime the guy does anything remotely above average, the NBA world stops to bow down and worship at his altar.

Fine, whatever. Success can oftentimes breed contempt.

Exhibit A: that bounce through Jason Terry's legs that Paul pulled off on Thursday night. Does... one relatively routine highlight have to get described as potentially the greatest play in the history of the NBA? Please. Someone get Tyson Chandler a Magic Johnson highlight reel, ASAP.

Tyson Chandler's exact quote: "He made one of the best moves I've ever seen in my life - on an NBA player." TC was born in 1982. He was 8 years old when Magic retired for the first time. Please explain to me where Tyson says that is "potentially the greatest play in NBA history." Please. Someone get Brett Pollakoff a "How to Read and Understand Basic English" Guide, ASAP.

Watch the replay again and tell me that Steve Nash, Deron Williams, or even Jason Kidd (six years ago when he could still play) wouldn't have done the exact same thing in that situation. If Paul wants to continue the fast break, bouncing the ball right through the defender's legs is the only option at that point. Otherwise, he has to run him over and pick up an offensive foul.

Yeah, very easy for you to say after the fact. This is like dismissing a Kobe Bryant game winner by saying, "if Kobe wants to win, shooting the ball is the only option at that point." Having an idea and actually implementing it are two very, very different things. If Deron's, Nash's, or JKidd's turnover rates suggest anything, it's that they would have been far less likely to implement it properly than Paul.

If a 37-year-old, seven-foot tall, 350-pound Shaquille O'Neal can do the exact same thing, sorry: the degree of difficulty just can't be that high.

Right. Let's compare a set play in the All-Star game against a center not even pretending to play defense to a point guard thinking on his feet in the open court against an infinitely quicker player in a game that actually matters. Yeah, that makes perfect sense.

Perhaps the ultimate irony here is that you could clearly hear Chris Paul instructing Shaq to perform that move in the All Star game before the play ever happened.