Recapping Recaps: A Version of Sports Writing

The last 2 weeks of my attempt at sports writing has been a blur. I joined the Fansided Network and “Sir Charles In Charge” back in April. I never, until the playoffs, covered a sporting event. Usually, I just found myself doing satire and complaining about what I would like to see changed in sports.

The first few pieces I posted on the site were about Andrew Bynum, Fixing the NBA, and random nonsense. Then I got an e-mail from the editor of this glorious site. In it he disclosed various amounts of information that, as staff, we needed to be aware of. The most important of which was what series we would cover.

At the time I was super pumped up. I thought this would be a great opportunity to show the boss my talents. I was assigned 2 series to cover which were the Spurs/Jazz and Celtics/Hawks. If by some miracle of god you actually read my reviews, you learned 2 things…

1)I have a strong hatred for the Hawks. 2) this was obviously my first fore-aye covering specific games. What ensued was nothing short of astonishing.

Not in a good way either.

The very first night of covering sports I stayed up very late. My laptop was out and I was ready to cover some NBA basketball. The Clippers and Grizzlies were on my television around 1 in the morning. LA was in the middle of making a miracle comeback and  I was already half way done with my recap of the game.

Then I got a text from my editor. He wanted to know why I was on the site writing considering I wasn’t covering this game. For some reason I convinced myself this was my game to recap. Not the earlier Celtics game, which would have put me to bed at a reasonable time. I was already frustrated when I got the text. I was so angry that I spent the majority of my time writing a pro-Grizzlies article, expecting them to win, that when the Clips were on that run, I was going to have to throw my 1000 word draft away.

My editor’s text was polite and so was mine. He was my new boss. I needed to impress him. I didn’t want him to know my cage was rattled. I didn’t want him thinking that the new guy on the block was COVERING THE WRONG GAME. I apologized, then I wrote a recap of the Celtics/Hawks game.

I paid very little attention to that game.  In my head, it wasn’t my series to cover so why bother with my notepad and focus on it?Luckily, I did catch the Rondo-mania at the end of game 1. It was my godsend. I did watch the game, but not enough to give great detail to it. Figuring the Rondo suspension was all anybody wanted to hear, I ran with it. My game 1 recap of that series was ALL Rajon Rondo. My first day of covering sports was complete and it was a disaster.

I learned 2 things that day. Pay attention to e-mails and recapping is more than the one biggest story of the game.

Then a few days later, the 2nd games of each series were about to get underway. This time I felt confident, prepared, and knew what games I was supposed to cover. I even bought a yellow legal pad because that’s what sports writers use to take notes! Nothing was going to hold me back this time. I already knew the Hawks were going to beat a Rondo-less Celtics. The article was already manifesting in my brain. So naturally,with my luck, the Celtics came out the winner. Not only do I despise everything Atlanta Hawks, but I am also a huge Rondo apologist. So with the Celtics winning without him, I had to write a pro Rondo-less Celtics article. The only player I still find relevant on Boston was not in uniform for their win. I don’t like Garnett or Paul Pierce. I find the 2 of them to be egomaniacs. Overshadowing my boy Rondo. Yet, I found myself in a situation that I had to write fondly of them. Going back and reading over that article, you can tell my dishonesty in trying to put those guys over. Lesson learned, be honest when recapping games.

I am not going to bore my readers with game by game recap fiascos. In a sentence, the next 2 weeks were as horrible. The 2 series I covered were with teams I did not have an affinity for. While I do think the Jazz will be good going forward, they weren’t ready for playoff basketball. The Celtics/Hawks series was almost as fun as watching Sex & The City reruns with my wife.

I learned a lot of things these past 2 weeks. About 20 of them, which is a megaton for me. So since you were nice enough to read this, continue reading my top 20 things I learned while covering these series.

1. Tim Duncan has bounce left. The announcers in game 1 said this about 23498823948 times. Not just them, but every single play by play person for the whole series. I get it, he is well rested! I covered it in my recaps.
2. I hate the Atlanta Hawks. I never did like them. I always felt they had talent but massively underachieved. They did not disappoint my expectations.
3. Josh Smith is a knucklehead. Javale McGee has had a better postseason then Smith. Smith’s postseason included horrible shots, technical fouls, and a look of befuddlement. Josh has replaced McGee as the NBA’s top knucklehead.
4. The Utah Jazz have a super bright future. As for the present, it has been swept under the rug.
5. Jeff Teague was a budding superstar. Then I praised him, immediately following? A decline in his play. I said the Rondo/Teague match-up was a wash. I was horribly wrong.
6. 10:50pm tip-offs should be banned. I get it, you have to factor in the west coast for viewing. But I work in the morning, on the east. Stern, show love for your boy.
7. Shaquille O’neal is ruining playoff coverage. He was not that funny or insightful as a player. It was a myth, built upon the stupid stuff he would say at press conferences. I just want my Charles and Kenny.
8. Reggie Miller says a lot of dumb things. In one of the Miami Heat games it was mentioned how Lebron James was asking all time greats like Magic and Hakeem for advice. Reggie somehow thought it was a bad idea. That as a competitor he should be doing this on his own. Because as we all know, seeking to get better from great people in your field, is somehow a bad idea.
9. Derrick Favors is going to be really good.
10. I tend to get angry as I write. I bashed the Hawks many times during my coverage of their series. It was unprofessional and I liked it.
11. Watching bad series then having to cover them is no fun. I am a Lakers fan. I missed the first half of almost every one of their games. Due largely to the fact I was covering said bad series.
12. Gordon Heyward is not very good. During late in the regular season many NBA analysts told me he was developing into a good player. But soon as the Spurs series started he shot under 30% and was a non-factor. He is 1/1398 of the player Keith Van Horn was, which is not a good thing.(White on White basketball player comparison! Read my Typecasting article to see how much I hate that)
13. Eric Dampier and Tracy McGrady are still in the league. I knew this before the playoffs. I just didn’t know T-Mac still shot a ton of ill-advised jumpers and Dampier was still a waste of space who got technicals during the rare moments his feet actually hit the hardwood.
14. Quantity does not equal quality. It goes for writing as well as the amount of shots a player takes. Looking at you Melo.(I did not cover the Knicks, but it was just to easy)
15. Fire extinguishers are the toughest fighters of any inanimate objects.(See above)
16. Rajon Rondo is the 2nd best point guard in the league, Tony Parker the 3rd. It’s true, nobody will admit it. Parker is an adulterer and Rondo ill-tempered. So people don’t like them. But their games are better than every point guards out there outside of CP3.
17. Chris Webber is a really solid analyst. He should be where Shaq is. Webber is smart, insightful, and just over achieving. Everything TNT was hoping Shaq would be.
18. My laptop has never been so hot in its existence. It has been on, by average, 20 hours a day.
19. Looking at a box score does not tell the whole story. I read other recaps of the same games I was covering. While some were better written then mine, while others had more insight. I can honestly say I watched every second of every game I was supposed to.(Outside the game 1 Boston disaster) With that being said I noticed a lot of people were basically just copying and pasting box scores. Having 30 points is great. But if it took 30 shots to do it, well then it really isn’t.
20. Nobody covers the NBA like Sir Charles. Whether you find our recaps interesting or insightful, you can agree with me on 1 thing. No other website has such great pictures to go with their articles.

Joseph Nardone is a Writer/Blogger for Sir Charles In Charge who just happened to watch 2 brutal playoff series and cover it for you. You can follow him on the twitter machine@JosephNardone