June 12th, 2012
It’s one thing to advocate for socialized medicine, orthodox diversity, and a Department of Peace, but now the Nation has gone too far. They’re rooting for . . . the Miami Heat!
I would argue that how we choose to see the Heat and Thunder is a litmus test. It’s a litmus test that reveals how the sports radio obsession with villainizing twenty-first-century athletes blinds us to the swelling number of villains who inhabit the owner’s box. And in Oklahoma City, we have the kinds of sports owners whose villainy should never be forgotten.
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This makes me shudder at their potential future innovations, whether it’s a politicized horoscope or restaurant critic. Was the sports equivalent of Joe Conason really needed?
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The real, lowdown juiceboxy thing about it is the righteous regurgitation of the storied Sonics saga of lo these past 3-4 years.
So Clay Bennett’s a piece of work, but compared to the breed? Put aside the logical-rhetorical arithmetic, it’s as if he just discovered this particular dimension. One could learn as much from a single semi-sober viewing of North Dallas Forty as from his robust c.v. of publications. Thus is it more apt as reinforcement of JL’s capitalism critique: the market for leftist hackery w/ veneer of sportsy themes materialized, and by God did this fellow energetically fill it, the minute he could get to Washington. At least Krauthammer’s horrible baseball predictions are relatively non-ideological.
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CPW, it will not surprise you to know that one of the possible baby names JVL came up with before CJP arrived was Draco. Just saying.
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To write for The Nation, one must be often wrong, but never uncertain.
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I’m actually amazed that the Nation got through that entire story without any complaints about Chesapeake Energy & hydraulic fracturing.
The editors have obviously lost a step. Like D-Wade.
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Meanwhile, there’s the sky-high-dudgeon reaction to “Bryce Harper Conservative Hero”
WershovenistPig June 12, 2012 at 4:06 pm
So the OKC owners are villains. I’ll take the Nation guy at his word.
How about a quick analysis of the owner of the Miami Heat from a perhaps stereotypical Nation perspective?
Mickey Arison inherited and grew his billions owning Carnival Cruise Lines. Billionaires, especially billionaires-who-inherit, are generally villains, unless they are named George Soros or Warren Buffett.
The cruise industry’s labor and environmental practices, as well as its penchance for sailing under the flags of permissive countries like Liberia would make Arison a villain, too.
Accordign to campaignmoney.com, Arison gives political donations to Republicans! And like any smart executive, to Democrats, too. Such wishy-washy cynicism is most definitely villainous.
And looking at Wikipedia, I found this dastardly discussion on how public money was wasted on the Miami Heat’s home arena:
“The Miami Heat has not had to pay to use the $213 million-venue, which sits on $38 million of county land; the county has paid $64 million in operating subsidies. “It was never a good deal,” says former Miami-Dade Commissioner Katy Sorenson, who opposed the new arena in 1996. “There are certain politicians who just get stars in their eyes and don’t really think about what the real cost is going to be.””
In conclusion, from a lefty p.o.v., both the Miami Heat and OKC Thunder are owned by evil.
So JVL, where does that leave you? You’re the kind of guy who roots for the Emperor over the rebellion, Voldemort and Slytherin over Harry Potter. Personally, I’d rather just ignore the NBA altogether and watch the Phillies continue to suck.