Monte Poole Must Lose the Ignorance

Monte Poole dropped an article for Inside Bay Area.com the other day titled Commish Stern must learn about Warriors: Despite the losses, Oakland's team is a model franchise.

Yes you read that right- the Warriors are the NBA's "model" team. Are you kidding? Poole's article was both inaccurate and ignorant. We know Poole's reading this, so here goes:

For all the negative portrayals attached to Oakland — some of which are deserved — the Warriors and their fans have remained relatively clean and above it all. No players throwing blows or posing for mug shots. No riots in the stands and no revolt at the ticket office.

If you are going to talk about the negative portrayals of Oakland "some of which are deserved", you better at least drop a line about how poor the social conditions are in most of the city. Schools are underfunded and the government didn't exactly stop crack from ruining parts of the city in the 70's and 80's. You fail to mention the racism that people of color (longtime mainstays and immigrants) in this area face everyday. Your subtle shot at the people of Oakland is unfair.

"No riots in the stands"? Have you watched the Warriors for the past couple of seasons? Warriors fans are by no means unruly or barbaric, but only 2-3 years back the fans threw drinks at Rasheed Wallace and some of the other Trailblazers after their buzzer beater victory. Not exactly Auburn Hills Pistons fans, but still unacceptable. Warriors fans are great, but they aren't perfect.

But if the commish were to swing by the Arena in Oakland in the coming weeks, he might conclude those days are over. He would discover the actual home of the team, he likely would remember the athletes and, more to the point, he would see no hint of this so-called image problem.

Are you kidding? For the past 12 years the Chris Cohan management team has been a joke. During the 2000 All Star game in Oakland (the one where Vince became Vinsanity) Cohan was booed and hissed at vociferously. That seems like an image problem to me.

Spreewell- Carliesimo? It tooks years for the Warriors to get over that stigma. For most of hoops nation outside of the Bay Area, their image of the Warriors is still, well- c-h-o-k-i-n-g.

It is as if the Warriors became the Duke Blue Devils of the NBA, minus the winning. Really, really, minus the winning.

I don't know about that Monte. The only connection between the Blue Devils and the Warriors is an underachieving small forward who just got paid 44 big ones. I'm not a Dukie fan, but the Blue Devils have class. What's classy about the Warriors? Having a loyal fan base that has filled the stands and supported one of the worst sports franchises in all of sports for the past 11 years is not classy. The fans for the most part are the classy ones.

There has been scant controversy since. The most publicized crimes were committed by disgruntled forwards Marc Jackson and Danny Fortson, each of whom loudly aired his frustration — forcing his way out of town — and by Jason Richardson, who argued with his girlfriend.

How about Chris Mills blocking a Blazers bus and challenging the whole team to a fight? Dampier calling out his coach? Add that to your list.

Think about this Monte- the Warriors didn't have much controversy because they weren't relevant. Only Warriors nuts like us cared about the team. The national media and even local media did not cover the team that intensely. Controversy is a function of media and fan attention. You really think McNabb and TO hate each other as much as the media and fans believe. Manufactured.

We don't even have a Warrior with cornrows, much less one pushing his gangsta rap CD.

If you are that shallow to think that not having a player with cornrows makes the Warriors a better team in any way, you shouldn't be writing for a Bay Area media outlet. How does a person's hairstyle make them a better person? For the record, crooks sport all types of hairstyles.

Not exactly cornrows, Monte.

Gangsta rap? Do you even know the first thing about Hip Hop? Probably not. Find me one Shaq, Kobe, or CWebb gangsta rap track. I'm sure you can show me a lot of bad rap tracks, but you aren't going to find much gangsta rap. Are all people named "Monte" ignorant? Guess what- not all rap is negative or gangsta.


Normally I wouldn't criticize a local beat writer. I think the Bay Area media, although far from perfect, is heads and shoulders above most of this country. But Monte Poole- check your facts and check your ignorance out the door.

Post your thoughts in our comments board about Poole's article. Also make sure to send him some Golden State Warriors BLOG luv with an email. Tell him we sent you.