Klay Thompson Places His Priority on Focus

To the mainstream media in the US–sports and otherwise–the most unpardonable sin is to ‘disrespect’ their ‘stature’. This extends all the way up the food chain to the President. Former President Obama could lob drones all over the Middle East killing plenty of families and few terrorists. But since he fawned all over the media they had no problem with his barbarism. Current President Trump has essentially an identical foreign policy when it comes to turning the Middle East into a parking lot for no good reason but he doesn’t fawn all over the media and so they relentlessly attack him. In reality, both Presidents deserve all the abuse they can get from the ‘Fourth Estate’.

The same concept is at work in the sports media. No matter how a player performs on the court in the eyes of the sports media nothing takes precedence over how said player treats them. This is evident in the recent dust up between Golden State’s Klay Thompson, the local fans and the media. After a nasty loss at home, Thompson took the Oracle Arena fan base to task for a lack of energy in the arena. It’s a valid complaint only not to the local media who eviscerated Thompson for having the temerity to ask the fanbase to gin up a little enthusiasm. Eventually, the media fanned the flames of the pseudo-controversy to the point where he had to publicly apologize.

Thomspon is an All Star and putting up 22.4 points per game. He’s also active on the defensive end, a decent playmaker and a competent rebounder. Most importantly, he cares about the team and how its playing. That should be enough but earlier this week Thompson had to explain to the media nitwits that his first responsibility is to focus on basketball, not genuflecting to them:

“At the end of the day, the love from the media and fans can be fickle, just because it’s so game-to-game. We live in a time where it’s ‘What have you done for me lately?’ You can’t get caught up in the love right now.”

What do you know? Focusing on the task at hand is more important than pandering to the media? Who would have ‘thunk’ it:

“I just try to play my game. It is nice to be talked about in a good light.”

The Golden State Warriors hold a narrow 1/2 game lead atop the Western Conference but remain an overwhelming -200 choice in NBA futures betting to defend their championship.