We exist.
The Memphis Grizzlies have always been short-sticked when it comes to coverage on the national level. When Portland won the draft lottery two seasons ago, the national story was, "Poor Boston, they didn't get the first pick," despite the fact that the Griz actually had the worst record that year, and therefore the highest odds (1 in 4) of getting that pick. This year, Rudy Gay was overlooked for the NBA's Most Improved Player award, despite having not only the highest increase in scoring of any player, but also having more impact on his team than any other player in the running (in averaging over 20 ppg, he matched a feat unheard of in Griz country since Sharif Abdur-Rahim did it back in Vancouver).
Just last night my dad called me because he had found an unlabeled VHS tape that had an old Griz game on it, a blowout win over Houston from 2004. Turns out it was the tape I used to record random Griz games on, and after the Houston game, the end of a double-overtime win at Cleveland came on. I remembered that game, because the SportsCenter highlights mentioned several times how LeBron James, then a rookie, had a career high 33 points -- despite the fact that Pau Gasol also had a career high that night: 39. And he won the game, on the road. That little nugget of sports trivia went unmentioned.
The ongoing excuse for how little attention the Grizzlies recieve on the national level has been that we're a small market team. "Only a few small market teams really make it big," they tell us. "You can't expect to be the San Antonio Spurs overnight." "Go fuck yourself," is my response, because we're not that small a market after all.
According to this Infoplease.com study of the most populous U.S. cities, Memphis is the 12th most populous city in the country with an NBA team. That's 12th out of 30. In what way does that make us "small?" We have more citizens than Boston, for Christ's sake. Not to mention Seattle, Atlanta, D.C., New Orleans, Miami, Oakland, and yes, Cleveland, plus ten other cities.
So where's the respect? I remember wondering about this frequently back when that Houston game was recorded. We won fifty games that year, but were rarely mentioned on ESPN. Granted, Hubie got his well-deserved Coach of the Year trophy, and Jerry West won Executive of the Year. But those are awarded after the season is over, and aren't exactly the best way to gain out-of-town fans.
As far as I can tell, the only way to get national attention to this city is for the Griz to make at least one deep playoff run despite a low seeding, and probably two. That, or trade up for Beasley in this year's draft lottery. The latter would be easier, but I don't expect it to happen.
Then again, is that so bad? Lack of national attention to how great the Griz were in '03-'04 allowed them to sneak up on teams all year; they beat the defending Eastern Conference Champion Nets by 47 points, the highest margin of victory by any team in any game all season (it was on that same VHS, and ended with the Stro Show's thunderous alley-oop dunk that is still remembered in Memphis with the same reverence as CDR's posterizing of Kevin Love). The answer is, yes, it is bad. Higher awareness of a team leads to more season ticket sales, more jersey and other merchandise sales, and, most importantly, higher advertising revenue, which a team in Memphis needs, given the terrible state of the NBA's profit-sharing model.
So my message to the national sports media outlets is, hey, we exist! And if you pay attention, we actually have a pretty entertaing team!
Just last night my dad called me because he had found an unlabeled VHS tape that had an old Griz game on it, a blowout win over Houston from 2004. Turns out it was the tape I used to record random Griz games on, and after the Houston game, the end of a double-overtime win at Cleveland came on. I remembered that game, because the SportsCenter highlights mentioned several times how LeBron James, then a rookie, had a career high 33 points -- despite the fact that Pau Gasol also had a career high that night: 39. And he won the game, on the road. That little nugget of sports trivia went unmentioned.
The ongoing excuse for how little attention the Grizzlies recieve on the national level has been that we're a small market team. "Only a few small market teams really make it big," they tell us. "You can't expect to be the San Antonio Spurs overnight." "Go fuck yourself," is my response, because we're not that small a market after all.
According to this Infoplease.com study of the most populous U.S. cities, Memphis is the 12th most populous city in the country with an NBA team. That's 12th out of 30. In what way does that make us "small?" We have more citizens than Boston, for Christ's sake. Not to mention Seattle, Atlanta, D.C., New Orleans, Miami, Oakland, and yes, Cleveland, plus ten other cities.
So where's the respect? I remember wondering about this frequently back when that Houston game was recorded. We won fifty games that year, but were rarely mentioned on ESPN. Granted, Hubie got his well-deserved Coach of the Year trophy, and Jerry West won Executive of the Year. But those are awarded after the season is over, and aren't exactly the best way to gain out-of-town fans.
As far as I can tell, the only way to get national attention to this city is for the Griz to make at least one deep playoff run despite a low seeding, and probably two. That, or trade up for Beasley in this year's draft lottery. The latter would be easier, but I don't expect it to happen.
Then again, is that so bad? Lack of national attention to how great the Griz were in '03-'04 allowed them to sneak up on teams all year; they beat the defending Eastern Conference Champion Nets by 47 points, the highest margin of victory by any team in any game all season (it was on that same VHS, and ended with the Stro Show's thunderous alley-oop dunk that is still remembered in Memphis with the same reverence as CDR's posterizing of Kevin Love). The answer is, yes, it is bad. Higher awareness of a team leads to more season ticket sales, more jersey and other merchandise sales, and, most importantly, higher advertising revenue, which a team in Memphis needs, given the terrible state of the NBA's profit-sharing model.
So my message to the national sports media outlets is, hey, we exist! And if you pay attention, we actually have a pretty entertaing team!
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