I admire Big Al’s self-control
Less than two weeks ago, Brian T. Smith did a glowing piece about Big Al’s rise and how he’s growing into a leader.
Four days ago, he sent out this tweet, which ironically I found totally unprofessional:
This would be the first of many, many unobjective, condemning, conjecturey tweets/articles about Al. To make matters worse, these stories have been picked up by the national media and “Big Al is disgruntled” / “Jefferson feuding with Corbin” headlines are all over the place.
I get that it’s Smith’s job to ask questions and write stories, but there’s a problem when he becomes the story. I seriously couldn’t believe my ears as I listened to the audio from practice today. This is the actual conversation that took place between Al, Smith, and other Jazz beat writers at practice:
Thanks to @cowhideglobe for figuring out the last few lines. Original audio at KALL.
great great post, i’m very amazed by how Smith has been treating Al the last week or so, it’s really weird, and i’m completely tired of his attitude. I’m glad someone adressed the topic :)
thanks!
thanks for reading, Chile :)
I always read the blog, best Jazz site ever… it’s a tie actually with SLCDunk :P
Does this guy get that if he doesn’t build a good working relationship with the players, he won’t be getting anything good to report on? Speculation will only work for so long…once you’re wrong long enough, nobody listens.
OMD I fall more in love with this blog every single day! That interview was priceless and no one could have done a better job of making Smith look like an idiot than the way Smith did it himself. What a fool.
Thanks for the great post.
Oh, and yes…his tweet about sad act by Jefferson was indeed, the unprofessional part. Al did exactly what he should have: he pulled a Doc Rivers!
Moni- Great write up man! I was also in shock when I listened to the audio but I didn’t know the voices well enough to know that Smith was the one being the douchebag. I appreciate you breaking it out like this in the transcript. I understand that he’s being paid to do his job and ask the tough questions but I think that his views were overly subjective (read- not professional) and it made me wonder in my mind, “does this guy have some kind of a personal issue with jefferson?”. If I may be a little subjective myself, I wonder if Smith got shafted by Al recently and Smith is holding a little grudge. If the man can’t be objective than maybe they ought to put someone else on the Jazz for next season. Last thing we want is Smith creating contention in an already fragile situation.
Personally, I thought that the move by Jefferson was great! As a fan, I loved it! Al’s been real professional ever since it was announced he was traded here and I love his attitude. That second game that he had against Boston when he got an attitude was one of my favorite this year. I think the Jazz definitely needed a little more emotion to get them going. I actually felt like, in that situation, getting in the ref’s face a little and getting double T’ed up WAS a leader-type move. That was my take away.
Fantastic story,
I love the website too (the one visiting every day from Sydney).
This stoush was brewing from when Al brushed the reporters and BTS got upset last time. The fans hopefully realise this. I have noticed how much Al has improved over the season – his D still could improve but the system makes him look worse than he is.
I hope Al is here long term as our centre, with Favors at the 4 and Milsap off the bench.
great stuff Moni – thanks for this post. i rarely comment on Trib stories but have as late with Smith. you ought to post a link to this . . . unbelievable.
Thanks to Robert, udowado, John (from Sydney! Cool!), and jazzed for reading (and agreeing lol), and thanks to SurlyMae for the love :)
WOW!! What the Hell is wrong with Smith? Does he have it out for Al? Is he trying to create stories, so he has a job? I have words, but they are not pc so I’ll stop there!
I Love Al’s last comment! Absolutely Loved It!!
I feel sorry for Al, but I feel he could have prevented this by talking to the media in the first place. Saying, “It was a tough loss, I don’t feel up to questions, and I’ll surely talk to you all later.” Of course Smith would have still spun that into something this it is not! Who can blame him for not wanting to talk to the media?
Wow, this is the same crap that led to the D-Will trade. D-bags like Smith must be too bored with real stories so they need to make stuff up.