Goodman isn’t good when it comes to Lawson

Over and over I keep reading about how us sports bloggers are biased or way too partial. You know, we wear our school’s colors sunglasses to look at sports, or anything having to do with sports. We are the ones that have no boundaries and do not have anyone to report to when doing our writing (usually in the basement of our parents’ house). And I can keep going and going and going from all that I have heard that is wrong with the blogging nation, and while I do agree that certain bloggers try to find and then break every rule, there are some that try to be as professional as possible. However, on the other hand, there are the so called professionals that are allowed to write things like the stuff you will read below and think that it’s ok, because they are “pros” in the end. This is what one of these pro’s, Jeff Goodman, said yesterday:

The drama surrounding Ty Lawson is getting old.

You really think Tyler Hansbrough would be sitting out an NCAA tournament game with a sprained big toe?

But North Carolina’s speedy point guard isn’t Hansbrough. He’s an enigma and a major point of frustration for the entire Tar Heels team — even though you’ll never hear Tar Heels coach Roy Williams or any of Lawson’s teammates admit it.

I’m not saying North Carolina will make history and become the first No. 1 seed to ever bow out in the first round, but the Tar Heels’ chances just took a significant hit after Williams basically ruled Lawson out of Thursday’s game against Radford.

How is the fact that the coaching staff and Ty Lawson want to be cautious after the major swelling that happened following the Duke game is a point of frustration? I think it’s a cautious move that allows the junior point guard to then play in the second round game, and have four days to recover. Sounds like a smart move to me, since the top seeds are 96-0 in the first round since the tournament has expanded to 64/65 teams. The dumb move would be to play him today and then not have Lawson for the next round.

“There is a huge, huge probability that Ty will not play tomorrow,” Williams said on Wednesday afternoon.

He put it at about 99 percent.

“I’m good with that,” Radford coach Brad Greenberg said.

Lawson needed to get through half of practice Tuesday, which he was able to accomplish, and go through a full practice on Wednesday.

He did some jogging and shot on the side, but he didn’t get through it. North Carolina assistant Joe Holladay joked that Lawson looked much better, but only because he got a haircut.

Evidently, not quite enough.

Hansbrough, the reigning National Player of the Year, returned to school with one goal in mind: to win a national title and cut down the nets in Detroit.

Just imagine if, somehow, the Tar Heels lost to Radford or in the second round because Lawson wasn’t on the floor?

And who would it hurt the most? You, Mr. Goodman, or him, if the Heels don’t win the tournament. The fact that you are taking an injury as a joke makes you a joke in my mind! The fact that you think you can think that what your words printed make more sense than what the team doctor thinks make you an attention getter, not a professional journalist.

Lawson’s right big toe was the sole focus down in Greensboro leading up to the first-round matchup with Radford.

He walked into the Greensboro Coliseum without a limp, wearing a San Diego Padres hat and carrying a mammoth duffel bag.

When the locker room opened, Lawson was barraged by the media.

Everyone wanted to know about The Toe.

“It’s more stiffness than pain right now. I couldn’t even bend it last week,” Lawson said. “I couldn’t walk. It’s way better now.”

“It’s not as bad as it was before the Duke game,” he added.

OK then, so what’s the problem?

Besides the fact that the main problem is you and this article, let me get back to answering your question. The problem is simple, that it will be UNC’s head coach the one to decide when he is going to utilize Lawson and not you. The problem is that you seem to have written this story because you want the attention that Lawson gets. Is it maybe because when you enter the press room all look up and then look back down and instead when Lawson walks into the press conference they all want to talk to him that has gotten you down? Here is a good idea, try to be as professional in your work as the young man is in his. These pot shots just make you look weak, not Lawson look bad!

The issue is that Lawson didn’t come back to school to win a national title. He returned to Chapel Hill because he had no choice.

He got in off-court trouble with an arrest for drinking and driving and was basically forced to go back to school without a guarantee to go in the first round of last year’s NBA draft.

Lawson is a fun, affable kid who may be the most talented point guard in the nation. But his priorities aren’t the same as Hansbrough or say, Bobby Frasor.

Frasor has been through hell and back with one injury after another, and he’ll likely be the one to replace Lawson in the starting lineup against Radford.

This takes the cake, now you are all knowing about what Lawson could and couldn’t have done last off season? And the pot shot about his off season incident just shows how desperate you are to make a buck off of someone’s back. Yes, Lawson came back and in the process worked his behind to win the ACC Player of the Year.

But it is appauling how many back stabs this article has against someone who can not defend himself. What professional you are Mr. Goodman, I remember once reading the NY Times’ motto “All the news that’s fit to print”, yours should be “anything to make a buck”. If this is the bar you have set for yourself to be a man who is paid for doing what you do, I have to say the standards are very low, even for us “nobodies” that are called bloggers.

If you had done a bit of research you would have found that it sounds like head coach Roy Williams is the one being the most cautious of the two, not Lawson. Once we see Lawson back on the court against the winner of LSU/Butler I am sure that Jeff Goodman will find another problem why North Carolina isn’t a good team, and that is fine, because there will also be plenty of the media to give them credit, as well as us UNC bloggers to stand up to his stupidities.

I leave you with this, because the games are about to begin and secondly (and most importantly) I am sick and tired of thinking about this cheap shot artist who gets paid to write things like this: I wonder if Carolina makes the run and Lawson is a main part of it will you be there to praise him as much as you bashed him? No need to answer, I believe we all know it, you will be finding a way to bash him for playing with a bad toe and risking his career or how the head coach was wrong in playing him or any other stupidities you can to get attention, since, as I said before, you have no other way of getting any.

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