Journalism ethics

One day I plan on being a sports journalist. My complicated plan to get there (step 1: get a job at a newspaper) is admittedly taking longer than I thought it would, but I'm forging on. Especially in light of some information I picked up at ESPN's True Hoop blog today:

Let me just step aside here for a minute and say that there is a ton of swag, and other kinds of assaults on journalistic ethics, in basketball.

Well. The writer, Henry Abbot, goes on to explain that the Portland Trailblazers sent "gift boxes" to NBA writers all over the country to um... persuade them to support Brandon Roy's All-Star bid. Included: a Flip video camera and a car satellite navigation system. 

Crikeys. 

While Abbot admits he totally loved the navigation system, he ended up giving it away in the name of journalistic ethics. 

Anyway, I thought the post was an interesting look into the world of high-profile sports writing. 

And while I'm here, I might as well comment on the NBA action last night.

The Jazz looked terrible (114-93 loss to the Thunder???), the Lakers kinda got robbed against the Spurs. But just kinda. I must admit Kobe's performance was excellent... 29 points on 11-of-18 shooting, 10 assists shows Good Kobe was present a lot more than Bad Kobe. 

That said, I can never root for The Black Mamba, mainly because of the attitude he displayed last night. Late in the game, after a disappointing defensive possession, the Lakers called a timeout. On the way back to the bench, a towel boy handed a towel to Kobe, who knocked the towel from the kid's hand and yelled something. I understand you're mad, Mr. Bryant, but don't take it out on your own staff. 

And then after making a 3-pointer to give the Lakers the lead with under 30 seconds to go, he went galloping back down the court, mimicing the fact that he had uh... humongous... cajones? Can I write that here? to the Spurs fans. Just classy all the way around. 

A buddy of mine I was watching the game with commented that he'd like to see that kind of passion from a Jazz player or two, minus the sense of "I alienate my team and hate everyone" that Kobe gives off. 

Just the point of view of an extremely biased Utah fan.