| Open Letter To The Toronto Media Authored by Nolan Hand - November 5, 2005 - 5:07 pm
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I can deal with negativity. I can deal with pessimism. I can deal with the so-called “realism.” To its credit, with pessimism one is never truly disappointed. The “journalism” that I struggle to accept is the type packed severely twisted words, inexplicably misquoted facts, and unsubstantiated rumours that serve no purpose other than to cause a stir. And, unfortunately, this is all I’ve been finding in the Toronto basketball media.
I took many lessons from today’s articles. I learned first and foremost that, not only is Steve Buffery a close friend of every MLSE board member, but he is also clairvoyant, and feels he would be negligent to not share his valuable information with the general public. I learned that Dave Feschuk, apparently, has the strength of 10,000 Hulks, crushing Vince Carter’s hand in one fell motion. (Let’s hope he moves on to breaking keyboards some day.) I learned that Doug Smith is a mind-reader, able to blaze through the game-time passion of our Raptors to reveal the deep-seeded hatred each Raptor secretly harbours for every player on his own team.
Welcome to hyperbole, media. Is it familiar territory?
I don’t believe I’m the only one in Canada who sees the problem. It’s been steadily mounting for months upon months and shows few signs of letting up, though I struggle to even imagine how far it could potentially go. (Headline -- November 5th, 2016: Toronto Raptors lose home-opener; Chris Bosh clubs baby seals.) My proposal is practical, simple, and certainly healthy: write something different. For every Mike James on the floor on Friday, there was a Jose Calderon; for every Jalen Rose, there was a Charlie Villanueva. And do you know what the best part of that is? In both cases, the latter will be in Toronto much longer. I’m surprised Mr. Buffery couldn’t see this in his version of the future.
I’m not asking for blind optimism with no regard for the downfalls that plague our team (and they certainly do exist) – I’m simply asking for something else. Anything else. We’ve all read your takes on how bad you think Hoffa is, how Rob Babcock just can’t do his job, and just how one-sided the Vince Carter rewards seem to be. We understand that Jose Calderon is a good guy, that Charlie is out to prove his critics wrong, and that Joey Graham can fly a plane. We’ve read it and we understand.
I’m asking for a brand of journalism that doesn’t take refuge in lies or convenience. That’s all.
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