NBA Hall of Fame trainwreck ... Peter Vecsey

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

This must have been a honey of a speech, er rant ...
http://thebiglead.com/?p=20682#more-20682

* Vecsey didn’t thank anyone (not even his family), but in his 30-minute speech (everyone else kept theirs in the 5-10 minute range), he basically bragged about himself
* He fired a barb at Doug Collins (who was in attendance accepting an award), and then strangely said (paraphrasing) “Vivian Stringer … I don’t know who you are …”
* He told a senseless story about John Stockton where the punchline was something to the effect of, “… I went to Utah and Stockton gave me nothing … I ended up writing that Stockton’s given it up more than Madonna…” at which point the camera focused on Stockton, whose facial expression was one of incredulity; the audience laughed, and Vecsey thought they were laughing at his joke

From Jeff's blog on the trainwreck...

http://jeffpearlman.com/?p=2998

[Ace]

Maybe he thought it was a roast.

[bob]

I'm still trying to come to grips with Vecsey being in the HOF. Just don't get it given his body of work.

[Boom_70]

As the NBA became less interesting to watch Vecsey became less interesting to read. Bob Ryan he is not.

I still get a chuckle though over the nickname that he came up with for Bill Cartwright -- "Medical Bill"

[Mizzougrad96]

He made a joke about Vivian Stringer?

Mark Whicker wants to know why we're not making a bigger deal out of that.

[Small Town Guy]

I still often get a kick out of Vecsey's columns. But this sounds like a complete disaster. Here's S.L. Price's story on the Vecsey brothers from a decade ago.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1013062/index.htm

Doug Collins inducted because of his work as an announcer? Yikes. How many times can you start a sentence, "Marv, back when I coached Michael..."

[Mizzougrad96]

Vecsey is very good at what he does. That goes without saying.

I don't think I've ever met someone who likes him as a person.

[broadway joe]

I don't even think he's very good at what he does. He's always been an awful writer, and even in his prime he was overrated as an information guy, because he missed about as often as he hit on his "scoops." For at least the last 5 or 6 years, he seems to have pretty much given up on providing much inside information at all, in favor of writing columns full of painfully bad jokes and puns. Vecsey couldn't hold the jock of real HOF-caliber NBA journalists like McCallum or Bob Ryan.

[spud]

[Bubbler]

What the hell are the standards for induction into the BBHOF? Doug Collins as a broadcaster? The universally hated Peter Vescey? Who voted him in if he's so clearly despised?

All I know is that I sporadically covered the Pacers from 1993-2002, and given how easy it is to get in the HOF, I'm going to wait by the phone. Failing that, I'm going to go on some Harry Carson-like crusade to get my props.

[Mizzougrad96]

I don't even think he's very good at what he does. He's always been an awful writer, and even in his prime he was overrated as an information guy, because he missed about as often as he hit on his "scoops." For at least the last 5 or 6 years, he seems to have pretty much given up on providing much inside information at all, in favor of writing columns full of painfully bad jokes and puns. Vecsey couldn't hold the jock of real HOF-caliber NBA journalists like McCallum or Bob Ryan.

He's a good reporter. I agree, not on the level of McCallum or even some of the best beat writers. The problem is, most of the best NBA beat writers are now columnists. 

[broadway joe]

He's really not that good a reporter. He threw rumors up against the wall that often proved untrue, and he whiffed on big stories. I think it was Reilly who first broke the story that Jordan was considering coming out of retirement, and instead of checking it out, Vecsey absolutely mocked it in print as a ridiculous rumor. Wrong.

The best that can be said for him, and this is probably what got him in the Hall, is that he was one of the pioneers of the three-dot, inside info NBA column. Even if he was often wrong, he was one of the first to let readers in on the grapevine, much like Gammons in baseball. But once other guys started doing it and doing it better as more accurate, principled reporters, he was done.

[Mizzougrad96]

Here's my Vecsey story...

 I'm at a NBA playoff game about a decade ago. I had never met or spoken to Vecsey before.

He comes over to me in the press room shouting.

"Who the fuck do you think you are reporting something like that? It figures, you're just a kid. I should have known. How could you have written that bullshit. God damn, what a fucking moron."

He storms out of the press room.

I was at the game writing a sidebar and at that point had not ever written a NBA story. I was 23 years old and was a GA/Baseball writer.

Our columnist comes over.

"What'd you do?"
"Fuck if I know..."

"Have you ever met him before?"
"No."

Our columnist runs off after him to find out what is going on.

At this point, there is a long line of people I've never met coming up to me telling me stories about what an asshole this guy is, how nobody likes him and how I should have knocked him out.

Our columnist comes back.

"He thought you were someone else."
"Who did he think I was?
"He didn't say."

I figured I would get an apology, but didn't.




 

[Hoo]

Doug Collins inducted because of his work as an announcer? Yikes. How many times can you start a sentence, "Marv, back when I coached Michael..."

Doug Collins is turrble and hooorrible, depending on whether you want to reference Barkley or Walton. Just painful to listen to. He's one of those former athlete/coach broadcasters who obviously knows way more about the game than nearly all his viewers but has spent his whole TV career repeating the same 15 or 20 cliched observations.

[Small Town Guy]

Doug Collins inducted because of his work as an announcer? Yikes. How many times can you start a sentence, "Marv, back when I coached Michael..."

Doug Collins is turrble and hooorrible, depending on whether you want to reference Barkley or Walton. Just painful to listen to. He's one of those former athlete/coach broadcasters who obviously knows way more about the game than nearly all his viewers but has spent his whole TV career repeating the same 15 or 20 cliched observations.

Don't forget, Marv, the first three minutes of the second half are so important. And a team has to finish strong in the last two minutes.

He says those things every game. Every quarter. Sometimes even combines his favorites to, "Marv, when I coached Michael, he had that instinct to know to take over the last two minutes of a quarter so we'd finish strong."

[Boom_70]

Here's my Vecsey story...

 I'm at a NBA playoff game about a decade ago. I had never met or spoken to Vecsey before.

He comes over to me in the press room shouting.

"Who the fuck do you think you are reporting something like that? It figures, you're just a kid. I should have known. How could you have written that bullshit. God damn, what a fucking moron."

He storms out of the press room.

I was at the game writing a sidebar and at that point had not ever written a NBA story. I was 23 years old and was a GA/Baseball writer.

Our columnist comes over.

"What'd you do?"
"Fuck if I know..."

"Have you ever met him before?"
"No."

Our columnist runs off after him to find out what is going on.

At this point, there is a long line of people I've never met coming up to me telling me stories about what an asshole this guy is, how nobody likes him and how I should have knocked him out.

Our columnist comes back.

"He thought you were someone else."
"Who did he think I was?
"He didn't say."

I figured I would get an apology, but didn't.




 

My story from way back. Playing in summer hoops league that Vecsey played in. We are playing Vescey's team. Teammate of mind and one of Vecsey's teammates get in aggressive tussle over rebound. Ref blows whistle - Vecsey comes over and slugs our guy in the face. Teammates grab Vecsey and we grab our guy before bedlam ensued. Clearly he was a real hot head on the hoops court.

[Ace]

Boom,

Why didn't you punch Vecsey?

[Small Town Guy]

I think his writing on today's game has gotten a bit old and the bitterness can overwhelm it - although I'm still a sucker for the nicknames; I can't help it.

Where I do think he's still really good is that he often writes quite extensively about guys from the NBA's past. Whether it's a story on Roy Boe - the old ABA owner - a series of stories on Cotton Fitzsimmons when he was dying, or a story on the Lakers team whose plane crashed, he still does provide stories I don't see anywhere else.

[broadway joe]

My story from way back. Playing in summer hoops league that Vecsey played in. We are playing Vescey's team. Teammate of mind and one of Vecsey's teammates get in aggressive tussle over rebound. Ref blows whistle - Vecsey comes over and slugs our guy in the face. Teammates grab Vecsey and we grab our guy before bedlam ensued. Clearly he was a real hot head on the hoops court.

Then there's the story -- I don't know if it's apocryphal or not -- about a pickup game in which Vecsey was on the same team as Albom. Mitch was apparently shooting almost every time down the court, and Vecsey told him that if he took one more jumper, he would bust him in the face. Mitch launched another one on the next possession, and sure enough, Vecsey slugged him. Like I said, I can't vouch for the truthfulness of the story, but it sure sounds in character for both guys.

[bob]

I don't even care about his character, which sucks. All I know is that he wrote so much crap over the years that he gave a bad name to the really good journalists. This guy is no Hall of Famer.

[badmoon]

Can't vouch for that one. Never saw Mitch speak to other reporters, let alone play ball. But I played in a media game during the Finals somewhere in the Bad Boys era in Detroit when Pete and Jere Longman, then of the Philadelphia Inquirer, got into a fist fight. Mike Abdenour, the trainer, came out and cleaned things up. "It's this damn court," he said. There were a lot of fights in Auburn Hills then. Like Pete as an NBA lifer. As a Hall of Famer, don't think so. In fact, it's a joke.

[tapintoamerica]

I don't know the guy, but it sounds very much like they let him in because they were afraid he'd beat them up.

[Cousin Jeffrey]

He's really not that good a reporter. He threw rumors up against the wall that often proved untrue, and he whiffed on big stories. I think it was Reilly who first broke the story that Jordan was considering coming out of retirement, and instead of checking it out, Vecsey absolutely mocked it in print as a ridiculous rumor. Wrong.

The best that can be said for him, and this is probably what got him in the Hall, is that he was one of the pioneers of the three-dot, inside info NBA column. Even if he was often wrong, he was one of the first to let readers in on the grapevine, much like Gammons in baseball. But once other guys started doing it and doing it better as more accurate, principled reporters, he was done.

Man, I forgot it was Reilly that broke the story and how he got lambasted by the so-called experts. That was back when Reilly was still the shit. He had a great few years on that back page.

As for Vecsey, as a casual NBA fan, I dig his stuff from time to time. It makes me laugh on occasion. I agree with whomever he said he's great on NBA history. Let's face it, those kind of reporters, the ones who actually knew players, execs, etc. on a personal, even level, are dying out, or are dead.

[SockPuppet]

If the Vecsey punching Albom story is true, it's the only reason I have to like Vecsey.

[Bullwinkle]

I don't know the guy, but it sounds very much like they let him in because they were afraid he'd beat them up.

That's the path Doyel will take