Agree with JV. We are talking about the fans, not the media. Francis is the most popolar Rocket with the casual fans because of his flashiness. Serious fans demand more production (playoffs). Every franchise player gets the heat by their serious fans when the team doesn't produce. I don't think Francis is treated especially harshly in that regard. And his personality doesn't help much either. Having said that, the Yao factor is truly unique for Steve's situation. He has the added task of making the Yao fans happy, which is not easy. And his poor decision making on the floor doesn't help much either. I think MM said he was "treated with kid gloves" BY COMPARISON. As for Pippen, I'm totally biased. I hated him with a passion before, during, and after he's a Rocket. So I'm not gonna pretend I'm giving objective view on any issue about Pippen.
This is exactly what I was thinking, Pippen wasn't hated until the b*stard wanted a trade, other than that, it seemed like everything was cool. The year after he was gone, everybody here totally hated his guts. Francis wasn't criticized in his first 2 years or so, and why should he be? He was new to the league and he had those those migraine headaches. But after that, I've never felt seen so much animosity like that against one player by his own team in a while. This year especially has been horrible for Francis. The thing is Francis is still here and a lot of people hate his guts. I think that's way different from Pippen.
I think Memphis fan does not love Pau Gasol. Minnesota fan will sometimes whack Wally. The Jailblazers have an assortment of ne'r-do-wells, but Stodemire must be the most despised. Sonics had Vin Baker. Then the C's did. Cleveland had Shaun Kemp. Magic fan probably hates that Dukie. Utah fan has no love for Tags. KVH has had trouble making friends. There's a few. It's nothing new.
i guess i have a different memory of it...pip was only here 50 games or so...but he so vastly underperformed for his contract..then the whole dribble the ball off you foot in the waning moments, and then blame the loss on barkley debacle...man, it didn't take me long at all to not like the guy. it wasn't just after he left. he is easily the rocket i've most disliked...and the sports radio guys here literally throttled that dude. i think my point is that in most markets...if a team doesn't make the playoffs for 4 consecutive years...and the star player continues to make the same mistakes...and then tells the fans that since he's shooting 40% (took him over 1/2 a season to get there, and even then it was short-lived) they can kiss his ass...then he kinda gets what he deserves. if more people in houston were paying attention to the rockets right now, this guy would be getting basted by the general houston population. i think the response has been more of a shrug of the shoulders, and that speaks volumes for general fan interest in the local NBA product right now. by the way...when i was in boston i went to red sox game...there was a guy there with a shirt on that had Vin Baker's salary on the front with the words "Vin Baker Sucks" on the back. francis isn't getting that at all.
Gotta agree with the Shawn Bradley idea. When he plays well (yes, he has played well a time or two) they're always complaining that 'it's about time,' and the rest of the time they rip the dude apart. Oh well, he's rich--he can take it.
I'm wondering if T-Mac is feeling the heat in Orlando yet. Judging from his recent flare-ups, I think he must be. Have the Magic fans turned on him yet? Do they want to ship him out of town? I know a lot of Sixers fans, and 8 out of 10 of them look at me cross-eyed when I ask if A.I. is tradeable. Those guys are loyal to that dude—and Philly fans are notoriously up and down. I see that some in the Philly media have started a heavy A.I. backlash now that the Sixers are struggling. As for players like Stoudemire, or Van Horn... I should've clarified my original post. It's easy to hate on a marginal-to-decent player or an underachiever. I'm talking about All-Star caliber players.
Cato was called 'the Hallucination' by Fran Blinebury one time Matt Maloney received alot of hell once he got that contract Christian Laettner has been hated by both fans and his own teammates.
I think it depends on how much money they make too.. Tmac fans feel he is in a bad position with Grant Hills contract tying up so much money. Plus he took them to the playoffs last year which is always a nice bonus (they were overperforming) I think they are about right where they should be in terms of talent vs. record. If Philly keeps losing and the media starts to stir thing's up people will be calling for AI's head on a platter. Winning heals all wounds.. people will take crap from a player if their team/organization wins. Once you start losing its a different animal.. personally i think the media plays the biggest part in all of this. If a writer constantly bashes a player of course the normal population will be swayed by that. Thats why being good to the media is part of the game and also increases the hype. If no one really wrote articles bashing SF3 do you think the sentiment here would really be that biased against him? He makes mistakes, so do other players but the media playing it up just compounds the problem. J
