Kim's right. If you expect anything different from Magic you're an idiot. Also he was saying at half "We are making terrible mistakes and playing terrible ball." so he owns it even when they suck.
They could hire the entire Showtime Lakers for their broadcasts and it still wouldn't be as bad as NBC openly rooting for Michael and the Bulls in the late 90s.
They all have a bias. It isn't a big deal. Wilbon & Ditka love Chicago. Berman loves the Bills. You better believe if I were a sports journalist I would be open about my love for the Rockets & Astros. All these people love sports, and have covered specific teams/players over the years and grew up with favorite teams. You can't expect that bias to just disappear over night.
my problem isn't that he's completely partial to the lakers, it's that he demonstrates about as much working knowledge of the current nba as barkley does, but he isn't 1/100th as funny as barkley, so it doesn't really work.
apparently posters are having a difficult time understanding the difference between an analyst having a biased perspective on a team and an analyst that has a "vested" biased perspective the idiot comment was not necessary
My whole point is it is better to know the bias than to have some talking-head pretend to be an impartial analyst. They all have biases and they all generally suck. Very few tv commentators watch enough basketball during the season to know enough about any team other than their favorites. The only substance over the air comes from the ex-coaches, and it's not always great, but at least okay most of the time. And if Magic didn't own a part of the Lakers, he'd still be spewing the same Laker love over the air. It's freakin Magic Johnson. Reggie Miller for 2 years after he retired kept saying "if they're playing their best, the Pacers are one of the best teams in the NBA". And Reggie didn't own the Pacers. It's all the same in terms of level of bias. And I don't think Magic is worried as an owner or someone with $ on the line...he's speaking passionately as a Laker for life and we all know it and it's fine. It's not Magic Johnson the basketball analysts, it's Magic Johnson the Laker great.
Does he even have HIV anymore? I heard years ago they can't detect the virus in his blood with any of the tests but they were not sure if he was cured or if the virus had simply been suppressed down to undetectable levels. Any new news on that? If he is cured why didn't Eazy-E get the cure too?
As far as I understand it the medication that he takes prevents the HIV from showing up in tests (suppressing it and thus being seen as inactive). However at one point they thought he may have been "cured" since the virus did not show up in tests, so he was taken off of the treatment. The virus did return as detectable as the treatment/medication was withheld. So he remains on the treatment, though shows no signs of illness. Perhaps someone else can clarify further.
Moreso than his impartiality, I'm still trying to figure out what Magic actually adds to a broadcast. I'm serious. Barkley is about worthless in terms of basketball, but adds humor. Kenny Smith isn't the greatest but is decent. The various frormer coaches who broadcast provide good insight and info. Then we have Magic... hmm.... he states the obvious and isn't really funny or overly entertaining. Well, he's Magic, I guess. lol.
last time i checked Magic actually held a position in the Lakers F.O. i would say maybe President or VP so of course he would refer to the Lakers as WE
Kenny and Charles never played for the Rockets! What are you even talking about? It was obviously just a conspiracy.
There was a MASSIVE online petition by Magic Show fans to get him back on TV. They must've had naked pictures of Hillary Duff or something.
You cant possibly comparing how Magic represents the Lakers to how Kenny and Charles represent the Rockets?! Magic was the FACE of the lakers for an extended time period. He played exclusively for Los Angeles, and his name is automatically tied to LA. Kenny and Charles on the other hand played on multiple teams. Kenny is definately most well known for his days as a Rocket but seriously...do you think the public really knows who Kenny Smith the player is opposed to Kenny Smith the TNT analyst? And Charles I would think is best known for his days as a Phoenix Sun. On top of that, neither kenny nor charles show any sort of bias towards the Rockets in their commentary. Magic on the other hand was PISSED! He said he was "embarassed" by how the Lakers played and that if Phil Jackson did not give them a tongue lashing, he himself would fly to LA and do it. They should hire Hakeem, Calvin Murphy, or even Matt Bullard (he shows serious Rocket passion) and even up the studio odds if they are going to have Magic on for Laker games.
I disagree that Magic is a poor analyst and doesn't offer much. I generally consider him articulate and insightful when on the air.
