Whoever argues with the kid by insulting him is immature himself. He is obviously wrong about Ming and that has nothing to do with whether Ming scores 5 or 25 points against Shaq. Ming already had 30/16 against the Mavs, holding Bradley to 0 points and the kid is entitled to be bitter about that. Let him have his own opinion, or leave the personal insults out of it at least...
Aargh. I'm pissed. This little kid is taking up a spot in the sports journalism industry from people like me, who are trying to get in!
I think I'll send the Rockets an email to be their youth journalist. I could use some $ if it's involved. By the way, I did send him an email, but I wasn't harsh on him. I referred him over here.
SJC, I'm not gonna argue with a stupid kid, which is why I did send him an email. But the least he could have done is ask his fellow Mavs fans or anybody else (including columnists, analysts, coaches and players) if they think Yao is a bust before posting something like that. I'm not surprised Mark Cuban would put that on his team site because he seems to love attention, no matter how negative, but a responsible journalist doesn't post something like that, especially considering (like somebody already mentioned) that most of it is without proof or are simply wrong. He should know better to post on Yao or even the Rockets after watching only 6 Rox games. Now, having said that let's get back to talking ball, for the real fans and no pretenders.
I'm not going to knock the kid's opinion. What I really want to know is why the Mavs have a 15-year old writing for them.
Good question, actually - and with a huge picture, too, which is also unusual. At least he got some attention by writing something silly. That's also a way to get your name known.
Ben, Ben, Ben, Your column is poorly written and your response on this board is even worse. You know nothing about the Rockets and you are probably upset that the media is talking more about Yao then the entire Dallas team. Oh, and by the way, i have approximately 700 000 unused frequent flyer miles....in case, you don't get my point let me translate: i've been out of my house and seen sunlight many many times....
Hey you could be original and have it posted in Mandarin as well. I bet Ben never thought about that! That's right! In response: So how about a bet on how many points Shawn will score against Yao next time? I can’t wait for Yao to demolish him. If he has more than 4 points in that game on January 21st (and you can hold me to this) I will say I’m wrong and apologize to Shawn Bradley and all of his fans. In fact, I’ll write a column for you about how good Shawn Bradley is because if he can do that to Yao, he’s good, but he won't. I know, bets against Shawn Bradley usually work out real well, but you can hold me to this because, you’ll see, Shawn Bradley is not a good basketball player.
hahhahahha hopefully, they are not from United. I thought you are threaten that you will fly to dallas with those freguent flyer miles hehaahhaah
you went too far, hehehe get ready to write your kiss bradley paper 4 points is very easy to score...
OOOHHHH!!!! I'm terribly sorry as I did not read the link to his column. I would say I represent all of the fans bashing Ben on this thread because the link on the Mavericaks site clearly states Ben Collin's Kid's Column. So all of what he has said pertains to none of us (unless you yourself are a kid). As for all of us at the BBS, we apologize, Ben, for tearing your children's column that you worked so hard on earning. No columnist in his right mind would say this. Kind of makes you idoloize Sarah Morris, the Dodgers fan who has cerebral palsy and writes for their official website.
This thread has really took a turn for the worse. Who cares what a writer for another website thinks of Yao? Why do some of you feel compelled to wrag on a 14 year old just because he does not like Yao? Why are some of you so hell-bent on digging up columnists who write a bad piece on Yao? I don't understand. Guess what folks? No matter how great a player is, he will still have unfavorable opinions written about him. I can guarantee that if you look around, you will see that players like Shaq, T-Mac, Kobe, Vince, Iverson, Francis, etc. all have their detractors. So what? These people are entitled to their opinions. Just like Ben Collins is. Why are some of you taking it so personal? Is it because he is only 15 years old and you think that he doesnt deserve to have his opinion posted on an NBA team's website? Is it because he doesn't see Yao in the same light that we do? Its like a child running to his parents and saying "Mommie mommie!!! Look what that meanie Ben Collins did to me!!!!". Some of you guys are indeed acting like 8 year olds, just like Mr. Collins pointed out. Get over it. You are not going to change his opinion by harassing him or making fun of his adolescent picture (oh by the way ..im sure most of us had a few goofy looking features at that age). Ben came on here and I thought, posted a sincere summary of how he felt. For gosh sakes, the kid was a big enough person to admit that he will post an apology to Yao if he has a good game against Shaq. What more do you guys want? Some of you have this insatiable appetite for negative Yao press. Why? Why bring amateur posts or columns from another fan website that have a negative opinion of our team or our players? Who cares? That would be like someone from another website taking one of our posts that trash one of their players and then posting it on their website. Do any of you realize how silly that looks? This thread has become a feeding frenzy and the victim is an obviously mature teenager who is getting ripped for his personal opinion.
I think adults here, esp. for parents, who insulted Mr. Collins should apologize to him. He is just kid and he will have trouble sleeping himself because he keeps saying other will be sleepless. Most importantly, he is entitled to be stupid by our constitution. I never criticize my son when he says something stupid. He is 3 and his talking (no column yet because he cannot write now) is more logical than Mr. Collins' writing though.
Gee, you don't have to single me out. I didn't attack him. I, sarcastically, admitted how stupid it was in the first place by saying he is just a kid and his opinions don't really matter. I never said anything bad about the kid. I'm shocked daniel, simply shocked you would do this to a person like me. Now I have to go tell your parents........
I don't think, for many posters here (myself included), its a question of this kid writing a clearly negative opinion column of Yao, but rather a poorly written one that twists and ignores the facts. And as a paid columnist for the team's official site - regardless of it being a kid's column - it was both unethical and irresponsible for him to do that. Not to mention that, in his response column, he launched a needless, immature, personal attack on those who criticized him. It doesn't matter if some of his opponents resorted to the same juvenile behavior by attacking him and not his column (and believe me, I wanted to do the same ), he is a "professional" journalist and should be responsbile enough to not do the same....to say nothing of the many grammatical errors in his writing (though that's what copy editors are for, if he has one) Exactly what kind of impression do you think you - Ben - are leaving with your readers spewing out such unintelligent garabage? There is a reason you rarely see kids/teenagers/young adults in journalism or most other professions at such an early age. It takes experience, skills (natural and acquired), education (high and college) and maturity to do the job you have "earned" effectively. In those rare cases, a child prodigy may be found. But a prodigy you are not. That is not to say your writing is, in the word you used to describe Yao's game, awful. It is decent and with more education and experience it might get better. But for now on, please, please please, think before you right, get your facts right and maybe your opponents won't be too hard on you.
I just tried to praise you because you are the first one to apologize to Mr. Collins even though you actually didn't say bad things about him. BTW, Mr. Collins, if you happen to read this, you may call MJ a bust for best exposure nationally.
OMG!! The kid is only 13 years old! He does have some awry views but the kid can write. Hes gifted. Hes creative and knows how to get his point across with witty sarcasm and what not. Perhaps, somebody is editing it for me? Maybe he wrote: GeE GoLLy...MiNg DuNkeD ThE BalL oN Mr.BrAdLey, MiNg sCoRed 30 PtS aNd gRabBed 16 ReBoUnDs. GoTta Go, PoKeMoN iZ On... And some mavs writer just edited it
