"People had us winning the championship last year when we got off to that 6-0 start," Hawks captain...

"People had us winning the championship last year when we got off to that 6-0 start," Hawks captain and All-Star Joe Johnson said and then laughed. "Everybody needs to calm down and just keep working. It’s a long season, man. Every coach I’ve ever had tells you that [the season] is a marathon and not a sprint. And that’s true. Don’t get me wrong, you’ve got to play with urgency. But you also have to keep the season in perspective."

Comments

If you want to continue your Joe Johnson as blogger

train of thought, I think this is the point where you embolden “People had us winning the championship…” and follow it up with…

LINK?

by Hoopinion on Nov 3, 2009 12:27 PM EST reply actions

to his credit

i do remember titling that first post after the Orlando victory last season “we are going 82-0!”

which could easily be misconstrued if you had never read anything I had ever written, did not know what basketball was, and could not recall the correct definition of “championship”

by hawksdawgs on Nov 3, 2009 12:37 PM EST up reply actions

And by the time they'd won 6 games

Josh Smith was out indefinitely and the last win had been a relatively unencouraging shootout against the Bulls. No one had them winning the championship.

As my first doctor told me, the voices in my head do not technically count as “people.”

by Hoopinion on Nov 3, 2009 12:41 PM EST up reply actions

Wouldn't this be the Dr. Jekyll?...

this sounds like the reasonable, grounded Joe while the post game reactions are his Mr. Hyde.

by Mr. Sanchez on Nov 3, 2009 12:45 PM EST reply actions

i said jekyll

i think

or do i have a split personality…

by hawksdawgs on Nov 3, 2009 4:19 PM EST up reply actions

Joe should probably

decline to be interviewed immediately after the game. He needs to take at least a plane ride to formulate his thoughts so he doesn’t sound suicidal after losses and delusional after wins.

by Co Co on Nov 3, 2009 12:47 PM EST reply actions

Seriously, I cannot tell you how many posts I’ve read that wanted Joe to be a more vocal leader. Now that he’s emerged a little bit, we’re crucifying him for everything he has to say. First it was the whole tongue-kissing the fat girl for $5000.00 post on his twitter page. After the backlash, he promptly closed that down. Who here on this site can honestly say they felt warm and fuzzy about this team after the embarrassing loss to Orlando and the 3rd quarter massacre against the Lakers? I sure as hell didn’t. I’m not sure why we keep harping on this subject. At the end of the day, it all comes down to putting up or shutting up. I honestly prefers that he does both.

by dstdeelite on Nov 3, 2009 1:03 PM EST reply actions

It's not the fact that he's speaking in general...

…but more the wild extremes at which he is displaying suddenly when that has never been the case before. Personally I think he’s over-reacting in both cases. First, it was a preseason game and it means nothing so there’s no need to blast the team over it. Now it’s just the third game of an 82 game season, there will be more wins and definitely more losses to experience so why blast the team like he did?

At this point he’s simply feeding us material to keep us busy.

"This is America, if we can’t self-righteously look down on others and blame them for our faults, the commies win."-----Cormican on Bleeding Green Nation w/r/t fans overreacting to the Eagles signing of Michael Vick

by Jesse28 on Nov 3, 2009 1:47 PM EST up reply actions

I don't think he's overreacting

Not even in the preseason game….Like my mom always used to say, “Put out like you’re gonna hold out.” In basketball lingo, play with intensity for 82 games for 48 minutes. He could have chosen his words more carefully though. Maybe he saying these things as a rallying cry. Who knows? We all know how writers can sometimes misconstrue your words.

by dstdeelite on Nov 3, 2009 4:31 PM EST up reply actions

So wait, what?

I never heard about the kissing fat girls for 5grand. Did they pay or was he paying them?

by Mr. Sanchez on Nov 3, 2009 3:27 PM EST up reply actions

He was paying

He posted on his twitter page that he made a bet with his homeboy that his homeboy would tongue kiss a random girl for $5k. Apparently the homeboy did and the girl just happened to be of the plus size variety. After Sekou broadcasted that, some fans went bananas! The played the role model card. They played the “stick to basketball card.” They played the “you need to be working on your jumpshot rather than paying your buddy five thousand dollars to kiss a random chick” card. It was quite a show. I followed him on twitter and for three straight months he said nothing. Then all of a sudden, bam! He had a live webcast and everything. The only things I gathered from the webcast are: 1. He has female homies 2. He loves Arkansas 3. He has a dog. 4. He’s still very much a shy guy even though he was hosting the webcast. 5. He’s single. I was hoping he’d talk about basketball, but the women that were hosting it with him we too much of a distraction. Needless to say he didn’t talk basketball.

by dstdeelite on Nov 3, 2009 4:26 PM EST up reply actions

I wouldn't say we're crucifying the man

Just having a little fun at his expense, based on his emotional extremes. I don’t think anyone is implying that JJ doesn’t know basketball (though this team has extreme fluxes between smart/steady play and very poor play), but the emotional roller coaster of his quotes is as reactionary as a fair weather fan.

Let’s face it, very few active players are really able to provide good quotes about basketball, and about their team. This is partly because they’re too close to the situation to be objective, and partly because they’re purposely censoring themselves, trying to limit foul language, dense basketball lingo, and information which might remove a competitive advantage. In this, I find it amazing that Josh Smith manages this very well, but has a tough time with providing consistent play.

by Bronn on Nov 3, 2009 3:34 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs