DeRozan decides dis is how it’s done
Sports Illustrated is well known for its cover jinx, but it is one of the magazine’s recent player rankings that is getting some credit for DeMar DeRozan’s scorching hot start.
The Raptors shooting guard notably took offence to being ranked 46th by the magazine at the NBA season’s outset, and responded with a sassy tweet — including the hashtag #ProveEm.
Raptors announcers tend to never let things go, and analyst Leo Rautins harped on it during the home opener, which SI’s online Extra Mustard picked up on under the headline: “The Raptors really aren’t going to forget where we ranked DeMar DeRozan, huh?”
It’s a good story, although not as good as DeRozan’s incredible start — leading the league in scoring through five games. He has gotten better every year, and fans and the front office should be delighted that it is coming at the start of his monster $140-million contract.
There is a long history of athletes taking perceived slights and using them as motivation, including many apocryphal ones surrounding Michael Jordan. As for rankings anger, it’s usually video game ratings that irk athletes. A quick look at NBA 2K17 shows DeRozan with an 87 — one spot above teammate Kyle Lowry (who is No. 14 in SI’s top 100).
For athletes, there will always be an argument — overrated, underrated, disrespected somewhere.
The consensus on DeRozan’s superstar play has been that it can’t last, and might perhaps be a little overlooked in a season already rife with great stories: from Anthony Davis in New Orleans to the Kevin Durant/Russell Westbrook soap opera and more. Which is great, as some fear the perceived inevitability of a Cavaliers-Warriors final rematch might deflate interest in the game this season.
Locally, another bright spot is that the Raptors’ close loss to the Cavs on Oct. 28 averaged 301,000 viewers on Sportsnet, which is a nice bump for an early-season game as the Raps have long been slow starters when it comes to viewership. It could bode well that the team is growing its fan base with success over the past few years.
It’s been a good week for current and former Saturday Night Live (and Ghostbusters) cast members when it comes to moonlighting as sports media commentators.
Last weekend, Leslie Jones stumbled onto the MLS playoffs on TV and immediately started a stream of hilarious tweets and video commentary — with plenty of it about how attractive she thought some of the players were. Toronto FC coach Greg Vanney, in particular, got some love — described by Jones as “fine ass.” Many sports sites got a kick out of Jones, who was invited to the Rio Olympics by broadcaster NBC after tweeting about the Games.
Being a cynical sports media writer, I checked with MLS about whether Jones’ tweeting was a form of stealth marketing — which honestly, for a league that struggles for attention, would have been a brilliant move — but they replied that it was unexpected and unprompted.
Jones has also been invited to Sunday’s game between Vanney’s Reds and New York City FC at Yankee Stadium. We look forward to seeing what she comes up with next.
Last week’s TFC game averaged 238,000 viewers on TSN, which is a fantastic number for that sport. Sunday is an incredibly busy sports day, so it will be interesting to see if it holds, or potentially grows.
On the other end of the SNL comedian spectrum, Bill Murray and his Cubs fandom received reams of coverage, culminating with the actor getting soaked by champagne while interviewing Cubs architect Theo Epstein and the team in the clubhouse for Fox Sports after their first World Series title in 108 years. It actually prompted a Reddit thread called “The ridiculous amount of coverage dedicated to Bill Murray’s Chicago Cubs fandom.”
Considering that it only has three responses, we think that echoes ours: You can never have enough Bill Murray.