The Whiner of the Week, Kevin Love

[mrhockey89]

Got this tip off the Barreiro podcast, but this article kind of explains why we shouldn't be surprised how Love's demeaner throughout the last few years here awaiting free agency. It's an article from 2007, but worth reading I think.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/steveduin/2007/11/whiner_of_the_week_kevin_love.html

[Jester1534]

Got this tip off the Barreiro podcast, but this article kind of explains why we shouldn't be surprised how Love's demeaner throughout the last few years here awaiting free agency. It's an article from 2007, but worth reading I think.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/steveduin/2007/11/whiner_of_the_week_kevin_love.html

There's been a lot of bashing of love today, that was like the cherry on top Hockey lol

[Lipoli390]

Thanks for posting, Hockey. Once a whiner always a whiner.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Great find, Hockey...very revealing about the craziness of the Love family.

I have pointed out a number of times on this board that while I respect Love's incredible basketball skills and cheer for him to do well, he has always been a difficult guy for me to like. In some ways I'm sympathetic toward Kevin because of the extraordinarily dysfunctional family he comes from...both his Dad and Uncle Mike are weird and disliked by most people that know them. But Kevin is responsible for his own behavior and frankly he's just not very likable.

I am a huge fan of Minnesota sports teams, and like someone else on this board said, I cheer for the name on the front of the jersey, not necessarily the back. This comes in handy when I find a local player unlikable like Kevin. Fortunately I have liked most of the local players I have cheered for, but there have been exceptions. I hated Chuck Knoblauch (as did most of his teammates) but still cheered for him to do well, because it helped the team. I loved KG in his first couple years, but as I learned more about him (both on and off the court), I grew to detest him. But, again, I still cheered loudly for him during the Sacramento series. I don't find this to be inconsistent behavior, because ultimately it is the team performance that matters. So if Love plays for the Wolves in 2014-5, I will be cheering for him to do well...all the while, though, I will personally dislike him, just like I did this past season. It makes it so much more fun to cheer against these guys when they eventually leave.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

What I hope you realize long, is to be able to separate the fact that just going by the what you hear in the media is just a small sample size to the persons true character. The fact is, a negative story about someone is always going to be more exciting news to report then something good.

Kevin Love being a jerk will be a headliner, but Kevin Love setting up his coat drive, or visiting sick kids in hospitals will never be mentioned. You'll hear way more about KG punching teammates then him donating millions to charity. Lebron raised millions for the girls club with the decision, but nobody ever mentions that part.

Just think if someone was paid to write interesting stuff about your daily life. I'm sure you and anybody else has skeletons in their closets that are way more interesting to know about then anything good you do. Doesn't make you a bad person. Your just lucky you don't have to live under the microscope that celebrity figures do.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Haven't we always been told to hate the game and not the player?

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

What I hope you realize long, is to be able to separate the fact that just going by the what you hear in the media is just a small sample size to the persons true character. The fact is, a negative story about someone is always going to be more exciting news to report then something good.

Kevin Love being a jerk will be a headliner, but Kevin Love setting up his coat drive, or visiting sick kids in hospitals will never be mentioned. You'll hear way more about KG punching teammates then him donating millions to charity. Lebron raised millions for the girls club with the decision, but nobody ever mentions that part.

Just think if someone was paid to write interesting stuff about your daily life. I'm sure you and anybody else has skeletons in their closets that are way more interesting to know about then anything good you do. Doesn't make you a bad person. Your just lucky you don't have to live under the microscope that celebrity figures do.

I can't tell you how grateful I am to not be a celebrity. It must be hell to be paid $14 million a year to play a game many of us play for free. And I find coat drives and other volunteer work the least these players can do
to give back to their communities...I'm not impressed.

I don't need the media to help me form an opinion about someone...I'm fully capable of doing that on my own. The media constantly tells me what a great guy Phil Mickelson is, but I have a lot of data about him that doesn't make the newspapers, and that makes me think differently about him. And my opinion about Love has nothing to do with what the media says about him. My opinion is based on what comes out of his own mouth. Alex, we can disagree on this one. You seem to think Kevin Love is a wonderful human being, and I think he's an asshat. We can leave it at that.

[Jester1534]

What I hope you realize long, is to be able to separate the fact that just going by the what you hear in the media is just a small sample size to the persons true character. The fact is, a negative story about someone is always going to be more exciting news to report then something good.

Kevin Love being a jerk will be a headliner, but Kevin Love setting up his coat drive, or visiting sick kids in hospitals will never be mentioned. You'll hear way more about KG punching teammates then him donating millions to charity. Lebron raised millions for the girls club with the decision, but nobody ever mentions that part.

Just think if someone was paid to write interesting stuff about your daily life. I'm sure you and anybody else has skeletons in their closets that are way more interesting to know about then anything good you do. Doesn't make you a bad person. Your just lucky you don't have to live under the microscope that celebrity figures do.

No offense Alex I get what your saying and partial agree with you about the media. This article was written before he was a superstar. Plus you'll just have to take my word but I've hung out with Kevin like 5 times at sneaky Pete's cause I'm good friends with one of the girls he bangs from Augsburg and tbh he was complete douche every time I met him. He once asked me why do you even play D3 baseball your not going pro that's a waste of time and effort, I don't see the point lol.

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

Love has done some good things for the community (although lets be real, stuff like the coat drive is set up by Wolves PR--Love just films a bit or two and makes a couple appearances handing out coats), but he also seems to have a sense of entitlement that is pretty disgusting.

The right way to handle his current situation:

Sit down with Flip/Glen behind closed doors and tell them you plan on becoming a free agent next year and they should explore trades now. Then keep your mouth shut, and if you are not traded, play out next year as if you expected to be there.

The actual way he handled it:

Leaked to the media that he wants out, then has the audacity to go on national TV and refer to the team he is under contract with as "they," and say "I would be happy to play for any of 30 teams," and "people should be watching me right now."

This comment about division III baseball is also very telling (out of curiosity Jester I'd love--no pun intended--to hear more about your interactions with Love), it speaks to Love's own self image of grandiosity and lack of empathy for others. I mean I don't know what context the comment was made in, but if it was meant the way it sounded it shows how out of touch with reality Love really is.

Anyway lets just trade him and move on. I don't want to root for him anymore.

[bleedspeed]

I don't need the media to help me form an opinion about someone...I'm fully capable of doing that on my own. The media constantly tells me what a great guy Phil "Swinger" Mickelson is, but I have a lot of data about him that doesn't make the newspapers, and that makes me think differently about him. And my opinion about Love has nothing to do with what the media says about him. My opinion is based on what comes out of his own mouth. Alex, we can disagree on this one. You seem to think Kevin Love is a wonderful human being, and I think he's an asshat. We can leave it at that.

What are you talking about?

I think some of what makes Kevin Love a good ball player is his obscure sense of reality. I am sure it fuels him. If the guy is truly a jackass their is a reason and it usually is because he is deep rooted issues. I know I do too. Makes me awesome.