Stan Love airs it out

Kevin Love's father, Stan, was on a local Oregon radio show called "The Bald-Faced Truth" on Wednesday and played the role of doting father to perfection. Besides sharing a list of teams that have shown interest in his son (Grizzlies, Knicks, Nets, Bulls, Sonics, Clippers, Bucks, Blazers), he talked up Kevin and did his best to lobby for a high draft pick. But something he said ruffled a few feathers on Internet message boards ...

Host: We talked during the Oregon-UCLA game about Ben Howland's recruiting pitch to you. When you look back on Kevin's year at UCLA, he get everything he was promised there?

Stan Love: [Laughs] Promised? That's kinda' ... uh ... No, is the honest answer to that.

Host: What would you have liked to have seen differently?

Stan Love: I like to see him used in the offense a lot different: face the basket more, touch the ball more. When you're a high percentage shooter I think those guys should shoot the most. It's a great fit for him as far as coming to UCLA and his teammates and all that, but I think he coulda' expanded his game a little more. You guys really didn't get to see what he can do.

It's easy to misinterpret that and nobody should take it personally. Remember that Stan Love isn't taking a swipe at UCLA or Howland — he's merely trying to convince NBA GMs that his son is even better than we saw last year.

To hear the full clip, click here and go just beyond 1/3 of the way in.

Comments

[The Professor]

Your USC education is showing.
"Played the roll" might be a golf term. Did you take that tough senior year class at USC with all the other spoiled frat boys? In the English language, you should write that word "role." Played the role. Got it?
Bookmark this page: http://dictionary.reference.com/

[Tetelestai]

The hostility of certain readers of this blog towards Adam really disappoints me. I know he's an 'SC alumnus and fan, but he's just trying to do his job, and I, for one, think he's been relatively professional about it (yes, including the content of this post). Is it that hard to be respectfully polite to those who are serving us by providing information about UCLA sports?

[bruinjoe]

If he's "an SC alumnus and fan", should he really have this job? Isn't it likely that he is just trying to slow down UCLA's momentum given the train wreck that is SC basketball? At least consider that Mr. Rose posted these comments while the Bruins are actively recruiting two big men who are transferring from other schools--one of whom is also considering SC.

[Tetelestai]

bruinjoe,
You make a good observation; you might be right and you might not. But if this was the first commenter's real motive for challenging Adam, then why mask it with a personal attack regarding a petty spelling mistake? That has nothing to do with exposing a potential journalistic bias. Anyway, that's all I have to say.

[Johnny Black]

UCLA gets a committment from one of the best high school big men in the country, J'Mison Morgan, and there is no mention of it on the LA Times UCLA blog.

Instead, the USC grad who runs the blog is devoting time to creating a story about Love and Howland.

Give me a break.

[VA Blueblood]

When it's the top story on the main sports page, why does it need repeating on the blog? Isn't the purpose of the blog to provide deeper info than you get in the sports section? I have no doubt that when Mr. Rose has more information to provide on Morgan than the Times is already providing, he will do so. Until then, I see no need for redundancy.

I also think that pointing out spelling mistakes is fairly petty. As I've said before, the Times would be wise to hire a fan and/or alumnus for this job, but until they do, Mr. Rose is only doing his job, as any professional would.

[Johnny Black]

The Daily News "UCLA Blog" was all over this Morgan thing, and obviously saw it as a story that UCLA fans were anxious to hear about.

This blog is trying to create a story about Howland and Stan Love while ignoring the biggest news of the day.

You are correct that the purpose of the blog is to provide deeper info. So where is it? UCLA already had byu many the #1 recruiting class, and now they're adding a blue chip center. And there's nothing to add? Nothing at all? If Morgan signed with USC I'm guessing Mr. Rose would be all over it.

[Kenny]

I frequent these blogs for any information on my Bruins, be it positive or negative. I believe that Mr. Rose is simply doing his job and during a slow day at work, any news is interesting news. As for his spelling error, it happens. I'm not saying that it isn't one of the expectations of his job or that it's completely forgivable, but it's something for him and his editor to have a discussion over. He doesn't need a bunch of anonymous people on the internet throwing it back in his face with a bunch of animosity.

I hate to get into any squabble over a bunch of comments on a blog post, but seriously, what's the point of a cheap jab at someone's education? This way of dissecting someone's improper use of a homophone is like me saying that people who harp on others' spelling errors went to a school full of condescending jerks. And we don't want to be like that, do we?

[Adam Rose]

Hey everybody! I'm on the way to see the Indy 500. I posted about J'Mison Morgan while riding the subway in Chicago (gotta' love the CTA orange line). You really think I was burying this story? A) It's front page on latimes.com -- in TWO locations. B) You can check my flight status on southwest.com (flight 2545 from LAX to Midway). Sheesh!

My most recent intel on Morgan was yesterday morning, and that was from somebody at the LA Times saying that his announcement was pushed back until Monday. I didn't think it was necessary to yank everybody around with tibits that don't really shed any light on Morgan or UCLA. It was going to happen on Morgan's clock, and that's cool.

Also, I drafted (and scheduled to publish later in the morning) three posts for this blog at about 3:00am this morning. The Stan Love stuff seemed like the best water-cooler discussion stuff, so it got the last slot. And I made it clear that this wasn't a big deal, unlike MANY people on various internet message boards have been making it out to be. It's merely interesting how a dad is lobbying for his son at the next level. We should all be so lucky as to have an advocate like that.

Finally, I've always had a tendency to mix up homonyms and have always been open about that. Even my copy editors (who rock, by the way) might miss them from time to time. If that's my biggest problem as a writer, so be it. I churn out a LOT of copy every week, and would like to think that I make fewer mistakes, on average, than most bloggers. But, hey, we're all human.

Anybody have suggestions on good places to eat in Indy?

[Ted]

Place to eat in Indy? Nothing at the Brickyard. If you can hook up with some tailgaters... Bub's Burger and Ice Cream has good burgers...its a bit out of the way like 10 miles but cheap and good...By the way Adam...SC still sucks...

But come on people...we're harping on him about role vs. roll?!? Come on... We are better than this!

[shekib]

Adam...please leave this to someone else....you know you should not be in charge of this blog....i just hate coming to this site now and only do so so i could tell you to leave this to someone else.

[stewart]

A Bruin should be hosting the Bruin blog. The blog itself is evidence that Mr. Rose needs to go. Regardless of how much Mr. Rose tries. This space should be free from anything USC. If this is going to be a great blog, the LA times needs to move mr. Rose to the USC side and get someone from UCLA. Hey LA TImes, in this town you couldn't find a Bruin to host the blog???? give me a break!!!!!

[Native Bruin]

I have to admit having an ex-trojan hosting this blog shows a bit of naivete, at least as far as meaningful dialogue regarding something held in such high regard as UCLA men's hoops. That being said, are there any, at the minimum, "quasi-objective" bloggers that could do a Bruin sports blog justice, at the LA Times at least?

I understand what Stan Love is about regarding his comments but at the same time it's about the four letters on the front of the jersey and what that truly means as Coach Howland has exemplified by his observable commitment to the program and the performance and results achieved so far. C'mon LATimes, the possibility exists to keep it real.

[pk-in-the-mesa]

You guys are really to much, look at yourselves even fighting with each other. Why don't one of you put a resume into the Times and write the blog, then you will have total bruin control.

[Wendy]

To add another shade to this debate: I don't think the Bruins blogger necessarily needs to be a Bruin. There are plenty of qualified sportswriters who went to schools all across the country, and one doesn't have to have attended UCLA to be an expert in and a fan of all things true blue.

That said, I believe the commenter animosity stems from two things: first, that an alum and fan of UCLA's chief rival is writing this blog; and that second, USC's blog is penned by an alum, creating the perception of USC-slanted favoritism on the part of the L.A. Times. (Whether the Times actually does favor the Trojans is another debate entirely.)

In this city, it shouldn't be difficult to find a Bruin fan to manage this blog, and as a UCLA alumna, that would be my preference. However, I think the furor would be considerably less if an alum of, say, Occidental College were writing What's Bruin and the Trojan blog.

[shekib]

Thank you Wendy and Native Bruin.

[Stewart]

Don't you think that part of the host's job is getting good insider info. Making calls to his friends and finding out what's going on for all of us Bruin fanatics. I don't think Mr. Rose has a lot of old pals at UCLA to call up. I think it just makes sense to get a writer with deep ties to the program, college basketball and be able to spin his rolodex - unfortunately Mr. Rose, has only USC relationships and not battle tested, Bruin ones.

too bad,

LA TImes, you just cannot insult Bruin fans any more than having a Trojan write our blog. I'm mean did you sit down and say, "how do we really alienate our UCLA readers?"

[Graduating from UCLA two weeks from Friday!]

Shame on all of the people who continually slam the author of this blog. You really do our school a disservice for spewing rude and vitriolic comments simply because of his alma mater. He's doing a decent job on the blog, and all the blather about the blog being "slanted" is COMPLETELY nuts. Just because a story isn't posted .000234 seconds after it breaks on another website doesn't mean the Times hates the Bruins.

Good grief. Show some class, people.

[Wendy]

I said above there is a *perception* of bias, with good reason, I think. The more I think about it, though, the less I can justify holding that against Adam. Our impressions don't equal an actual slant, and a Bruin blogger would clearly be biased. Is this supposed to be a news source or a fan site?

Sure, I'd love to have a fellow UCLA grad running this blog. (Hey, I'm a professional writer. I'd love to do it myself.) But Adam being a USC alum doesn't make the facts he reports any less valid, and it's not like he's ending his posts on the Trojan site with "Fight on!" So he's trying.

We should try, too.

As Graduating from... said at 11:53, the snipes over minor issues are ridiculous. Anyone who expects real-time updates and a total lack of typos has obviously never blogged.

And if it really bothers you that much, don't visit this site. Ever. The worst thing you can do to a blogger is stop reading.

[Dave]

Are we trying to communicate to UCLA basketball hopefulls that they won't get any offensive plays called their way?? That Howland doesn't make good on his promises?? What is the purpose of this post?? On the Bruin Blog of the LA Times? Where else are people talking about this?? Not on other Bruin blogs!!!

Considering this article about Stan Love.. maybe if Kevin stayed another year or two, we'd see more offense go to him? But this story has a negative connotation that Kevin Love didn't get everything he wanted at UCLA.. Adam.. man.. you're not thinking these posts thru.. I'm kinda rooting for you because I believe you really want to help out our blog and make an unbiased name for yourself.. but bro.. your killing me with this! I'm loosing faith here!

[pk-in-the-mesa]

The only reason love went to ucla is because of the exposure that he got thru TV and the Media. That’s why he quit going to class he didn't care about the coach or the program he used it but at least ucla made money on him