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Mark Giannotto, a sports columnist for the Commercial Appeal and not an employee of the Grizzlies or the Warriors, recently weighed in on the rather open-and-shut case of the dirty foul that Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks committed against Gary Payton II during Game 2, equating it with Draymond Green’s flagrant two foul against Brandon Clarke during Game 1. (Clarke was uninjured after Green’s foul, which many onlookers did not think reached the level of a flagrant two; Payton’s elbow was fractured after Brooks hit him in the head while he was trying to complete a layup.)
“Draymond Green didn’t get suspended because Brandon Clarke is better at landing,” Giannotto wrote.
It’s a hot take in the sense that any sort of callous commentary about another person getting genuinely hurt is rightfully considered to be controversial. But what’s particularly interesting about this tweet, which has generated its fair share of criticism, is that it reveals a kind of toxic energy that he concocts solely in the sewers of social media.
One glance at Giannotto’s columns — the content he is paid to produce as a professional — shows that his commentary lacks the purported vitriol he has toward the Warriors in his tweets. When tasked with his actual day job, not only is he kinder toward Golden State, he’s also genuinely respectful of its talents. He’s not even above actually analyzing the team he’s otherwise actively caping for online.
In a series preview written after Memphis eliminated the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round, Giannotto notes that the Warriors are favorites in round two, have a respected championship pedigree and are the type of squad the Grizzlies can’t rely on overcoming mountainous deficits against. Even his most recent column shows, albeit begrudging, a respect for the Warriors.
“This series between the Grizzlies and the Warriors is what the NBA needs and wants,” he wrote. “It has so many of the elements the league has thrived with in the past. It’s why this matchup is the best thing the NBA has going right now. “
Giannotto also puts his “hate” for Golden State into perspective in that very column, calling it “irrational” and just par for the course with playoff basketball, before noting that the Dubs are in the “midst of perhaps its last best chance to win another championship with its celebrated core.”
Most salient to the aforementioned tweet about Payton is what Giannotto wrote after Game 2, where he chastised Brooks for making a “selfish” play. Read the below passage and tell me if this sounds like a man who believes Payton’s fall was more responsible for Brooks’ ejection than Brooks’ own actions.
“But it was the terrible flagrant foul committed by Brooks that loomed largest over the proceedings,” Giannotto wrote. “He was ejected after a completely selfish act of aggression against Warriors guard Gary Payton II.
“It happened on the heels of several missed shots by Brooks that halted the Grizzlies’ momentum and created a fast-break chance for Payton. Brooks then wound up and basically clotheslined Payton in midair.”
Beyond the hypocrisy — on Twitter, Giannotto also made a big stink of calling out Steve Kerr for a double standard about what counts as “dirty” — there’s the idiocy behind the idea of a “safe” way to land after getting, in Giannotto’s own words, “clotheslined … in midair.” The crux of his argument, that Clarke knew how to land safely, also directly contradicts the notion that Green “ripped him from the air by his jersey” because it incorrectly implies that Clarke still had control of his body during the whole incident, but I digress.
This is not the first time a Memphis media member has gone overboard taking the side of an organization not signing his paycheck. Shortly after Game 2, Grizzlies sideline reporter for Bally Sports, Rob Fischer, tried to snitch on Jordan Poole to the NBA for the horrid act of checking on Payton after he got hurt following Brooks’ “terrible flagrant foul.” Fischer was also mocked for his post.
Before the Brooks foul, it was hard to find reasons to genuinely dislike the Grizzlies, beyond the fact that they would be the Warriors’ opponents in a playoff series. The team is made up of smart, talented, wildly entertaining players who’ve signaled an exciting series and an exciting future for the league as a whole.
But Memphis media members are sullying the reputation of the Grizz by inserting themselves where they don’t belong, with an all-but-stated purpose of being the whiniest cheerleaders possible — the polar opposite of the ethos of the Grizzlies on the court.
But that’s not the worst part of this. As his columns show, Giannotto’s whole shtick is an act, a facade meant to provoke fans online while keeping up appearances as a well-to-do sports columnist in the inches he has to fill to earn his salary.
One could almost respect the hustle if he committed to being a full-time callous s—tlord, but that’s clearly not who he is. He is the very definition of a clickbaiter: someone without conviction who is willing to say whatever it takes for traffic. At best, he’s being a homer, which isn’t supposed to be part of his job. At worst, he’s a hack who gamed the system. Regardless, he’s only performing a disservice to the team he’s so outwardly rooting for.
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