One Size Fitz All

Last night's fizzle out and the subsequent self-pitying response from Bob Fitzgerald pushed me to think a little bit more about how the Warriors are presented by their king philosopher king. Setting aside Jim Barnett for the time being, here are my very impressionistic thoughts on Bob Fitzgerald and his complicity in the continued misery of the Warriors.

Fitzgerald is not a bad broadcaster. His voice has a solid timbre, he doesn't chatter excessively, and years of Warriors ineptitude have forced him and Barnett to get to know the league and to give opposing teams and players their due. Fitzgerald and Barnett can't fairly be accused of homerism in its classic, chauvinistic sense. Sure, they can be less than magnanimous when talking about the opposition, and they clearly want the Warriors to win — this is much is apparent when Fitz squeals with delight and Barnett quivers with didacticism — but overall they're not terrible. They have trying jobs, they know the floor game, and I appreciate their work, most of the time.

But Fitzgerald is not interested in using his knowledge or access to criticize the development of the Warriors. This is no big surprise, as he draws a paycheck from Cohan, but it strikes me as incongruous that he can, especially on his KNBR radio show, profess on the Warriors with ultimate entitlement yet without any sort of proviso, disclaimer or disclosure of his employ of the Warriors. More specifically, he takes the path of least resistance in his coverage; he's not a journalist. For all we might expect from someone who reasonably knows his basketball and watches every Warrior game closely, we get very little substance, and lots of one-dimensional, pedestrian praise of Monta's quickness, Turiaf's fervence, Maggette's ability to draw fouls, etc. These things excite me too, but there's so much more, and it can only be tapped by thinking critically and honestly about the many squalid and entropic levels of the Warriors.

My biggest problem with Fitzgerald is his tone and mien with callers on his radio show. He's condescending and peremptory, and has nothing but contempt for Warriors fans who simply want to know a bit more about goings-on in Oakland. And he dismisses any sort of higher-order discussion of the Warriors with rhetorical agnosticism, red herrings, and militant acquittals for all. I don't claim to know this man's mind, but it strikes me that for Fitzgerald, not only do the Warriors have a plan, but it is so self-evident that it never even needs to be broached or meditated on, and the Warriors exist independent of the past and the future, where any dysfunction is simply the result of injuries and other soft contextual events.

I, like Owen, was charmed and amused by the inclusion of Fitzgerald on the enemies list of Fans Vs. Cohan. He may not be a chief villain in this war, but he is most definitely an enabler, and his obscurantism, appeasement and willful absenteeism from any kind effortful rumination on the current Warriors state of affairs are damning. Finally, it bothers me that Fitzgerald's tenure with the Warriors follows Cohan's very closely — though Tim Roye's does too, and I fucking love the subtle and engaging Tim Roye, the Mario to Fitz's Wario.