Jimmer, You've Been Reilly'd!

I have spent the last four days in New Orleans watching BYU lose an overtime thriller to Florida, witnessing Butler make yet another run to the Final Four despite being seeded 8 in the Southeast bracket, and - according to Rick Reilly - sinning just by osmosis.

Rick Reilly has been voted National
Sportswriter of the Year 11 times, but he
is not a fan of Jimmermania.

I find many of Rick Reilly's articles to be witty and entertaining, but little did I know that much of that wit may actually be masking his ability to effectively communicate and support his biased opinion.  Rick Reilly has been a full-fledged BYU hater since at least 2001 when he wrote here (with many inaccuracies) about how BYU's older football players gave them a distinct advantage over the younger, and therefore less talented, smaller, and weaker opposing players.  I have always found this argument to be rather amusing because although BYU was 9-0 in 2001 when Reilly wrote the article, no one ever made this argument from 2002-2004 when the Gary Crowton-led Cougars would amass a 13-25 record.  BYU magically went from an NFL-ready team in 2001 to a Geriatrics ward in 2002.

In Reilly's most recent religious jab at BYU and Mormonism, he wrote here about Jimmer Fredette's last collegiate game and Jimmer's inability to be a star performer at the next level in the NBA simply based on his performance against the Gators, while also throwing darts at Jimmer's religion.  I'm sure Jimmer would be the first to tell you that he did not play his best on either end of the floor against Florida, which was one of the reasons why he and the "pizza delivery guys" came up short in the Sweet 16.  Over time, Jimmer will have the opportunity to disprove Reilly's contention that he will be an ineffective NBA player, but my bigger issue with Reilly is the way he hides behind his magic curtain by not allowing comments to be posted at the end of his articles, thus preventing his readers from publicly sharing their own opinions or providing a forum to disprove his conclusions based on actual facts, forcing many readers, including Ryan J., to post their opinions here.  During the past couple of days many have come to Jimmer's defense (including to the defense of his Mormon religion) such as here and here.  Good stuff.

No doubt Reilly missed out on Jimmer's spectacular
42-point performance on the road against
Colorado State on January 22, 2011.

Clearly, Rick Reilly didn't have the mtn (but of course who does?) during the basketball season and based his arguments on the 30-second SportsCenter highlights he saw throughout the year leading up to the Florida game.  As Ryan J. pointed out in his "Letter to Reilly", Rick Reilly evaluated Jimmer's potential as an NBA player based upon a single performance in which he still scored 32 points.  Personally, I would have loved to have read Rick Reilly's article criticizing Kobe Bryant's capabilities as an NBA player when he shot 6-23, including 0-6 from three-point range, turned the ball over 4 times, and only scored 23 points (well below his average) in Game 7 of the NBA Finals!  Lucky for Kobe, his own "pizza delivery" buddy, Ron Artest, saved Kobe and his beloved Lakers from a loss to the rival Celtics on basketball's biggest stage by scoring 20 points and nailing a three-pointer in the final seconds to seal the NBA Championship.

Kobe is relieved that no one judged his ability to play
in the NBA based upon a single-game performance.

Jimmer will be the first to tell you that although he has been voted an AP All-American and is the favorite to win the Naismith Award (College Basketball's Heisman Trophy) this weekend, he has a lot to work on in order to translate his talents and skills to the next level.  He has been there before.  He was a good Freshman when he came to BYU, but he worked hard to achieve All-American status during the past four years and will likely be a lottery pick in June's NBA draft.  As Rick Reilly so eloquently pointed out, Oklahoma City point guard Russell Westbrook said, "I know from just watching (Jimmer Fredette) he's going to be a great NBA player."  Reilly's second-grade response to Westbrook's analysis: "No! No he isn't!"  Thanks, Ricky, but I'm going to go with the All-Star basketball player's opinion when evaluating Jimmer's potential as an NBA player, not an established "funny-guy" and long-time BYU-hater.

Which makes me wonder:  Which side of the argument would Rick Reilly have taken if Jimmer had gone on a mission?

Maybe we would have seen that Kobe article after all...