Andrea's funny interview for Italian Newspaper

[Truthrising]

I disapprove of this dissing of pasta. As a poor man, it's a regular part of my diet since it's easy to cook and buy.

Not dissing on Pasta, in fact i'd rather eat pasta compared to living off of fries and burgers, but if you're saying it's part of your staple diet than I hope that your burning off the carbs (exercising) since pasta is full of refined flour so too much of it will raise your carb intake leading to high blood pressure. As Boris said a good alternative is whole wheat pasta, although the taste does get quite getting used to.

[James_Raptors]

Whole wheat pasta, quinoa, brown rice, yams/sweet potatoes etc are all excellent sources for carbs.
And yes, I'm a bit of a health food nut and I adore cooking on a regular basis.

[wolfv]

imagine if bosh or vince made that "we're gonna lose" comment

[James_Raptors]

imagine if bosh or vince made that "we're gonna lose" comment

I understand that if you were playing on the Raptors last year, and entrenched in a 13 game losing streak, you may be down and your confidence is argueably at an all-time low as a pro.

But as a fan of the team, the last thing I want to hear is ANY player on our squad telling us (paraphasing) "well, here we go, time to go out and lose another game". Even if their chances of winning are slim, or they are thinking that inside (hopefully not) I don't want to hear about it!

[JN]

Barg's offeason comments sort of remind me of Bosh last summer. Everything he says is divisive - either misconstrued or he is an ****. I didn't make much of Bosh's comments last summer and not making much of Bargs comments this year. But if the end result is similar - bargs gets the **** off this team I will be fine. His comments don't make him a twat - his laziness and play on the court does.

[Tenacious_C]

Nice to know our most expensive player thinks and expects us to lose before the game even
starts.

Bargnani has always been weak mentally....

Seriously can't get rid of this guy fast enough.

God.....Did you honestly not watch games this year and at the start say to yourself "We're going to lose today"? I wish we could get rid of fans like you.

[Harry Palmer]

imagine if bosh or vince made that "we're gonna lose" comment

I understand that if you were playing on the Raptors last year, and entrenched in a 13 game losing streak, you may be down and your confidence is argueably at an all-time low as a pro.

But as a fan of the team, the last thing I want to hear is ANY player on our squad telling us (paraphasing) "well, here we go, time to go out and lose another game". Even if their chances of winning are slim, or they are thinking that inside (hopefully not) I don't want to hear about it!

Meh, I think you're setting yourself up for disappointment if you expect everyone to mimic the MJ mold all the time.

But I think wolfv's point was that if Bosh had said it, this would be a 20-page thread about why he'll never be a winner, and if Carter had said it, this would be a 50 pager about how he enjoys losing, and may well have taken bribes to throw games.

At least, that's what I want his point to have been.

[bigdirty]

I remember being in a situation kind of like this when I played highschool ball. Our team wasn't that good but we could compete. One guy made a comment something to the effect of Bargnani's, like we were gonna lose anyways so let's just give a good try. The kid got ripped by the coach and had his minutes cut back that game for having such a loser attitude.

Loser attitudes breed losing, period. Bargnani goes into games expecting to lose. No wonder his effort level is ****.

[James_Raptors]

imagine if bosh or vince made that "we're gonna lose" comment

I understand that if you were playing on the Raptors last year, and entrenched in a 13 game losing streak, you may be down and your confidence is argueably at an all-time low as a pro.

But as a fan of the team, the last thing I want to hear is ANY player on our squad telling us (paraphasing) "well, here we go, time to go out and lose another game". Even if their chances of winning are slim, or they are thinking that inside (hopefully not) I don't want to hear about it!

Meh, I think you're setting yourself up for disappointment if you expect everyone to mimic the MJ mold all the time.

But I think wolfv's point was that if Bosh had said it, this would be a 20-page thread about why he'll never be a winner, and if Carter had said it, this would be a 50 pager about how he enjoys losing, and may well have taken bribes to throw games.

At least, that's what I want his point to have been.

Maybe I'm just different and have irrational expectations.
For example, at one point in time in my life, many years ago mind you, I was well on my way to a professional career in sports (not basketball). I'm an extremely competative person in general. I hate losing. I don't accept losing and I would never resign myself to losing, even if the hill I had to climb was rediculous and maybe it was illogical to think I could overcome it.

I guess my main point is that these athletes aren't just playing a game. On one hand I want them to be honest and even though it's a contradiction, I don't want to know, I don't want them to say, publicly, if they expect (re: accept) losing as though it's a forgone conclusion. There's always a chance of victory no matter what the odds are and that's one of many factors that keeps your hopes alive, even in an adverse situation against a steep climb.

[James_Raptors]

Oh and for the record, I do not condone this attitude, regardless of the player or their position on the squad, whether it's a starter, behcn player, someone who rarely dressed, and so on. Sport isn't just a physical activity, it's a mental "game" too. Telling yourself and accepting that you're "going to lose" is like losing half he battle (ok, maybe not that high of a %) before you set foot on the court, skate on the rink, cleat onto the turf, etc.

Now, are his comments so earth-shatteringly insanely angerfying that we should tie him to a stake and burn him alive (or at least in the public media/eye), well, no, of course not. But they certainly aren't inspiring or give us a sense of confidence. And yes, I know we were a horrible team last season and we all had our faults. We lacked talent, period. But I firmly believe attitudes like this not only do not help us become winners, but they also play a factor in losses (to what degree, we could argue and speculate about all-day).

[strangespot]

I remember being in a situation kind of like this when I played highschool ball. Our team wasn't that good but we could compete. One guy made a comment something to the effect of Bargnani's, like we were gonna lose anyways so let's just give a good try. The kid got ripped by the coach and had his minutes cut back that game for having such a loser attitude.

Loser attitudes breed losing, period. Bargnani goes into games expecting to lose. No wonder his effort level is ****.

clearly you and others read too much into it... the whole interview was in a more superficial and funny tone. I mean, if it was serious would the reporter ask what food he likes or what famous ppl he saw during games ?? who cares ! the interview was done by reporters who pobably don't even know how may teams there are in the NBA !

[Snooch]

wow, people really grasping at finding more ways to bash Bargs on here.

Pretty sure it was a joke, and also pretty sure that the whole team, and triano all though that most of the games they were going to lose.

Warming up against Dallas, Miami, Boston, LAL, SAS, Chitown pretty much every player expected to lose and it always showed on the court from the whole team.

[bigdirty]

Funny how you never see guys like Kobe joking about showing up to lose. Bargs is a worthless slacking jagoff. How much more proof do you need?

[Waylon Mercy]

Nice to know our most expensive player thinks and expects us to lose before the game even
starts.

Bargnani has always been weak mentally....

Seriously can't get rid of this guy fast enough.

God.....Did you honestly not watch games this year and at the start say to yourself "We're going to lose today"? I wish we could get rid of fans like you.

Get rid of me???

Because I don't want my players to have a losing mentality?

I wish we could get rid of you... Some Jobber from P.E.I who gets about 2-3 threads locked
per day on here for posting complete utter garbage.

You need to stop embarrassing yourself on a daily basis with your lack of Basketball IQ

[Lionel Messi]

clearly you and others read too much into it... the whole interview was in a more superficial and funny tone.

This. If the comment was made in any other context I'd be pissed, but please keep it in context people.
Bargnani gives us enough reasons to dislike him on the court, we don't need to go digging for more.

[Snooch]

Almost everyone in the world, when after playing game after game, constantly comes up short and ends up watching loses pile up and up, add on top of that injuries start spreading amung the team is going to have a voice in their head telling them that they are going to lose. It is inevitable unless your name is MJ, Magic or Bird.

[strangespot]

Funny how you never see guys like Kobe joking about showing up to lose. Bargs is a worthless slacking jagoff. How much more proof do you need?

geeez.... what's Kobe got to do with it ??? Kobe is a world class player. Somebody the RAptors only can dream of.

go and listen to BCs post-season presser. didn't HE say that they basically gave up on the season in NOVEMBER already and focus on developing the young players ???

didn't the newly acquired James Johnson have something to say about the young guy joking around an having fun after losses like they don't care ?

[5DOM]

Funny how you never see guys like Kobe joking about showing up to lose. Bargs is a worthless slacking jagoff. How much more proof do you need?

Kobe never played for the Raptors

[Harry Palmer]

Maybe I'm just different and have irrational expectations.
For example, at one point in time in my life, many years ago mind you, I was well on my way to a professional career in sports (not basketball). I'm an extremely competative person in general. I hate losing. I don't accept losing and I would never resign myself to losing, even if the hill I had to climb was rediculous and maybe it was illogical to think I could overcome it.

I guess my main point is that these athletes aren't just playing a game. On one hand I want them to be honest and even though it's a contradiction, I don't want to know, I don't want them to say, publicly, if they expect (re: accept) losing as though it's a forgone conclusion. There's always a chance of victory no matter what the odds are and that's one of many factors that keeps your hopes alive, even in an adverse situation against a steep climb.

I would say 2 things:

1) I've been involved in and around sports a lot myself, and I agree a lot of people in the field operate that way.

2) Even if you assume that way is the only way...I don't think it is, but can certainly see the argument...I don't think the external projection of that need follow the MJ 'everything is a war, 24/7' ***hat mold.

Kareem, Hakeem, Duncan, Russell, etc...all of these guys were winners too, but didn't need to overtly project it all the time in all contexts. MJ, Bird, WIlt...those guys do. What I'm saying is, especially because of MJ's profile, we have narrowed the frame too much on what a winner acts like all the time.

I think you can be a competitive guy and be capable of making a joke like Bargs did. I personally don;t think Bargs is all that competitive, so in this case I think your complaint is probably viable, but I only think that because his play backs up the guess. I could see an atypical athlete mind like a Steve Nash make a joke about losing, and not take it to mean we can't have his type on the team.

[ItsDanger]

Id question Bargs' intelligence if he didnt expect to lose with this club. I do not question his effort or lack of defense skills however. Both are painfully lacking.