Meet the Rufus On Fire Rookie

by BrandonBecker on Jan 11, 2012 10:16 PM EST

First off I would like to thank Ben for taking me on and allowing me to contribute to Rufus on Fire. I'm currently a student at the University of North Dakota--yes, North Dakota (it is as cold as you think)--studying communications/journalism. I've lived in North Dakota my whole life, which may have you wondering how I am a fan of the Bobcats. Living in ND has its pluses and minuses but one of the minuses is not having a hometown team to root for. Those that are from the area are like free agent sports fans.

It just so happens that I am a big Carolina Panthers fan and wasn't a fan of a particular NBA team prior to Charlotte getting the Bobcats. Due to not having a team, and my love for the Panthers, I made a decision to follow the Bobcats from the start. I enjoy following expansion teams as you get to follow the team from day one, something that most NBA fans can't say.

That's how I became a Bobcats fan. After the jump I'll have a little bit more about myself, although I promise to keep it short.

Writing is a passion of mine and that is the main reason I'm here. I have been a sports reporter for the student newspaper at UND going on four years now and in the past I have written extensively for Bleacher Report on a variety of things, but mostly the NFL. I've always been interested in writing for SB Nation though, and I figured it was time to try to catch on with a blog. I'm a big fan of Cat Scratch Reader and from there I found Rufus on Fire. After following the blog for a couple of weeks I decided to reach out to Ben and see if he was looking to add another contributor.

Fortunately, for me, he was. I look forward to bringing Bobcats coverage to all of you and sharing my work with the community. I don't want to ramble on too long, so with that being said I'm going to sign off on my first post on RoF.

I look forward to many more posts and spirited debate.

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Glad to have you on board and looking forward to your work

Bobcats Basketball is my only pro sports passion...

by andrewlail76 on Jan 11, 2012 10:35 PM EST via mobile reply actions 1 recs

Welcome

I am Focus. I specialize in GREAT PREDICTIONS and am the closest thing to a GM this site has ever seen. I believe is situations and skillsets over stats…I dont like the BB pick. I like Shooters on the wings. “UPSIDE, CEILING, POTENTIAL” is a crap excuse after about 3 seasons. I’d rather have visual production over UPSIDE. I dont think MJ is the greatest player of all time (Kareem then Russell)…and I dont really like him as a GM. I do like DJ Augustin and Boris Diaw. I think Hendo is a great player (sssiiiiikkkkeee)…ok thats the gist of me. Oh and I look forward to seeing your work…Andrewlail was in there first. Technically I was..

by focuslja on Jan 11, 2012 10:40 PM EST reply actions 2 recs

I meant OWNER...

by focuslja on Jan 11, 2012 10:41 PM EST up reply actions

This is the best intro ever....

by Aisander D on Jan 11, 2012 10:49 PM EST up reply actions

Left me speechless

I guess I can throw in that I run Trade Street Post, and I consider here and our site to be brother sites…

And I am a home team fan that can sometimes show a bit of favoritism…

Too over the top?

Bobcats Basketball is my only pro sports passion...

by andrewlail76 on Jan 11, 2012 10:54 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

Maybe a bit....

Probably should have been more even-keeled like Focus’s.

Not hating on you focus… you just taught a master class on sticking it to the haters.

by Aisander D on Jan 11, 2012 11:04 PM EST up reply actions

LOL

by focuslja on Jan 11, 2012 11:05 PM EST up reply actions

tryn to catch me ridin perty!

by TheWhite Mamba on Jan 12, 2012 10:35 AM EST up reply actions

I knew it!

Bobcats Basketball is my only pro sports passion...

by andrewlail76 on Jan 12, 2012 12:16 PM EST up reply actions

If only this was sarcasm

by TS BOBCAT on Jan 11, 2012 11:56 PM EST up reply actions

It was recently established that this is a bot and not a real person

by drapht00 on Jan 12, 2012 12:52 AM EST up reply actions

Like most people here, by the second sentence I can tell whose writing I am reading.

Even though the first thing that focus said was, “Welcome. I am Focus.”, I seriously thought that it was someone pretending to be him as soon as I read, “I specialize in GREAT PREDICTIONS” and pretty much everything after it. I was laughing really, really hard. I was going to give a virtual high-five to the person who did it. (And that’s not knocking Focus. If someone pulled that on me, I’d give them a high-five.) It was beautiful. And then I read that it really was written by Focus and my heart sank. The elegance and beauty of such a prank was, indeed, not a prank at all. FML.

by Tim Rudisill on Jan 12, 2012 1:34 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs

LOL

Thought the same thing…
Getting to the end and seeing it was really him…

Priceless

Bobcats Basketball is my only pro sports passion...

by andrewlail76 on Jan 12, 2012 12:17 PM EST up reply actions

I disagree on a few points (I would make a great GM/owner of this team... Trade DJ since he is at his ceiling, trade T2 if you can, trade Diaw we need youth)

Upside is the NBA. If BB is 19 it is an amazing pick.

No way are russell and Kareem #1 and #2 unless you go solely on rings (which relies on teams a lot).. Put them in the 90’s and they are barely in the top 5 centers (Shaq, Dream, Drob, chewing).

MJ is a great owner because he has the biggest name in sports ever.. It’s good to have that kind of power on your side, plus players will want to play here (once we win a bit more too)

"What up? We're three cool guys looking for other cool guys who wanna hang out in our party mansion. Nothing sexual. Dudes in good shape encouraged. If you're fat, you should be able to find humor in the little things." Again, NOTHING SEXUAL

"I'd rather jerk off a tiger in a phone booth than draft Cam"
-Mel Kiper, Jr.

you guys are like a bunch of pirahnas
by chop goes da weazel on Mar 31, 2011 12:32 PM PDT

by MikeTrain on Jan 12, 2012 2:58 AM EST via mobile up reply actions

In what way is Augustin "at his ceiling?"

I’ve seen this claim repeated several times. But the guy is continuing to improve over his career bests of last year. And no, being a name does not make Jordan a great owner. The fact that you say the team needs to win for him to have an impact proves that he has no impact on his own.

Personal attacks are the weapon of the ignorant.

Panthers '011: This is what we've been waiting for...we get to overpay the core of a 2-14 team!

by MichaelProcton on Jan 12, 2012 3:03 PM EST up reply actions