Jeff Green doesn't like blogs, worked on getting stronger

Ahh Jeff Green.  He's both a blessing and a curse for bloggers like myself.  If I ever want to post an article that's guaranteed to have 100+ comments, I just toss out some Jeff Green facts and sit back and watch brothers fight brothers in our own little interweb civil war.

In theory all this is in good fun and athletes knowingly sign up for it when they become celebrities.  Yet, peeling back the layers gives you a peek into their lives and realize that they are human beings too. They can say "I never read that stuff" and some of them might not.  But their mothers and brothers and agents and friends-of-friends do.  You better believe that kind of stuff gets back to them.

So it shouldn't come as any shock that Jeff Green is a little tired of hearing "blogs" talk bad about him.

Jeff Green on being labeled inconsistent: "it's tough to block it all out but you just say 'blogs suck' and move on"

— Jay O (@MrTrpleDouble10) September 29, 2014

;My immediate reaction upon reading this was "I mean, it isn't MY fault he's inconsistent."  My job (as I see it) is to present my view of the team.  I perceive that Green hasn't always played up to the level that we've all seen him be able to achieve.  Therefore I write that he's inconsistent.

Fellow blogger John Karalis puts it this way.

Hey, Jeff Green, Sorry You Don't Like Blogs

The "inconsistent" label comes, first and foremost, from him not living up to OUR expectations. When he got his $9 million or so per year, we collectively raised our hopes for what we thought he might be. Generally speaking, the fan base decided that Green's insane athletic ability and fairly large contract would add up to a day-in, day-out, high-teen, low-20 point scoring output. After the departure of Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, we looked at Green and said "well, I guess you're our first option now," and thrust upon him our own ideas of what that would be.

I don't recall ever saying something patently unfair or overly generalizing about him (though to be honest, it is possible, I'm emotional during games and can write and say things without thinking them through completely).

If anything, I'm really pulling for Jeff Green. He's (by all accounts) a really, really nice guy.  He's also a feel-good story in that he's recovering from heart surgery.  And finally, nothing would make me happier than to see him do well because he'd be helping my team that I obsess over do better.

I'll go a step further.  In Jeff Green I see a bit of myself.  I feel like I have a bit of talent in certain areas and I do think I work hard.  Yet I'm not always as on-point as I'd like to be.  I don't always bring it the way I know I could if I had more time, energy, or an endless supply of coffee.  I read a lot and sometimes I'm just awed by the way an author weaves his story.  I just picked up Fahrenheit 451 to read again and ...my goodness, I'm not even in the same species as Ray Bradbury.

But I'll keep on working on my craft and trying to get better.  In much the same way, Jeff Green is working to make himself better.  With such a heavy scoring load, he learned last year that it takes a physical toll.  So he worked on bulking up and getting stronger (you know, when he wasn't giving away gobs of money to his alma mater).

Celtics practice report: Jeff Green asked to shoulder heavier burden - Blogs - MetroWest Daily News, Framingham, MA

Green alluded to the "brutal beatings" he took as an offensive focal point as the reason for some of that inconsistency on Monday, adding that he worked to improve his physique and add strength as a way to help reverse that course. "I just wanted to strengthen certain areas with what I experienced last year," Green said, "and wasn’t ready for, so now after a year of experience in that role, I realized I had to ramp that up."

Excellent!  Glad to hear it.  I really hope it works out for him.  I hope this is one of the key things that helps him turn the page and become a more consistent scorer and live up to "our" expectations of him.  But it might not, and that's ok.  He might never become that guy and "we" might all have to understand what he is and what he isn't.  Not in a way that limits or tears him down.  But in an encouraging, "we're with you and we want the best for you" sort of way.

I don't care what his paycheck says, good on him for getting paid.  He doesn't need me to give him some false bar of greatness by which to measure himself against.  I'm sure he sets the bar high enough without my help.

As for me, well, I suppose I could put my writing ahead of my personal life and become a better writer/blogger, but I'm not going to do that.  I like to think that I have my priorities set up to understand blogging is a hobby and sitting down to play tea time with my daughter or do a puzzle with my son is on a whole other level of importance.

So how about we start this year off on the right foot.  All I want is for Jeff Green to be the best Jeff Green he can be.  In turn, I'll try to be the best Jeff Clark I can be.  And that's about all anyone can ask.