Nevius: Getting 'Popped' by Spurs coach a badge of honor among media

When San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich lit me up for asking a dumb question after Game 2, I heard from folks from all over.

Friends checked in with, “Wow, dude, sorry to see that happen.” And I was in the Twitterverse for a while with funny emojis and photoshops.

I don’t have much of a defense. I can’t recall my question word for word, but I think it went:

“Coach, in your experience with teams that have been blown out, how would you expect your team to react to being blown out in relation to general blowouts?”

Popovich did not find my premise perceptive or worthy of a serious reply. Frankly, I take his point. Even one of my wife’s co-workers said, “Chuck’s question wasn’t very good.”

To which I say: OK, wise guy, let’s see you do it. First, it was news to me, returning to the sports beat, that the presser is shown live on various video platforms. I figured it out when I got a text, critiquing my question while the press conference was still going on.

The setting is pretty basic. You sit in a room with rows of folding chairs and the interview subject sits at a table on a dais in front. If you are Popovich, you don’t start with an opening comment, you just sit down and raise your eyebrows, like “Well?”

So someone like me, to break the silence, puts his hand up - maybe with my question a little less formed in my head than would be advisable - and they put a microphone on a stick in your face. And suddenly you realize that the disembodied voice in the room is yours and that TV cameras and most of the people in the room have turned to stare at you.

So yeah, it is easy to get rattled and start babbling. I’ve done it hundreds of times. As dumb questions go, that’s not even in my top 10.

And second, I wasn’t offended. I was thrilled. Getting “Popped” is a badge of honor among media types.

I didn’t get quite the treatment of my colleague Ray Ratto, who was so scalded by Popovich that he became a brief social media meme - including photos from the press conference. (Ratto, the consummate professional, shrugged it off, naturally.)

But it is interesting to see how Popovich, complaining all the way about how much he hates to do these public appearances, has become can’t-miss viewing.

As Game 2 was ending at Oracle Arena, PR staffers stopped by reporters’ seats in the press box to remind us that Popovich famously goes directly to the interview room, answers a few questions and leaves. So we’d better get there right away. Because no one wanted to miss the show.

Popovich’s shtick is that he finds interviews so pointless and absurd that he has no choice but to treat questions with contempt. He barks at TV reporters during mid-game interviews just to make it clear how annoyed he is.

But how many times have you been on your way to the refrigerator only to stop in front of the TV “to see what Pop is going to say”? Granted, some deserve scorn. Just to be clear, “Talk about your team’s intensity” is not a question. It is no wonder Pop reacts sarcastically.

But there’s a little wink-and-nudge agreement between the media and interview subjects. We’re just trying to get them talking and usually they play along and employ that time-honored trick of answering the question they wish they were asked instead of the one they got.

And if Popovich really wanted to discourage airtime, it would be the easiest thing in the world. Just go full coach-speak and natter on about the subtle nuances of “spacing the floor.” Eyes would glaze over and the interview would be over in nothing flat.

Instead, last week Popovich took on President Donald Trump (he’s not a fan), said Warriors center Zaza Pachulia is a dirty player and called out his team for lack of heart. It was a headline a day.

The little secret is that Popovich gets a kick out of this and the media enjoys getting something that isn’t the same old, same old. The cranky professor is, at least a little, an act.

A reporter from Texas who’s been covering Popovich for years said, “He likes to play the bully in a group setting, but you get him one-on-one and he’s a sweetheart.”

Actually I have another source on that topic. I used to cover former Air Force Academy basketball coach Hank Egan in Colorado Springs. Popovich played for Egan as an Academy cadet and was his team captain. (Egan also gave a hand to Warriors interim coach Mike Brown.)

Egan was a huge booster of the skinny, jug-eared kid, and Popovich repaid him by hiring him on NBA staffs along the way. Anybody that knows Egan knows that he has no time for any jerks. If he’s supporting Popovich, that’s a real endorsement.

As for getting “Popped,” - hey, there’s no show without the dumb questions. Admit it, Pop. You need us.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cw.nevius@Pressdemocrat.com. Twitter: @cwnevius.