Friday, June 5, 2009
Lebron James' fine???
NBA phenom Lebron James has been fined $25,000 for not speaking to the MEDIA in their game six loss in the Eastern Conference Finals. Although he can afford it, what message is the NBA really sending? Lebron James has built a reputation of being arguably the best player in the world and one of the most respectable athletes in the business. I think his constant cooperation and media friendly attitude has backfired on him being the fierce competitor that all elite athletes are. Even though I have no problem with him not shaking hands; which is done all of the time in pro sports after a devastating loss. I do have a problem when a league that promotes their mission of setting examples and influencing our youth; publicly fines a superstar NOT for doing something that kids must do at the end of every game, but slap a fine for not making a post-game statement? C'mon that's just absurd! I guess you only have the right to remain silent when in hand-cuffs. The NBA just collected a free $25,000 along with many other questionable fines this year. This man has never caused the league one problem since he's arrived and was the head of a draft class that cured the NBA's years of boredom after Michael Jordan retired from Chicago. Even though it's no sweat off of James' bank statement, it's the principle and yet another form of ungratefulness shown by a pro league to one of their keys to existence. It's funny how not speaking to the media costs the same as Kenyon Martin pushing Dirk Nowitzki into the third row in the Nuggets/Mavericks series on May 9th of this year.
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First, saying the words "Kenyon Martin" is like saying "Mufasa" around Scar and that pack of hyenas! DON'T DO THAT! You talkn bout Dirk Nowitzki! The man put Gasol's shoulder in the crippler and chicken winged Vujacic by the hamstring! Get that clown outta here! What were you writing about again...That's right James! You can't sambo and sambo and sambo and then when you get your a** mopped, you dont wanna sambo no more! Being a good sport isnt part of the rules, but talkn to the media definitely is. I agree with what you said about the kids but that aint messing up David Stern's money! If anything, the controversy caused by not shaking hands is gonna make Stern money when James drags his butt out there and explains what happened to the media!
ReplyDeleteI'll keep it short and sweet. Get off the mans damn back! He just tried to carry a whole city on his back and didn't feel like shaking hand after the game. Half the people that arbeing critical have NEVER played or participated in competitive sports and don't know how it feel to give your all and fall short of your goals. Give the man a break, he's a FREAKISH athlete but still human........
ReplyDeleteLebron James is an ICON already in the league in the state of Ohio and in Cleveland. Yes he is a pure competitor and the face of the league and yes the fine was a travesty but he can't get pissed and give them buttons to push when its not the league or the media that got your a** handed to you in the series. Bron-Bron should have been more than happy to blast his team on worldwide media and take the heat for that, trust it wouldn't have been out of place nor lessened his humility or star power for saying what needed to be said and telling the truth. Instead of taking what he thought was the high road and what he found to be misconstrued as being hurt or prideful in such a pitiful performance by his team in the series, he should have manned up taken the lumps as a leader and then laid into his coaching staff and team. His Coach of the year watched as the Magic(please) ran the same high pic and roll to perfection with no answer, vareajo flopped and missed rebounds and only scored on Lebrons assists, and Zylgauskis sat his a** out there and let Dwight Howard do a Shaq-Fu. Mo and Delontae nowhere near contributed like they should have but we all know it was the magic vs. Lebron literally so he should have known at some point the empire was gonna take a beating. I say all that to say Lebron played it safe when he should have faced the music and used this as a opportunity to put Danny Ferry and Clevelands' feet to the fire and remind them of 2010 and free agency. Varejao, Zylgauskis, Serbiak ,Wallace, Boobie, and jackson the new rookie who got no minutes should all be wrapped up as trade bait and get frontcourt help with players like Martin Gortat who helped the Magic blast the Cavs , Birdman Anderson, Carlos Boozer,or maybe even Amare Stoudemire any mobile big man who can play in the post and be mobile agile and play defense that will prevent any team from thinking that they will win 1 game much less 4 in a series by shooting 44% from 3 and letting a guy like Pietrus destroy your whole bench scoring output by hisself, so all Lebron did was cost himself yet another loss for the sake of guys that were more hyped about playing with him instead of playing for him.
ReplyDeleteI've been a Lebron fan since his high school days. That young man is a special player. The thing that makes him special is his respect for the game and the ones that come before him. Ya see him not talking to the media i can handle that. Fining him for that is a joke eventhough as stated above it is a rule but let's face it the nba is becoming a joke with quick techs and soft flagrants. I do have a problem with him being a sore loser and not talking to his supposed "friend" in Dwight Howard. I understand that losing hurts cause i've lost before even to my friends buts at the end of the day it's still a game and if you play it two things will happen: win or lose. You have to be able to deal with both! Now if he never shakes hands win or loss then that's acceptable because then you could say he never does it. But when your sweep my Hawks and your all smiles and hugging my favorite player JJ2 after the game, which i know he probably didnt want to do, then orlando comes in and takes all the film from your pregame camera, now you don't feel like shaking hands. LBJ has gotta realize he cant do things like that and rockin' a New York fitted the next day because everything he does is put under a microscope and OVER-analyzed. Cleveland if you don't bring in any help kiss bron bron goodbye!!
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ReplyDeleteNo Brothers Allowed. NBA!!! These guys are amazing yeah. They hand out more fines than state troopers on holidays. 25,000 for not answering questions. But Lebron knew that. Why should he shoulder the responsibility of explaining the disappointment of not playing in one of the most hyped NBA finals in league history. Because honestly that would have been the focal point of the majority of the questions. I was an athlete myself and had to endure the press ignorant questions and comments. Didn't want to but I did. Selfishly I just wanted my name in the paper, at least they wanted to talk to me, right. But in Lebron's case its different. I think he played it smart using the old adage, if you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all. If he would have thrown that entire team under the bus, i wouldn't have had an issue with it. But the media makes their living off stories and quotes. They wanted to hang that man, but he didn't give them anything. Now everyone's mad at him. Mostly because he didn't have any remorse about it at all. Win like a man and lose like one. Simple as that. But these days you damn if you do, damn if you don't.
ReplyDeleteYou can not start debating a topic by analyzing the stems! You have to start by analyzing the root! The NBA was not founded by black people and it is not for black people! So if a black man decides to parcticipate in the NBA or any organization not founded by his kinsmen, he has to be willing to suffer a few things that he may not particularly find agreeable! Signing the contract and taking the trumped salary is the crime; remaining ignorant and paying the slight fine is the time! And ignorance will not remain bliss for long! LeBron James, Shaq, and Jordan have the capital, star power, and charisma to start their own league and influence a rebirth of the mindstate! But as of now, it seems that they are satisfied with "making it" and "dancing around and eating chicken!" Until then these "stars" are going to continue to get what is coming to them! However, as Dusty Rhodes said, it is up to learned individuals to get to the core and educate!
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