Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category
LeBron James, and the Tale of the Never Seen Dunk – Ball Don’t Lie – NBA – Yahoo! Sports
This is almost old news already, but I think it deserves some attention, as well as a permanent (relatively) spot on the web. When did Lebron turn into a big baby? Between his playoff run-and-hide and now this, where he can’t handle someone dunking on him.
This is absolutely no fun, and it falls right in line with a batch of childish behavior from LeBron James recently. And I’m not in line with those who are letting James slide for this or James’ refusal to meet the media or congratulate the Orlando Magic last month because “he hasn’t done anything wrong yet.”
They’re confusing “not doing anything wrong” with “meeting and far exceeding the hype that preceded his NBA career.” We should applaud his game, but to applaud him for merely not being a dingle berry doorknob is ridiculous. Nearly as ridiculous as substituting “dingle berry doorknob” for a curse word.
via LeBron James, and the Tale of the Never Seen Dunk – Ball Don’t Lie – NBA – Yahoo! Sports.
Everyone was willing to make an excuse of the playoff thing, but this is just dumb. I know Nike has made some statement amount “no videos” or something like that, but many witnesses say that they had no problem with the filming until Lebron got dunked on.
I really don’t get it. Lebron certainly appears to be more relaxed and fun-loving this. Is he getting uptight? Maybe this just shows that maybe NBA players should go to college and mature a little.
Private donors to cover city’s costs for Los Angeles Lakers championship parade – ESPN
Private donors agreed to cover nearly $1 million in taxpayer costs for a parade honoring the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers. The prospect of the cash-strapped city having to cover the bill had drawn strong criticism.
The costs for police, traffic control and other services for Wednesday’s parade were still being calculated, but they were expected to run a bit under $1 million, said Julie Wong, an aide to City Council president Eric Garcetti.
via Private donors to cover city’s costs for Los Angeles Lakers championship parade – ESPN.
My wife has a great point, how does it cost $1 million for a city to throw a parade? Does it usually cost that much? I want to see the analysis!
NYT – the No Stats All-Star – Shane Battier
A great article from the New York Times Magazine, detailing and analyzing Shane Battier, a guy that I admittedly dropped from my fantasy basketball team last year…
The Grizzlies went from 23-59 in Battier’s rookie year to 50-32 in his third year, when they made the N.B.A. playoffs, as they did in each of his final three seasons with the team. Before the 2006-7 season, Battier was traded to the Houston Rockets, who had just finished 34-48. In his first season with the Rockets, they finished 52-30, and then, last year, went 55-27 — including one stretch of 22 wins in a row. Only the 1971-2 Los Angeles Lakers have won more games consecutively in the N.B.A. And because of injuries, the Rockets played 11 of those 22 games without their two acknowledged stars, Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, on the court at the same time; the Rockets player who spent the most time actually playing for the Rockets during the streak was Shane Battier. This year Battier, recovering from off-season surgery to remove bone spurs from an ankle, has played in just over half of the Rockets’ games. That has only highlighted his importance. “This year,” Morey says, “we have been a championship team with him and a bubble playoff team without him.”
Here we have a basketball mystery: a player is widely regarded inside the N.B.A. as, at best, a replaceable cog in a machine driven by superstars. And yet every team he has ever played on has acquired some magical ability to win.
Steve Nash now lacks hair
He looks a little emaciated, frankly. I never thought I’d say this, but he may look better with those nasty locks.
