OT - LeBron James
by TuneMan7 on Jun 3, 2009 10:43 AM PDT
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There is a wire service article out there saying Lebron had a benign growth removed from his mouth. Perhaps that was his foot?
Maybe I'm too old school, but I still beleive in courtesy and sportsmanship. I never liked players doing trash talking. When I was playing pick-up at the Wooden Center, I used to take extra pleasure from beating a trash talker. LeBron's explanation that he wasn't being a bad sport was wrong. It was the definition of poor sportsmanship.
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Shaking hands
I love LeBron but he shouldn’t have sprinted off the court after the loss without acknowledging and congratulating the Magic. The guy is a superhuman player and, while I am sure he was supremely frustrated at the loss, he should have risen above it all.
I agree—it was poor sportsmanship, but he didn’t clothesline anyone or trip anyone or cheat. Perhaps he just needs to mature a bit. He also needs a better team. The rest of his teammates simply sucked during that series. Cleveland was lucky they weren’t swept.
the worse thing was his justification for it the next day
I don’t shake hands with people that beat me. WTF?
Getting caught up in the emotion of the game is one thing, but clearly “the king” has way too many yes men around him and not enough people telling him when he is being a fool.
"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"
by silverlakebruin on Jun 3, 2009 12:21 PM PDT reply actions
Yes, exactly
If he had said the next day, “I got caught up in the heat of the moment. I’m sorry,” I would have cut him some slack. I know I take UCLA losses very hard, so I can imagine how frustrated he was.
In terms of his “yes men” "60 Minutes’ did an interview with him about a month ago, and he has all his old friends as his business associates. There was also an article, I think on MSNBC, earlier this week that pointed out the same thing. No one has the guts to tell him no.
by bruinbabe2000 on Jun 3, 2009 1:42 PM PDT up reply actions
I'm with you
When I’ve played sports, there have been times where I’ve gotten caught up in the heat of the moment and done something stupid. It happens. I don’t think anyone can say that in the heat of battle they haven’t done something, whether big or small, that probably wasn’t the right thing to do. Had LeBron come out the next day and said “I’m sorry. I was caught up in the game/disappointment and it was the wrong thing to do” I’d have said fine. It wouldn’t make what he did right, but it wouldn’t have mattered to me much anymore.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Jun 4, 2009 1:23 PM PDT up reply actions
You guys are forgetting 1 thing
He did this last year against the Celtics and the year before with the Spurs. This wasn’t an accident or an “in the heat of the moment” thing. This is what he does. This is who LeBron is. Don’t make excuses for that. All of us would be pissed if we saw our child act like this.
Funny...
As great as LeBron is on the court, don’t you think a few years in college would have helped his attitude? Do you think a good college coach would have put up with him doing that? It’s not just about the ability to play, it’s about maturity too. LeBron came to the NBA straight from high school and was immediately anointed “King” by the star-hungry media and NBA. But the more I learn about him, the less I like his attitude and lack of respect for opponents…what was that stupid thing he did with the poses for photographs with teammates? I can’t remember exactly, but it was very disrespectful.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
I didn't know that
I don’t really follow the NBA, just when the Lakers are making a run (I grew up with the Showtime Lakers, so it’s just habit). I just happened to be watching and saw him walk off the court as soon as the buzzer sounded.
by bruinbabe2000 on Jun 5, 2009 9:52 AM PDT up reply actions
Yep
The benign growth was a size 16 lower extremity.
You know what this means
LeBron was playing “injured” the whole time and still made it to the conference finals. Had this been known before hand, the Magic would have been 20 point favorites every game, so what James did has to be amazing. I can’t think of any other player who made it farther while playing injured.
(Note-Kobe’s torn pinkie tendon, Lee’s broken orbital bone, Martin’s broken ring finger, and Odom’s sore back don’t count as injuries…only benign growths in unimportant areas of the body)
This is a
non-issue conjured up by desperate sportswriters.
Did any players give a damn about whether LeBron shook their hands?
Jordan was known to show “poor sportsmanship” at times (specifically refusing to play with Isaiah Thomas on the original Dream Team). While it would have been nice for LeBron to shake hands after the game as is customary, it has apparently had more effect on the over-speculative public than with the men who actually play the game.
Why do people care so much?
Referring to
the sportsmanship aspect, not the growth in his mouth. Gross.
The speculation about LeBron making excuses for losing due to that is a nice little touch. Not.
Refusing to play with Isaiah Thomas
is hardly poor sportsmanship…
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Do your research
He did not want to play with Isaiah only AFTER Isaiah plotted with other All-Stars to “freeze out” Jordan by not passing him the ball in the 1985 All-Star game. A few years later, Isaiah went on to win the 1988-1989, and the 1989-1990 NBA Championships, both by putting Jordan’s Bulls out along the way (each time, Jordan wished him luck in the Finals after losing to his nemisis). Then, after the Bulls got the better of the Pistons in the 1990-1991 Eastern Conference finals, Isaiah promptly pulled a “LeBron” and walked off of the court without congratulating anyone, including Jordan. That was hardly poor sportsmanship by refusing to play with a guy like that. Although, I hear that they are best of friends now since they both have something in common. Both are responsible for single-handedly destroying the New York Knicks franchise! Of course, just a joke.
Why do people care so much? Because it is just a game, that’s why. That level of poor sportsmanship has no place in the game. It is okay to have rivalries, trash talk (TuneMan7, I might have been the one trash-talking you in Wooden, but I doubt that you beat me! Ha, there I go again!), etc., as long as everyone walks off of the court as friends and realizes that all of those elements are there to make the competition more exciting and not meant to be taken seriously or to hurt anyone’s feelings. It’s just a game. Lighten up and have fun…and shake hands whether you win or lose. I’m sure Bron was there to receive the handshakes and congratulations from the Pistons’ & Hawks’ AAU teams, you should do the same when you are on the losing end. Period.
I don't follow
your logic in claiming its okay to keep Isaiah off the team because he had shown poor sportsmanship in the past.
Isaiah and Jordan are both examples of great basketball players who, at times, showed poor sportsmanship. They didn’t show an overwhelming trend toward inappropriate behavior on the court, and are likewise not castigated for it. Neither should LeBron. Like I said, its a non-issue, a footnote at the end of an article, not the primary narrative.
It's pretty simple actually...
I would guess that Jordan did not say, “Isaiah can’t play on the team”. He probably said, I won’t play on the same team as that guy. Being that Jordan was Jordan, they chose to go with him. If you were a business executive and your company was looking to add someone to the team that was going to disrupt the chemistry, you’d speak up.
if kobe
does this there would have been story upon story about this, the boys on espn would have roasted him, and he would be trashed by every sports writer in the papers.
Fair or not, it is clear to me that there is a double standard, even with the superstars of the league.
and just to point out im not a kobe fanatic like some ppl. There have been plenty of times ive been angry at him and what he does, but when given the opportunity to do so, the msm will take their shots at mr. bryant regardless of what he does on the court.
Even more OT, here's my proposed rule change
An automatic technical foul for each handshake after a free throw, and it’s a two-shot technical for a handslap after a missed free throw. Just watch – on a two shot foul, see if there is ever a time that we don’t have the handslaps after the first shot. If the guys on the shooter’s team can do handslaps, the guys on the other side ought to be able to give the shooter a wedgie, just to balance the karma.
I don't agree with the first
But I certainly agree with the second. I’ll let slapping go on missed free throws if it’s between a player’s hand and the back of the free throw misser’s head.
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