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Coach Howland Is A "Witness"

Well this is a fun  and interesting story.

Apparently King James after getting embarrassed in the Eastern Conference Finals was embarrassed again when reportedly Xavier's Jordan Crawford posterized him at his own summer basketball tournament. According to Gary Parrish of CBS Sportsline.com it was so humiliating for the Nike Boy that the shoe company's reps. (reportedly) tried to cover up the video of this dunk:

AKRON, Ohio -- You want to see video of Xavier's Jordan Crawford dunking on LeBron James?

If so, too bad.

Because you're not going to see it.

Thanks to Nike.

Turns out, there were at least two cameras rolling Monday night when Crawford dunked on James during a pick-up game here at the LeBron James Skills Academy. It was a two-handed jam, the kind that would've circulated quickly on YouTube. But Nike officials eliminated that possibility shortly after the dunk happened by allegedly confiscating tapes from various cameramen.

Freelance photographer Ryan Miller was one of the cameramen shooting the game.

He told CBSSports.com that Nike Basketball Senior Director Lynn Merritt took his tape.

"He just said, 'We have to take your tape,'" Miller said. "They took it from other guys, too."

Worth noting is that there is no policy against filming at the LeBron James Skills Academy, and Miller said he had been filming all day without incident. Nobody ever told him to stop. Nobody ever said there was a problem ... until after Crawford dunked on James.

You can read the full post here. The story has burned up the nets including over at Deadspin where Tommy Craggs wrote the King got Tom Chambered before the video "was commandeered by a Nike goon".

But here is when the story gets really fun with a Bruin angle. Come along after the jump ...

Star-divide

So Ryan Miller who shot the video blogged about this little fiasco on Syracuse.com:

Xavier's Jordan Crawford blows by Danny Green on the right wing to get into the lane, LeBron helps on defense, leaving his feet to contest the shot and Crawford throws it down with two hands.

There was the initial collective gasp that comes before raucous applause on a big-time play...but then no raucous applause, just small buzzes of murmuring between adjacent spectators.

Camp employees and instructors wore shirts that read "Witness" throughout the week, and players donned LeBron James Skills Academy jerseys or the "Witness" tees.

Everyone in the building was a witness, but they know not to cheer a play the victim's name is eponymous with the camp they are attending. You just don't do that to arguably the greatest athlete in the world, in his hometown, at his own event.

No ovation, just a gasp and near silence.

Guess who Ryan shared the story with last night over dinner (emphasis added):

I ended up following Jeff Goodman (FoxSports.com), Gary Parrish (CBSSports.com) and Pete Thamel (NYTimes.com) from Akron to Cleveland, where the King City Classic is held, to grab a late dinner.

There were dozens of D-I coaches roaming the hotel and somehow I ended up at a dinner table with UCLA head coach Ben Howland (not just the two of us, that'd be a little awkward).

When it came time to pay, Howland insisted I don't, saying I provided them with a great story for the night instead. I tried to explain to him I have a six month grace period on my loans, and now is the time where I have a few bucks in my wallet. So I'm pretty sure Ben Howland bought me dinner.

Guess Nike will not be calling on Coach Howland for their latest campaign:

Img11934206_medium

That's from Gary Perrish who continues to be all over the case over a player who increasingly appears to be the perfect poster child for all the primadonnas infesting the NBA.

GO BRUINS.

0 recs  |  Comment 12 comments |

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Well CBH is an Adidas guy

I heard as SportsCenter was signing off that Crawford was wearing Adidas…all the more reason for Nike to make like THIS NEVER HAPPENED.

But really, I think the reaction to the dunk made everything so much worse than if they just let the video hit SportsCenter. Guys get dunked on all the time. There isn’t a player in the league that hasn’t been dunked on. It would have been amusing for a couple hours then 99.9% of people would forget about it. Now it’s a PR disaster. Great job “King” James, especially coming off the no-handshake fiasco.

by Tydides on Jul 9, 2009 4:23 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

True. Which is why I prefer it this way. This is hillarious.

by Harsha on Jul 9, 2009 5:19 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

I thought of the Adidas angle

But didn’t bring up because Ryan’s post suggested he was at a dinner table with Howland and other folks. Not sure if it was a table where just Adidas sponsored coaches sat. We just have the info that Howland might have picked up the tab (and no idea what Howland’s motivation might have been accept for the one mentioned that he got a kick out of a hilarious story).

You are right on though about NIKE completely screwing this up and looks even worse given the handshake shenanigans.

by Nestor on Jul 9, 2009 6:35 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Matt Smith's account of what happened on the play

“Apparently, Crawford was so high over a defending Lebron that his package was right in his face for a good 5 seconds. As Crawford elevated continuing onward to the inevitable, an audible ‘girlish scream’ could be heard emanating out of the mouth of the NBA superstar. Crawford then dunked over him with both hands. James hit the floor then crumpled to the ground, relegating himself into a fetal position while sucking his thumb and asking for his mother.”
This is the version of events I will choose to believe until the actual tape depicting this event finally surfaces for public consumption.

Oh UCLA you sweet bitch, you've BRUINed me for anything else.

by bruin8uclap on Jul 9, 2009 7:24 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

ROFL

Well we probably would have seen it had the Cavs actually made it to the NBA finals. :-)

by Nestor on Jul 9, 2009 7:32 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

The more I think about this

the more I think James is the just$c* of the nba.

by Fox 71 on Jul 9, 2009 7:57 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

no filming?

 yeah right. if it happened to be a king shames, i mean james, 360 dunk or a half court shot, it would have been on you tube so fast your head would spin!

by bruinbornandraised on Jul 9, 2009 11:15 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

too many yes men in LaBron's life

this will not end well. Something really bad is going to happen. It always does when you have nobody in your life who will tell you when you are being foolish.

"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"

by silverlakebruin on Jul 10, 2009 8:26 AM PDT reply actions   0 recs

in the last 12 months...

Mebron James has done more to damage his image than anyone i can think of…

1) MVP shirt
2) no hand shake
3) not talking to media after losses
4) dunk video

i shows because no free agents are looking to sign with the cavs, next up he dumps cavs during the 2010 summer and moves to NYC to competely fail there.

by bruintarheel on Jul 10, 2009 10:29 AM PDT reply actions   0 recs

I sent a tweet to CBH

Asking if he saw the dunk. No response. I know he has better things to do then write back to me.

by Westwood Wizard on Jul 10, 2009 12:21 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

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