TheBron
I am a casual fan of NBA basketball, but I am a baseball fanatic. With that said, I do and do not understand the controversy surrounding LeBron James’ decision to leave Cleveland for Miami via free agency.
Professional sports are a spectacle, as much theater as athleticism. I love the soap opera dramatics that play out in the press...very entertaining. I 'love' the Mets and 'hate' the Yankees (and Braves and Phillies and...), but these are 'sports' emotions not real emotions. I've been known to chant "Yankees suck! Yankees suck!" during games, but if fact, the Yankees actually don't 'suck' they are really good. It doesn't matter though. When I'm involved in watching a Mets game I play the part. If David Wright, my favorite Met, leaves the Mets for the Yankees when becomes a free agent I will 'hate' him. If he makes his decision on a prime-time ESPN special, I will REALLY hate him. But again, baseball (like all sports) is a business, and you can't really blame a person for doing what's best for themselves. Likewise though, that player has to realize that what's best for them may not be what’s best for the fans, and they are going to let them know it! That's part of the deal. In the end, always remember: you can't really love or hate anything that can't love or hate you back.
This is why I am enjoying the LeBron James free agent drama so much. LeBron probably could have made more money and have become a bigger star playing in New York, but he chose to join a team that has great chance of winning a championship very soon. I admire that. I might be the only one. Sports writers are accusing him of taking the easy way out and being a coward! It's true that if LeBron had stayed with his hometown Cavaliers and won a championship, he would go down in NBA history as a Michael Jordon type player. Jordon spent years leading the Bulls from failure to glory, but that's not what James wants to do. He has chosen to become one of three superstars on a team that might win a bunch of championships. I don’t' see why that is bad.
With all that said, the way he left the Cavs, with the whole "Decision" ESPN special, was pathetic. And I loved it! Now, the best thing EVER is how the owner of the Cavaliers responded: with an emotional open letter posted on the front page of the Cavaliers web site! I had no idea that the NBA allowed owners to post anything they want on team pages! I would think that all the content is very closely scrutinized. I bet his letter was typed by him personally on his computer then copy and pasted onto the site. He used the Comic Sans font, a font not used by any respectable web designer. Yikes! This is no press release reviewed by the Team's or the League's PR people. What I like about the letter is that it is 'real', dripping with emotion. You just don't see that much anymore on official websites. I don't agree with a bunch of what the letter says, but I absolutely love that he has poured his heart out.
In the end, none of this matters. The Magic will win the Championship next year while the three Heat superstars will have a massive clash of egos. They probably won't even make the playoffs. ***Jinx!!!***
Open Letter to Fans from Cavaliers Majority Owner Dan Gilbert
Torch This!
Sorry I haven’t posted for a few days, I’ve been too wrapped up in curling, biathlon, and women’s hockey. Yes, the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games are in full swing, and who the hell cares? The Olympics were intended to be a sporting event for amateur athletes from around the word. Athletics and sportsmanship were supposed to allow athletes from every nation to put aside their differences for a couple of weeks and hopefully increase understanding of different cultures. Sounds nice, right? Unfortunately, the reality of the Olympics today is a little less noble.
Today, the Olympic Games are no different than any other big sporting event. Professional athletes, corporate sponsorship, and massive marketing campaigns are the norm now. And far from promoting a sense of global fraternity, the only thing that people truly seem interested in is the ‘medal count.’ Did you know that cold climate countries do better at the winter Olympics than warm weather nations?! What about this shocking fact: countries with huge economies and populations tend to win more medals than small, poor ones!! I feel such a sense of pride when I check the medal count each morning and the US is kicking Kazakhstan’s butt. U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
I better keep it short. I’ve been away from the TV for far too long. I hope I didn’t miss skeleton or freestyle skiing.
Baseball 101
In less than a month, pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. It's time for baseball again. Here in Florida, the idea of Spring Training is not difficult to fathom, but depending on where you live, there still may be snow on the field and bitter cold winds blowing. None the less, in two days the New Orleans Saints will be walking off the field with the Vince Lombardi trophy (mark my words: 24 to 17), and then it's time to start thinking baseball.
I plan to write a number of baseball-related posts in the coming months. Among the topics will be steroids, the color barrier, and my favorite team, the Mets. In this post, I want to have some fun, so I am going to attempt to explain the game of baseball in a single post. Baseball is the most complicated sport. If you doubt this fact then attempt this exercise. Try explaining the game of soccer to somebody that knows nothing about the subject. Then, try doing the same with baseball.
Soccer: a game played on an outdoor rectangular field with a goal at either end. Two teams compete to kick a ball into the other team's goal. The objective is to score more goals than the other team in the allotted time. Players can kick the ball, but cannot touch it with their hands. Only the goaltenders, one on each team, can defend his team's goal by using his hands. Now, there are more rules and many nuances to Soccer, but with the above knowledge a person could watch a game of soccer and understand it. Baseball is a whole 'nother story.
Years back I was in a new relationship with a woman who had recently moved to the United States from Eastern Europe. She knew NOTHING about baseball. When I tried to explain to her why I was yelling at a man named Piazza on TV to 'swing the damn bat!', I realized how daunting a task it is to explain baseball. Even people who have no interest in sports understand the basics of baseball, if they grew up in America. It's part of the culture. You just pick it up through osmosis. In grade school, your teacher gave you 'three strikes' to stop talking during class, and you 'hit a home run' when you received an 'A' on your geography quiz. In retrospect, I believe my attempts at explaining baseball to my girlfriend was partly to blame for the failure of the relationship. She thought I was crazy and just making this stuff up. She would say to me in broken English. “Do you think I’m fool? How can a ball be out of play but be caught by other man and first man be out?!” You no need to make up story to impress me. Just be real with me. Next think you’re going to tell me is that they play 162 games a year then have a 3 tiered playoff system.” Ok, so maybe she never said any of that, but I’m sure she was thinking it. Anyway, below I will attempt to explain the rules and game play of baseball in conversational style, off the top of my head...until I get tired and stop. Then it will be the reader's chance to pick up where I left off and comment the rest of the rules.
