The Truth about LeBron James

While I am fully aware that the Celtics post-season is nowhere near over, I find it necessary to offer opinion of the greatest basketball player in the world after the Celtics had him exit stage right.  While watching the Celtics-Cavs series I, along with the rest of the world, paid particular attention to one LeBron James. After watching the series and reflecting upon it over the past two days, the Staples slogan runs through my head, "That was easy." What made it so easy?  LeBron James is a baby.

I absolutely hate to compare athletes from generation to generation or sport to sport but all I could think of as a reasonable comparison for Lebron was Mike Tyson.  Tyson was the equivalent of a high school bully.  He was someone that would beat the crap out of you and punish you into submission, but if you were able to muster the courage to hit that bully, or Tyson for that matter back,  you were going to be alright.  Just ask Buster Douglas.  Once the boxing world learned this, people went right after Tyson.  The same can be said for LeBron James.  D him up as best you can, take the ball to him, and he will quit because LeBron is a baby.

No longer will there be any conversation about him joining the ranks of all time great NBA players.  The all time great’s are the all time great’s for a reason.  They compete.  Did Larry give up against the Pistons? Hell no. He stole the ball and laid it underneath to DJ for the win.  Did Michael quit? Hell no.  He had a temperature of 103 against the Jazz having Scottie Pippen carry him off the court after scoring 38 points.  You don’t even have to look at the all time greats for players that compete and not give up.  Just this past week, Steve Nash had a black eye so severe it was swollen shut and he still willed his team to victory over the San Antonio Spurs.  Has Lebron or can LeBron do any of this? No.  LeBron is a baby.

Run along to New York LeBron, go get your money and get out of Cleveland.  Abandon the city that you grew up in and that coddled you for your 25 years on this earth.  But never ask to be put into the conversation of all time great players.  Kobe didn’t leave Los Angeles.  Tim didn’t leave San Antonio.  Paul didn’t leave Boston.  You couldn’t wait to get out of Cleveland because you are a wimp.  Your effort was less than cavalier when your team and your city needed you most. 

Yes, we all are witnesses.  We have witnessed what you do when the NBA really matters under the brightest spotlight.  Sure, you proclaimed that you can win the scoring title every year if you wanted to.  Ask Kevin Durant about that.  Sure you can lead your team to the best regular season record time and time again, jumping around and taking mock pictures and giving the 15 minute handshake when things are going well.  But what do you do when the occasion calls for a great player to do great things?  You go 3-14 on your home floor and turn the ball over 9 times.

The truth about you sir, you are a baby and babies do that.

Unnecessary Disappointment

I am neither a hockey fan nor aficionado, but what I am is a sports fan.  Because I seem to be one of the few bloggers to actually write some posts around here (bfarl7 ignore this attack), I’m going to attempt to weigh in on a subject that I have no reason to even consider approaching.  Only four times in sports history, well now five, has a team been able to come back from a three game deficit to win a series in seven games.  Yes, the entails a team having to win four consecutive games in a playoff series (where at least two of these games would be played on the road).  It also entails one team collapsing for four consecutive games, and then being placed in the record books for not being able to finish a series.  Man…that really sucks for the Boston Bruins.

All I have been hearing about since the Bruins were grinding out the series against the best goaltender in the game (Ryan Miller) is how good this emerging young Finnish goalie is.  Tuukka Rask was “standing on his head” (as you hockey buffs say) game after game.  In my opinion, he single handedly won the Buffalo series.  And then the clouds opened, a ray of light beamed down from the heavens, and God himself handed Claude Julien and his boys the Philadelphia Flyers.  Never mind the fact that the Flyers just dethroned the almighty New Jersey Brodeur’s.  The Bruins were being handed a Philadelphia team that was on their third goalkeeper of the season, and they were without two of their most gifted offensive players (Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne).  Bruins fans around the country were salivating at the thought of running the Flyers quickly out of town, getting a few days to rest, and then having Rask attempt to stifle the 2009 NHL Stanley Cup champions in the Pittsburgh Penguins.  The first three games went exactly to plan, and then came game four.  An overtime thriller, which the Bruins’ were on the losing side of, seemed like nothing more than a bump in the road.  Game five was dismal.  The Bruins were unenthused, energetic, and certainly unexciting.  But, even with the series now at 3-2, not one Bruins fan was truly worried about the Flyers winning anymore games.  God again blessed the Bruins by removing Boucher from game 6.  With a gasp and a wipe of the brow, we now knew our Bruins would be advancing to the…oh shit, Leighton just stifled an already struggling Bruins offense.  Even with the series now being tied 3-3 and with Barry Melrose jumping on the Flyers’ bandwagon, no Boston Bruins fan thought that their beloved team could actually lose four games in a row and place themselves amongst the immortal choke-jobs of all time.  Well yes Bruins fans, I’m sorry to say that your hockey team is now one of five teams to ever lose four games in a row after being up three games to none in a playoff series.

As the clock hit zero and the Bruins’ fate was sealed last night, I can imagine the profanity flying through the air.  I can see television’s being angrily shut off, faces full of disgust, and glasses being thrown.  Hell, I even had to put down a couple cold one’s to help my emotions settle too.  But, as I sat and pondered what just happened, I came to a rationalization that only a non-fan could stumble upon.  The 2010 season for the Boston Bruins was a resounding success.  I know that coming into the season expectations were high.  Tim Thomas just has the season of his life, the Bruins were the best team in the league the previous year (according to regular season record), and their only loss was an uninspired winger that threw a few pucks in net.  But, with 11 games left in the season the Bruins were fighting for a playoff spot.  I believe they won 7 of their last 11 games, miraculously ended up with a sixth seed, and proceeded to win a playoff series against the USA’s golden goalie.  That surpasses any expectations that I had for the lowly 2010 Boston Bruins, and once you take a step back, lay your Lucic jersey on the bed for a second, and become a rational person, you’ll also realize that disappointment has no place in the conversation about these Boston Bruins.

Now that the Bruins have been eliminated, normal order of the world can be restored.  The 80% of you that did not watch more than five regular season games for the Bruins (but proclaimed you were fans come playoff time) can go about your lives rooting for the Red Sox because that is the popular thing to do, try to talk basketball at the bar because you watched Sportscenter that morning, and hope that next season some local team you really aren’t a fan of does well so you can spend $100 to go to a playoff game.  For the 15% of you out there that are true Bruins fans, try to step outside of your fanship for a minute and realize the big picture.  Realize that Claude Julien did an amazing job this season with a team that shouldn’t have even smelled playoff hockey.  Also realize that with the second overall selection in the 2010 NHL Draft, the Bruins are poised to draft a cornerstone player for this team for the next 10-15 years.  And, don’t fail to realize that no matter how good the Bruins do, they are like the sixth man on a basketball team, you love what they give you when they are in the game, but if you see them too often you know the shit has hit the fan.  For the remaining 5% of us that accept we are not hockey fans, but are so engulfed in the Boston sports scene that we find ourselves watching games, but then being critical of the team which follows with an attack from your drunk buddies about how you hate all Boston sports teams…well, keep living your life, man (well woman too, I don’t want to be sexist).