Lebron Falls Victim to News Cycle, Media Pulls Race Card

Although the interview took place on CNN, it did not surprise me when ESPN spent the majority of their live coverage of the Miami Heat today talking about race instead of basketball. What else would you expect when a network assigns three reporters to one team. 'Yup, after watching three days of practice, we can assume that three reporters were not needed for one team, let’s talk about race.' The reality is that there is just not many stories coming from training camp. And if there is, they already talked about it 'They worked on defensive drills....again, back to you Chris' You don’t see Shelly Smith with a crew out in Los Angeles and she’s producing the same info. I can tell you, journalism is not the most difficult thing in the world as long as you can write at a third grade level. It’s pretty much just collecting information for filler and as you should know, is pretty easy with the internet.

This is how I viewed Lebron's interview. He was asked a question that really did not need to be asked, but race is so irresistible when you are desperate for a news story so why not ask him. He answered in a very general way and claimed that race was a factor and not the reason for the backlash; two very, very different things. On that principal, he's right. Race is ALWAYS a factor. And race will continue to be a factor until the generation that lived under Jim Crow laws leaves us; it’s just a reality. Race is a factor when interracial dating is still not fully accepted. Race is a factor when an NFL team has to interview a black candidate even when everyone, candidate included, knows that they're not going to get the job. I call that, indirect racism if you want to debate race. Do your history and you will find that many things in society are 'race related.'

As for the responses to this news story, I would expect nothing less from a society that’s main problem is texting while driving. I love the answers 'He just needs to play basketball and shut up.' I feel that people who produce answers like this do not know the real reason they are viewing a news story like this. It is because media outlets cannot report on anything else happening in basketball for the sole fact, well you guessed it, nothing has happened! They have not played a meaningful game of basketball yet and wont for another month. This is the best thing that they could come up with to show you to keep you interested so you can write ignorant comments on message boards and contribute to their daily hits so they can make more money through advertising, who’s the asshole now? People just need to learn how to depict news stories and this was the best story that they came up with from training camp today. Oh wait, I think there's an update. Yup, it’s confirmed, they just ran another defensive drill!

Report from Camp: 'LeBron looks serious'

 With the Heat opening up camp today, the characteristics of Heat are obvious; they are serious about winning a championship. With the chosen location of Hurlburt Field Air Force Base, The Miami Heat certainly set a tone with the players and the NBA. This location gives the players a sense of security so they can practice without having a blogger like me trying to get into the area. Apparently the security is so tight that not even the wives of the players could enter. This trip is about one thing: basketball. Check that. Defensive Basketball. And Pat Riley would not want it any other way.


For the first two hours of practice, the players only worked on the defensive side of the ball. The message is clear to the team that they are not going to win a championship on the offensive side of the ball; although the offense won’t hurt. In the game of basketball, defense turns into offense real quick. Defense also takes great communication which is something the military prides itself off of as they understand the importance of having everybody communicating during an operation. This could be another reason why Pat Riley, who makes it a point to honor the military before each home game, chose the location.

Today possessed a similar feeling of an approaching storm getting closer. The clouds have already turned dark over the NBA and the news that the Miami Heat are focusing on defense certainly sent a rumble of thunder through the league.

Mo Williams to World: Wow, I suck!

The headline that ran on ESPN's bottom line read "Mo Williams Considered Retirement this Summer After LeBron's Decision". This headline is where I got my headline from because that is how I interpreted it. Was a mis-quote? Could have been. But the reporter cliams that it was not. Here is the exchange via Tweet, you be the judge.

Williams.  "Just need to put this out there to all my fans about the yahoo story about me retiring, sense it's getting a little out of hand. I was misquoted or misunderstood however u want to put it. I will clear everything up Monday on media day. I was never considering walking away rt now. And especially because lbj left. It made a good story though. Though u know I will never walk away prematurely before my contract is up"

Unfortunately for Williams, here is Marc J. Spears, the Yahoo Sports reporter who wrote the story, Tweet. "Say it aint so @mogotti2 . Got interview taped so didnt misquote u. never worth ruining rep & job to do that. More than welcome to call me.:)"

As a journalist, I find Spears comments hilarious. He covered all of his bases and I would not be surprised if Williams never calls him. But it's alright Mo. I'm sure when you first started off-season workouts and saw an aging Antawn Jameson, no Lebron, No Big Z and the constent disappointment that is Anderson Verajao's hair. It would be easy for one to think "Man, I'm the go-to-guy in this group. I'm not even that good. What was the front office thinking?!" and call it quits. It's like Jason Bourne was kicking another CIA agent's ass in the Bourne Identity and after the agent realized that he could not defeat Jason, he jumped out the window killing himself. A little extreme comparison, but the post-LeBron Cleveland era, is full of extreme rhetoric, so when in Rome.

However Mo, we already knew that you were pretty much a product of being the open guy when LeBron got doubled teamed. All I have to say is have fun trying to win a championship in Cleveland. A matter of fact, have fun trying to put a respectable basketball team on the floor that' season goal should be to finish .500, but that may be a little high for you guys. Maybe you should retire to save yourself some embarrassment because if this is the guy (image below) you're going to be relying on, its going to be a long season. Enjoy the Cleveland winter, going to be a long one. Tell Dan Gilbert hello and best regards from South Beach.

Resemblance? I Think So.

Growing up in Generation X, there was one influence in my life that introduced me to the concept of storylines and showed me the true development of a plot; that outlet was professional wrestling. I was initially against the idea of watching men in tights wrestle to scripted outcomes, but there was something appealing to a 12 year old on the verge of puberty about Stone Cold Steve Austin chugging beer and beating up his boss. In fact, given its growth, it appears that I was not the only one.

There were many surprising moments in wrestling, but the most shocking had to be when the Real American Hero, Hulk Hogan, joined the NWO and turned into a bad guy; a heel for those familiar with the lingo. "A career right down the drain kid," the commentator said in disgust as Hogan, Nash and Hall beat up the helpless Macho Man. Those who were emotionally scared by Hogan probably grew up to be an ESPN 'experts' as the commentary following James decision was eerily similar. "This is a career killer," they said. "His legacy is ruined."

Maybe more ironic than anything in the comparison is the color James chose to dawn as black is generally viewed as a rebellious color which is why the NWO chose to wear it. Much like fans hated Hogan winning the title, many people are going to hate it when the Heat win the NBA Championship. Although, I do not forsee James and crew spray painting NWO on the NBA Championship trophy, I do see them taking over the NBA with little resistance....Brother. 

And here is the point of this article, in very, very comical terms.