Some interesting news, RORY McILROY (supposed next "Tiger" or possibly better) won the 2011 U.S. Open this past Sunday (6/19). In case if you didn't know who Rory is, in golf's world, he's what many labelled as a "choke-artist" since the past couple of majors, he led the first three rounds and eventually crumbles at the end. This past Masters, Rory was leading the start of the 4th round and completely lost it. Which is why Lebron has been labelled as another Mcllroy, until Rory decided he didn't want to be in the same sentence or have anything to do with Lebron, and won the U.S. Open. Good for you, Rory! You deserve a round of applause; at first I felt sorry for this guy, but ultimately, I didn't care whether he wins or not, but to see him better himself and get himself out of the same hole as Lebron, PRICELESS!!! Just, utterly priceless, period.
You can read all about it in the news or online, I can get into the debate on how Rory is a far better champion and loser than Lebron will ever be, but that'll just take too much time. Also, there's already other blogs and articles you can read that talks about that debate.
Anyways, back to where I left off in the previous post...
And so the hate begins...
2008-2009
Before the season began, I've been hearing rumblings about Lebron contacting other athletes to join his Lebron Inc. He's been mainly targeting several college players who were primed to be fit in the NBA. I'm not exactly sure who actually did sign on with Lebron inc, but there was a good number. Also Lebron decided to join the Olympic squad to help the U.S. win the gold in the 2008 Summer Olympics. We'll skip all the way to the final gold medal game that was between the U.S. and Spain. In the 2nd half, Spain had numerous opportunities to tie the game and if you watched the game, Lebron looked "lacking". What I mean by this is when you have an arsenal, a colossal, a giant of a roster in what the United States had, NO ONE on that team should be anywhere close to lacking confidence. No player on that team should be looking as if they are waiving that white flag, no one. Imagine you're the U.S. military going against the Ancient Mayans. Enough said. And yet, we have one soldier on the U.S. team who was asking himself "what if those Mayans have enough strength to pull this one off?" I'll admit, Spain did very well, they played as best as they could to actually win the gold, but let's face it, there is no way, a team with Kobe, CP3, Melo, D-Wade and dare I say Lebron who was and still is consider as the best player in the world, is going to lose to the underdogs. If you look at the stats of the game, it won't tell you what really happened because Lebron had a decent game especially with a bunch of all-stars on the team. But the way he played it, it was terrible, and both Wade and Kobe bailed him out. U.S. won the game 118 to 107. Congratulations to them, but it made me wonder if we could have done better if we didn't have Lebron playing. I'm extremely happy that Lebron wasn't the leader of that U.S. team because if he was, there wouldn't have been a gold or possibly a silver. After that, right after what I saw in the previous Boston series, I was thinking Lebron was going to be a force to reckon with throughout the Olympics, and truthfully he was MINUS the gold medal game, and this is when I started to think can Lebron handle the pressure? Or the biggest question I had was "Can Lebron James take over games when he's called to do so?" Hmm...
If there ever was an important time for Lebron to really elevate his game and name amongst the bigs, "now was the time to do it". That was just my opinion even before the season started. They revamped their roster, they had decent guys in the post, they had shooters to help space the floor and of course, they had one of the best finishers in the game, Lebron. Now, I know most people are talking about finish as in clutch type moments. I'm not talking about that, instead what I mean by finish is being able to drive, slash, cut or get yourself to the basket and just right out finish it by obviously scoring (HIGHLIGHT DUNKS, this was before Blake "You don't wan be guardin me cuz I'm Gon Dunk on yah Face" Griffin) This was when I also started noticing, ESPN favoritism towards Lebron and how they religiously worshipped him; numerous writers throughout the country beefed Lebron up so much that some people didn't have a choice, but to root for Lebron, and rightfully so. Think about it, this was going to be his year, this was the year when we got to see more of Lebron and the decline of Kobe. It was just the beginning...
AGAIN, Lebron had a phenomenal season. He carried this team, and I believe he did it well throughout the season. If you went back and checked out the ESPN highlights during the 08-09 season, Lebron will definitely be there. Whether it be a dunk, a shot, a pass, it didn't matter because Lebron was getting it done. They ended the season with a 66-16 record, amazing, simply put. Not many teams can get more than 60 wins and not many players in history can lead their team to accomplish this. But this is the regular season, those 66 wins won't matter unless a championship was going to come with it. We all know, the post season is far more intense than the regular. In other words, during the regular season, teams can afford to lose a couple of games here and there in order for them to rest up or try new things out or something else. Basically, the regular season should be used to get the teams ready for the post-season. In the first two rounds, Lebron was getting it done and helped the Cavs sweep both the Pistons and the Hawks. Lebron was playing well on both sides of the court, offense and defense, and at times, you were watching a cross-bread of Jordan and Magic. It was indescribable until they met the Magics...
I don't want to take anything away from the Magics, but this series was the Cavs to lose. No excuse, nothing. Game 1 the Cavs lost with Hedo Turkolgu hitting a timely shot at the end of the game. Sometimes, good teams will beat great teams and so in Game 2, the Cavs were up 23 points until they allowed Orlando to tie it and take a 2 point lead with 1 sec remaining. I'll let the video speak for itself. Please do watch...at least the first 35 seconds...
Wow!! Right?! I was amazed when I saw this. This buzzer beater Lebron made won't answer ALL the questions on his ability to take over games, but it'll definitely soothe a lot of anguish and questions for the time being, meaning winning the series. With the series tied at one apiece, you very much know who has the momentum going into game 3. But still, the Cavs couldn't maintain any of that momentum and lost the game with them shooting a .372 field goal percentage to Orlando's .429. It's not like Orlando was lights out either, there were opportunities for the Cavs to take over this game, but when you go for 5 for 26 in 3 pointers, that's not gonna get anything done. The Cavs fouled 10 more times and shot 16 less free throws than the Magic; I don't know if it's nerves, but this team should be experienced enough to contain their emotions and flat out win this game. In game 4, Lebron missed a buzzer beating attempt, which led to a 3-1 series advantage for the Magics.
That was his moment to shine. That was something where he can tell all the nay-sayers to "shut the hell up because I got it done." That was yet again another opportunity gone wasted. It's mind-boggling on how long the fans will have to wait for Lebron to come through, but like I said earlier, if there was a time for him to put himself on the map, this was the time to do it. Note: 6 seasons in and still can't get it done. 1-3 series with the Magics in favor now to win it, it would be an amazing series if Lebron can help turn the series around AND win it. Imagine that Lebron took the Cavs and helped them win this series and carried them to the Finals, again.
Ultimately, the Cavs won game 5, but lost game 6 in losing fashion. It was terrible, and it was just something that showed how "lame" of a game Lebron played, even throughout the series. Some games you can see Lebron CAN take over and other games where you're just watching another NBA "role" player looking lost. So they lost, again, but the part that really got me hating on Lebron was when he just left game 6 without shaking ANYONES' hands. Are you kidding me? Really Lebron?! Come on, show some good sportsmanship, a team player, a guy who people especially children can look up to. If my kid(s) starts playing a sport and at the end never shakes the opponents hands win/lose, I promise you, they are going to have a long talk.
What did he say? Something like...
"It's hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them. I'm a winner. It's not being a poor sport or anything like that. If somebody beats you up, you're not going to congratulate them. That doesn't make sense to me. I'm a competitor. That's what I do. It doesn't make sense for me to go over and shake somebody's hand."
I actually can see where he's coming from, but when you are scrutinized, criticized, and repeatedly looked-up upon the many, many fans across the globe, you gotta do your diligence. Basically, if you are a superstar in the NBA, you need to act the part, be a role-model, be the guy everyone can look up to. So even with all that knowledge, it didn't make sense to me on how Lebron wasn't being it, in fact, you can tell RIGHT AWAY he doesn't want to be IT. To me, this was the starting point when it all went down hill. This was when I thought to myself, this guy doesn't want to be THE GUY in the NBA. Sure, he wants all the attention, but he doesn't want the responsibility that comes with it. Lebron wants the glamour, the fame, the money, and most importantly the power in the business of the NBA, but when it comes to the responsibilities, the roles, the liabilities, and even the obligations that comes with those aspects, Lebron doesn't want anything to do with it. Lebron is just another King George III (England's King who abused his power that led to America's Revolution, know your history =P) who wants people to follow him, but can't accept the blame and burden that comes with it. I'm thinking it's too much for him; sure, we're all human, we only want the good side, most of us do not want to or are not willing to handle the bad side. AND that to me, ladies and gentlemen, is an act of a child and not of a man.
I was still dumbfounded and astonished on how QUICKLY people came to the rescue and back up Lebron on not only his actions, but also his comments made afterwards. He simply would not apologize, and again, defended himself to the point that I just did not want to hear this guy speak anymore. Whoever his publicist was at the time needed to get FIRED immediately because some of the things Lebron said at the time were just pathetic and those were the words a superstar caliber type player should NOT be saying at all. Now, a lot of people gave me a lot of crap on how I was telling them Lebron should be ashamed of himself for not only losing the series, but also being a sore loser who just can't handle the pressure. They told me, I wasn't giving him a chance and how we are all human, but my question is, if the guy is so human, why does he NOT admit that he doesn't want to be considered as the chosen one??? This guy declared himself as the chosen one, as the guy who's going to take this team to the promise land, who's heard the cries of his people and going to MOSES-it-up and win a championship for the city of Cleveland. So if he made all these claims, and NEVER EVER denied being the next Jordan, the next superstar, the next whatever then don't tell me he can make excuses like this and everyone should be ok with it. Come on now!!
Today, I end with this video on Lebron trying to defend himself...
For my next blog: Part 4 of Lebron Fan to a Lebron Hater, He's Heating Up!!
I am not the owner of any of the articles and pictures and videos. The sources and materials are owned by Yahoo Sports, ESPN, CNN, Youtube, and Wikipedia.
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