10 Things I Hate About the NBA

Boy, it was really hard to watch last Thursday’s return to Cleveland by Lebron.  It was not a hard prediction, but I did project in my previous blog that the fans would make Lebron feel the “heat”.  They did that and it probably stung for about a quarter before Miami dominated the “contest” and made it a non-event.  Lebron had perhaps his best game of the season.  In watching the game, it reminded me of everything I absolutely detest about the NBA.  Here they are in no particular order:

1. Too many teams make the playoffs.  Why play 82 games during the regular season?
2. Games are hideously expensive.  To sit in the nosebleed section costs at least $50. 
3. Related to #2 – players make way too much money.
4. Too much stupid stuff on the sidelines, before and during the game. 
5. Players falling in love with 3 point shot.
6. Celebration of the individual and not the team.
7. Players from opposite teams are too cozy.  What happened to the competitive fire
8. Too many foul shots and some really ugly foul shooting (Shaq, Ben Wallace, Dwight Howard).  How could an NBA player shoot 50% from the foul line?
9. The really dumb rule which allows you to call time out while falling down. 
10. Too many games decided in 4th quarter.  A foul call here or there changes too many games.

Lebron - Me, Myself, I

I was going to originally label this post RIP: The Death of the Local Sports Market.  I was going to go into all about how the local sports market can't compete with national sports teams and how places like Cleveland simply can't hold onto players who want to make more money and get the spotlight elsewhere.  But this post is more about the pompous, egotistical, young man who basically thumbed his nose at his hometown.  Check this editorial out which mirrors my opinion http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100709/ap_on_sp_bk_ne/bkn_jim_litke070810.

I have no problem with Lebron going to Miami or anywhere else.  That is his right in the stupid world of professional sports.  However, it was the way and the manner that he conducted it that completely turned me sideways.  There was the whole drawn out process - have six teams come and "present" to me at a downtown Cleveland hotel.  There was the whole ridiculous national t.v. prime time event where he announced his "Decision".  It was how it was drawn out and built up.  It was a complete lack of gratitude and humility towards the area that basically adored and idolized him since he was in his mid teens.  But why should we be surprised at a guy who shows up at Indians games wearing a Yankees cap and at Browns games wearing a Cowboys hat.  As Debsue has stated, he has had people kow-tow to him since he was a kid in this area so we tended to look the other ways at such things.  He also didn't extend any courtesy at all to the team and the town that did everything possible to try to win a championship.  You can't fault the Cavalier owner who spent lavishly to put players around him, who build a first rate practice facility, and gave Lebron's buddies jobs.  In the ridiculous world of pro basketball, it seems to pay to get really bad before getting really good by getting way under the salary cap.  But finally, it was the self aggrandizement that got me.  "I am going to take my talents and play in South Beach".  If Lebron's goal is to build his brand and leave a legacy, he greatly tarnished it.  While it may be masked in the form of preferring to play for a team that can win championships, it clearly was rooted in ego.

I am done with professional sports - I can no longer support professional athletes (and owners too) who create a transient environment of overpriced entertainment.  I will take my entertainment dollars and time and invest them elsewhere.

Lebron Mania

I have never seen such hoopla in one town over a single individual, let alone a sports figure.  There is actually a Lebron rumors column that shows up every day on the sports page.  There was front page coverage in today's paper about Lebron's interviews of the various teams that bow to his presence.  Then there are the Lebron sightings.  Was Lebron in NY?  Was he in Chicago?  All this plays into our defeatest shriveled Cleveland sports heart.  Don't get me wrong, I would love to see Lebron stay and it would mean a lot to our city.  We have never had a major sports star of this magnitude in this city since Jim Brown.  But it is basketball and life will go on if he leaves.  I would hope that we can actually give this much attention to actual issues in our city.