Some thoughts…
In the aftermath of LeBron James’ decision to go to Miami , the owner of his former team, the Clevelan Cadavers (yes, they are dead again), Dan Gilbert, issued a statement so over the top bitter I couldn’t believe it. Gilbert ripped The Princess about James’ narcissistic and self serving one hour special “The Decision”,that the Cadavers’ fans deserved better and he was correct about that. But he went on to criticize James as a quitter and of committing a “cowardly betrayal”, and saying he knew a lot of things about James that have never come out and threatened to reveal things about his mother and inner circle…
I know a lot of people in Cleveland have saluted him, but outside of that area, he is coming off, and rightfully so, as just bitter and a sore loser. Say what you will about LeBron James, but as Dave Smith correctly pointed out, the Cleveland franchise was dead in the water and in the seven years he was there James revitalized the franchise and the area and did so with minimal controversy. Sure, a lot of us old schoolers could have done without the pre game choreography and the monicker “King” before he won any titles, but he is a superstar, I term I rarely use, and the face of the NBA and deserved to make any decision he wanted. He owed Cleveland nothing. Gilbert sounds like a, well, fan, who let his emotions get the better of him and should have thought about what he was doing before he sent out his venom. He sounds like the high school kid whose girlfriend dumped him for something better and whereas before she was his queen, now she’s a slut. Grow up, Dan!
Contrast Gilbert with Lakers’ owner Jerry Buss. Buss once sat courtside and was embarrassed as his highly paid star Shaquille O’Neal was shouting “Pay me mother f*cker!” to him. And, after he traded Shaq, endured a lot of personal rips by the ungrateful O’Neal, but instead of ripping Shaq for never being in shape until after the season started and playing half assed for half the season, Buss played a tribute to Shaq upon his return and has never uttered a bad thing about him and will, in all likelihood, raise his number 34 Laker jersey to the rafters when his playing days are done. It’s called class..
Everyone knows that ESPN has been the station of the SEC, and for a while West Coast and especially USC fans have found it hard to stomach the strong bias the station has had for that conference. But ever since the NCAA sanctions hit USC, the station has jumped on every negative detail about the school. USC has had to endure the loss of a top recruit, but four transfers were not even starters, and the station has treated them as Armageddon. There is no doubt the program has been rocked, but the constant, merciless trashing of USC has been brutal. They are finding the old “they love you when you’re on top and love it even more when you’re down” to be oh so true. For a week straight “College Football Live” started with a USC story. These guys think Lane Kiffin is the second coming of Osama Bin Laden. More and more you get the idea that, even though his timing was bad and he should not have uttered it in public for all to hear, Mike Garrett was right when he said, “There is a lot of Trojan envy out there.”
I had an associate who is a Florida alum tell me, “From what I gather, USC is on a two year bowl band and losing 30 scholarships because ONE player was ineligible and received pay from an agent, a felon who wasn’t a USC booster? Wow, we have no love for USC, but it doesn’t seem fair from here.”
I know some soccer boosters are bemoaning that the end of the World Cup is near, but, as I tell them, if you miss it, just watch the Angels on “offense”—lots of running around with no scoring. Talk about pathetic! I was laughing the other day as Angel homer Jeff Biggs was on the radio defending the team, and the only guy less active than their hitters, general manager Tony Reagins, for their non moves, and said fans should not panic. He said it was because, by the end of the July, teams would be looking to dump salaries and players would become available, So I called the station to get on, and when the screener asked what I wanted to talk about, I said, “I wanted to ask Jeff if, the way things are going, if the Angels were going to be one of the teams looking to dump salaries at the end of the month, guys like Abreu and Matsui.” Funny, I never got on. There’s nothing quite like homer radio to quiet the masses, huh? By the way, that can’t miss turned can’t hit prospect, Brandon Wood, is hitting .168. But, compared to minor league call ups Paul McAnulty, who in 11 at bats has 9 strikeouts and the hitless Toby Aldridge, he looks like Tony Gwynn..
The other day my daughter googled “Dave Smith” and came into the living room and said, “Dad, I didn’t know your friend Dave had passed away.” So I went to the computer and told her it wasn’t him, it was an old news item about the former Houston Astros pitcher. She said, “Oh, I should have known when it said he was 53 years old, he’s younger than that, right?” I said she should have known when the article said, “He was known for his generosity”, now that was a red flag!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
