The Greatest of All Hype?

by Matt Brannen

The LeBron James love-a-thon that I wrote about in last week's column has come to an abrupt end. Yep, ESPN's NBA icon has been knocked out of the playoffs. I know it seems impossible to believe (I mean, didn't you hear all the NBA analysts talking about LeBron's "will" to win and how this "has to be Cleveland's year"?), but it happened. And, most importantly, in staggeringly uncompetitive fashion. There will be no Michael Jordan-like comeback starring James and his Cleveland Cavaliers this year. The only time that might happen is in a new Nike commercial that gets unveiled during the NBA Finals. However, that has not stopped the pro-James propaganda machine from firing out the "It wasn't LeBron's fault" missiles like T-shirts that are given away to spectators in NBA arenas during TV timeouts.

As I mentioned above, the Cavaliers' loss to Orlando in the Eastern Conference Finals was a meltdown of epic proportions. Granted, the Cavs didn't have a big edge and, subsequently, fell apart. No, as a matter of fact, they NEVER had a chance to build a large series lead to watch it eventually crumble. Cleveland was the third team in league history to have won 65 or more games, have the NBA Coach of the Year, and league MVP. What did the other two teams do? Well, they made the NBA Finals. Orlando, a team that seemed to be channeling its inner Fletcher Christian not long ago against Boston during the previous series, provded the necessary united front and did not waver from its goal of reaching the title round. The Magic played through LeBron's runs and the response from Cleveland when the Cavs did the expected to push the series back to Orlando. Should James never achieve NBA champion status (and that is a prediction that I am not stupid enough to make here because he is so good and young), how this series played out and his reaction to its ending will tell us alot about him as an NBA superstar.

As you may know, James did not play a particularly good game 6 (25 points on 20 shots) and did not stick around to answer questions from the media after the game. Even more concerning was the fact that he headed off the court immediately after the final buzzer sounded and did not congratulate any of the Orlando players. It was a move that might have made Randy Moss (who notoriously headed for the lockerroom with time still left on the clock before the end of a half) and the Bad Boy Pistons (who walked off the court without congratulating Chicago after finally being beaten in the playoffs by Michael Jordan's Bulls) cringe. Unfortunately, I haven't seen many that have criticized the move (I'm sure that there have been, but I haven't seen a groundswell of Internet comment on it yet) and it only shows the breakdown of competitive spirit that exists in sports today.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Au4ePfZdPll618AazUfR._I5nYcB?slug=ap-lebronsfuture&prov=ap&type=lgns

What I have noticed, in abundance, have been the writers and analysts that immediately jumped on the "Is LeBron going to stay in Cleveland now?" question (James is a free agent after next season). In fact, TNT analyst Reggie Miller, near the end of game 6, actually questioned "Will he (James) allow the Cleveland front office to increase the parts around him?" What Reggie was, ostensibly, asking was "Will James give the Cavs brass time to get better players before he decides to leave?" I have seen this question posed already in multiple post-series articles from national Internet columnists. How about asking a question like "Why did this guy and his team NOT win this series if we all thought they were so great?" Then again, it would make some look inward and they might not like what they previously said or wrote.

There was a very telling quote from James, when he did finally speak to the media tonight in a separate press conference (Talk about a team player! He waited until the night after the game so he could address the media) was in response to why he didn't stay on the court. James said "It's hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them. I'm a winner. It's not being a poor spot 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." That statement, while one can appreciate the desire that James has to be a champion, shows why he and his team couldn't overcome Orlando and reach the NBA Finals. Boxers and MMA fighters exert massive physical violence on each other and, almost universally, hug each other as soon as the contest is over. As I've mentioned in previous columns, one of the best traditions in sports is the handshake lineup at the conclusion of an NHL Stanley Cup playoff series. Players crash into each other while skating upwards of 20 to 30 miles an hour for multiple games and still find it in their hearts to shake hands when things have been decided, win or lose. If it were up to "King James," edict #1 during his "reign" might be that losers slink off silently into the night to maintain what's left of their dignity. There is an old saying: "A cool person is someone that doesn't act like their cool." Well, the same thing is true in sports. A true winner doesn't have to say they are a winner. How many times have you heard Tom Brady talk about how much of a winner that he is? Winners go out and prove it. They win. They don't say it because they don't have to. LeBron may well be at that point someday, whether it be in Cleveland, New York, or somewhere else. Right now, in my book, his career "achievements" remain mostly perpetuated by the almost never-ending media blitz that surrounds him. While that continues to wheel like a centerfuge, Orlando and Los Angeles compete to see who this year's true winner will be. However, it's okay. There is more than enough time now for the league, media, his sponsors, and LeBron to recharge the hype machine before next season begins.