This isn't going to be college football today. It's about the game in which I am least interested, pro basketball. Least interested makes it last on the list. For example, this past season, I watched a total of about six minutes of the NBA on TV. That includes the home town team's regular season, the playoffs and the championship game, said championship game involving Boston and LA. I state the combatants because it is likely the last time I will remember who played for the championship.
It's not the games on the court that have been newsworthy, it's the game that the anointed king of pro hoops has been playing. Another momentary digression is warranted here. While LeBron James is acknowledged everywhere as the king, it is important to mention that he has, at this time, absolutely zero championship trophies on his resume. I might apply for the title, because I, too, have zero basketball championships on my list of life's accomplishments. I would like to further clarify that were it not for the jumping and the running and the shooting and the tallness thing, I too, could have been an NBA star.
James is the king of hoopla, hands down, and that's what has fascinated me these last couple of weeks.
Everyone had an idea about whose emblem would be on James' chest for the next few years. It was debated incessantly. The Chicago media argument was my favorite. James was coming here, the predominant argument ran, to assume the mantle of greatness that #23 had left behind, to resurrect Chicago as championship central, to construct a legacy that would forever put to rest the #23 vs LeBron debate.
100% bullshit. The guy would have to be nuts to channel any of that nonsense.
Let's say you are a very large and very talented NBA type player. You can make the same dumpsters full of cash for working winters in:
a) Cleveland, Ohio
b) Chicago, Illinois
c) Miami, Florida
Duh.
Let's make the argument a little more complex. You have two amigos who also happen to be very large and very talented NBA type players. Each of them has shared their preference to avoid working in the frozen tundra and indicated their respective desire to toil amidst the palm trees and warm breezes. You would choose to:
a) Be loyal to Lake Erie because you really prefer walleye fishing.
b) Go to the winter weather suckfest capital to show your individuality.
c) Find a house on the intercoastal that comes with a big boat that you can use year 'round.
The bleating that arose from the rejected cities' press after James solved the riddle of the ages and announced he was going to work in Miami was an illustration of how gullible sports fans can be. The same guys who spent all that time creating the drama attacked the phoniness of James actions after he made his choice.
Duh again.
James is a sports mercenary. Anyone who thought otherwise was deluded. There's nothing wrong with going to work hard for the most money you can get, and you can only work for one team at a time. Everybody but one would come up short.
I could rail on, but I have to confess that this entire show has worn thin for me. I am pleased that I am not one of the people from Cleveland who seemed to be so emotionally vested in this decision, as they have some genuine problems that need to be addressed.
For the rest of us, we must hurry to enjoy the summer here in the winter weather suckfest capital and decide later how our bleak lives will be tolerable without LeBron. I may cut back on my annual six minutes of NBA watching.
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