Its been a week now since Lebron James announced his transfer to Miami Heat, well not until today that I got my Wi-Fi back on at home coz my router went hay-wire. Finally I got this entry out from MS Word format and finally posting it.
Last week many people at my bar were curious to know and asking me where Lebron James is going. Being the only guy (I think) in Arab St who follow NBA instead of football. Well as a responsible web journalist who checks the facts before he writes, I came up with this;
“Lebron is going to Hades, which is worse than Cleveland. He will be sent there for putting us through an unseemly charade in which one basketball player who has won “zero” NBA championships has decided to hold a league hostage because nothing else is on TV.. (well aside of course from Pres-elect Noynoy Aquino’s media frenzy in the Philippines after he’s inauguration, the much anticipated and recently finished World Cup)
Because let’s face it my dear padawan friends, other than authenticating the Shroud of Turin or finding a bathtub stopper to plug a spewing hole in the Gulf of Mexico, are any of life’s real mysteries left than what city LeBron James will not take beyond the round of the play-offs next year?
I watched “The Decision” on ESPN because of the basic element of essential viewing exists: a celebrity in an emotional turmoil on prime time followed by an abject meltdown. I’m not talking about LeBron melting down; he’ll be fine wherever he goes. It’s the NBA, which has about a year left before the real market collapse.
The league right now reminds me of the mortgage crisis- big- splash signings and prime time announcements giving a veneer of glitz to a system crumbling under the weight of its own irresponsibility.
Did you see who got US$119million the other day? Joe Johnson, whom from Atlanta signed to six years after he couldn’t get the Hawks out of the first round of play-offs.
Dirk Nowitzki is 32 years old. He is the no.2 player on any championship team, yet he was said to have been given the Dallas Mavericks a bargain by agreeing to an US$80million deal rather than US$92million.
Paul Pierce is a year away from being unable to create his own shot. No matter. The Celtics just forked out US$62million over four years to retain “his fading game”
Desperate to hold onto their meal tickets before a looming lock-out next summer, an owner-driven spending spree- other than looking up top-flight, still relatively young stars like LeBron, Dwayne Wade and Kevin Durant- makes no sense.
Crazy. No? This is a league that never wanted to sell “team play” when it could sell advertising vehicles.
When the Pistons and Spurs were winning titles, entire marketing campaigns were built around LeBron, D-Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant. Tim Duncan, Gregg Popovich and Rip Hamilton won rings in the month of June, but they were never to move the needle in July.
And now that LeBron gave the last rose to Miami, the franchise have had parades and parties week long, they should have savor each moment of it because it might be the last chance they’ll be doing it. And the NBA better hope the announcements get good ratings, because no one tunes in to a lockout.
The players eventually caved in 1999, the last time a collective bargaining agreement between players and owners could be reached before the season began. 32 games were lost to labour stoppage, along with casual fan interest following Michael Jordan’s 2nd retirement.
Before greedy players take an ounce more of blame, check out some of the top-25 salary leaders in league history, according basketballreference.com :
Jermaine O’Neal comes in at no.9 US$153million. Stephon Marbury is at no.10, having sign deals worth US$151million. Someone inexplicably paid Zydrunas Ilgauskas US$123million over his career making him the 19th most compensated player in league history, figuring “Z” should never be paid less than Hakeem Olajuwon or Michael Jordan, both of whom never make it to the list. Shaquille O’Neal was no.1 having signed US$209,846,146 worth of contracts in his career.
Just 7 of the Top 25 won titles. The gut here is that LeBron had left Cleveland. If LeBron is about anything more than getting paid, it’s getting paid attention to. Being fawned over. Talked about. And if he stayed the league is up for grabs. Chris Paul, LeBron’s good friend, will most likely join him in a year and give him a point guard he always needed to win it all
Most of all, LeBron comes across as the savior, the hometown hero who stayed amid all the temptations, who actually listened when they sang “please stay LeBron.” He never got the moment most high school stars get when they announce their college choice: everyone knew he was going pro. Now he gets o pick his hat for the cameras.
A star is reborn. Sappy, but good reality TV
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