Allen Iverson, often cited as Exhibit A of “What’s Wrong With The NBA” by white people everywhere, thought he was too good to sit the bench for the Memphis Grizzlies. Apparently, he was wrong. The New York Knicks, sitting with a 2-9 record, decided that Iverson didn’t offer anything to help their club.
Iverson was waived by the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday and became a free agent Thursday night. Walsh said Friday he wasn’t interested because Iverson would take time away from the young players the Knicks are trying to develop. –SI.com.
Some people have said that Iverson has a lot of leadership to offer a young team. Really? This is a guy that wants to take 30 shots a game and show up 30 minutes before tip. Iverson was one of the greatest of his day, but he never exuded leadership. There are mumblings that Iverson should sit the bench in Cleveland behind Shaq and LeBron, which would be great–in a game of NBA Jam.
It was five years ago to the day when the NBA finally got gangsta. The melee that broke out in the Palace of Auburn Hills came off to some as simply mind-blowing television. Others interpreted it as a message on the state of a Jordan-less NBA.
This is a disgrace.
The fact of the matter is that the NBA managed its image about as poorly as any professional sport could have, and didn’t react soon enough. Call it a “thug mentality” or “hip-hop culture” or whatever you want, but the NBA had too many guys, important guys, that were just looking out for number one. And this was the culmination: a workforce of jaded, spoiled “me first” guys collided not only with itself, but with its fans. Don’t get me wrong: the referees lost control of the game first, but then the players lost control of themselves. And the fans followed suit. No sport has endured a chain reaction of lapses in judgement as egregious as this.
Ron Artest has a look in his eye that’s very scary right now.
But somehow that doesn’t stop anyone from comparing it to other sports. Jemele Hill couldn’t wait to point to players in other sports and their issues. But no other league can touch the Malice at the Palace. And that’s a good thing.–vid from FanDome.
MORE FIGHTS: Brawl erupted at Alabama HS basketball game. [2/18/09]
I don’t think people get bent out of shape simply from a professional athlete complaining about life to the media. Actually, lots of fans out there can appreciate the humanity of it all, provided that the athlete in question is qualified to speak for his team. But what really chaps my ass is when a guy runs his mouth during the week and then goes out to play and totally lays an egg. And I mean total failure without any sort of composure at all. After they talk the talk, we expect athletes to walk the walk.
And this is where Dallas Cowboys wideout Roy Williams failed. After complaining to the media about how Tony Romo throws an accurate ball to everyone but him ["Mom! How come Jason has more ice cream than I do?!"] he went out against Green Bay only to fumble a long catch downfield after dropping a touchdown pass in the endzone. That performance arguably cost the Cowboys the game against the Packers, and it also drew the ire of the Bayou Beast, Terry Bradshaw.
“Dallas lost that game when Roy Williams dropped that pass and then fumbled, too,” said Bradshaw, a cohose of FOX’s NFL Sunday show. “He may have finished with 100 yards receiving, but he’s certainly not worth two first-round picks and all that money Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is paying him. He’s not proving anything.” –Dallas Morning News, via FanNation.
Williams is hardly alone in his mouth writing checks that his body can’t cash. A day after telling everyone how great a player he could be in the NFL, LeBron James sat out the entire most of the second half of his game against the Washington Wizards. James, who said he banged his wrist on the rim during a dunk, watched his Cavs squander a 17-point first-half lead to lose, 108-91. One wonders how valuable a guy like that would be to an NFL team.
Nobody has any problem with a guy that can put his money where his mouth is. But when he runs his mouth in front of the media and then can’t bring his A-game in front of the fans, we’re the ones that end up getting shortchanged.
These are three weeks old, but they’re new to me. It’s either Dwyane Wade’s screen test for “Coming To America 2″ or some type of Halloween outfit. Maybe if I did ten seconds of research here…
Gettn ready 4 my big halloween nite out lol –@DWadeOfficial, via No Guts No Glory.
That settles it. Just let that shine through, D-Wade. One can only imagine how many calls you would get if you were swinging a Jheri curl like that around. Read the rest of this entry »
UPDATE: When asked about James, ESPN reports that Browns coach Eric Mangini said, “I think he should come on down.” Word.
NBA superstar LeBron James was asked about the 1-7 Cleveland Browns last night, and technically speaking, they’re his hometown team. But James wasn’t necessarily upset upset about Eric Mangini or the direction of the team. He just wishes that he could help.
“If I put all my time and commitment into it, if I dedicated myself to the game of football, I could be really good,” the Cavaliers superstar said before facing the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night. “No matter what team I was on.” –NBC Sports.
Whatever. There’s nothing worse than That Guy who talks about how great he’d be “if I really put my mind to it,” even if that guy really was one of the best basketball players in the world. If James really wanted to help, he could buy a majority share of the team and then fire Eric Mangini. And after seeing the way that Mangini runs out some of his own players, he might be content to just take five steps in the lane and complaining about not getting calls. Ah, basketball…Also.
Dwyane Wade’s in the walk year of his deal with the Miami Heat, which is good news for us, because that gives us more hope of seeing more plays like this one, where Wade drives the lane against Cleveland and absolutely murders the Cavs’ Anderson Varejao. It’s a stunning display of ownage [vid's after the jump]; I think Wade called the Santa Teresa, Espírito Santo native “Toby” as he stepped over him. And then after the game Wade walked right into Varejao’s house and drank his milk straight from the carton. I hate it when people do that. –Skeets Don’t Lie. Read the rest of this entry »
