Game 1 of the NBA season was barely over when the first of … oh … 79,134 "LeBron is Leaving" stories hit the national airwaves. This one came from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo sports. It has some solid reporting that indicates LeBron James might not leave the Cavs, but it also states he might. James himself addressed this before the season and a hundred other times by saying he loves it where he's playing and he has never said anything different.
Bottom line: Nothing is going to happen this season, the Cavs have a chance to compete for a title and instead of worrying what might or might not happen almost two years from now, it might be best to just enjoy the season. These stories are going to be written all season long, and paying close attention to them will be akin to living with diaper rash.
The same story, by the way, calls Paul Pierce to task for the same things I did in Wednesdays' Beacon Journal. Pierce took the microphone after lineups were introduced and before tipoff of the season opener and went into a long-winded, self-indulgent thank you to all the people in his life. It made the Cavs wait an extra-long time, and it took the place of a normal Celtics captain greeting to the fans prior to the season. His me-oriented spiel took place on a night when the Celtics honored a team. Wojnarowski calls it "oddly out of place." I think that was a mild way to put it. Incidentally, Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe — perhaps the finest basketball writer of the country — also called Pierce to task for his me-oriented ramble.
You just wonder at times what these guys are thinking.
If it's such an "annoying" story, then why is your editor telling beat writer Big George to make sure he writes about it? For all intents and purposes, he admitted it on his blog. If it's so tasty a story that even the local sports editor is telling his Cavaliers beat writer to write about it, then the blame on the national media is misplaced.
It's a story because there are billions of future advertising dollars at stake, and it's a story because James is the future face of the NBA and there are billions of dollars between the NBA and its partners at stake, and the NBA recently laid off 10% of its workforce. So I don't mind occasionally reading and hearing about it, no matter who writes about it or talks about it on the television or radio, even if there's still a little more than 1 1/2 years before James cuts himself loose. It's a major story in professional sports, don't you think? I mean, even your own editor thinks folks are interested.
If this was February 2007, was it "annoying" to be reading and hearing about the possibilities in the 2008 Presidential election? I didn't think so. It was a major story then, it's a huge story now.
Alan T aka Ombudsman to the ABJ,
You are so smart! Your posts are so cereberal! We all love reading your posts! But not as much as you love writing them, I bet.
Here, does this help you?
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Uhh … OK.