Are You LeSerious?

No, two posts a day will not be a regular thing. In fact I was thinking about just using this as tomorrow's but oh well. I'll probably just post another short one tomorrow. By the way, isn't it annoying that Blogger doesn't allow you to truncate posts? It's pretty lame, especially when you're as wordy as I am. WordPress? Anyway.

David Aldridge put up this article last night on NBA.com: http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/david_aldridge/08/06/lebron/index.html

One nice thing about not having any real readership is that I don't have to worry about Cleveland/LeBron fans because, believe me, they are some of the most annoying in sports.

LeBron still not taking ownership and apologizing for not shaking hands with the players of the Orlando Magic (sidenote: Yes, I did rephrase that sentence because I wasn't sure what to do with Orlando Magic. The Magic's players? The Magics' players? Magics's players?) sort of bothers me. I do think that the media pushes athletes too apologize far too often and for far too little, so it is somewhat refreshing to see LeBron not changing his stance. However, he's wrong.

He says, "The shaking hands thing is really not a big thing for me. It's not I'm a sore loser or anything like that. I'm just moving on. You guys beat me ... I think sometimes people want you to accept losing, and I will never accept losing. There's ways to handle it certain times, and shaking hands may be it. But I will never accept losing, at anything that I do."

Let's ignore the fact that he's never missed a handshake any time he's won. That all time greats like Duncan, Kobe, Jordan and really everyone else have shaken hands after losing. Handshakes with the other team isn't a symbol of losing or of weakness. It's just a recognition and show of respect toward the people you've been battling for a series.

And let's be real here. The bottom line is you lost, whether you like it or not, whether you want to accept it or not. Maybe it's because he didn't go to college, but LeBron seems to think that accepting losing means being okay with it. Of course as a top flight professional athlete you should never be okay with losing. You should never settle for it or think that it's acceptable when you are aiming for the championship. But to just not accept it as reality and ignore it and not pay due to the people who beat you, that's plain wrong and childlike. As the cliche goes, actions speak louder than words. LeBron says he's not a sore loser but proves otherwise.

Later in the interview he talks about how he didn't tell Nike to confiscate the tapes of him being dunked on, that they have a no videotaping policy in place. Having read the camp's media policy myself, I find that pretty hard to believe. And also, how does it look finally making a statement 3 weeks after the incident and after multiple tapes have come out? Doesn't exactly have an aura of authenticity or truthfulness.