Thursday, July 8, 2010

NO GUTS...NO GLORY.

Posted by Sean Doyle, July 8, 2010.


"No one ever achieved greatness by playing it safe."
- Harry Gray

"I've never been afraid to fail."
- Michael Jordan

LeBron James is going to a small, safe market to be a role player. I repeat, LeBron James is going to a small market (Miami is the smallest of the six markets that LBJ considered) to be a role player. He will be Pippen to D. Wade's Jordan. (And that is fine, but it forever takes him out of the running for the title of greatest ever. Forever)

Michael Jordan would never do that. Larry Bird would never do that. Tim Duncan didn't go to Orlando, and only Nixon could go to China. LBJ turned down the greatest city on Earth and the greatest fans in basketball in NY. He turned his back on his battered vulnerable beaten down hometown in Cleveland, OH. He didn't want any part of Jordan's eternal shadow in Chi-Town. He goes now to the least passionate, most fickle sports city in America. In the final analysis, LBJ needed Dwyane Wade, and Dwayne Wade didn't need LBJ.

At 10:37: According to ESPN's Chris Broussard a big name GM in the NBA just called LeBron soft and claimed he (LBJ) doesn't have the mentality of a winner. OUCH!!!!!

At 10:43: Miami native and Herald columnist Dan Le Batard announces , "Miami stinks as a sports town. We don't deserve this."

At 10:55: "I think LeBron will regret not calling Dan Gilbert before this," said Jeff Van Gundy on ESPN.

11:02: According to SB*Nation, police cars have surrounded LeBron's billboard in downtown Cleveland for fear it may be destroyed or vandalized.


LBJ now goes from being the most popular player in the NBA to the most hated. His "brand" has taken a major hit from which he may never, ever recover. He is no longer a leading man but a role player, a Robin to D. Wade's Batman. He will win titles but nobody will see him as a threat to Jordan's legacy ever again. There is only one #23 and trust me #6 is no #23....

12:37: I'm going to bed. LBJ fears NYC. I'll say it again...LBJ fears NYC. To quote the great Ric Flair, "To be the man, you've got to beat the man!" LeBron couldn't beat the man so he up and joined him.

Peace,

-Sean Doyle

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