LeDrama Mama James

Out of the four people or so that have actually seen my opinions about LeBron on this blog you know I have never been a fan. Sure I have respect for him for coming out of high school and immediately making an impact in the NBA and turning around the Cleveland Cavaliers, but for some reason I've never felt he really deserved all the hype. I watched him play twice at the United Center and both times throughout the entire game all he did was look into the stands to make sure that everybody was watching him like a attention craving puppy. Now he has played seven seasons in the NBA and is 25 and as he said in his interview tonight is a "man." However, for some reason he needs to have a 1 hour special dedicated to him telling those interested where he is heading next year. While it is honorable that the contributions from those advertising during ESPN's "the decision" are going to the boys and girls clubs to the cities that were involved in this whole process, it still makes me wonder was all this attention really necessary. Michael Jordan, the greatest player to ever step on the basketball court, informed the Chicago Bulls that he was returning to the team with a fax that said two words, "I'm Back." Now granite times have changed and the media is much more involved in everything I can't help but wonder if in the future we are going to get players like Troy Murphy holding a two day press conference and interview session on why he has decided to resign with the Pacers.

I will always have a Chicago bias, but I still feel that the Bulls were the best TEAM for LeBron to go to. I would cast my hatred aside while he graced the United Center with his presence, but the minute he got off the property I would go back to hating him again. The Bulls organization is most well known for drafting a certain 6'6 player coming from the University of North Carolina and building a team around him. The Cavaliers were trying to do much the same. Apparently now LeBron is willing to take a pay cut to play for the Miami Heat....WELL THEN WHY DIDN'T HE DO THAT WITH THE CAVALIERS??? If he would have taken a pay cut there they could have afforded to bring in other big name players. Jamison was not a smart move, but it showed progress. LeBron's transformation to a member of the Miami Heat just goes to show that this guy is human. For the first time in his career LeBron is going to have an entire city/state/nation hating a choice he has made which will ultimately cause a loss of respect. He has been booed before when playing in opposing teams stadiums, but I don not think he has any idea of how poor of a decision this was and will be in the future. Sure maybe they will grab a couple championships, but at least those that were considered to be the greatest of all times made the players around them better. They didn't need to get bought into a situation, they used what was put around them to make the TEAM better.

Closing Notes. If next year when Carmelo's contract is up he even contemplates going to the Heat I am officially picketing the NBA. The game was finally back to where no matter what game you went to see you could watch an incredible player on your team and another outstanding player on the other, but if it just turns into four or five teams with 4 or plus all stars the league will turn into a joke and lose all the progress it has made since the Jordan dynasty was over. Either way LeBron you're an idiot, I really don't like your demeanor and frankly you have made a life long NBA fan and admirer question whether or not to follow it anymore. As my parents have said in the past, LeBron I'm not mad at you I'm just disappointed.

Butler Bulldogs Beat Big Green

Wow. What else can I say? After my bracket was busted just like the rest of the nation that had power house Kansas winning it all I was ready for upsets to be had. While there were plenty around the tournament and these two teams were the same seed it was a beautiful upset because of a mid major squad taking on a big ten lineup, so thank you Butler for helping me enjoy my mad March. Butler has now won 25 straight games and show no sign of stopping. They defeated the number 1 seed in their bracket Syracuse by having a late 11-0 surge and followed that up defeating the number 2 seed Kansas St. who had promise to make a late run. Now tonight two number 5 seeds competing against each other in what I will say was more of a defensive match up come out with great defense and quality free throw shooting towards the end.

Hayward has quickly become a favorite player of mine because of his nonchalant style and structured shooting stroke. He came up with big plays throughout the entire game and was able to lead his bulldogs to victory. Their next game is on Monday April 5th at 9:21 p.m. against either West Virginia or Duke. Either way I am going to stick with these Bulldogs because of their quick efficient defense and superb coaching by 33 year old Brad Stevens. I mean come on at the end of every game they win he celebrates with a player by jumping up in the air and chest bumping him. He may be young but he sure does have the desire to lead this team to a national championship.

Paul Pierce

I have been a basketball fan for a long time and have had a number of players that I strongly dislike; Rasheed Wallace, Ron Artest, and Reggie Miller to name a few, but I cannot stand Paul Pierce. The other day I was watching the daily top 10 or 5 depending on the day at nba.com and came across a Paul Pierce moment. A little background of the play was Paul Pierce drove down the middle of the lane and goes to dunk over Center Chris Bosh for the Raptors, however, if you actually watch the play he clearly sticks his leg out and kicks/knees Chris Bosh right in the man berries. Now I'm all for facial dunks but come on! The crowd goes crazy and this is a top 10 play. It should be a technical and the points should be taken back. Any player that goes in for a dunk should know that they are going to be met by someone. My feeling is that Paul Pierce knew that he was going to get blocked or contested and played a middle school card and stuck his foot out for separation.

As you can tell from the picture above Paul Pierce is in an agonizing amount of pain. It appears as though he either may never walk again or he is looking for somewhere to wipe his head. But if you remember this was during the NBA Finals during a Lakers comeback. This acting job was pathetic. While many debate if he actually was hurt I feel there is no chance anything happened. He got carried off by his team mates due to his inability to walk and then he went as far as to be put in a wheel chair. Now if I was handicap I would be offended by this. Come on you may or may not have actually bumped knees or tweaked it but there is no modern medicine that would bring you back on the court after 3 MINUTES! Another reason why Paul Pierce is just a crummy person.

My last rant on Paul Pierce has to do with the much debated gang symbol he threw up at Al Harrington in a game. Sure the Celtics were losing and yes Al Harrington did say some words his way, but really your going to flash a gang symbol on national television and pretend like your going to do something. For some reason this guy who clearly has no class what so ever is getting paid millions of dollars when he can't even be grown up enough to except losing.

Overall, Paul Pierce is a child and very large one at that. He can't accept defeat has no class and continues to believe that he is the best player in the NBA. He thrives on crying for fouls and is the biggest faker in the NBA. If he played professional soccer even they would get tired of his antics.

Lowery is back, back again

Has it really been 10 months? Rob Lowery is finally back, well I mean he is playing again. After the Xavier game last year where Lowery tore his patellar tendon, the Flyers seemed to have lost an edge they were carrying all year. Yes, we did beat the Mountaineers in our first round game, but there was a notable difference in the way the team performed. Some form of congruity was missing and was evident when we played Kansas. While I am bias and would like to say the refs gave the game to Kansas I do think had Lowery been able to play we would have at least made it a contest.

Since Coach Gregory had no idea of when Lowery was going to be able to come back I do like the change of switching Mickey Perry to back up PG behind London Warren. However, Mickey Perry is more of a shooter and offensive threat than a point guard. He has done a great job with the position he was forced into since our number two got injured, but he is a set shooter and slasher. If you look at why Mickey was able to score last year it was because he was trailing Marcus, CJ, or somebody driving to the basket and was able to set up behind the arc and put down a big 3.

As far as London goes, well I'm still confused. I will confidently say that he is within the top 5 players in the nation in quickness from end to end, and he does run our team. However, I need to see something different from him. He is now in his senior year season and has yet to add a new aspect to his game. For as quick of a point guard as he is you will rarely see him drive to the basket or take his defender off the dribble when he could do it all game. I think having Lowery back gives us that much needed aspect of making defenders aware that we will drive to the basket rather than just pretending to and kicking the ball out for a 3. Having Lowery back is a bright spot for this season that has seemed to fall into the old Flyers way.

While I am happy to see Lowery back on the court, especially when in his first game back he went 3 for 3 shooting with 2 of them beyond the arc, he is not 100% back. We're going to need to give him some time until his knee's swelling goes down and is not sore anymore. Once the pain lessens all he needs is to get his lungs back and we'll have that star point guard rotation again.

I want to formally say Welcome back Rob Lowery we have missed you.

THE DAYTON FLYERS PLAY OLD DOMINION ON FRIDAY @ 7 p.m. in the University of Dayton Arena

LeBron "The Drama King" James

So for once in my life I'm actually agreeing with Skip Bayless and his opinion about something in sports. Earlier this week he spoke on behalf of the LeBron James - Nike video scandal and talked about how LeBron is just taking the game too seriously and can't laugh at something like this. While I personally have not taken LeBron James as my savior and the "King" of basketball I do appreciate his ability and high level of play, however, not England or the NBA has crowned him king yet and lately I don't think the fans should either. The basketball world and a great deal of ESPN coverage has put a halo on top of LeBron ever since he got in the NBA and while it may seem as though none of this constant attention has gone to his head I believe it is just starting to become more obvious to the public eye.

In my first encounter with LeBron James I went to see him play against the Bulls at the United Center in his 3rd year in the NBA. I was very impressed considering he was only a couple years older than me and had an appearance that could only be explained if he had been fed steroids in his baby formula as a child (possibly a solution to his freakish nature?). However, there were two things that really turned me off about the way he played the game. I had seen MJ play when I was younger and I consistently watch Kobe whenever I have the opportunity to but there was something different about LeBron. 1) Whenever he scored a bucket during the game against the defensively challenged Bulls he looked around at the people to see if they were watching what he had just did. Whether it was a layup with no one on him or a jumper in someones face from about 17 feet out he was always looking around. It seemed as though he wasn't really playing the game for a win but more for the hype and popularity that he hopes to ensue afterwards. Michael Jordan is quoted in his IMAX movie saying that every game he would know that at least one person in the stadium he was playing in front of had not seen him before and might not see him again so he wanted to put on a great performance for them. While this may sound similar to what LeBron does but the difference was during the game Michael was focused on winning, and the game at hand. LeBron appears to be more focused with the interview at halftime, the highlights later on sportscenter, and the stats he's accumulated throughout the game then the actual outcome. 2) The second thing that I don't really like about LeBron's game is the amount of flops and complaining he does when he doesn't get a call. I know that the NBA is starting to turn into European soccer but this doesn't mean that the best player in the NBA needs to flop and pretend he's getting fouled harder then he is so he has an excuse as to why he missed the shot.

ESPN recently just showcased a picture of LeBron James out wearing a shirt that said LeBron James with MVP in large font underneath it before he won the award. While many greats before him have shown grace and appreciation for the award I guarantee you would have never seen MJ, Kobe, or Larry Bird wearing a shirt like that. With each year passes with LeBron in the NBA his ego seems to be able to expand to another level. While his first couple years he was able to hide behind a young kid who was trying to be modest but now the true drama aspect of him is coming out. First, the video that finally surfaced showcasing LeBron getting dunked on. For those of you that don't know LeBron James got two handed dunked on by a player named Jordan Crawford in a pick up game at his camp, however, after the play happened LeBron told Nike representatives to grab the tapes. Second, his character can be questioned when he doesn't shake hands with the Magic after the lost in the Eastern Conference Finals. While I understand that you may be bitter after a loss especially after numerous players on your team guaranteed victory, but if you are going to put a crown on your head and sit in a thrown you should at least have the manners to congratulate the other players. I mean they did teach manners in medevil times right?

While the couple occurrences may just be accidents I think LeBron is finally starting to get the wrong type of attention his way and may start to hear boos for different reasons other then the fact that he is on an away team. If you search LeBron James on Google the first link isn't his NBA profile anymore, in fact its a news article stating how this video cover up was a bad move for him. If I were LeBron I would first off redesign my basketball shoes because there is nothing special about the Zoom LeBron 3's but secondly laugh about the incident and publicly say the kid got a step on me and threw it down like anyone that is going to go up against me should. Its basketball people get dunked on and people get blocked it just matters how you react afterwards that really shows the type of player you are...not during it.