Whinge and cry about Lebron not shaking hands with the Magic, I swear to god I'm going to curb stomp somebody. THis is the biggest ****ing non issue ever, and all these pundits are so full of shit. Who gives a shit about if Lebron does or doesn't shake hands with Orlando? What on earth does that have to do with what matters, IE Lebron and the Cav's performance on the floor. IT has nothing to do with his on court leadership. Every one of these clowns on the radio and TV that talk about how they have lost respect for lebron need to get throat cancer so they stop polluting the airwaves. God, the shit these hacks talk about to fill time tilt the shit out of me. THis is why I basically can only stand to listen to PTI, The sports guy, Dameshek and dan lebatard. everyone else in the industry can get cat aids for all I care.

I'm so tilted I used the wrong "hear" in the title of the thread.

You sure about that ?

Seeing you, a proud canadian hockey fan, reminds me of the Avery "sloppy seconds" comment, which might have been a bigger non-issue, since he got suspended for multiple games for it. That's the craziest supsension I've ever heard of.

it's what you get when there are 5 days between the conference finals and the finals

people in cleveland went insane when LeBron wore a Yankees hat at a NY CLE playoff game

I'm like as long as he's on our side i don't care if he wears a knicks jersey on the court

plus if he was all diplomatic and granted tons of interviews Jadaki would say he didn't want it bad enough

The year the Bulls finally beat the Pistons Isaiah and company (probably everyone but dumars) walked off the court with like 30 seconds left - not only were there no handshakes they didn't even watch the end of the game

of course that didn't stop chicago fans from rooting for Rodman five years later

of course there was the Isaiah Dennis - If Bird were black he'd just be another dude scandal -

I thought it was more interesting that when he finally did meet with the press, he was wearing a yankee's cap.

I dont really get it. I guarantee you he wont do it again after this anyways.

fwiw, both PTI guys panned Lebron for this. I figured Wilbon or Kornheiser would say who cares. At least one of them.

The story should be can a jump-shooting team actually win a title. Thats what Orlando is (if viewed as a NBA experiment). They are a fascinating team and while I picked the Lakers easy I wonder if they can just keep shooting the lights out. They did sweep LA in the regular season (just like they owned the Cavs in the regular season) so who knows.

Their reaction doesn't really surprise me. They are old, and often react like old men do w/r/t sportsmanship issues.

LeBron's already said he'd do it again

Have they really shot the lights out?

Regular season 3pt%: 39.1
Playoffs: 36.7
-vs Sixers: 34.6
-vs Celtics: 34.5
-vs Cavs: 40.7

The shaking hands is whatever, but he should have talked to the media. He can't get enough of the camera when things are going good and he's King James etc, but as soon as something doesn't go his way he takes his ball and goes home. Pussy move.

shooting 40 % from 3 is like shooting 60% from 2 - everyone seems to always ignore this

This. I would have expected him to go say something to Howard just because they were at least teammates on the Olympic squad. Isiah and the rest of the Pistons were sore losers too.

I'm interested in what the Cavs do in the off season.

:roll

for the most part i agree with mcdee's sentiments, but the thing is Lebron is a Role model to millions of kids, and needs to promote good sportsmanship (as cheesy as it sounds)

for the kids; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyjm3A0N_VE

1) No he doesn't need to do shit.
2) Parents, coaches and peergroups matter infinitely more w/r/t learning sportsmanship.
3) why should I give a shit if kids shake hands after little league games? Why should I care about teaching kids how to lie and to hide their real emotions?

It's not teaching kids to lie, it's teaching them to lose with a little dignity and sportsmanship. You want to be pissed about losing, that's cool but blowing everyone off because you lost just makes it look like he felt he was entitled to win.

I guess it's what we should expect from a guy who was getting everything handed to him on a silver platter since he was 16.

Quoted for extreme truth. Let those lil fuc.ks learn from their own experience. Instead of learning to be fake lil fascist nazi sociopaths that grow up into puerile human waste incapable of discerning real truth. In other wards it is good to see someone stand up for their beliefs whether those beliefs are right or wrong. I would rather have someone stand up for their beliefs and be wrong than be a fake. that is why I like BigD.

yes, exactly. Teaching them to lie.


And I also fail to see why I care about kids learning this valuable lesson about dignity, or why it's Lebron's duty to teach it to your children. If you want to teach your kids how to hide their emotions, cool. But it's not Lebron or any other athlete's responsibility to teach your children anything. It's an athlete's responsibility to perform on the court.

Kids do need role models to learn how to stand up for themselves. We don't get those role models often. So kids can think things like, "hmmm beliefs I should has some."

More to my point, in the same weekend that hte story breaks that Brandon Marshall is bascially a serial woman abuser, people freak the **** out about Lebron not shaking hands. That type of thing boggles my mind. Domestic violence is a real, actual issue that plagues our country, not a made up issue like sportsmanship, but there was approximately 1000 times more attention given to Lebron blowing off Orlando, and that doesn't make any sense to me at all.

Do you think it's better that if they lose they get all pissed off and run away like little bitches? Is that what being a man is?

It's not lying to go up and congratulate someone for winning. You don't have to be happy you lost to walk up and say "Congrats on making it to the finals Dwight, good luck" and not come off like a total douche.

I agree it's not Lebron's responsibility, but when you are supposed to be the poster boy for the NBA you can expect to get ripped apart for shit like this because it comes with the territory like it or not. Just like when he walked off the court with time left on the game leaving 4 of his teammates to play defense for the last possession. It's acting like this that makes me laugh when he is called the most unselfish superstar in the game. This isn't the first time he has acted like a spoiled brat when things haven't gone his way.

I agree, the media doesn't focus on the more important issues. Are you really surprised at this point? Did you see all the coverage yesterday about Lamar Odom's obsession with candy?

Well, I think it's more honest, but I don't think it's better or worse. I don't think it matters at all. I just don't give a shit about athletes " being a man" or not. I don't give two shits about that kind of thing. Why do I care how an athlete behaves once the clock has stopped. The only thing I possibly care about an athlete doing off the court is making me laugh like Barkley or something, that's about it.

Not surprised, just tilted. The vast amount of talking about a hand shake must made me furious of the last few days

. I actually thought that candy story was hilarious, and I really hope it's true.

They did against the Cavs (40.7% with their volume is incredible). I guess they were good enough without great 3 point shooting to beat Philly and and a depleted Boston team.

My guess is they will need to be at 40% to beat LA.

at the amateur level, I agree that players should shake hands. At the professional level, who cares. Just win, baby. I dont care much about sportsmanship at the pro level outside of cheating and and trying to hurt players on purpose.

Lebron does not have to shake Orlando's hand. But he should not storm out of the arena. Part of being an NBA player is being accessible to the media. He has to take the questions. That is part of the job. Shaking hands is not.

Or to sneak in and stuff Lamar Odom's locker with assorted candy bars.

ha. not a bad idea. that story is hilarious. Odom will be huge in this series as he has the athleticism to be on the perimeter and help deal with Turk and Lewis. I think someone (I Fold maybe) made a great point that Pau Gasol does not really have anyone to guard in this series. They might want to play Bynum and Odom together a little more unless they think Gasol can handle Dwight Howard (with some double team help obv).

lamar loves candy

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4210837

I heard Jeff Van Gundy talking about that on Dan Lebatard's show. He said there are two things at play, real sportsmanship and the illusion of sportmanship. Real sportsmanship is playing the game hard, playing it fair, not taking cheap shots, always trying to win, and in that respect, he thought Lebron was a true sportsman. The illusion of sportsmanship is a couple of coaches shaking hands after a game, who hate each other and could care less about shaking hands, but only do it out of how they will be perceived. And I agree with that 100 percent.

Like Phil Jackson and George Karl.

I love Van Gundy, he's like a real thoughtful person in a league of a bunch of morons.

Really? I can't stand to listen to him talk like 1/2 the time when he calls games.

They could all talk less. Van Gundy is smart, has good insights, and is willing to open up about what actually being a coach is like.

Right concept, poor execution. He spends a lot of time going on tangents that I don't want to hear about.

Van Gundy is my all time favorite basketball commentator. He's smart, insightful and legitimately funny. I also think Stan Van is a mensch from his weekly interviews with Dan Lebatard. My favorite brothers in sports.

Looks like Stern isn't gonna let Lebrons walk on the media slide. He was on ESPN radio and they asked him why the NBA was so quick to fine Shaq for similar activities on the Heat and nothing has happened against Lebron and the Cavs yet.

I'm gonna play devils advocate here...

Agree with Jadaki in that no matter what anyone says it's poor sportsmanship. It just is and I don't think there's a decent argument otherwise. Thank goodness it wasn't at something like the Olypics cause that would have REALLY blown up.

But the silver platter comment is exactly why so many posters react negatively to your posts about Lebron. Of COURSE the media sensationalizes things...it's their job to grab attention!! But Lebron has earned his headlines...to say he's just been randomly given the reigns to the NBA is taking away from the fact what he's accomplished at the age of 24...24!!!

agreed. I used to hate looking at him on the sidelines because he always looked so damn miserable but he's a great commentator. I like how he even went out and said that he liked the Lakers for the finals instead of trying to be unbiased due to Stan/Orlando

Kobe was on Jim Rome today and actually had an interesting comment - he said it was the first time in LeBron's career where he actually faced real adversity - in that he fell short of something that was expected of him by himself and others

to be the devil's devil's advocate - Bob Gibson never shook anyone's hand - he was a warrior wouldn't even shake hands with a guy in the off season

Yea and the Hummer in his driveway when he was a high school senior was earned... He has had a silver spoon in his mouth since before day 1 in the league.

I don't really care about the handshake much, if I was him I wouldn't be congratulating a bunch of bench players on the Magic but I think blowing off Howard when they spent time as teammates and helped each other to a gold medal is a bit disrespectful.

I'm not disagreeing with the handshake/media snuff...definitely should be done regardless.

But again, "silver spoon" is a term given to those who are given everything for doing nothing. In a way you could say that YES he earned the Hummer bribe because amazing bball kids get bribed to go to certain colleges. We just pretend it doesn't happen. Don't forget, Shaq was one of the first guys to report how amazing Lebron was in high school. He wasn't just randomly handed the keys to the NBA...he earned the buzz but annihilating the competition. In fact, I see the paths of Shaq and Lebron very similar including early success without the ability to win the championship.

if you're ever three months away from being worth 100 million dollars - banks will loan your mother enough to buy you a hummer too

Shaq, the greatest high school basketball scout ever...

/sigh

What does that really have to do with anything?

two things in this thread. yes orlando is shooting lights out..... they are a scary group from 3. lol @ shaq - lebron stuff by fleung