NBA Rumors and Players – NBA USA
NBA news, NBA rumors, and information on NBA players and NBA games. Get the latest information and news on everything NBA, plus insightful commentary from NBA fans.Archive for September, 2010
Heat transform training camp into basic training
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AP) — Pat Riley got a kiss from a 5-year-old girl with a yellow ribbon tied in her hair, then climbed the steps toward the cockpit of an F-15 fighter.
Lakers wary but excited for preseason Euro tour
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — Pau Gasol has traveled to Spain twice during previous NBA preseasons, so he knows all about being a tour guide for a bunch of wide-eyed American hoopsters in his native Barcelona. Las Ramblas, the Sagrada Familia, the paella – he has it all covered.
Race Not A Factor In Fans Anger At LeBron James
New York Vinnie had truly hoped that I would never have to write another column on this subject. Unfortunately right about now New York Vinnie feels a lot like Michael Corleone in the “Godfather III” when he screamed “Every time I try to get out they pull me right back in.”
It has been almost 3 months since Free Agent forward LeBron James had a one hour TV special on “ESPN“ to tell the Planet that he would be playing for the Miami Heat starting in the upcoming season. The choice made by the reigning NBA MVP did not sit well with the public who quickly went from admiring the former Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star to looking at him with disdain. James went from one of the most popular personalities in all of pro sports to being one of the top six most disliked athletes in a recent poll. This reaction is not confined to Cleveland but seems to have effected fans throughout the country.
Unfortunately it is also the “Topic That Will Not Die” because just when the fire looks like it is about to go out someone comes by and starts stirring up the coals again. Wednesday night certainly threw some more fuel on the embers according to the “Associated Press“ and the “Miami Herald” as James and his manager Maverick Carter were interviewed by “CNN” reporter Soledad O’Brien that aired Wednesday night.
O’Brien asked the pair if they believed that race played a role in the public reaction to James decision to leave Cleveland for Miami. James responded “I think so at times. It’s always, you know, a race factor.”
Although James at least appeared to be diplomatic in his response, there certainly seem to be no doubts in his manager’s mind. Carter replied to O’Brien “It definitely played a role in some of the stuff coming out of the media, things that were written for sure.”
Yo Maverick; New York Vinnie has been following this story from the jump, reading and writing far more than I would like to have for way too long. If some article possibly came out that New York Vinnie has missed, then please point it out to me and I will publicly apologize. But the only other time New York Vinnie heard race brought into the conversation was when the Reverend Jesse Jackson accused Cavaliers Team Owner Dan Gilbert of having a “Slave-Owner’s mentality.”
Former Cleveland Indians first baseman Jim Thome left the city as a Free Agent in 2002 after years of being idolized by Indians fans. Eight years later the fans still booed Thome when he went to Cleveland with the Minnesota Twins. Where was the racial issue in that situation? James spoke with the media on Thursday after practice and told reporters “I’m not going to go back on my words. People are looking too far into it. I said what I had to say and I’ll continue to move on.”
Yo LeBron; you infer that race may have been a factor in the way the public reacted and the media may have covered the event and “People are looking too far into it?” How would you expect people who hear this coming from you to respond? You dropped a bomb on a whole lot of people My Man, you can not make a statement like that and just walk away.
LeBron, are you telling New York Vinnie that if Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash or Larry Bird did what you did the public would be less angry? If so My Man, that is Frickin Crappolla and you know that as well as New York Vinnie does. LeBron James has dug himself a hole and it seems that at every opportunity he is just going to make that hole deeper and deeper.
