It's not about winning: LeBron has outgrown Cleveland

That ratings from the 2009 World Series showed the greatest year-to-year growth in the history of baseball shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone. The New York Yankees are a worldwide brand and play in the nation’s largest television market and the Philadelphia Phillies were the defending champions. It was, to say the least, a significant upgrade from the year before, when the then relatively unknown Phillies and small-market Tampa Bay Rays put up the worst Fall Classic ratings in history.

Of all places that saw a dramatic hike in viewers, however, Cleveland, OH seems to raise the most eyebrows. At least on the surface. The Indians’ were essentially eliminated from playoff contention by May and it was now basketball season, which meant it was time for the entire city to focus on LeBron James.

But the second game of The King’s season coincided with Game One of the World Series and James didn’t stand a chance. The Yankees and Phillies obliterated the Cavs and Toronto Raptors in the ratings. When you look closer, the reason for baseball’s dominance over even someone as celebrated as LeBron becomes a little bit clearer: The starting pitchers in the first game of the World Series were C.C. Sabathia for New York and Cliff Lee for Philadelphia. The two were teammates just a season ago – in Cleveland.

If anyone understands what James is going through regarding his impending free agency at the end of this season, it’s Sabathia and Lee. Both won Cy Young Awards pitching for the Indians and in consecutive years, were traded to contenders in the National League because the Indians were anything but playoff bound. Both have said they loved being in Cleveland (Sabathia even took out a full-page ad in the Cleveland Plain Dealer to thank the fans) but they knew the team wouldn’t be able to match offers from some of the wealthier franchises when it came time to sign contract extensions.

In other words, Sabathia and Lee outgrew Cleveland.

James knows the feeling. With the exception of a handful of members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he has been the most famous name in Cleveland since the day the Cavs drafted him. Next summer, he’ll have the opportunity to explore Free Agency for the first time, and it’s difficult to believe that he won’t strongly consider moving on.

To be clear, the Cavaliers will offer the same maximum contract any other team offers James. Unlike baseball, the NBA has a salary cap. So money isn’t the issue. Celebrity is. More than almost any other athlete on the planet, James knows how big he can be. More than once, he’s told friends and the media that his goal is to become a global icon.

The city of Cleveland can’t help James there. With its still-declining population and still-increasing unemployment rate, the city is hardly the ideal place for anyone to build a brand. It’s not quite Detroit, but all of northeast Ohio has faced similar problems, thanks to the lack of blue-collar jobs available, poor school districts and high poverty.

If James, to borrow the Army slogan, truly wants to be all that he can be, New York might be the only viable option. The city does everything but put up a statue of him next to Lady Liberty every time he comes to Madison Square Garden. Can you imagine what 41 games a year at MSG might be like? Let’s put it this way: Jay-Z might own a piece of the New Jersey Nets, but he OWNS Madison Square Garden every time he performs there.

But even he was just the opening act for James last Friday night before the Cavs/Knicks game.

To best help explain why he needs to move to the biggest possible stage, James might want to look to someone only a few months older than he is, but worth about a billion dollars more. In the best-selling book, “The Accidental Billionaires,” about the beginnings of Facebook, author Ben Mezrich attempted to explain why founder Mark Zuckerberg made the decision to move from Cambridge to Silicon Valley.

To paraphrase: “Harvard was fine, but California was the only place to be if you wanted to be a part of the revolution.”

Things worked out pretty well for Zuckerberg. And if he were advising James, he’d undoubtedly tell him the same thing he was told: “Reach for the stars.” New York might not be the only place for LeBron to attain his lofty goals, but one thing is crystal clear:

He can’t stay in Cleveland.

This also appeared at http://nbatoday.net

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Walsh, Knicks taking a huge gamble by focusing on LeBron

When Donnie Walsh was given almost $20 million to run the New York Knicks last year, he was taking over a dysfunctional, mostly talentless franchise that was littered with bad contracts and few signs of hope.

He was also handed the easiest job in sports.

Never before had such a large group of people (fans, the media, players, David Stern) been so collectively content with building for the distant future. In New York, the motto wasn’t, “we’ll get ‘em next year,” it was, “we’ll get ‘em in two-and-a-half years.” By contrast, if during his campaign, Barack Obama told everyone it would be the end of 2010 before the US showed any sign of progress, chances are we would be a heart attack away from having Sarah Palin run the nation.

For Walsh, winning in 2008 wasn’t a priority, which he said plenty of times. Tanking wasn’t either. The Knicks were awful, but they certainly weren’t the Kings or Clippers. To be honest, it really didn’t matter if the team just stopped playing altogether. No one would have noticed. Walsh simply needed to get rid of some huge contracts (Stephon Marbury, Zach Randolph, Jamal Crawford) to get the franchise’s finances in order so it could make a run at LeBron James in 2010.

And there lies the problem. The class of 2010 will be the greatest crop of free agents in the history of sports, with the likes of Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire and Yao Ming, along with a number of veterans who could immediately have an impact on any team in the league. But LeBron James is the only player Walsh and the Knicks have their eyes on. It’s the King or bust.

Walsh has even drafted around the idea that LeBron will end up with the Knicks. He took Danilo Gallinari, knowing full well that he was just as likely to never play meaningful minutes in the NBA as he was to become a star in the league. That’s what the LeBron security blanket does. It allows you to gamble with picks.

This year, all signs point to Stephen Curry as the Knicks first pick, unless they somehow fall into a top 3 pick. Walsh sees Curry as the next Mo Williams, a dead-on shooter who can compliment James, which is true. But he’s also a 6’ 160 lb guy with no real position (can’t play the point, too small for the two) who will struggle to defend even marginal NBA players.

So the question becomes, what if the Knicks can’t get LeBron? What if he wins a championship this year or next or both and realizes he doesn’t need New York to elevate his pursuit of being a global icon? This should have been asked a long time ago, but everyone in New York (fans, the media, certainly the Knicks) is so arrogant and believe it’s their god given right to sign James.

As great as the 2010 class is, LeBron is the only player that can carry a team by himself. He’s probably the only player in modern history that could do it. And now that it’s becoming more and more of a possibility that he might not go to New York, the Knicks will be left with a roster that could win 60 games with the best guy, but will struggle to win 45 with the next-best guy.

It should be the easiest job in sports. Stink it up, clear cap room, draft safely, sign a star. That’s all Walsh had to do. Of course the Knicks would be able to sign one the top guys; it is New York after all. But it was never about signing just any star; it had to be LeBron.

So now somehow, the easiest job in sports has become the most stressful.

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David Stern should lift NBA age requirement

Getting an opinion out of LeBron James can sometimes be more difficult than stopping him as he takes off on one of his patented blasts through the lane, but on Friday night, the MVP candidate made one thing clear: He is against the NBA’s minimum-age requirement.

While providing color-commentary for the NBA Rookie Challenge, a game which featured seven one-and-done players and just two who played college basketball for four seasons, James suggested that guys who plan on only being in school for one year are wasting both the university’s and their own time.

“What’s the point if you don’t want to be in school?” James asked.

It certainly won’t help you become an All Star. That much was clear on Sunday night at the official NBA All Star game, which had six Americans who made the jump straight to the league from high school. The top players from the game only strengthen the argument against Commissioner David Stern’s mandatory minimum rule. The leading scorers were Kobe Bryant (27 pts), James (20 pts) and Amare Stoudemire (19 pts) and none of them needed a year off before going pro.

In fact, you could argue that for the best players in the world, college might actually hinder their development. College athletes are only allowed to spend 20 hours a week working on their skills with their head coaches as opposed to the unlimited amount time they could practice in the NBA. There’s also that whole student part of the student-athlete, which forces players to attend class. And while I’m as big a fan of Western Civ as anyone, if your major is basketball, most of your time ought to be spent in the gym.

The lack of talent that surrounds an elite player is another problem. Think about it. These kids spend their entire lives playing in AAU tournaments with the best players in the country, but how many times per season does the top player in college basketball face any type of decent competition? Maybe a handful? A future lottery pick on some college campus is more likely to end up in a picture partying with Michael Phelps than he is to face a challenge on the court.

When it comes down to it, the NBA’s mandatory-minimum age requirement feels more like a punishment to future pros than anything else. And they aren’t that far off. After all, there are very few things that we can absolutely force upon any American. I can think of two: Jail, if they commit a crime, and college basketball, if they want to play in the NBA.

So when James asks what the point is, he’s actually making the best point of all. Going to college is a dream for millions of people all over the world. So is playing in the NBA.

But one shouldn’t have to happen to make the other a reality.

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Random Rumblings: Sabathia has the option to just go home

• When Alex Rodriguez signed that $252 million contract eight years ago, the Texas Rangers were crucified by baseball people for giving the then-shortstop almost $100 million more than any other team offered. But for a franchise with no real history of winning, that’s the only type of bid that was going to land the game’s best player, especially with at least one northeastern team in the mix.
  
  Now, C.C. Sabathia is in the same situation, about to sign with one team for significantly more than anyone else was willing to give. Only this time, it’s not a second rate team from out west ponying up the extra cash; it’s the Yankees, the world’s most famous sports franchise, who had to do everything but literally kiss the extra large ass of their new ace to get him to come to the Bronx.
  
  It’s finally clear just how little interest Sabathia had in New York. Not only did he need $60 million more, but also the right to opt out in three years if things become too hard, if the pressure is too much for the cool California kid to handle. Say what you want about how poorly ARod handles everything in his life, but he does face the media every day and the guy wants nothing more than to succeed under the biggest spotlight in sports.
  
  Sabathia can learn a lot from the most scrutinized athlete in the country. He can learn how to say all the right things when everything is going well and how to handle himself if/when Tony Bleacherseat starts calling him a bum. Or he can just run away.
  
  The Yankees have given him that option.
  
  
• By the way, would it be too much if the Yankees asked LeBron James to throw out the opening pitch at the new Yankee Stadium?
  
  
• Why is that Kevin McHale, a man responsible for one good thing (drafting Kevin Garnett) in the last 13 years with the Minnesota Timberwolves, continues to get a pass from those that cover the NBA when Isiah Thomas is lucky to even be allowed into any building in the league?
  
  
• Spare me all the nonsense about what a good guy Jason Varitek is now. Here’s a guy that didn’t hit .250 in batting practice last season, who was unwilling to accept arbitration from the Red Sox. If he actually believes he’s worth more than the $10 million he probably could have made, then he is just as clueless as the fans who gave him a pass for hitting like the right fielder on your son’s little league team last season.
  
  
• You ever see those NFL/United Way active generation commercials. Part of the reason our children all look like mini-C.C. Sabathia’s is because ESPN has made it cooler to say “all-in” than “I got next.”
  
  But the World Wide Leader can remedy the situation. It just needs to push Speed Pool down our throats the way it does the WSOP. Think about it: Pool hustlers that actually hustle.
  
  Now that’s a generation of kids that I want to meet.
  
  
• It really sucks to be the UConn football team. Not only do they have to celebrate the New Year in Canada (yes fellas, New Year’s Eve is December 31 everywhere) but they’re also getting screwed when it comes to the gifts the International Bowl provides. This year, all Connecticut and Buffalo players will receive: A Timely Watch Co. watch, Two-piece Armor Gear rolling travel duffel bags and computer backpacks. In comparison, a number of other bowls are giving iPods or “Best Buy Parties” where players can spend up to $400 on electronics.
  
  One star gifts for one star recruits, I suppose.

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Forget the future, Detroit should appreciate greatness now

The Pistons traded for the most influential athlete of my generation on Monday, but all anyone seems to care about is the fact that he has an expiring contract. Imagine that. The most entertaining basketball player this side of Michael Jordan joins a championship contender, yet somehow LeBron James and Dwayne Wade are the focal points.

It’s sad. The summer of 2010 means more than Allen Iverson’s last chance at a title, even in such a proud basketball city. But fans in Detroit and across the country better slow down, because no matter what happens two summers from now, the league will never see another player quite like The Answer.

If you became a sports fan in the mid-late ‘90s, you’ve watched Iverson closer than any other athlete. You’ve criticized him for acting a fool. You’ve been amazed by his ability. You’ve realized that while Shaq might get hacked, AI gets decapitated. Yet he continues to get up. You respect him for that. ESPN’s Rick Reilly once wrote that if there was one player he’d pay twice the ticket price to watch, it would be Iverson, who really makes you think twice about cheering for Manny Ramirez. When he retires, you’ll remember his dismal rap career and his infamous practice rant, but not the way you’ll remember his crossover, a move that staggered more men than Mike Tyson ever did. Even gave MJ jelly legs once.

But for all AI has done on the court, his impact off the court might be what truly defines him. He’s been called a thug for always speaking his mind at a time when you can’t buy a quote from a great athlete – see LeBron, ARod and Tiger. Seemingly cut from the same cliché, those three will never reach people quite the way Iverson did. If you think about it, he and Eminem probably did more to bring two completely different cultures together than any celebrity in history. For awhile, his sneakers, jersey and crossover gave every sports fan something in common.

Iverson will make his Pistons debut tomorrow night in New Jersey, against another franchise already thinking well into the future. The difference is that while the Nets are hopeless, Detroit should be hopeful. They’re a better a team than they were a week ago. Even on his last legs, Iverson can change games.

Now we’ll see if he can win a title.

Must reads on Iverson:
The Impact of Iverson – Need For Sheed
The Iverson Effect: Net gains all around – True Blue Pistons
Allen Iverson, “The Answer”

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Age and experience no longer matters in sports

No matter what ends up happening in the World Series, experience never caught up with the Tampa Bay Rays. The pressures of September and October were right there and Upton and Longoria and Kazmir and the rest of ‘em met them head on. This season, age didn’t matter and let me tell you something, it might not matter ever again – in any pro sport.

That’s the feeling I got Saturday night as I watched Ohio State’s cocky superstar freshman Terrelle Pryor play flawless football for three quarters and almost upset one of the best teams in college football. Here was a kid, still in high school five months ago, that has had his every move followed for over a year now playing in front of 80,000 fans on primetime national television and handling himself like the senior he replaced a few weeks ago. His only mistake was trying to do too much; he fumbled while eyeing the end zone when he only needed a first down.

You can bet Pryor will be hardened by this experience and the constant scrutiny he’ll continue to receive before he ends up in the NFL three or four years from now. Think he’ll be ready for a wild card weekend in January? And that’s just football. In baseball and basketball, guys like Upton and Kazmir and of course, LeBron, were considered prodigies before they could even define prodigy. These players are already ranked with their peers by 11 years old. Imagine that, a kid not old enough to play on a big diamond getting called the next Ken Griffey Jr.

Late season pressure isn’t close to what some of the young Rays have faced. Upton and Kazmir represented their country before finishing high school. Today’s star high school athlete is playing for national championship in front hundreds of scouts every weekend in some AAU tournament. Longoria was on a national team in college and was the MVP of the Cape Cod League, the most prestigious summer league in the country.

Tampa Bay has followed a trend that was probably set by LeBron, who single-handedly led his team to the NBA playoffs at 20 years old. They weren’t going to collapse because they were too young to handle to veteran Red Sox or Yankees. 162 games are nothing when you probably played 250 a year from the time you were 16. Of course, a World Series, NBA Finals or a Super Bowl means a lot more than any youth championship. But the point is that young teams like the Rays and all the young athletes of today are facing a lot more pressure at a much younger age. Once they make it the pros, they are trying to prove themselves to whom, the media and the fans?

In high school and college, it’s about showing the people who really matter that you belong -the scouts.

You tell me who’s under more pressure.

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Random Rumblings: Pressure is on for Favre

• It seems like every time Brett Favre’s name is brought up, we hear about how regular and easy to relate to he is. But for the NFL’s everyman, New York might be the one spot where is he different than just about every man.
  
  New Yorkers don’t lace up their cowboy boots and wear their Wranglers out to a ball game the way folks in other parts of this country might. And they definitely do not fall in love with athletes who look like “they are just having fun out there,” the phrase most often used to describe the Jets new quarterback.
  
  Ask Alex Rodriguez. Results are all that matters.
  
  Unlike ARod, Favre is alreafy recognized as a winner, but he also has a much smaller window to prove himself to fans in New York. Two years, tops. That’s why it won’t be too surprising if, after a couple of poor games from the old gun slinger, Jets fans start turning on Favre the way the crowds in Green Bay will undoubtedly turn on Aaron Rodgers.
  
  
• Only two weeks ago, I called Manny Ramirez the greediest athlete in the history of sports for complaining about his contract situation with his team in a playoff race.
  
  While I stand by that thought, I do think that the Red Sox were wrong for not a) offering Manny a contract extension earlier this season or b) telling him that his option would not be picked up at the end of the season.
  
  Anyone on the Sox side will tell you that the team is by no means obligated to do such a thing, but considering all that Manny did do for the organization, it would have been the right move.
  
  
• Two issues I had while watching Team USA defeat China in basketball this morning:
  
  1) Does LeBron James really need to make that silly “who me?” face every time a whistle gets blown? It’s reminds me so much of ARod.
  
  2) In the first half, commentators Doug Collins and Mike Breen went off about how bad the referees were in international basketball after one official called a palming violation on a Chinese guard. The truth is, just before the call, I said to myself, “it’s really looks like he’s palming the ball.”
  
  
• C.C. Sabathia should be the National League Cy Young.
  
  
• Memo to the Yankees: It’s difficult to change your setup man constantly over the course of a season and still remain successful. Yes, the Yanks had to put Joba in the rotation but they didn’t have to trade Kyle Farnsworth.
  
  Now they’re paying for it.
  
  
• Congratulations to Sacha Kljestan, who scored for Team USA on a pass from Freddy Adu this morning against the Netherlands. The first sports article that I ever wrote was during my freshman year at Seton Hall and the topic was Sacha and his brother Gordon. It’s nice to see a classy guy succeed.

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Small Ball
LeBron may have picked a bad time to drift away from his safe, robotic, cliché-driven interview style when he made his Olympic Gold guarantee.

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Random Rumblings

• If you have ever been in a relationship where you have put off breaking up with a girl and then just when you have finally made the decision to go through with it, she comes through with amazing plans or a nice gift, then you know exactly what Omar Minaya is going through with Willie Randolph right now.
  
  Every time it seems like Randolph is in his last day as manager of the Mets, his team seems to come through with a victory that keeps him clinging to the job. That trend may continue today if the team can sweep a double header from Texas. If not, Minaya may have to part ways with the guy he selected for the job on Father’s Day, of all days.
  
  Looks like the end of this relationship is going be even harder than he thought.
  
  
• I understand that it has become harder than ever to win big consistently in college basketball, but it’s sad to see Jim Calhoun lower his standards so much in an attempt to get the University of Connecticut back to where it was during my senior year in high school. His latest recruit, Nate Miles played at five different high schools and it took the NCAA six months of investigating his transcripts just to clear him.
  
  The guy he’ll replace is Stanley Robinson, who, coincidentally, is expected to be academically ineligible.
  
  Both Calhoun and football coach Randy Edsall have complained in the past that UConn’s admission standards are too high and that it has an effect on recruiting. Clearly, the top ranked public school in New England is now meeting their needs.
  
  
• LeBron James once said his goal is to become a global icon. He might as well have said he wants to be Tiger Woods. There is nothing like the coverage Tiger demands during a major, not even a Celtics/Lakers NBA Finals.
  
  
• Even if they win a championship this year and finish their respective careers in Boston, it’s going to be difficult to remember Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen as Celtics.
  
  Paul Pierce, on the other hand, might end up getting his jersey retired.
  
  
• Give me the Little League World Series over the College World Series any day.

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