"It's hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them. I'm a winner. It's not being a poor sport or anything like that. If somebody beats you up, you're not going to congratulate them. I'm a competitor. That's what I do. It doesn't make sense for me to go over and shake somebody's hand."
-Lebron James
So it's been more than a week and a half since the Lebron's errr I mean Cavaliers were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals by the Orlando Magic. It's also been more than a week of the barrage of negative publicity Lebron James has received for his perceived immature behavior following May 30th's 103 - 90 loss in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
His team had the NBA's best record in the regular season, they were the odds on favorite's to get to the NBA Finals and would be paired with the dream match-up against the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe vs Lebron. It's what everyone wanted. It's what everyone expected. It's not what happened. You know how it happened. The Cavaliers decided to forget they had the best team defense in the league, forgot how to defend perimeter shots, forgot how to run any play except a high screen with Illgauskas and Lebron. Basically the coach of the year Mike Brown was out-classed, out-matched and out-witted by a Ron Jeremy look alike in Stan Van Gundy.
But, did any sports analyst discuss how in the last four games of that series, the Orlando Magic shot three pointers at a staggering pace, probably never seen before in any series in history? Of course not. The reason? Lebron James. In a matter of 8 days, Lebron James went from hitting one of the most unprecedented shots in NBA playoff history to being labeled as "immature and ingracious" by ESPN analyst Jalen Rose. And why is this? When the buzzer sounded and the Orlando Magic won the deciding game to eliminate Cleveland, Lebron James left the court without shaking hands with his opponents.
ALERT THE MEDIA!!!! LEBRON JAMES DIDN'T SHAKE HANDS!
With the way people are acting about this, you would've thought he went Tonya Harding on Dwight Howard's knee or Gunter Parche on Rashard Lewis (if you don't know who Gunter Parche is, a little history lesson for you, he's the psycho who stabbed Monica Seles on April 30, 1993 during a Tennis match in Hamburg, Germany). What's the big deal about not shaking hands? I know it's a general practice among professional athletes to shake hands after the game, but really, where's the harm in what he did? It's happened before. It'll happen again. Actually, it's not the first time Lebron has even done it. When the Celtics eliminated the Cavaliers last season in the Eastern Conference Finals, guess what? Lebron didn't shake their hands either. And frankly, I don't blame him.
Call him immature, say his behavior is disrespectful to his opponents, spin it however you want it, I liked it. Obviously I'm in the minority on that, since Lebron was fined $25,000 for his infraction. But, I think it was the best thing that could have ever happened. We need more of this. We need more of this in sports. I don't mean being disrespectful to opponents, or being deemed a sore loser. You can be gracious in defeat without having to shake your opponent's hand.
I mean give me a break. Before the game the players are shaking hands, hugging and wishing each other good luck. Then, the game starts and they bust their asses for 2 and a half hours pushing, shoving, trash talking, anything to get the slightest advantage, only to have the game end and the hand shaking and hugging frenzy begins again? Seriously? Does the NBA hypnotize their athletes or something? And it isn't just the NBA, they do it in the NHL and the NFL too. And frankly, I just don't get it.
Alan Hahn of Newsday stated it perfectly last week when he said, "I, was pleased to see the excruciatingly controlled King James show that he does bleed like the rest of us." Put yourself in Lebron James' shoes for a moment. You're the MVP of the league. You're the best player not only on your team, but in the entire league and probably on the entire planet. You play for the best team, you ARE the franchise. You play in Cleveland, a city that hasn't won a championship in nearly 50 years. The weight of the world is on your shoulders. And you lose to a team that nobody really gave a chance to. You come up short, yet again at reaching the pinnacle of success. You work hard every day of your life to win a championship and it gets taken from you. You are tired. You are pissed off and upset that you just lost. You feel like you not only let yourself and your team down, but an entire city. You carry that burden with you. And you're expected to shake hands right away and say "hey, good job kicking my butt all over the place. Go get 'em big guy"? Hardly.
In the NBA today, the players aren't allowed to express any sort of emotion. They're basically robots. They're told what to wear, how to conduct themselves, what to say, what not to say, etc. The pre-game rituals of handshakes and hugging, the post-game handshakes and hugging. It's all contrived.
Basketball may be a game, but it's also their job. It's a competitive job. Look at it this way, if you're working in an office and you're up for this huge promotion, but, there's another 30 people at the office who are up for it as well, are you going to pull out all the stops to get it? Odds are that most of you (myself included) would do anything it takes to get where you need to be. Handshakes are reserved for friendly encounters between individuals. In the game of basketball, with a championship at stake, there should be no room for friendly encounters. In the illustrious words of Shaquille O'neal "winning a championship, takes everything you've got".
That's why I absolutely loved the fact that Lebron James didn't follow the traditions of the sport and have the customary hand shake after the game. He was acting off his emotion. That wasn't contrived, it wasn't the fake hug and smile that you see half these athletes give each other when they could probably care less about most of these guys. I mean give me a break. Half the time after the Laker's win a game, Kobe Bryant probably doesn't recognize who half the guys are on his team he's shaking hands with.
The sporting world needs to get rid of all the lovey-dovey hand shaking and we are the world type behavior. I'm not saying the players should be going out with pitch forks and torches looking to start a riot, but a little feistiness is something every sport could use.
When Roger Federer lost the 2008 Wimbledon Final to Rafael Nadal in arguably one of the greatest Tennis Matches in history, he shook Nadal's hand, as is customary when a tennis match is complete. Do you think he wanted to? After 4 hours and 48 minutes of back and forth grueling action, do you think he wanted to shake his main rivals hand after such an emotionally draining defeat? If you just answered yes to either of those questions, please, just stop reading now and kill yourself, because you may be the antichrist. THERE'S NO WAY HE WANTED TO SHAKE NADAL'S HAND. Of course he respects him, but you cannot tell me after losing in that fashion that he wanted to shake another man's hand when victory was so close to him.
Or what about Tiger Woods? Since I'm not convinced he's even human (I swear to God he's a cyborg sent from the future. They're making Terminator 5: Quest for a Green Jacket next year starring Tiger). Remember him playing on one leg at last year's US Open? Do you think, if after he made that impressive comeback, with all the emotion he exerted, everything he put into his triumphs that day, he'd want to shake Rocco Mediates hand if he had lost? Let's say Tiger doesn't sink that putt to force a playoff and he loses after he had come so far, on one leg, his head crumpled towards the ground and the anger stewing in his stomach; would he want to shake Rocco's hand? Of course not. But would he? You bet he would, because that's what tradition dictates; being gracious and submissive in defeat. Here's a history lesson for you. Do you know who writes history? The winners.
That being said, there are no more true rivalries in sports. Bring back the days of the bad boy Pistons, when the entire Pistons team refused to shake the Chicago Bulls hands in the 1991 playoffs. Bring back the utter hatred Cowboys fans hold for Eagles fans for the fact they cheered when Michael Irvin's career ended (actually, that never left. I hate the entire city of Philadelphia)
People say that the Yankees - Red Sox rivalry is the greatest in sports....Uh, really? It hasn't really been a rivalry since 2004. And I don't mean because the Red Sox ended the curse and won the World Series, but because that's the last time there was even the slightest inkling of dislike between the two franchises. What happened to the days of Yankees Outfielder Jake Powell and Red Sox player-manager Joe Cronin fighting beneath the stands during a game (May 30, 1938). Or the days of Jimmy Piersall and Billy Martin getting into a skirmish before a game in the tunnel (May 24, 1952). That's what makes a rivalry more intense. When you don't like the other team and they don't like you. The brawl Thurman Munson and Carlton Fisk got into on August 1, 1973 is a prime example. Do you think they were shaking hands and having a beer together afterwards? Probably not.
The last time this rivalry had an meat on its bones was truly in Game 3 of the 2003 ALCS when Pedro Martinez hit Karim Garcia which prompted both benches clearing, then later on another bench clearing incident ends with Don Zimmer getting tossed like a lawn dart by Pedro. Those days are long gone. Now you get bombarded with stories of how Dustin Pedroia and Derek Jeter are best friends or that David Ortiz and Robinson Cano hang out together in the off-season. The days of the rivalry being intense are gone. Hell, it's hard to even find reasons to dislike their players. All of the hated enemies of the past are long gone.
Rivalries are dead in sports. Now you just get players hugging and treating each other like they're long lost brothers. Sports are supposed to be intense match-ups pitting competitors against one another. Where has that all gone?
I'm sick of all the camaraderie athletes show one another. You don't have to be best friends to respect someone else. You can be bitter enemies but still respect what they do or what they've accomplished. I don't shake hands when I lose. In fact, I basically do what Lebron James did. I put my head down and leave. Ask my brother, he'll tell you. When he beats me, it doesn't matter if he beat me by 1 or 100, I won't shake his hand.
Does that make me a sore loser? Probably in most eyes it does. But, I don't view myself as being one. Just because I won't shake your hand doesn't mean I don't respect your talents or the fact that you won. It's just not me to shake someone's hand. I think the reason Lebron James doesn't like to shake hands when he loses, is the same reason I don't. By shaking hands, it's almost as if you're admitting the other person is better than you, that they've gotten the best of you. And I won't do that. I've never done it and I never will. You wait and see, Lebron won't either.
This is probably the first and only time in my life that I will ever be able to compare myself to Lebron James, but..
It's hard for me to congratulate somebody after you lose to them. I'm a winner. It's not being a poor sport or anything like that. If somebody beats you up, you're not going to congratulate them. I'm a competitor. That's what I do. It doesn't make sense for me to go over and shake somebody's hand.
Until next time...
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