You gotta love live TV. Lawrence Frank is the ex-coach of the horrendous Nets, who lost seventeen straight games to start the season, was on ESPN doing a little analysis about LeBron James yesterday. His spot was over and when they switched to the Skip Bayless' "First and Ten" segment, there was a little overlapping banter between the debate panel and Frank. Bayless is a big-time LeBron James critic, and Frank responded to the idea that James is not clutch when the game is on the line.
Frank: I said, tell Skip that I'd rather have that bad because I'd still be coaching instead and not sitting here. Give me that "f*&ker" other than seeing some of the s*!t we were putting up there. Sorry...
ESPN came on a few minutes later and said that Lawrence thought he was off the air, but that excuse isn't cutting it. Just apologize and move on. I'm sure there were some of James Dobson's acolytes watching and their kids have now been damaged once again because of his language. They were just getting over the trauma that was caused by Janet Jackson's Super Bowl mishap, and now this. Oh, the humanity.
Talk about ego and image control. Because of King James and the actions NIKE took, they've created a LeBron-Gate. It's so ridiculous.
The first mistake Nike made in the viral video mess that is LeBron-gate was trying to hide something from Gary Parrish. If you dropped Parrish in the middle of Afghanistan he'd emerge with Osama bin Laden's carcass in one hand, the details of John Calipari's new contract in the other, and a cell phone secured between his teeth. Nice work, Nike. Who did you think you were trying to fool, anyway? ESPN? The second mistake Nike made in LeBron-gate?
It underestimated the angry mood of the country toward arrogant mega-corporations who think they can do what they want, when they want. Nike believes that because it runs cute commercials and pals around with handsome athletes, it's no different from a sniveling credit card company or predatory bank.
To many people, Nike is the sports equivalent of those entities. By confiscating video of LeBron James getting his muscled-up head dunked on and subsequently acting like the release of the video is a threat to national security, the company confirmed what many have long believed: Nike is a ruthless corporation no different from other cutthroat companies.
Nike has, after all, been repeatedly accused of running sweatshops. More on that in a moment.
I mean, I'd like LeBron to sign on with the Knicks because they've stunk for so long, but this is Cheneyesque behavior.
There's something about James and Nike that makes this story more stringent than it ordinarily would be. There wouldn't be as much outrage if there were video of Dwyane Wade or Kobe Bryant getting dunked on. There'd be interest, of course, but James is the most arrogant and guarded superstar in the NBA and Nike is the most arrogant and guarded company in sports. That combination has turned this story from pedestrian to interesting and, until Nike releases the video, it'll stay that way.
It's Nike's corporate-ness which is at the center of this entire fiasco. It's not just the public enjoying watching a giant company feel the pain of stepping on the wrong end of a rake. No rational human being would ever be this angry over a simple dunk video. This isn't about the dunk. This is about rage over the actions of the wealthy and powerful.
What harm would it have done to King James' image? Nothing. Who cares if he got dunked on? John Starks had an incredible dunk on Michael Jordan. Who remembers that now?
Did that dunk hurt his marketing image? Of course not. People should not buy their products until they release the footage so they never do this again. It wasn't a crime scene. The way they handled this situation is Gestapo-like. Only NBA fans would watch it and nobody would care at all. It was just fine for James to have 60 Minutes film him doing amazing things and making him out to be, well, a King, but this is somehow unacceptable to him.
via Think Progress :Right-wing activist David Horowitz has been leading an aggressive effort “to limit what teachers may discuss and to bring more conservative views into the classroom.” Now he’s taking his ideological campaign to elementary schools, middle schools and high schools....read on
What these fools are doing is pretty much the same thing that Nike did to the NBA. These sneaker company idiots started targeting younger and younger kids in middle and high schools with their swarmy tongues and lucrative deals. Turning promising talent into egomaniacs that can only dunk the ball.The NBA's virtually unwatchable now since they were allowed to infiltrate the youth. Instead of learning how to use the glass on a fall away jumper or take some time practicing free throws, these kids are pampered night and day until they become useless on the court. (Lebron James might be the exception to the rule). Just watch an NBA game and you'll know what I'm saying. The new cliche that kids are screaming about now and will get air-time on 24/7 is "I failed my test because I'm a conservative." If Horowitz is allowed with all the other buffoons to enter the schools by the education officials we'll surely have a true prozac nation. Maybe David is in league with the drug companies. That might explain it part of it.
