New Jersey Has Cap Space, The Sky Is Falling: Part I
June 29, 2008To: Jeremy Sowers, From: WFNY
July 1, 2008Well, that was a fun day. Rock’s excellent piece on LeBron James certainly stirred the pot, as evidenced by the number of comments and visitors to the site. We wanted to acknowledge a couple of things-
First, thank you to our regular readers for your support and outpouring of appreciation on the piece. Next, we wanted to say that we did in fact see Terry Pluto’s article, which came out after Rock put his post. A few people accused him of ripping off our article, but we believe Terry when he says he didn’t read our piece first-
From Terry Pluto:
Dear Fans,
www.waitingfornextyear is an excellent blog.
I did a long interview with Scott Sargent who runs it a while ago. He sends me stories that I should see, and I really appreciate it.
I wrote my LeBron column on the way home from my in-laws in NC, killing time in airports.
When I got home, Scott sent me his entry. I suggest you check it out.
It is outstanding. I had not seen it when I did mine.
I also wrote about this subject and free agency in my scribbles during the playoffs….
http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1210667430308880.xml&coll=2
thanks for reading the PD! terry pluto
Aside from him naming Scott senior editor, we appreciate Terry’s comments. (Zing!)
Next, we did see the ESPN article on LeBron James and his favorite cities. Obviously we should just fold up our tents. It’s all over. No chance LeBron signs here now…
You know my favorite cities are Toronto, Cancun, Clearwater Beach, Niagara Falls and Columbus. I have had a great time in each of them. I lived in Virginia Beach for a year. I also lived in Kentucky for a year, and let me say that while living in those places I couldn’t wait to get back to Northern Ohio. LeBron’s comments yesterday don’t change anything. It is ridiculous to try and guess what a FA will do in 2 years. It is ridiculous to assume, as some commenters yesterday did, that Wally Szczerbiak and Joe Smith will be flanking LeBron in March, let alone in 2010. Wally will be traded this year. He has an attractive expiring contract. Even if he weren’t traded, he certainly wouldn’t be resigned. I never thought they would be able to get rid of Larry Hughes’ contract, but Ferry pulled it off. Don’t think that Ben Wallace is absolutely untouchable with his contract either.
The bottom line is that we’re a little tired of hearing that LeBron is absolutely going to leave Cleveland at the first chance he gets. Today another ‘expert’ chimes in with his stupidity. This time it is the argument that Cleveland’s management doesn’t deserve LeBron because they haven’t surrounded him with good enough talent. Of course, that’s why he’ll run to New York…because they have a flawless track record in that department. The best line in that article was the assumption that everyone in the NBA was hypnotized by Jay-Z, probably because of his wife Beyonce. Brilliant! There you have it folks. (And you wonder why we get tired of this garbage?)
15 Comments
That dude at NBC sports is a straight up goon. Good work, Rick.
How much longer till training camp?
23 days…July 24th. They arrive on Wed. the 23rd. Not that we’re counting…
Uggggggh. Could we require sportswriters to write about–oh, you know– sports? I mean, if the expert was a legal contract “expert,” I’d shut my trap and listen intently. But as NBC makes it very clear that this guy is “NBA Expert,” I’m not shutting my trap on this. Also, is it considered sports writing if you are dissing alot of America with myopic observations like:
“So you want to make a name for yourself in the business world? Do you want to be in New York? Or Cleveland?”
Let’s try this again, and lets include the rest of America in how Clevelanders, Ohioans, and fellow fly-over-staters feel:
So you want to make a name for yourself in the business world? Do you want to be in New York? Or ___________?
…yeah, doesn’t feel too hot now does it? I’m sure Warren Buffet (the “Oracle of Omaha”) would scratch his head over that logic. Or Rich guy #2, #3, #4, #5, #6….and I basically gave up at this point:
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/03/05/richest-people-billionaires-billionaires08-cx_lk_0305billie_land.html
Again, thank you WFNY for leading the charge for a perspective I fear will be absent from more privilaged, but less thoughtful, minds in sportswriting.
i like how he throws the david-stern-must-save-the-NBA-by-moving-lebron-to new-york-conspiracy-theory in there, just for good measure.
hate is a strong word but…but F these people.
This whole New York stuff is really ridiculous. The New Yorkers think it’s their divine right to have every good player and that a small market like Cleveland doesn’t “deserve” Lebron. It’s really getting sickening on how we have to defend this.
Please start making a list of these clowns who are “certain” of something that is merely a guess. I want to email them in 2010.
These people are so smug.
Everything is a foregone conclusion anymore.
Everyone is an expert.
I think we need to have a day where every post is a Haiku and every comment must be a Haiku as well.
My biggest issue with these stories is that whenever LeBron says something like “I’m bringing a parade to this city…I love Northeast Ohio. Right now I can’t see myself living and playing anywhere else…” (which he did a week and a half ago) the national media ignores it in favor of over publicizing the fact that a kid who grew up in Akron digs New York City. Shocker.
You’ve never once seen what LeBron said a week ago about loving Cleveland and NEO and wanting to bring a championship here. No front page article by ESPN or any other biased media outlet, no top story on Sports Center. Instead they give you the biased crap about him liking NYC and being friends with Jay Z.
one mike: i have no doubt that lebron said that, but just curious, where did you find it? i’d like to read it in context… thanks!
Mendy, that was in an interview with Mary Boyer over at the PD I think…
Here was Scott’s write up of it…
https://waitingfornextyear.com/?p=1401
RockKing speaks much truth
Waiting three weeks just for camp
Something to pass time
Terry Pluto Rules
Lebron’s going to stay home
It is where he lives
(Alright, I suck at Haiku.)