We need to talk about Chael Sonnen accusing LeBron James and Tiger Woods of using Performance Enhancing Drugs.
Chael Sonnen went on the Flagrant 2 Podcast and said :
“James and I have the same drug guy,” and added that LeBron and Tiger Woods take “the big three” of EPO, growth hormone and testosterone, AKA the “Lance Armstrong diet.”
Bullshit.
Chael Sonnen claims Lebron James takes PEDs. “We have the same drug guy, I know exactly what he takes”.
First of all, do you know the amount of money there is in unearthing a scandal about either one of the two most visible and divisive athletes in American history?
Entire networks schedules and personal fortunes have been built off of nitpicking LeBron and Tiger.
Do you really think that if LeBron James had such a loosey-goosey drug guy that Chael Sonnen of all people would be the one to break the news of his PED use while casually hanging out on a podcast?
It’s also true that there’s plenty of people out there that love LeBron enough to want to protect him, but trust me on this- you don’t go through 20 years of being the most visible athlete in America without a scandal because a few favorable relationships with website publishers and media moguls.
The price on LeBron’s head is enough to to tempt even his most well-intentioned Apostles to pull a Judas.
But let’s say it’s true. I don’t believe for a second that LeBron is blood doping, but let’s say that he is.
Do you really think LeBron James would be this reckless? Sharing a personal doctor with other athletes, much less a loudmouth admitted cheat and convicted money launderer with a half dozen scandals of using blatant racism to mock his fight opponents?
Chael Sonnen was hit w/ 5 battery citations in Vegas Saturday night after allegedly fighting in a luxury hotel, and TMZ Sports has video of the MMA legend being led away in cuffs. https://t.co/IVwUHJYJs6
Based on his track record, I’d be more inclined to believe that Chael Sonnen saw a tall black man walking out of his “doctor’s” office and just assumed it was LeBron James.
The NBA tests for performance enhancing drugs up to six times per year. Based on when LeBron came into the NBA, it’s possible he’s the most tested athlete in the history of the league.
And while the NBA loves the attention LeBron brings to the league, there’s no chance they’d look the other way and risk a massive hit to their credibility if a PED scandal broke out, and the same can be said for Nike. Uncle Phil doesn’t want anyone thinking anything but the shoes on King James’ feet are enhancing his performance.
It will be interesting to see if Chael Sonnen, an ESPN employee, is pushed to elaborate on his accusations.
And while some are calling for LeBron to sue Sonnen, I doubt he even gives this accusation any time or energy.
At the end of the day, Chael Sonnen was either lied to, or he’s a liar.
Based on his track record, there’s a very good chance it’s the latter.
We need to talk about Ja Morant and the importance of the moment he’s in.
Ja Morant is a lot of things.
He’s an underdog. Despite the state of South Carolina crawling with scouts due to Zion Williamson being one of the top players in the country out of high school, Ja Morant went from unevaluated and unranked by recruiting services, to the NCAA tournament and the second pick in the NBA draft in a matter of two and a half years.
For people that don’t understand how basketball recruiting and evaluating works at the youth level, there is almost no such thing as a player coming out of nowhere. Aaron Rodgers and Josh Allen stories aren’t a thing in the NBA.
Ja Morant is a unicorn.
No one has ever averaged 20 points and 10 assists at the college level. Ja did it.
And it’s one thing to come into the league as an elite passer and scorer. It’s another thing entirely to come in with a 44-inch vertical and without an ounce of fear in your heart.
He deserved Rookie of the Year. He deserves his All-Star nods. He deserves his signature Nike. And whether he deserves it or not, he is the most culturally impactful athlete for black youth in this country since Allen Iverson.
The hair. The swag. The flash. The pride. Ja Morant isn’t just an athlete, he a movement.
ESPN Sources: Grizzlies star Ja Morant met with NBA commissioner Adam Silver in New York today. Morant has left a counseling program in Florida and moves closer to ramping up for return to season now. He must wait on league announcement of findings in probe, expected soon. pic.twitter.com/zAVxrPsMWQ
And that’s why we need this man to figure his shit out. Because for some reason, every single generation thinks they can conquer the fast life like it’s an unathletic seven footer under the basket.
But the fast life is undefeated. And every generation has to sacrifice some of its young heroes to their vices for the rest of us to learn the lessons that keep us around for another 60 years.
Ja Morant doesn’t need to be one of those sacrifices. Kids today don’t need another cultural cautionary tale. They’ve had plenty. They need a redemption story.
They need someone to put the tequila away when they’d rather do the opposite.
They need someone to put the guns away when they’d rather do the opposite.
They need someone to swallow their pride and know their own value in moments of conflict instead of always having to prove it to people who don’t matter.
Anyone that escapes the clutches of the fast life in their 20’s does so out of good fortune. I’m fortunate, and I know a lot of other very fortunate people.
It’s a wild switch to go from aspiring to live like a king, to admiring the people with the means to live like a king, who choose a different path.
Ask any retired athlete and most will tell you that once they’ve fulfilled all their desires, one of the only desires they have left is do it all over again and replace indulgence with wisdom.
Ja Morant might be special, but he’s not so special that he won’t have to pay the piper. And God forbid that payment comes at the expense of yourself AND others, like it did for Henry Ruggs.
"The gun wasn't mine. It's not who I am. I don't condone in any type of violence, but I take full responsibility for my actions. I've made a bad mistake."
They say that every hero lives long enough to see themselves become the villain, and maybe that’s true, but the villain story doesn’t have to be Ja Morant’s last chapter. The redemption chapter is what I’m here for.
I just hope that’s what Ja Morant is here for as well.
Let’s just get it out of the way- of course the owners are colluding to avoid having to pay Lamar Jackson $200+ million guaranteed.
But they’re not colluding against Lamar Jackson as much as they ARE colluding against Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, who gave Deshaun Watson almost a quarter of a billion fully guaranteed dollars.
NFL owners didn’t love that Haslam unnecessarily reset the market for elite passers, which has led to average quarterbacks like Daniel Jones and Geno Smith inking deals that give them a 2023 total salary beyond any single season payday Tom Brady made in his 23-year career.
You’re worth what you’re worth, and the Cleveland Browns were desperate. You’re not going to hear me blaming Deshaun Watson for agreeing to get paid- though he will need to find a way to restructure if he ever wants his team to be competitive.
Because the Browns are already 8 digits over the 2023 salary cap, and other teams see that.
We’ve heard the Bills general manager talk about the advantage that the Bengals have right now with their QB on a rookie deal. If even the Bills are having a little bit of buyer’s remorse in having to pay Josh Allen market value, it stands to reason that the Ravens would be cautious and weigh all their options, even if they have a QB that has won an MVP award in the building.
And it’s no secret that at times, Lamar Jackson, who acts as his own agent, hasn’t seen eye to eye with the Ravens front office. The last two quarterbacks that got big money extensions despite not always getting along with the front office were Aaron Rodgers and Kyler Murray, and money didn’t change a thing.
Aaron Rodgers and the Packers are headed for a divorce, and Kyler Murray not only won the divorce with his Cardinals Head Coach and GM, but got full custody of the team.
Last year, when the contract that the Jaguars gave Christian Kirk re-set the wide receiver market, so many players asked for a trade or an extension that NFL front offices had no choice but to do whatever they could to salvage the locker room. The players had strength in numbers.
This time, it’s just Lamar Jackson. The NFL vs. Lamar.
And don’t let anyone tell you this is a race issue. Most of the NFL’s highest paid quarterbacks are black.
This is about Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, who is a billionaire owner of an international talent acquisition and management firm, deciding to play chicken with his star QB on behalf of his colleagues.
And playing chicken is fine if there’s a reward to your risk, but what is the reward here? Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert’s agents just watched Daniel Jones ink a deal for $40 million per year for putting up season long stats that their clients typically reach by week 10.
Even if the Deshaun Watson contract is an anomaly paid out by an owner who can afford it, because he’s one of the only executives at Flying J that didn’t go to jail for scamming truckers, the Jones and Smith contracts make the Watson deal look reasonable.
Steve Bisciotti might have won the day by making Lamar Jackson’s franchise tag non-exclusive, to show his quarterback that there isn’t a 2023 market in which a team is willing to commit $200 million and two first round picks… but the day is fading.
Lamar Jackson is getting paid by someone. And if Steve Bisciotti isn’t careful, he will have proven his point only to have to turn around and pay $200 million to an average quarterback two years down the road, rather than rewarding the MVP in the building.
We need to talk about this Nate Oats, Brandon Miller, and Alabama basketball situation.
For those of you that don’t know, a 23-year-old woman named Jamea Harris was killed in Tuscaloosa last month by a bullet from a gun owned by former Alabama forward Darius Miles.
There are facts that we know, and facts that are going to be left up to a jury to decide.
Here’s what we know.
Three Alabama basketball players were at the scene of the shooting. Darius Miles, Brandon Miller and Jaden Bradley. Miller and Bradley are both freshmen, and were not charged with a crime.
Both have continued to play for Alabama for the past month, with Miller being the leading scorer in the entire SEC.
The person that fired the gun that killed Jamea Harris was a friend of Darius Miles from Maryland. His name is Michael Davis.
Michael Davis was also shot in an exchange of gunfire. Davis claims Cedric Johnson, who was Jamea Harris’ boyfriend, fired first, and Miles’ lawyer also claims that the killing of Harris was an accident that happened in self-defense.
We know that the Tuscaloosa police disagree, and believe Michael Davis fired first at the instruction of Darius Miles.
We know that Cedric Johnson and Michael Davis had a verbal conflict when Davis danced in front of Johnson’s parked Jeep on the Tuscaloosa strip.
We know Darius Miles helped Michael Davis retrieve the gun from Brandon Miller’s car.
And we know Jamea Harris, a young mother with a promising future is tragically dead for no good reason.
The Tuscaloosa police have stated that Brandon Miller delivering Darius Miles’ gun to him is not something they are going to pursue charges on.
They also decided that Jaden Bradley isn’t culpable in this case. And a fourth Alabama player, Jaden Quinerly, isn’t facing charges for the weapon being found in his bedroom, because he wasn’t even in town.
And that brings us to earlier this week, when members of the Alabama media asked Head Coach Nate Oats about Brandon Miller, the leading scorer in the SEC on the nation’s #2 overall team, delivering a weapon to the scene of a murder.
“Can’t control everything anybody does outside of practice. Nobody knew that was going to happen. College kids are out, Brandon hasn’t been in any type of trouble nor is he in any type of trouble in this case.”
Oats went on to say that Brandon Miller was in the “wrong spot at the wrong time.“
As you can imagine, people aren’t handling those comments very well. Oats had to issue a statement apologizing for his phrasing later in the day, saying:
“We were informed by law enforcement of other student-athletes being in the vicinity, and law enforcement has repeatedly told us that no other student-athletes were suspects — they were witnesses only. Our understanding is that they have all been fully truthful and cooperative. In no way did I intend to downplay the seriousness of this situation or the tragedy of that night. My prayers continue to go out to Jamea Harris’s family.“
Brandon Miller’s lawyer subsequently issued a statement saying that his client had no idea the gun would be used in a crime, and that he never handled the gun himself.
Nate Oats clearly screwed up here with both his flippant words and insensitive tone, but based on the facts that we have right now, unless we’re making an assumption of guilt about Brandon Miller’s culpability, despite the Tuscaloosa police saying he’s not legally to blame, we have to understand that this is a coach’s poorly phrased attempt to protect a second member of his team from being painted as a premeditated murderer.
If he really was caught up in a bad situation, I feel for Brandon Miller. What the hell are you supposed to do when your older teammate asks you to uber him his piece? Miles told Miller to bring him the gun because a “n**** was fakin,” which means Miller could have interpreted that as Miles being in danger.
And like it or not, we’ve learned again and again in this country that some of its citizens are free and clear to stand their ground.
You might be saying to yourself right now, “I would never be in a situation where I was out on the town on a Saturday night with a weapon, or even hanging out with anyone that had a weapon.”
And to that I’d say, is there anywhere in this country where you can go to a bar on a Saturday night and someone isn’t packing? You can’t even go to high school or college or the grocery store or even church with the guarantee that things won’t pop off.
What’s that NRA saying– “the only person that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun?”
Was Cedric Johson the good guy in this case because police are saying Michael Davis fired first? Is it a good thing that Johnson had a gun to defend himself, and bad thing that Darius Miles, who was raised by a police officer, also had a gun?
Are good and bad only defined by the outcome?
There’s a lot more to sort through than our simple John Wayne fantasies of what America is supposed to be. What you can do in this situation, if you have kids, is take the time to have a conversation with them about this. Do they know how to use a firearm? Do any of their friends legally or illegally own a firearm? Have they ever heard of any of their acquaintances leaving the house with a firearm? What do you do in a situation where tempers flare and attitudes escalate?
I asked my 17-year-old son, and it was a pleasant surprise to hear him say that if you’re headed out somewhere where you feel you might need a gun, maybe that’s not a place where you should be headed.
I guess that’s what makes Nate Oats comments so disappointing. You can’t control every minute of every player’s day, but in this day and age, they have to know that you’re the type of person that will respond with wisdom if they’re ever in a tricky situation.
And you definitely can’t be a college coach in America if you’re not having pre-emptive conversations about guns and gun violence and situational de-escalation.
There is public pressure to retroactively hold Brandon Miller accountable. South Carolina fans already chanted “lock him up” during one recent game, and the idea of fans turning a young woman’s death into in-game taunt fodder is going to be something we look back on with disgust.
And on the other side, Nate Oats and Brandon Miller absolutely have to be on the same page and understand that every single thing that Miller does for the rest of the season is going to be under the world’s most intense microscope.
Of course the “pat-down” Miller and teammates do during introductions is insane given the circumstances. And while I don’t think that what Miller was doing was anything more than an MMA official’s “greasing frisk” you see before every UFC fight, it comes off looking like a damn weapons check, and doing anything to make people associate weapons and Brandon Miller is not the move.
Alabama coach Nate Oats on Brandon Miller’s pregame pat down: “It’s not appropriate. It’s been addressed. I can assure you it won’t happen again.”pic.twitter.com/b6eXv8SBwH
Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne is no stranger to scandal– ask any University of Arizona fan, where Byrne came from, and they’ll tell you that after massive scandals involving the basketball, football and track programs in Tucson during his tenure, that they’re surprised he was ever poached by Tuscaloosa in the first place.
Many mentioning Alabama AD Greg Byrne as a great candidate for the PAC-12 commissioner job (and he would likely be a good hire) but his tenure at Arizona included the Rich Rod scandal and the Sean Miller scandal.
Have a hard time believing P12 presidents will be okay with that
I don’t know what the right thing for Alabama basketball is at this point, but I do agree with Nate Oats that Brandon Miller was in the wrong spot at the wrong time.
But it wasn’t that he was out with a gun-owning college friend in a college town in America on a Saturday night.
Wrong spot wrong time might be that he ever chose to play for Nate Oats at a Greg Byrne-run Alabama in the first place.
Tommy Fury will be the first actual boxer Jake Paul has faced, after Paul beat MMA fighters Ben Askren and Tyrone Woodley, and UFC legend Anderson Silva.
Tommy Fury is 8-0 as a boxer, but five of the boxers he’s beaten have a combined record of 12-174.
There’s no reason outside of Tommy Fury sharing his brother Tyson‘s last name that anyone should care about this fight.
But we do. Because Jake Paul is a genius.
Mike Tyson himself has flown out to Saudi Arabia in this fight, and has given interviews saying he expects Jake Paul to win. The WBC not only shocked boxing fans by agreeing to rank the winner of Paul-Fury, but actually making a belt that will be awarded to the winner.
A fight between two guys that have never beat a ranked boxer is getting its own belt!
And WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman pushed back against the criticism, saying:
“Jake has dedication and respect to the sport, and Tommy Fury from the Fury boxing dynasty represents a clear challenge to Paul in a battle of two undefeated professional boxers.”
Even offering that to Tommy Fury is insane by itself, but Tommy Fury’s father accepted it on his son’s behalf right there on the spot!
John Fury added on behalf of his son, “If Tommy can’t beat Jake Paul, he doesn’t deserve paying.”
That is entertainment.
I’ve said it before, but gathering around to see two men that have agreed to battle until one relents is as old as the earth itself. Boxing was born out of the sport of prizefighting. And prizefighting remains the only thing that keeps this sport relevant to common folk.
People love a narrative. A good guy and a bad guy. Two people with something to lose.
And what’s more of a motivation for people that are consumed with wanting to see Jake Paul lose, than the idea that if Tommy Fury wins he gets twice the purse?
As long as Jake Paul keeps winning, people are spending time, energy and money on a sport that they wouldn’t give half a thought to otherwise.
Deep down, the same people that think Jake Paul is bad for the sport of boxing, have to admit to themselves that he might be the best thing this sport has going for it.
Let that sink in.
I’ve talked about Jake Paul before, but because he’s an absolute prodigy as a fight promoter, it’s time to talk about Jake Paul again.
On Sunday, Jake Paul will participate in his seventh professional boxing match, taking on Tommy Fury in Saudi Arabia.
Tommy Fury will be the first actual boxer Jake Paul has faced, after Paul beat MMA fighters Ben Askren and Tyrone Woodley, and UFC legend Anderson Silva.
Tommy Fury is 8-0 as a boxer, but five of the boxers he’s beaten have a combined record of 12-174.
There’s no reason outside of Tommy Fury sharing his brother Tyson’s last name that anyone should care about this fight.
But we do. Because Jake Paul is a genius.
Mike Tyson himself has flown out to Saudi Arabia in this fight, and has given interviews saying he expects Jake Paul to win. The WBC not only shocked boxing fans by agreeing to rank the winner of Paul-Fury, but actually making a belt that will be awarded to the winner.
A fight between two guys that have never beat a ranked boxer is getting its own belt!
And WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman pushed back against the criticism, saying: “Jake has dedication and respect to the sport, and Tommy Fury from the Fury boxing dynasty represents a clear challenge to Paul in a battle of two undefeated professional boxers.” You know Jake Paul has reached legit status when the sport’s actual gate is working to get rid of the gatekeepers. And if that wasn’t enough, Jake Paul found one more way at the last minute to drive interest in the fight, by offering Tommy Fury a double or nothing purse bet during the pre-fight press conference.
Even offering that to Tommy Fury is insane by itself, but Tommy Fury’s father accepted it on his son’s behalf right there on the spot! John Fury added on behalf of his son, “If Tommy can’t beat Jake Paul, he doesn’t deserve paying.” That is entertainment. I’ve said it before, but g
athering around to see two men that have agreed to battle until one relents is as old as the earth itself. Boxing was born out of the sport of prizefighting. And prizefighting remains the only thing that keeps this sport relevant to common folk.
People love a narrative. A good guy and a bad guy. Two people with something to lose.
And what’s more of a motivation for people that are consumed with wanting to see Jake Paul lose, than the idea that if Tommy Fury wins he gets twice the purse?
As long as Jake Paul keeps winning, people are spending time, energy and money on a sport that they wouldn’t give half a thought to otherwise.
Deep down, the same people that think Jake Paul is bad for the sport of boxing, have to admit to themselves that he might be the best thing this sport has going for it.
Let that sink in.
I’ve talked about Jake Paul before, but because he’s an absolute prodigy as a fight promoter, it’s time to talk about Jake Paul again.
On Sunday, Jake Paul will participate in his seventh professional boxing match, taking on Tommy Fury in Saudi Arabia.
Tommy Fury will be the first actual boxer Jake Paul has faced, after Paul beat MMA fighters Ben Askren and Tyrone Woodley, and UFC legend Anderson Silva.
Tommy Fury is 8-0 as a boxer, but five of the boxers he’s beaten have a combined record of 12-174.
There’s no reason outside of Tommy Fury sharing his brother Tyson’s last name that anyone should care about this fight.
But we do. Because Jake Paul is a genius.
Mike Tyson himself has flown out to Saudi Arabia in this fight, and has given interviews saying he expects Jake Paul to win. The WBC not only shocked boxing fans by agreeing to rank the winner of Paul-Fury, but actually making a belt that will be awarded to the winner.
A fight between two guys that have never beat a ranked boxer is getting its own belt!
And WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman pushed back against the criticism, saying: “Jake has dedication and respect to the sport, and Tommy Fury from the Fury boxing dynasty represents a clear challenge to Paul in a battle of two undefeated professional boxers.” You know Jake Paul has reached legit status when the sport’s actual gate is working to get rid of the gatekeepers. And if that wasn’t enough, Jake Paul found one more way at the last minute to drive interest in the fight, by offering Tommy Fury a double or nothing purse bet during the pre-fight press conference.
Even offering that to Tommy Fury is insane by itself, but Tommy Fury’s father accepted it on his son’s behalf right there on the spot! John Fury added on behalf of his son, “If Tommy can’t beat Jake Paul, he doesn’t deserve paying.” That is entertainment. I’ve said it before, but g
athering around to see two men that have agreed to battle until one relents is as old as the earth itself. Boxing was born out of the sport of prizefighting. And prizefighting remains the only thing that keeps this sport relevant to common folk.
People love a narrative. A good guy and a bad guy. Two people with something to lose.
And what’s more of a motivation for people that are consumed with wanting to see Jake Paul lose, than the idea that if Tommy Fury wins he gets twice the purse?
As long as Jake Paul keeps winning, people are spending time, energy and money on a sport that they wouldn’t give half a thought to otherwise.
Deep down, the same people that think Jake Paul is bad for the sport of boxing, have to admit to themselves that he might be the best thing this sport has going for it.
We need to talk about the one NFL Head Coach that might be spending his very first year on the hot seat.
I’m talking about you, Jonathan Gannon.
The Arizona Cardinals lost out to the Denver Broncos for the services of Sean Payton, and went with the backup plan of the Eagles defensive coordinator, who up until halftime of the Super Bowl, was putting together a historic run.
You might think it’s completely insane that a brand new coach would come in on the hot seat, but this is the Arizona Cardinals we’re talking about.
They had no problem running Steve Wilks out of town after one year. And Kliff Kingsbury had FIVE, count ’em, one, two, three, four FIVE years left on his contract when he also got the heave-ho.
Of all the job openings around the league, what makes Arizona unique is that there’a a quarterback and offensive weapons in place that Gannon, a defensive specialist, needs to make look competent right out of the gate.
Indianapolis, Houston and Carolina are starting their franchise QB searches from scratch, and Sean Payton has enough clout in Denver to where if “Mr. Unlimited“ can’t shape up, the organization will back the head coach.
The Arizona Cardinals priority this offseason should have been to bring in an alpha personality that Kyler Murray can respect, and instead, they hired someone that’s much more known for imposing his will on the opposing team’s quarterback.
And so who did Jonathan Gannon bring in to fix a Cardinals offense that didn’t have a single play longer than 50 yards until their 17th game of the season last year?
Gannon’s offensive coordinator pick was Cleveland Browns QB coach Drew Petzing, who is 35-years-old and has never called an offense before. If Kyler didn’t respect Patrick Mahomes’ college coach as his playcaller, what’s he going to do when an economics major from Middlebury College is working through first-year coordinator kinks?
The Arizona Cardinals are hiring Drew Petzing as the club’s new offensive coordinator.
Petzing spent 2022 as the Cleveland Browns QB coach and has a long-standing relationship with Jonathan Gannon. pic.twitter.com/nlMpxtiGXF
If Kyler Murray can’t get his knee ready for the start of the season, and the Cardinals end up at the bottom of the NFC West for the fourth time in six years, we might see this carousel go for another spin.
That is, unless there’s a different standard in the NFL for guys like Jonathan Gannon than there is for guys like Steve Wilks.
We need to talk about what Adam Silver can do to fix the NBA All-Star Game.
The answer is simple. Adam Silver can’t do a damn thing. This is on the players.
We had a great dunk contest thanks to Mac McClung, and Dame Lillard gave us a show in the three point shootout. Only to have All-Star Weekend ruined by the actual All-Star game?
If fans loved layup lines, every seat in every NBA city would be filled an hour before gametime.
But nobody outside of young kids and enterprising Instagram models care about layup lines.
So why should anyone build their day around watching a defenseless “All-Star” game where everyone acts like a Harlem Globetrotter when they have the ball, and a Washington General when they don’t?
Before you think I’m some crotchety old man shouting “get off my lawn,” ask yourself if your time is valuable. You have a finite amount of minutes on this earth, and when you sit down to be entertained, do you want to watch people give minimal effort?
When you’re at an Avengers movie do you want the actors forgetting lines and the special effects to be unfinished?
When you save up to go out to a nice steak dinner do you want them bringing your medium rare filet mignon to you on a paper towel?
The All-Star game is supposed to be a special occasion, where the best of the best show you WHY they’re the best of the best.
It’s in the middle of the season because it’s supposed to be something that motivates players toward excellence in the first half of the year, and so that the athletes come into the break in peak physical condition so they can put on a show for the fans.
Somewhere along the way, the players got it into their heads that the NBA All-Star game is equivalent to the NFL’s Pro Bowl, a reward for a full season of excellence to players that deserve a vacation.
20 years ago, the All Star game had one injury replacement, and despite going to double overtime, had 47 combined three-pointers attempted. This last weekend, several players either opted out or acted like no-shows on the court, and the teams combined to launch 126 combined three pointers, with Pandemic Paul George missing all nine of his attempts.
You can change as many details as you want about the game, but that will only get you so far. Team Captains, and the Elam ending have both been pleasant surprises, and one of the only compelling things about this game was whether LeBron would keep his undefeated streak going.
But no cosmetic action can replace individual effort from the players. And for the players that do want to take this game seriously, we’re de-incentivizing their desire to participate. Nikola Jokic is on the verge of his third consecutive NBA MVP award, and is telling media members that he wouldn’t draft himself because the All-Star game doesn’t suit his skillset.
The NBA has established that it wants this weekend to annually honor and reflect on the memory of Kobe Bryant, but the way things are trending, this would be like honoring your mother’s cooking by going out to eat.
Are we to believe that the same Kobe Bryant that got hyped up about Dwyane Wade accidentally breaking his nose in the All-Star game wants to see defensive specialist Bam Adebayo pull down zero rebounds in 24 minutes?
Do we really think the Mamba would have respected the seven combined personal fouls last night when in three separate All-Star games he committed five fouls by himself?
If Kobe Bryant’s name is going to be on that MVP trophy, the least these players could do is pretend to care.
We need to talk about the spoiled fans still finding ways to complain about a near-perfect Super Bowl.
With the game tied at 35 and under two minutes remaining, the Chiefs had a third-and-8 from the Eagles 15. JuJu Smith-Schuster attempted to release to the outside, but James Bradberry had a handful of jersey. The refs threw a flag. Bradberry admitted he got caught after the game. Case closed. What’s so hard about that?
I’m a person who has criticized referees. I’m a Pac-12 fan, so it comes with the territory. But this game ended with the correct call. Despite not having slow motion super zoomed 4k replay from 30 different angles, they nailed it.
Now, if you’re an Eagles fan, and you just need something to direct your frustration toward instead of climbing light poles and flipping cars, I get it. And I feel for you that James Bradberry decided to tell the truth and take away your primary non-inward accountability gripe. But if you’re a fan of any other NFL franchise, and you’re complaining that the game didn’t have the storybook ending of a two-minute drive attempt by Jalen Hurts to win or tie the game, you’re letting your fantasy get in the way of a fantastic reality.
This game had four different occasions where the score was tied, and five different lead changes. It had a missed field goal, a defensive touchdown, a tied record for rushin touchdowns by a single player in Jalen Hurts, and Patrick Mahomes came back from re-aggravating his ankle to play a perfect second half.
Sheryl Lee Ralph absolutely killed Lift Every Voice and Sing. We got to see Babyface sing America the Beautiful. Chris Stapleton should sing every National Anthem from here on out, and Rihanna? Hit after hit after hit.
Despite Arian Foster’s joke, the beauty of live sports is that there is no script. This isn’t Star Wars or Batman. We don’t need the toxic fandom that comes with science fiction and fantasy movies just because we didn’t find every moment pleasing.
Now, you can say you wished the game had ended differently, but if you spend too much time focused on your unmet expectations, you lose that gratitude that comes with focusing on the fact that Jalen Hurts had the game of his life, and Patrick Mahomes added to a legacy that is already better than maybe all but five quarterbacks ever by the age of 27.
This game was as good as a game can get. Let that sink in. Even if you have to get out of your own way to do it.
We need to talk about the significance of two black quarterbacks going head to head in the Super Bowl.
For so long, black quarterbacks weren’t even given the opportunity to sink or swim at their chosen position. And in a way, that’s still true, because I’m sitting here talking about the best of the best. One of which, Jalen Hurts, was asked at the NFL Combine just a handful of years ago if he’d consider switching positions, and had articles written about him saying a position switch was the only way he’d make an impact in the NFL.
Now it’s true that every so often a white quarterback will make that type of transition from college to the NFL. Julian Edelman did it. I had a teammate in Jacksonville do it. Matt Jones. And we all remember Tim Tebow getting charity reps at Tight End last year.
And I’ll admit that I spent the first two years of Josh Allen’s career calling him a running back. I got a lot of pushback on that. And while this was one of the RARE occasions that I was wrong, it was interesting to see predominantly white fans get in their feelings about my perceived mischaracterization of Allen’s abilities. Now if I can only get them to make the connection that the emotion they felt in defense of Josh Allen is something we have to go through almost every single time, as people continue to fail to see past the athleticism of someone with dark skin. Lamar Jackson. Justin Fields. Jalen Hurts. The list goes on.
Jalen Hurts vs Patrick Mahomes is another milestone of progress, but it shouldn’t always be about excellence. True equality looks like a mid-round black quarterback throwing five interceptions in a single half and still being a backup in the league four years later. But I digress.
Now, none of this means black quarterbacks can’t be criticized. I interviewed Jalen Hurts and his father, Averion, and even they’ll tell you a lot of progress had to be made as a passer to get the Eagles offense where it is today. And that brings me to the part of being a black quarterback that doesn’t get talked about- the energy and resources that are put into developing young black men as passers, instead of coaches relying upon these players to “athlete” their way to wins. A big part of development is patience. Maybe the biggest part.
There is no Peyton Manning without the patience to ride out his record-setting 28 interception rookie season. And before you say to yourself, Peyton Manning is one of one, let me hit you with this interesting statistic:
Since Peyton Manning’s rookie season, there have been eight quarterbacks to come into the NFL as rookies and throw at least 18 interceptions in their first year. On one side of that statistic, you have Carson Palmer, Matt Stafford, Andrew Luck, and Mark Sanchez. Every single one of them was given a multitude of chances to figure it out. On the other side, you have DeShone Kizer, Josh Freeman and Geno Smith. Kizer never started a single game after his rookie season. Freeman ended up out of the league at 27-years old in large part thanks to Greg Schiano, and Geno Smith had to wait six years to prove himself again after the Jets gave up on him. If you’re a black QB with a high draft grade that comes in and struggles early, you might as well come into the league at 29-years old, which was the age of the only white QB on this list who wasn’t given a long leash to prove himself.
As a parent of quarterbacks, I want my sons to absorb all of the lessons this Super Bowl has to offer. I want them to understand that development matters over the logo on the side of the helmet, and I want them to value coaches and organizations that show patience. Neither the Chiefs nor the Eagles put the entire weight of their franchise on these guys as rookies.
More than anything, I just want my sons to see two black quarterbacks on the field, because for most of us, seeing is believing.
I’ve had a black teammate tell me they prefer white quarterbacks for the simple reason that he hadn’t seen enough successful black quarterbacks.
If we’re thinking that way in our own communities, it goes a long way to explain how people that aren’t in our communities view what we’re capable of.
But on Sunday, a hundred million people are going to see something new. And that means a good portion of them are going to believe something new.
And belief is the start of change.
So for every black father of sons out there. For every football coach of any race:
Let *this* sink in.
As an aside, I want to Shack Harris, Marlin Briscoe, Doug Williams, Fritz Pollard, George Taliaferro, Willie Thrower, Charlie Brakins, Warren Moon, Rodney Peete, Mike Vick, Randall Cunningham and all the other black quarterbacks that made this historic moment possible.
We need to talk about the greatest basketball player to ever lace up, the King, LeBron James.
Last night, LeBron put up 38-points to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time points leader. A record that stood for almost 40 years. Yeah, he did it in an era with the three pointer, but he did it in 150 fewer games.
How many points do we think LeBron is going to have 150 games from now? 42,000? At that point you could make every three LeBron ever made worth two and he’d still have the record.
And anyone who knows ball is hyper-aware that LeBron never prioritized scoring the way that some of the NBA’s greatest talents did. Believe it or not, this year is only the fourth time in LeBron’s career that he’s averaged at least 30 points a game during the regular season, meaning there are at least 14 seasons where LeBron could have averaged 30, but instead played within the rhythm of the game to ensure his team’s maximum opportunity for success.
This man has been under the most intense scrutiny any American athlete has ever faced for over half his life, starting with his teenage years. He’s been the lifeblood of corporations. Media empires and personal fortunes have been built on attempting, without success, to tear away every piece of his legacy in real time.
LeBron James literally made it possible to accumulate wealth just by saying you don’t like LeBron James.
And you didn’t even have to be honest in your criticism. You could lie on this man’s name and your personal brand would grow. You could say he wasn’t clutch, even though as JJ Reddick pointed out he might be the most clutch player of all time. You could call him selfish, even though he’s the only player in the top 32 all-time assist leaders that isn’t a point guard. You could call him a loser, even though he’s the only player in NBA history to be an all-star on three separate NBA title franchises.
You could bash him for leaving Cleveland to chase a championship, even though the measurement of greatness in Michael Jordan’s shadow was and still is rings and rings alone.
And feel free to ask those same Cavs fans that burned his jersey over “the decision” how they feel about him now.
You could bash him for the Super Team era, but what he started let us know which NBA owners were actually serious about giving their fans something to cheer for.
You can bash him for the bubble title, but the same man who had his family courtside and called for them to be by his side the moment he passed Kareem, left the people he loved behind to help the NBA restore its product and give us all something to cheer for while stuck at home.
You can always bash LeBron James, and many of you have. But what makes him so great is that for the past two decades he’s absorbed every verbal brick thrown his way and remained focused on the task at hand- giving us all the show of a lifetime.
So today, I salute the greatest scorer of all time. The most durable athlete of all time. The best passing forward of all time. The man that made his haters angry and rich and his supporters joyful and rich in spirit.
The Goat. LeBron James.
Let that sink in. Or don’t. The record’s still his either way.
