While We’re Waiting aims to be the round-up of the recent WFNY-esque information for your morning viewing. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email in the sidebar.
Please keep egging him on: “As he has done in other venues over the years — notably Toronto, Milwaukee and Sacramento — James used the fan for inspiration and pointed to him every time he made a play on that side of the court. Since James scored 74 points in two games here as the Cavs swept the Hawks out of the Eastern Conference semis, that was a lot of pointing.
“Certain fans think it’s a great idea for them to get out of control against me,” James said. “It does nothing but fuel the fire I already had. I don’t think that guy will be allowed to another Hawks game when the Cavs come to Atlanta.” [LeBron James via Mary Schmitt Boyer]
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Move a guy to LA and he gets a chip on his shoulder: “Between the Aubrey Huff-Joba Chamberlain dustup, Ryan Braun’s cocky homer trot after a near beaning by the Cubs and Bobby Jenks throwing behind Ian Kinsler, it was a busy weekend for baseball teams being steamed by the actions of their opponents. But none of the above run-ins brought out more emotion or have as much potential for future retribution than what happened between Dodgers third baseman Casey Blake and Giants reliever Brian Wilson on Sunday afternoon.” [Kevin Kaduk/Big League Stew]
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Gregg Doyle does in fact not rule: “And with the exception of these Bulls, every other NBA Champ, according to Doyel, “[has] had someone like Shaquille O’Neal or Tim Duncan — sometimes with David Robinson — or Hakeem Olajuwon or the combination of Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace. Going back a little farther, NBA champions had big men like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (and James Worthy) or Robert Parish-Kevin McHale-Larry Bird or Moses Malone. Or even Jack Sikma. Wes Unseld. Bill Walton.” Doyel then points out that while Cleveland is 73-9 against every other team in the league, the Cavs are 3-7 against “Boston, Orlando, Los Angeles and Houston — arguably, teams with the NBA’s best four frontcourts.” [CBS Sports via Cleveland Frowns]
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About this whole benched Matt LaPorta fiasco: “Prospect Matt LaPorta missed his fourth straight start Monday night and manager Eric Wedge gave a reason. Wedge said he used his regular lineup, the lineup he broke spring training with, Sunday and Monday, because he wants to give them a chance to take whatever fire they generated in Saturday night’s players-only meeting onto the field. [...] Wedge hinted that when LaPorta does return to the lineup it could be at first base.” [Paul Hoynes/Plain Dealer]
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And while we’re discussing LaPorta… “For the time being, Matt LaPorta is in Cleveland, even if he’s not really playing right now. He may be back in Columbus at some point. Who knows. One place he won’t be playing the rest of the year is in Akron, which is funny because Akron is having Matt LaPorta bobblehead night on July 18. OK, he did play there for 17 games last year, but still. That’s pretty short sighted to not think that LaPorta wouldn’t step foot in Akron this year.” [Vince Grzegorek/'64 and Counting]
