An Alternate LeBron James Universe
June 19, 2010While We’re Waiting… Cavs Coaching, Hypocritical Fans, and Air Max LeBron VIII
June 21, 2010LeBron James surprisingly showed up yesterday at Infocision Stadium, but that won’t necessarily help the drama from unfolding over the next few weeks: “Akron held ‘LeBron James Appreciation Day’ today, and after a long wait, wherein it appeared that The King might not show, LeBron held court for a few thousand adoring fans.
LeBron, as it probably does not need to be said, made no commitment in his remarks, no promises, and basically, gave no clues as to his plans. He did heap praise on the city where he was born, and he said that everything that he does, he does for his hometown, and that he will always love it.” [Ancient Mariner/Fear The Sword]
A great little article on the career of Manute Bol: “More than a very tall man, Manute Bol was a basketball player with extraordinary shot-blocking instincts, which was obvious on the first night he donned an N.B.A. uniform.” [Harvey Araton/New York Times NBA Blog]
Another great mailbag offering from the best beat writer in the business: “I agree. The Cavs ask so much from James, he should not have to or be expected to recruit the next coach. Just as he shouldn’t be asked to watch draft workouts or negotiate contracts. It was surprising that he declined to even have a conversation with Izzo out of respect no matter what he was willing to say. But no one can say James does not do his superstar part for the franchise, in this beat writer’s opinion.” [Brian Windhorst/Plain Dealer]
One of the best Browns blogs out there starts their training camp coverage with talk of the most important position on the field: “It’s Week 1 of our training camp preview coverage for the Cleveland Browns. This week, the theme is “offensive attack,” meaning we’ll highlight the quarterback and running back positions. First, we start with the quarterback position.” [Chris Pokorny/Dawgs By Nature]
Terry Pluto continues the local Browns coverage with this story about the team’s head coach: “You’re Eric Mangini, and it was a few months after your father died. You were 16, standing in front of the bathroom mirror — and the tears began to rolling down your cheeks. You cried and cried and cried.” [Plain Dealer]
A long over-due weekly award to an potential third baseman for the future: “This year we have seen the return to form of several former high level prospects that had become afterthoughts after last season. Maybe not afterthoughts to the Indians themselves, but definitely the fans. One of those is Triple-A middle infielder Josh Rodriguez who I discussed last week, but another who is having arguably an even better season is Columbus third baseman Jared Goedert.” [Tony Lastoria/Indians Prospect Insider]
A crazy story from the Pirates system that makes you feel lucky Ketchup, Mustard and Onion are all still around: “Frustrated fans pleading for something — anything — to be done to stop the Pirates’ losing ways are likely to find little to cheer about in the baseball team’s latest move. They fired a pierogi.” [Dan Majors/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
Meanwhile, the Indians signed another un-drafted free agent today out of Kent State University: “The Indians today signed Kent State outfielder Anthony Gallas as a non-drafted free agent. Gallas, a senior from Strongsville, was named to the third team of the Louisville Slugger All-American squad following a season in which he batted .369 with 24 doubles, 17 home runs and 81 RBI in 64 games. In addition to a .657 slugging percentage, Gallas struck out only 35 times in 268 at-bats.” [Sheldon Ocker/Ohio.com]
And finally, a horrifying story about one of the most recent OSU recruits: “Beginning with message board reports early this morning, news began to leak out that incoming Ohio State defensive end Jamel Turner had been shot a second time in the past 3 months. Turner is said to presently be in a Youngstown hospital and in critical condition.” [Luke/Eleven Warriors]
(Photo above via Paul Tople/Akron Beacon Journal)
6 Comments
Well, in retrospect, it seems that LeBron really didn’t want to go to this silly rally, but it would have been a real slap in the face to Akron if he hadn’t. So he put in the minimum effort. Kind of like in Game 5.
Ketchup cheats. If they want to fire him to save a couple hundred bucks, I wouldn’t mind.
RIP Manute….honestly an amazing human being. I’m hoping ESPN will replay the piece they did on him earlier in the year, it’s worth a watch if they do. It’s a shame some of the breaks he was dealt but he clearly made the most of his time, he’ll be missed.
@1 opinions are like (_|_) we all got one!
Mr Cleveland FTW
I agree with Tom. Ketchup is always taking shortcuts.