Does Twitter Really Matter? Cavs-Nuggets, Behind the Box Score
March 22, 2016Joe Haden could miss start of season following surprise ankle surgery
March 22, 2016Happy Tuesday WFNY!
The Cleveland Cavaliers locked up another Central Division title with their win over the Denver Nuggets last night! Another division champs banner to hang from the rafters of The Q! The team is now sitting with a pretty 50-20 record and still have a 1.5 game lead for the top seed in the Eastern Conference with only a few more weeks left in the season. Life should be good for the Cavaliers.
But as it goes in Cleveland, somehow this team continues to make things harder than they have to be. Well, more so than the team, perhaps I am talking about the fans here. Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether the source of all the drama is coming from the team or the fans. It could be both, I don’t know. All I know is somehow nothing is ever good enough this season. Every win is laced with a heaping spoonful of “Yeah, but…”.
I’ve gone back and forth over whether or not I want to talk about LeBron James’ Twitter account and whether him unfollowing the likes of the Cavaliers, Allie Clifton, and Austin Carr is newsworthy. I guess it didn’t have to be. According to Cleveland.com’s Joe Vardon, this was simply part of LeBron’s annual ritual of cutting off social media around playoff time. When Vardon asked LeBron about this after the game, that’s all LeBron would have had to say.
But, of course, he didn’t. LeBron chose yet again to make this a bigger story than it has to be. Just as he’s been doing with the cryptic tweets (perhaps) aimed at teammates and just he is constantly making the Cavaliers organization uncomfortable along with the fans of the team, LeBron offered a curt “next question” before refusing to answer your own questions.
Come to your own conclusions. That’s the message that is sent. And in Cleveland, where we only naturally expect the worst to happen, those conclusions are going to be the worst case scenario. None of this is an accident. LeBron knows his every move is scrutinized. When he tweets pictures of himself with players from other teams and openly sends out tweets that can obviously be interpreted as shots at teammates, he knows what he is doing. And then after getting blown out in Miami by his best friend’s team, LeBron suddenly unfollows the Cavaliers on social media. He knows what he is doing.
The real question is why. Is he trying to just keep everyone on their toes? Is he trying to send a message that he would be happy to leave any time he wants? Is he trying to get something across to his teammates? Is he just trying to keep himself in the spotlight in a season in which Steph Curry has become the most popular player in the NBA? Is LeBron just having some fun and watching people overreact to his words? Is this all just a series of completely innocent words and actions that the fans and media alone are going crazy over?
I don’t know. I refuse to psychoanalyze LeBron and try to figure out the “why” with him. He’s an odd player and a strange person. And not in a bad way. He’s just hard to figure out at times. As soon as you get comfortable thinking you understand him, he pivots and makes waves in a manner you never saw coming. So I don’t know why he’s doing any of these things this season, but I also know that none of it is done without thought and without reason.
I’m not going to sit here and tell everyone that there’s nothing to worry about and that there’s no way LeBron is going to leave Cleveland again. I don’t think he will, but who knows. If he was going to leave, I don’t think he would build it up with months of strange passive aggressive behavior. I don’t think LeBron likes to tip his hand in such an obvious way. Me personally? I think LeBron is partially just having fun and partially trying to keep some attention on himself.
I refuse to lose sleep over any of this. I don’t care who LeBron follows, I don’t care what he tweets, I don’t care who he’s friends with, and I don’t care where he chooses to workout and with whom.
I only know one thing for sure, and this is an absolute certainty. The Cavaliers are about three weeks from the playoffs starting and this team is going to fight for a Championship. We are going to get LeBron James’ best effort and he is going to try to win this title for all of Ohio. The future is going to happen and we’ll deal with that when it becomes the present. Do yourself a favor and just ignore the noise and just focus on enjoying this team. 55+ win seasons don’t grow on trees in Cleveland. Just relax and enjoy the ride and stop worrying about LeBron so much. That’s the best advice I can offer to anyone.
*****
New Music of the Week
Normally I use this space to talk about albums that are already out. Today, though, I’m going to talk about one that is coming out this Friday, and that is the new Thermals album, “We Disappear”. Why am I talking about this one early? Because I can’t wait. This is my favorite album yet of 2016, and I need to talk about it now.
The Thermals have been around since the early 2000s and this Portland based lofi rock band has some of the catchiest hooks you’ll hear this side of the punk divider, but they really “blew up” in the indie scene thanks to their 2006 breakout album “The Body, The Blood, The Machine”, one of the most important albums to me. I discovered this band thanks to a series the old Pitchfork TV site used to have called “Don’t Look Down” in which they would have bands play on New York rooftops. From the moment I saw this video, I knew I needed to find out everything I could about this band and I haven’t stopped listening to them since.
Now here we are ten years later and the band is still putting out incredible albums with great hooks, a tremendous sense of urgency and earnest passion, and an ever wicked tongue-in-cheek approach to life. The Thermals are one of those bands who are remarkable consistent, and yet somehow each album has it’s own feeling and theme to it. The lead single for this new album, a song called “Hey You” told me everything I needed to know about The Thermals’ latest adventure.
Now NPR is streaming “We Disappear” in its entirety a week before the album comes out as part of their First Listen series. I’ve listened to this album probably ten times already (it’s super short) and I’m crazy about it. I hope some of you will like it as well. Give it a shot!
21 Comments
I hate the media’s coverage of social media. It drives me crazy. I’m not trying to be all “get off my lawn,” but if Twitter didn’t exist, everyone would be happier.
Good thing it’s only 140 characters at a time, eh?
Twitter turned 10 years old yesterday, matching the emotional age of many of its users.
If Twitter didn’t exist, a large portion of our sports media would be reduced to sitting around twiddling their thumbs.
“Journalism” as it exists today seems to have been reduced to scouring twitter feeds and “reporting” the comments as news, or trolling other twitter users and “reporting” the reactions as news.
Zing!!! haha
I’ve loved the Thermals for more than a decade now. Absolutely pick up Fuckin A and More Parts Per Million if you haven’t. A Stare Like Yours and God and Country are my favorite songs, but they’re all good.
https://youtu.be/wNB-GgEBgwQ
I feel like this is largely accurate. MCK wouldn’t have anything to write but for social media.
I agree. Which is why I loathe writing about it and seriously debated not talking about this at all. I stopped looking at Twitter during games over a year ago and my enjoyment of the teams and the games went up exponentially. Twitter is just a horrible echo chamber of cynicism and toxic anger.
Have you ever listened to the Russillo and Kanell afternoon sports talk radio show? Their content is 99% twitter supplied and driven. They literally can’t go for more than 10 seconds without mentioning twitter.
All the more reason I have no Twitter account.
LeBron needs attention for some reason apparently.
eeeeehhhhhhhhhhhh……..I disagree.
The Fear The Sword crew (David, Ryan, Justin), WayneEmbrys Kids (Jackson), WFNY’ers (Will G, Scott) etc. are fantastic interactions during the games. I think it always comes down to who you let in your timeline and never chasing the rabbit down the hole.
I saw an old HS buddy of mine (who has been a HUGE bball fan since 1982 or so) post something to this effect on Twitter last night and it struck me as possibly being on the right track. The Warriors and the Spurs are getting all the pub lately, and this might just be a desperate attempt to keep himself in the news cycle. Cant say for certain of course, but worth considering
I used to love Russillo with SVP. Kanell is insufferable.
Amen!
Kanell is purposely a troll. He loves it.
And Russillo loves him some Russillo.
When the reporter called him out for unfollowing the Cavs on Twitter last night, LBJ stammered and walked out of the press conference.
Classic reaction of an immature passive-aggressive attention whore.
He does show poor leadership at times.
Le Batard, whom I typically loathe, is crushing him.
If Twitter didn’t exist, we would no longer have the quickest form of news delivery on the planet.
The problem isn’t the platform, it’s that people are looking for things to get their dander up.
I agree.
Twitter is the FIRST place i look when i need quick or breaking news. If something happened, it will be on twitter before it hits CNN, NYTimes, or any major online publication.
And I follow barely more than a handful of trusted sources, because I know what’s out there and I want no part of it.
Lebron likes attention, so this non-story will be a story and that’s what he wants. We’ll all forget this soon enough once playoff ball hits. Cavs as an organization have basically given him everything he’s ever asked for this time around so no excuses. If the ship sinks, he’s going down with it. Outside of the Thompson contract there’s a lot of valuable movable pieces and depth (including Irving and Love) so it’s possible to regroup and shift if needed.