Browns/Falcons and Buckeyes/Hoosiers Ticket Deals
October 7, 2010Randy Lerner Wants His Money Back
October 8, 2010While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com
On the not-MVP: “I’m as sick and tired of LeBron James as the rest of you guys (because all 30 NBA GMs are guys), but LeBron James is the best player in the league. And the best player will always be the most valuable player. And unless this guy breaks a leg or pulls a Mike Miller(notes) and refuses to shoot (Tuesday night’s performance would seem to put that notion to rest), LeBron James will be the best player in the NBA, again, this season.
I can’t dumb it down any further. Whether you like it or not (and I’m squarely in the “not” category), LeBron James is the best player in this league. You and I both wish he wasn’t such an embarrassing narcissist, but the same people that brought you Joe Johnson, Rudy Gay, Darko Milicic, and Richard Hamilton’s contract extensions have decided that Kevin Durant is nicer. And, therefore, “better.” Which is ridiculous.” [Kelly Dwyer]
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Welcoming back Captain Jake: “We brought [Jake] Delhomme in to make the big throws when the defense tried to key in on the run, and I think he can do a better job at that than Wallace can.
Also, here is a possible advantage for Delhomme this week in terms of confidence: remember how poorly he did with the Carolina Panthers overall last season? Guess who his best two games of the season came against? The Atlanta Falcons.” [Dawgs by Nature]
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Concerned about the Hoosiers? “I think an upset is possible here (yes, really), but ultimately I don’t think Indiana will pull off the win on Saturday. It’s a home game, their defense is terrible, and they are probably going to be way too one dimensional to total the kind of yards they usually do. But Indiana will be a unique test to see just how prepared the Buckeye secondary is to withstand a team with little interest in offensive balance; a team looking to threaten them short, medium, and deep on virtually every play.” [Eleven Warriors]
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A football hero and homecoming queen in the same night? [’64 and Counting]
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On Browns linebacker Matt Roth: “I’m scared of him,” joked Pro Bowl tackle Joe Thomas, “and he’s one of my friends.” [Associated Press]
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And finally, a big thank you goes out to all of you readers. The latest Wikio rankings are out and WFNY ranked fourth among those blogs that cover the great sport of basketball. I’m greatly honored to see our little mid-market blog be among the same company as TrueHoop and Wages of Wins – we couldn’t have gotten to this point without all of you. [/Raises glass. //At 8am.]
32 Comments
It’s hard to disagree with Kelly Dywer on this. LeBron is the best and we all know it because we’ve seen it first hand. I just wondered how much the GM’s took his gigantic choke job in the playoffs into consideration too. Either way, it does seem like a slap to the face to say he’s not the MVP. Not that I mind!
Is part of the MVP criteria quitting on your team in the most important game of the season?
A quitter can’t ever be the MVP. Neither can a front-runner or a sidekick parasite.
Cleveland fans will win the MVBF award for most vociferous bitter fans. So there’s that.
Of course Most Valuable Player is for the best player – that is why it is called the Most Bestest Player award.
It is the Most VALUABLE Player award – and that Heat team will be able to win without him. Other players (Kobe, Durant) are more valuable to their team. When LeBron was here there was no question we wouldn’t be there without him – now that isn’t true – meaning he isn’t as VALUABLE as the other players on his team.
1. Till Lebron gets a ring Kobe Bryant is the best player in basketball. Sure he’s older but he’s done the work in the playoffs to prove he should own that title.
2. If OSU comes out and plays the way they did in the Illinois game they
for some reason that posted before I was done.
**2. If OSU comes out and plays the way they did in the Illinois game they WILL lose to Indiana.
@ Denny – not trying to be bitter. When the Cave were up against it, and all of the chips were down in Game 5, the so-called MVP packed it in and quit on his team and the fans. How “valuable” is that? Serious question.
He can deny that he quit until the day he dies, but I know what I saw that night.
OSU will be fine. They got the wake up call they needed last week…not to mention Indiana is decent, but they aren’t THAT good. They have no defense, and Michigan’s defense is just God-awful. They looked better than they really are last week. OSU by at least 2 TD’s.
i agree with Narm on this – and disagree with Dwyer. the award isnt the best player, its the most valuable player. for the past two years, i do think lebron was the most valuable player to his team. but now? miami would be a championship contender without lebron. thats how stacked they are. right now it has to be Durant and Kobe, followed by Rondo, chris paul, deron williams, etc.
RE: Blog Rankings, we’re actually #3: http://www.wikio.com/blogs/top/basketball
Although, to be fair, while it’s nice, I suspect these rankings are about as valuable as the old BallHype Rankings were. I mean, a WNBA blog is #7, ranked above blogs like Forum Blue and Gold and Blog-A-Bull.
As much as I dislike it, I agree with Dwyer. LBJ on paper is the best player in the league, and absent something strange happening, like injury, or inexplicable decline in performance, or KD becoming a better all-around player, LBJ will and should win his 3rd MVP.
MVP is about perception, not stats. LBJ’s perception is at an all-time low. It doesn’t matter that he’s the best player in the league. He won’t win. Windhorst said he could never vote for him after the way he “choked” in the Boston series and let his teammates down. And then didn’t accept any responsibility.
Then it’s good thing for him that he already won the MVP during the 2009-2010 season when all of those things happened.
Guessing that the day before “The Decision” every regular commenter here would have agreed he’s the MVP. After the upcoming season of endless hightlight footage of pretty no-look passes for easy layips and big dunks, people outside of Cleveland will forget about his summer of idiocy even faster than they all forgot about Kobe’s rape.
He’s the most dominating player in any sport I’ve seen play here (slightly too young to have appreciated Jim Brown). And his dominance was over a lot of years, not like Gaylord Perry, Sipe, Belle.
The guy has been revealed as (actually, always was) a stone cold, unrepentant narcissist. But one day we’ll view him a little more objectively, through a sports lens. Agree with everyone about Game 5. But LeBron is the world’s best basketball player, nd probably still improving. That hasn’t changed since July 7th.
MVP is for games1-82. Playoff games don’t count.
When LeBron averages a triple-double (which I fully expect him to do because his PPG will go down some and he’ll need to validate himself somehow and, yes, he can do pretty much whatever he wants on the court), then all these people saying he is not the MVP would still vote him MVP.
@Harv – You’re totally right. Honestly, if Lebron were still in a CAVS uni I’d be banging that drum just as hard. BUT, that was more because I was wanting to support the player on MY team not because I thought Lebron was the end all. Just my take on that situation.
I always thought Kobe was a better MVP candidate but Lebron had better indv. skills.
@15 Your absolutely right people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. The whole “Decision” debacle and LeBron saga speaks not only for modern day athletes but also the organizations which coddle, allow and condone their behavior. Not only that but take a look at the media and how people make careers out of the tabloid mentality rather then just reporting the actual physical accomplishments. There always has to be drama. Finally fans play a role in all of this too. Whether they are fickle or spoiled or frankly just uninformed access by way of the Internet through blogs and Twitter and all of the rest has really tainted, IMO, the world of sports. In short there is enough blame to go around for all.
As far as the topic I’m not sure if James will win another MVP partly because of all of the backlash and how he is being perceived now but more because of the team he now resides upon. I don’t see him being able to post the same kind of numbers he did with the Cavaliers simply because there will be more options namely Wade and Bosh. I also don’t forsee a triple double stat line, no way. It’ll be a great stat line I’m sure but nothing consistent to warrant a hands down third MVP award. Durant will not only have the shots but the fanfare, it’s already started.
@boogey – RE: Durant – YES, BUT DID HE HAVE ESPN LIVE FROM HIS TRAINING CAMP? HE MUST NOT HAVE BEEN AS INTENSE AS LEBRON.
Seriously though, how ESPN can claim to be un-biased anymore is beyond me at this point.
Lebron being the best player in the league doesn’t necessarily mean that he’ll be the MVP just because we’ve yet to see how much of his talent he’s actually going to have to use for the Heat to win. The scoring is going to be distributed between Bosh, Wade and Lebron, and as the Magic pointed out last season MVP is largely an offense-oriented award. If Durant can decisively claim the scoring crown and lead the Thunder to the top half of the West I think there’s a good chance he could get MVP.
I’m not saying Durant would be better than Lebron, but that Durant would be a bigger part of OKC’s success, because Lebron wouldn’t have to try as much as he did in Cleveland.
LeBron is dead to me so it doesn’t matter what he wins from here on out.
“Windhorst said he could never vote for him after the way he “choked” in the Boston series and let his teammates down. And then didn’t accept any responsibility.”
Is that the same Windy that stated he’d be covering the Cavs this year before taking his coverage to south beach?
@20 – if LeBron is playing ‘Magic-style PG’ for a 65-70 win Heatteam and leading the attack and getting highlights for his passing, dunking, and blocks every single night and averaging a triple-double, while Durant continues to shun the media (because he isn’t as narcistic), then LeBron might win the award unanimously (even without the scoring title).
IMO, #6 is not nor ever was the “best” player in the NBA. Being a large physical specimen and fast does not warrant that title in the least.
#6’s jump shot is absolutely atrocious, his free throw skills mechanics took 4 years to develop, he lacks the ability to truely run an NBA offense or be apart of one and wastes his given skills on his ego.
Was he “valuable”, yes. Valuable to a city, media outlet and league that desperately needed to change the face of their sport marred by the alleged rape of its current superstar.
#6 has been manufactured since the get go. His breakout performance against the Pistons in the 2007 playoffs was a great one. Other than that, i do not recollect a time seeing the “jordan/kobe” instinct or complete set of skills from him as consistently as i did from jordan or kobe.
if i think hard enough i am sure i can come up with stellar one game performances by any number of NBA players.
did i cheer for him when i watched him, yes; but no more than other player on that court each night wearing the wine and gold.
@19 Well that’s ESPN hitching itself to what they consider the biggest preseason story. They always did this kind of stuff just not to the extent it’s become now. The whole “Heat Index” thing speaks for itself. I don’t know anything about Durant other then what I’ve seen from the highlights or actual games so when I say he’s the next big thing I’m coming from a playing perspective. Perhaps his persona and where he plays will hurt him I don’t know.
@21 I’m indifferent on the whole Windhorst saga. I mean he did a job and while I read much of what he wrote and listened to him on “More Sports and Les Levine” I never took his word as gospel. When he would Tweet making speculations he was no greater then you or I making guesses on what we thought would happen. The fact that he may have had inside information yet still was like us kind of speaks for itself. I think the unfortunate thing for Windhorst is he left for the same place that LeBron did to in fact cover LeBron and his new team. Because of this, just do to appearance, he gets tied to the LeBron ship whether it’s justifiable or not. The fact that Windhorst didn’t take the reported NY job offer doesn’t help either but what can you do ya know?
@boogeyman – I haven’t seen you around here in a while. Welcome back.
@boogeyman: missed seeing that avatar, which so eerily attracts while it repulses. Fear discovering what it is lest I be filled with self-loathing.
@24: Sour grapes much?
@26 I was just reading without comment I was a little sad & disappointed with all the LeBron crap that I needed a break. Well that and another horrible Indians season followed by what was an 0-3 start to the Browns season. I haven’t given up all hope on a winner but man it’s never been tougher to be a Clevelander when it comes to sports.
@27 You just about covered all the possibilities but suffice it to say it’s nothing but a call sign from back in the day.
@28
No, I had these same feelings when #6 wore #23 and did it in a Cavaliers uniform.
He was great for the NBA when they needed him, now that he has turned off the fan base they will move on to using Kevin Durant to help rebuild their image
It has to p*ss Kobe Bryant off that hes got a fist full of rings and people still call LeBron the best player in the league.
I cant fugging believe Im rooting for Kobe Bryant, thats what Ive been reduced to, but I hope all this talk about the Heat motivates Kobe to take his game to a whole new level.
I hope L.A. kicks Miami’s ass in the finals next June. If that makes me a “vociferous bitter fan” then so be it.
OKC faces the Miami Mercenaries on NBATV tonight if anyone cares.