"Celebration" Stupidity

Let's take a moment to set the scene.

Miami, Florida. Game 2 of the 2011 NBA Finals. Fourth quarter.

The Miami Heat have just put on a ball movement clinic of sorts, with the rock ultimately ending up in the hands of superstar Dwyane Wade right in from of the Dallas Mavericks' bench. He is wide open.

Splash.

Wade holds his arm aloft for a few extra seconds and looks around triumphantly as the crowd explodes. Dallas calls timeout. The Heat are now up 15. They have all the momentum. They are in control.

As Wade heads back to the Miami bench, his teammate LeBron James, now sufficiently pumped up, gets in his face and pounds him in the chest. "This is a big moment. That was a big shot. This is our time," James seems to say to his partner-in-crime, although undoubtedly not in those exact words.

Everyone who watched Game 2 knows what happened next. Dallas came out firing after the timeout, immediately went on a 22-5 run, and won the game.

Historic comeback by the Mavs. Historic letdown by the Heat. Historic game altogether.

Obviously, ESPN's coverage over the next 48 hours will reflect that and focus on the substantive, tactical decisions made by each team to produce such a tremendous outcome, right?

Er, wrong. As usual.

In Defense of LeBron James

The Worst Basketball Player in the World (Allegedly)

It's been a rough 24 hours for LeBron James.

After a less-than-inspiring offensive performance in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, in which he mostly served as a facilitator for red-hot teammate Dwyane Wade, many in the media wanted to see James regain his "Alpha Dog" role in Game 4. Those people were sorely disappointed.

James remained incredibly passive throughout Tuesday's game in Dallas, finishing with only 8 points (a career playoff low) on 3-for-11 shooting. He also tallied 9 rebounds and 7 assists as his team very nearly took a commanding 3-1 lead in the series, but none of that seemed to matter after the game.

The ravenous wolves were out. They smelled the blood of a prima donna nearby, and the wound was fresh.

In the time since the clock ran out on the Heat in Game 4, LeBron James has been repeatedly savaged in the press. It has been a somewhat familiar refrain:

He can't bring it when it matters.

He shrinks from big moments.

He's not even the best player on his own team.

His legacy has been irreparably tarnished.

And most of all, Jordan would never have done that.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am not a LeBron James fan — far from it. I don't like the guy at all. I think he's smug, arrogant, self-important, and immature. Up until about nine months ago, I would have shouted until I was blue in the face that Kobe Bryant was the best player in the world. I would have literally cursed you for suggesting otherwise. I hope the Miami Heat lose every single game they play. Ever. And I absolutely do not believe that he is the next Michael Jordan.

So when I, the leader of the LeBron-haters, say that the faux outrage narrative that was peddled all day Wednesday on the ESPN family of networks is total crap, I suppose that's saying something.

The Echo Chamber

This is what Russell Westbrook looks like when he's "pouting."

I love ESPN. I really do.

Like any proper sports fan, I lean heavily on the Worldwide Leader to satiate my seemingly never-ending need for up-to-the-minute stats, highlights and analysis — all on a vast array of media platforms. No one does sports better than ESPN — in fact, no other entity on Earth even comes close to touching the sheer volume and breadth of coverage constantly churning out of Bristol, Conn.

And therein lies the problem.

We don't do monopolies in America. Healthy competition is the lifeblood of capitalism and, as the story goes, a dynamic, competitive market provides the best possible product to the consumer. Since the days of Teddy Roosevelt, we've taken it upon ourselves — through our government — to prevent large corporations from seizing too much power in any particular industry and, by so doing, ensuring that new competitors can safely enter the market and help keep the big boys honest. Big win all-around for us consumers.

This type of competition doesn't really exist in the world of sports journalism. ESPN is most definitely the big dog on the top of the heap, and no one else really has a shot of knocking them off at this point. I'm not saying that ESPN is a literal monopoly — they're not, which is why you don't see the U.S. government trying to disassemble it piece by piece like, say, Microsoft a few years back. But they are effectively a monopoly when it comes to national sports coverage.