I had an opportunity to read ESPN columnist LZ Granderson’s opinion (I don’t mind differing opinions) about the controversy surrounding Cleveland Cavaliers’ superstar LeBron James walking off the court without shaking hands with Orlando Magic players and blowing off the media following his team’s lost in the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals. Some have compared it to the infamous 1991 walkout in which most of the Detroit Pistons’ players declined to shake hands with most of the Chicago Bulls’ players. Eighteen years later, those Pistons are still hammered for that decision. In that series, however, there was a lot more to it. There had been a lot of animosity and a lot of nasty things said in the newspapers and elsewhere in the media that precipitated that walkout – even if it did not justify it in the minds of a lot of critics. In LeBron’s case, there seems to have been no animosity (at least not that I am aware of). To some extent, I take LeBron at his word that the competitor in him just wanted to get off the court and be away from it (even if I don’t necessarily agree it was the proper move).
With that being said, here is an excerpt from Granderson’s column:
If this was a real issue for NBA commissioner David Stern, he would not be responding three days later. His reponse on “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” that it’s “fair to say” that he’s upset with LeBron comes across as more public posturing than concern.
You want to know what’s poor sportsmanship?
Brett Favre cutting off all communication with his mentee and supposed friend Aaron Rogers after being traded to the Jets. Or Shaq freestyling about Kobe’s Finals loss — more than four years after being traded from L.A.
That’s poor sportsmanship.
Taking a day to calm down and gather your thoughts, that’s a sign of maturity.
And so I’m also glad that LeBron didn’t apologize for walking off the way that he did, but rather gave us an honest look into what being competitive means to him. After a day to cool off, he said his piece. That to me is much better than ripping teammates he may have to play with or a coach he may have to play under next season.
There is nothing wrong with being a competitor, but there is nothing wrong with congratulating your opponent and wishing your opponent good luck. I am not bashing LeBron and saying he is a bad sport or anything like that. I don’t think he is a bad sport at all. I do see where LZ is coming from. Honestly, I think LeBron James is one of the great sportsmen of his era who simply made a bad decision at an emotional time. My hope is he learns from this lesson and makes the proper decision the next time he is faced with similar circumstances. Some of the greatest competitors in the history of the sport took time to congratulate teams that beat them.
As I wrote in an earlier blog, one of the greatest traditions in all of sports is the National Hockey League handshake line at the end of a hard-fought series.
LZ Granderson’s column:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=granderson/090602&sportCat=nba
