Warning Level: Blackwatch Plaid

The Cubs are going for their fourth straight win-- which would be the longest winning streak in major league history.  I'll keep you updated as I write.

The King has spoken: Lebron is heading to Miami, so the basketball warning level is back down to "Blackwatch Plaid".  Your line-up will consist of Wade, Lebron, Bosh and... well, whatever they can get to get around the cap.  That means one mid-level exception player and league-minimum players.  Beasley is likely out so all three can sign.  Advice to teams playing the Heat: get the ball into the post and go after their center and Bosh.  It might be a defensive soft spot.

The man who's Nike ad campaign is/was "We Are All Witnesses" has gone from striking a Jesus pose on a gigantic billboard outside Quicken (Gund) Arena to being a sidekick to Dwyane Wade in Wade County, Florida.  Being a sidekick doesn't always help with your international brand -- Pippen didn't sell as many jerseys as Jordan.  The Heat are Wade's team, and, even if Lebron is MVP and they win the championship next year, it'll most likely still be seen as Dwyane Wade's team.  That might change, but Wade set this up and was in the forefront in the whole process.

Also, "The Decision" was an hour long special to announce James' Destination.  Lebron is a great basketball talent but he is as interesting as an inanimate carbon rod.  Really, just say "Miami" and then get Jay-Z to perform for an hour.  Is that too difficult of a special?

So here's some quotes from the KC Johnson article on the Tribune website.  Anyhow, quotes and snarkiness after the video.  Bienvenidos to Miami.  (Side Note: Congrats on the Emmy nominations Dexter)




LeBron James leaves Cavs for Heat
By K.C. Johnson
Chicago Tribune

The decision, made at exactly 8:27 p.m. Chicago time, creates a new Big Three in the NBA and validates Heat President Pat Riley's bold, grandiose plan to alter the balance of the Eastern Conference. It also rips the guts out of the Cavaliers franchise and its home city.

8:27pm.  That's 27 minutes too long to announce where you're going.  You really had nothing interesting to say, so there's really no reason to wait past 8:01.30 (give people a chance to tune in) to announce.  You're boring and wasting time. 

"This is very tough ... this fall I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat," James told interviewer Jim Gray. "It's going to give me the best opportunity to win and win for multiple  years. I want to be able to win championships and I feel I can compete down there."

You could win for awhile.  Although Wade might age pretty quickly (he does have a lot of minutes on his legs) and 3 players for $48+ million might create budget problems. 

Asked whether playing with Wade and Bosh was his plan all along, James said, "I can't say it was always in my plans because I never thought it was possible. But the things the Miami Heat franchise has done to be able to free up cap space and put themselves in position this summer to have all of us, it was hard to turn down."

So this last week was a waste of our time.  They got rid of every player they could--was it really not the plan going into July 1?


As for how he would explain his decision to fans in Cleveland, James said, "It's heartfelt for me. There were 20,000-plus fans who came out every night we played and they saw me grow from an 18-year-old kid to a 25-year-old man. I never wanted to leave Cleveland. My heart will always be around that area. But the greatest challenge was for me is to move on."

The greatest challenge actually is to get a winner in Cleveland.  Its been awhile. 

Shown a live shot on TV of Cavaliers fans burning his jersey, James said, "I hoped fans would understand and maybe they won't. I feel awful that I'm leaving, but I feel even worse that I wasn't able to bring a championship to that city. I hope my real fans will continue to support me, and I'll see you this fall."

So they're only your real fans if they're fully behind you breaking their hearts.  Just a way sports work- usually the cheering hierarchy is team-team's best player-team's grindiest player.  Don't ask your fans to be loyal to you when your own loyalty to them just went south.

If you really felt bad about not bringing a championship to that city, you could've done something about it.  Really, you were in the best position to do so.  I'm guessing you're more upset about not winning a championship for yourself.  Move on if you want, but don't say you feel awful when you're the one that could reward the fans. 

Good luck in Miami, because there's a lot more fans that will savor the schadenfreude for every game and playoff series you lose. 

And the Cubs are now down 3-2.

Don't report anything.

There was the dust-up between VDN and John Paxson. The story was broken here by Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski. KC Johnson holding the story was then broken shortly after on TNT's broadcast of the Bulls v. Celtics. They are still looking into whether the Suntimes' John Jackson is a real person, is awake at the games or if the Suntimes have a Bulls beat reporter at all.

But if you're the Suntimes, like a younger sibling of the Tribune begging for more attention, you should have blasted Johnson for holding the story. Did they have a columnist do that? Nope. Their media columnist Jim O'Donnell blasts TNT's Craig Sager for, well, reporting something.

Anyhow, here's column 2 for today:

Sager only adding fool to the fire
by Jim O'Donnell
April 15, 2010

...The new media was a grand accelerant while the old media seemed as reactive as the Dewey Decimal System. Multiple issues loomed.

The new media? Like TV I guess? The only thing that moved slow was the Suntimes and their beat reporter.

The biggest unresolved one was merely the most important: What are the facts of the alleged MMAA -- mixed middle-aged arts -- pitting Vinny Del Negro against John Paxson and/or Gar Forman?

Here's the problem with trying to be clever-- sometimes it ends up not making any sense. MMAA -- Mixed middle-aged arts. The only problem is-- the Martial part is missing. Instead I picture VDN and Paxson sitting out front of the Musuem Of Contemporary Art with an easel and some clay oil-painting and molding little works of art. Some MMAA in front of the MCA.

Damn, I got too clever and it didn't make sense in the end. How about this- instead of MMAA- the OMMA- Old-Man Martial Arts. You get the point, it makes sense and the reader can move on without thinking about your acronym not making sense.

A Web site got the jangling going Tuesday afternoon with a report that Paxson had physically confronted Del Negro after a loss to the Phoenix Suns on March 30 because of overuse of sore-footed Joakim Noah.

A Web site? You mean Yahoo! sports? Somewhere that's actually breaking news stories on the Bulls? Feel free to mention their name. Oh, and Web isn't a proper noun-- no need to capitalize. 
 
Enter TNT, a cable network with a spotty recent record at the United Center.

Spotty record at the United Center? Like bad reporting? or just a bad broadcast?
 
Finally, in the third quarter, the furnace blasted. Sager -- suddenly a journalist -- summoned the worst of his career lightweight-ism and outed Chicago Tribune beat writer K.C. Johnson as an allegedly unwilling uncoverer of the Paxson-Del Negro story.

How dare Craig Sager report something he learned on the sideline in his role of side line reporter. And lightweight-ism? So he's not just a lightweight, but he follows lightweights?
 
Sager's ''reporting'' implied Johnson was attempting to hop on the scoop express alongside the Web site that originally released the story. At no point did Sager take his microphone and cameraman to Johnson during a game break for more detailed elaboration.

Except he did break a story-- a reporter not running a story because of his personal connections to someone he's covering. And I don't see any quotes or efforts to contact Johnson on your part either.

So there's the parts of this article that were in English. If KC Johnson wanted to go on the air, I'm sure he would have. He also has the resources of a crumbling media empire behind him.