Dear LeBron James (re: Contraction)

You wouldn't have been talking that contraction mess if you were still in Cleveland...

via ESPN:

LeBron James welcomes the New Jersey Nets and the Minnesota Timberwolves as part of the NBA, and said that he never intended to advocate contraction in recent comments he made about the league's "watered down" talent level compared to the 1980s.

"That's crazy, because I had no idea what the word 'contraction' meant before I saw it on the Internet," James said after the Miami Heat's practice Monday. "I never even mentioned that. That word never even came out of my mouth. I was just saying how the league was back in the '80s and how it could be good again. I never said, 'Let's take some of the teams out.' "

James found himself Monday in a position of yet again having to clarify some controversial comments. On Thursday, he told reporters before the Heat's game against the Phoenix Suns that he would like to see more stars playing together instead of them being spread out throughout the league.

He also made specific references to the Nets and Timberwolves, including promising forward Kevin Love, in reference to the number of premier players toiling along with struggling teams. James was portrayed in some reports as advocating contraction and the loss of NBA jobs at a time when the league and players' association are haggling over a new collective bargaining agreement. James, who was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week on Monday, said he was speaking only in hypothetical terms when he suggested what it might be like to remove Love, the league's leading rebounder, from the struggling Timberwolves, or to see some of the Nets' better players on teams that could contend for a championship.

"Imagine if you could take Kevin Love off Minnesota and add him to another team and you shrink the [league]," James said Thursday. "Looking at some of the teams that aren't that great, you take Brook Lopez or you take Devin Harris off these teams that aren't that good right now and you add him to a team that could be really good. Not saying let's take New Jersey and let's take Minnesota out of the league. But hey, you guys are not stupid, I'm not stupid, it would be great for the league.

I always cringe when athletes begin trying to wax philosophical about the business side of sports, especially basketball and football players. For the most part, these fellows accomplished nothing in the way of education, and what few who do are not in positions high enough to warrant an opinion. Such is your case, oh verbose King James. LeBron, I'll admit it, most people were wrong about the Heat. You guys are doing pretty well right now, though the season is still young. Your move to the Miami Wades has turned into the ultimate sports media frenzy, with the sports world hinging on every play you make and every word you speak. The latter (your words), as profound as they may be when dealing with basketball, need to be chosen more carefully when dealing with off-court issues.

LeBron, you and the Heat have indeed made it so that no one can compete unless they begin stockpiling stars in a soccer-esque power struggle. You're essentially the Barca of basketball. Teams like the Timberwolves and Nets (just to keep your example going) that have promising talent but no superstars are constantly being blasted. While you guys may have highlights for days, your team is eventually going to get boring to watch, much like the league you imagined after contraction. What grinds my gears the most about your statement is that you didn't even know what contraction means! C'mon son... Didn't Gloria ever tell you not to use a word if you don't know the definition? Yes, you would've caught a little bit of crap if you admitted to not knowing, but that's better than making a base statement, then having to retract it.

Just because the league is now a cakewalk for you and Chris Wade Bosh, it doesn't mean certain teams shouldn't have a fighting chance. Lord knows you and your boys were some of those players who probably would've wasted their careers if you didn't show up at D-Wade's doorstep. And who's to say that Kevin Love won't turn into an unstoppable force (unlikely, but a necessary comparison) by the end of the season? Who's to say Devin Harris and Brook Lopez won't develop a chemistry like Magic and Kareem (also unlikely)? Who's to say the Nets won't sweep you guys (highly unlikely, as well) in the Playoffs? The point is, LeBron, that you're IN the league. Talking about the league as if you're an GM isn't your place. Play the game and leave the business to Jay-Z and Prokhorov, unless it has to do with sneakers or Dr. Dre commercials.

Lastly, Bron, the league is far from 'watered-down'. For the first time in a while, I can say that every team has considerable talent. Maybe not every team is capable of running others off the court every game like your team, but on any given night, I guarantee Kevin Love and Mike Beasley (who's killing) can shock you guys. This is the NBA, LeBron. The same league that the 2007 Golden State Warriors roughed up the #1 seed Mavericks... The same league where guys like Chauncey Billups can go from a bust to Finals MVP... The same league where even the most physically gifted player (coughcoughDwightHowardcoughcough) can be shut down by a role player. Don't forget that, Bron Bron. Fans love underdogs just as much as they love your highlights, and every underdog has his day, whether you see it coming or not. Maybe if you guys sweep the Playoffs, you can talk. If you don't, though, all that contraction crap you were talking will be just as 'watered-down' as the Miami Heat without their three-headed monster...

Dear Vince Young

Dude, did you not learn anything from your former teammate Pacman 'It is tricking if there are a bunch of dudes grilling you' Jones? I mean, I thought after a year on the bench and an alleged suicide attempt, you would have begun to get the rest of your life in order, not be at strip clubs causing fights. One of the things I despise about most athletes is their utter disregard for precedent. Over the past 10 or so years, athletes in almost every major sport have been caught up in the wrong crowds at the wrong places at the wrong times. Most often, the wrong crowds are the hood-ass childhood friends that the athlete refuses to stop catering to, the wrong places are clubs (more often strip clubs), and the wrong times are late at night (then again, who goes to a strip club in the afternoon?). Vince, I'm sure you watch enough SportsCenter. What part about athletes getting into trouble do you not get? Every year, I think that players are getting a bit smarter about their decisions, and every year, I'm proven wrong by another ridiculously retarded happening.

Vince, what were you doing in the strip club back office in the first place? Unless you're pulling a Tony Soprano and checking up on business, you had no business in there. Second of all, you've got to be a real idiot to start a fight at a strip club. In addition to there being cameras EVERYWHERE, there is a host of men just as burly and corn-fed as you. Their job isn't to cater to a prima donna athlete who's making it rain in the club. Their job is to make sure that prima donna athlete doesn't cause Trillville & Lil' Jon-esque riot in the club. By entering that back room, you did nothing but make their job easier. In fact, you pretty much guaranteed that you would be incriminated. Any man tricking off in the club garners attention, and you're no different. I suppose coming off a miracle season, you'd think anything is possible. Not so, Vince. It stands to say that we still don't know all of the facts surrounding your brawl, but the video tells more truth than you can at this point. I guess the fact that the Titans already know about the incident is good. Even so, that won't erase a tarnished image, and it certainly won't erase Roger Goodell's foot aiming straight for your rear end (somehow I think you're going to end up worse off than Big Ben). Vince, don't get me wrong. I love watching you play. You're a winner on the field. But off the field (and in the Wonderlic tests), much is left to be desired...

Dear NFL

How many NFL players can say they've been to (or even know) Stonehenge??

You would think that Myron Rolle, the NFL super-stud who also happens to be a Rhodes Scholar, would be the kind of man who makes us proud. You would expect that his status as being the man who represents the future of the black athlete in America would make the NFL happy to have him on the roster of one of their teams. Not only is Rolle brilliant, but he is also tough as nails and fast as lightning. The man has the whole package. But at least according to some NFL coaches, Rolle may not be committed enough to be a part of their league.

"We'll have to find out how committed he is," an NFC assistant coach said, repeating the sentiment of five other NFL officials who said the same thing.

Trainer Tom Shaw, who worked with Rolle over the past year, finds the criticism to be almost silly. Shaw has trained guys like Peyton Mannin and Deion Sanders, along with 118 former first-round draft picks and NFL MVPs. He argues that the critique against Rolle shows ignorance.

"I hear all the negative things that he has too many things going on in his life," Shaw (his trainer) said. "But if [the NFL] is saying that Myron Rolle is a bad example, that's a joke. ... Myron is what you want all these kids to be. Every one of these kids should want to be Myron Rolle. "The reason I say he's going to be a 10-year veteran is he's a guy who is going to out-work everybody. He's not just going to rest on his athletic ability."

"When coaches ask you what's important in your life, usually you can get away with saying God, then family, then football. But a lot of coaches out there want to hear football, then God, then family."

It's a sad day in society when we begin to value a person's time in the 40-yard-dash or their vertical more so than their overall intelligence and aptitude to do more for humanity than chase around a pigskin ball. Unfortunately, that is indeed the case in the NFL, where under the guise of 'making the team better', your scouts are trying to downplay intellect as lack of loyalty. Every year, prior to the NFL Draft, you administer the Wonderlic exam, which tests every potential draftee's intelligence, and their aptitude for problem solving. Most players end up around the late teens and twenties (a perfect score is 50), with safeties clocking in at 19. That said, should Myron Rolle have even had to take the exam? I mean, the guy is a freaking Rhodes Scholar!!! He's hobknobbing with the brightest minds in our age, and representing black male athletes in the way they ought to be; not dumb lumps of muscle, but intelligent human beings with interests outside of football.

By criticizing Rolle and his 'committment', NFL, you're coming outright in saying that you'd rather have a fast idiot on the field than a faster genius. While his interests outside of football may cause conflict with the rigors of being an NFL player, has Myron Rolle disappointed at all? For God's sake, the guy had a Rhodes interview in Alabama on the same day as a game in Maryland, aced the interview, then got back to Maryland for the second half of the game (which they won). Rolle's been holding up both sides of the title student-athlete since high school, so why would he start half-stepping now that he's being considered for the NFL and has the most prestigious fellowship in the world? NFL, it doesn't make sense to ostracize one of the best role models to step into the NFL conversation. Lord knows with that neuroscience degree he'll probably be putting a stop to all the concussion problems you've been having lately...