"The Decision" Delusion

Recently both ESPN/ABC's Michael Wilbon and ESPN's Bill Simmons have written about what a boon LeBron james' "The Decision" show has been to the NBA. The gist of their idea is that James deliberately decided to cast himself in the bad-guy/black-hat role so as to drum up more interest in the NBA in general and LeBron James in particular. All I can say is about that is what a crock.

The truth is that James didn't plan on becoming a villain. He became a bad guy not because it was the plan but because he so badly misread how many people would not take kindly to how he ditched Cleveland in a nationally televised embarrassment. His ESPN Special, "The Decision" did not set out to make him the bad guy, rather, it set out to be a triumphant change of venue from Cleveland to Miami for the nation's, no, the world's, new basketball hero. Once that didn't happen, and James and his spinmasters are now trying to claim that they meant to do that all along. "We didn't see LeBron as a hero, no, we set out to make him an anti-hero." Sure they did. If you believe that then I've got a bridge to sell you.

High on the Hog

The new (Jan 10th, 2011) issue of Newsweek magazine - which I read in the barbershop has an interesting graphic in its last page "Back Story" titled, "Are the Bowls Empty?" which purports to show how the University of Alabama managed to lose $1.87M despite earning $2.43M for winning last year's BCS national college football championship.

For one thing, the graphic shows that 'Bama spent $1,040,103 on meals and lodging for 371 people in eight days, which breaks down to spending a whopping $236.47 on each person per day for his/her food and lodging. For one thing, what the heck does the team need a 371 person traveling party for? There's only a hundred some guys on the team, so what are the other 271 people for? For another thing, where did they stay and eat that they managed to spend $236 a day? It is pretty clear that they weren't staying at Motel 6 or eating at Denny's. At those rates, it sure seems like they weren't even requiring the guys to sleep two to a room! Holy Cow, talk about wasting money!

Who to root for in the NFL Playoffs

Being from Cleveland and thus a poor beknighted Browns' fan, when the NFL playoffs roll around I must choose someone else to root for. Last fall's baseball playoffs worked out fine, as I rooted for the San Francisco Giants, having chosen them because I didn't have anything against them and they'd gone the longest without winning the title. Choices in the NFL aren't that simple.

As for the AFC, obviously, I can immediately rule out rooting for the Steelers and Ravens. As a good Browns' fan I hate their guts. I can discard the Jets too, due mainly to their large-mouthed braggart of a head coach. New Yorkers may like Rex Ryan, but nobody else does. I can kiss the Patriots off too, due to Coach Belicheck, who's lucking into Tom Brady qualifies the coach as a genius, a quality he never displayed while coaching here on the shores of Lake Erie.

That leaves me with the Kansas City Chiefs and the Indianapolis Colts. Neither one annoys me too much, but my heart goes out to the Chiefs because they haven't won a football title since 1969 (actually January of 1970) while the Colts won the Super Bowl at the end of the 2006 season just a few years ago . I c an live with that. Let's go Chiefs!

Here's one of the Chiefs' most stellar cheerbabes, Belinda:




The NFC poses me with more difficult decisions, mainly due to my lack of Cleveland-based hatred of any of the participants. I haven't anything against the Bears, Packers, Falcons, Eagles, Seahawks or Saints, but I'm not crazy about any of them either. The Saints just won last year though, so I suppose I'll have to rule them out, but neither the Falcons nor the Seahawks have ever won an NFL title, while the Bears haven't won since 1985, the Packers since 1997 and the Eagles since 1960. The Seahawks are lucky to be in the playoffs anyway, and I've enough losers to support here in Cleveland without getting attached to them, though I am rather partial to Sea-Gal cheerleader Shelly:



Turning to more prurient criteria, because neither the Packers nor the Bears have cheerleaders, to heck with them.

That leaves us with the Eagles and the Falcons as my NFC rooting interest. Both are excellent in the cheerbabe department, as you can see below. The Eagles' Ivelisse has graced the pages of Maxim



While the Falcons' Jordan has appeared in Esquire;



Certainly both are worthy competitors, but I've got to give the ever so slight edge to Jordan.

That being the case, based on this ever so psuedo-scientific analysis, I'll be rooting for a Chiefs vs. Falcons Super Bowl. I don't know what that parlay is in Vegas, but it'd be worth a lot of money.

Saturday sound off

As a Sporting News Blog refugee I've been having trouble getting my inspirational muse to kick in. So apropos of nothing, here goes:

* At last night's Indians/Royals' game my sister Kate's boyfriend Jerry had a really good line. After Kansas City intentionally walked Travis Hafner for the second time in the game, Jerry said that if Barry Bonds had Shelley Duncan following him in the batting order the way Hafner had, that Bonds would've been intentionally walked 500 times. Well, I thought it was funny.

* As far as Notre Dame football goes, my that was a short honeymoon. Notre Dame fans are behind the coach "Win or tie" and ties aren't an option anymore.

* In case you missed it, ESPN.com page 2's cartoonist Kurt Snibbe had a good one about the Ohio U Bobcat's sucker punch of Ohio State's Brutus Buckeye: link.

* I also heard this good one this week: A man discovers a genie who will grant him one wish. "I want to live forever", the man says. The genie says, "Sorry, I can't grant that wish. Try again." The man says, "OK, I want die only after the Cleveland Browns win the Super Bowl." "Clever bastard", the genie says.

* I've got my 30th high school reunion coming up next week and I'm not exactly looking forward to it, and not just because I've got six days to lose 50 pounds.

* In the ongoing Cleveland/Cuyahoga County government corruption charge, while I'm impressed with the case the Feds have put together against Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, I can't say that I'm too impressed with their investigation against ex-Cavs coach and current telestrator czar Mike Fratello. I don't think he needed the money.

* My writing will be better next time. Maybe. I hope. In the meantime, for your information the cheerbabe at the head of this post is the Washington Redskins' Jessica C, the sight of whom should help take the edge off.