And the Beat Goes On...

So I woke up today, and what did I end up reading? Another anti-Cleveland story, and this with LeBron James. Go figure. It is obvious that a lot of "journalists" do not like the fact that a 23-year old man, who did not go to college, ends up becoming a star in the NBA and gets paid millions of dollars through his performance on the court and through endorsements like Nike. Maybe it is a jealousy factor, and the fact that he acts a lot more mature for his age than most people do at 23. Or maybe it is because he is playing for a small-market like Cleveland and likes it there, rather than a big-market, like New York or Los Angeles. Whatever it is, it is getting a little ridiculous.

Case in point: Tom Knott (who usually whines more than he actually reports) says LeBron should be suspended for elbowing one of the Washington Wizards players in Game 1 of the Cavs-Wizards series. Now, the problem is that if you watched the game, you would realize that every time LeBron tried to get to the basket, the Wizards would try to foul him. And hard. There were even times the Wizards got away with a hold or a push on LeBron, and to me, it is quite clear that the Wizards (and Knott) would not have been bothered if LeBron was hurt at all by the Wizards. And with LeBron playing with a bad back, it is possible that the players could have, intentionally, hurt him even more.

So LeBron had to send a message. He elbowed Andray Blatche, and to me, there is nothing wrong with that. Or else Blatche would have, like the time before, taken cheap shots at LeBron. Apparently, Knott forgets that the Wizards started it with the dirty plays. What is LeBron supposed to do..take it? Why should he be the one to get suspended over the players who are, in my opinion, trying to take LeBron out of the game via injury?

And Knott's piece is not under "opinion" or "fiction" or anything to show the reader that what he is writing is his own opinion. It makes it look like he is a real journalist, when he is writing what he thinks. I think he needs to say before he starts writing the article that he is a Wizards fan, so that people understand he has a bias. If not, people will get confused and actually believe what he is writing is legit. It is not! If he actually watched the game, he would realize that LeBron was attempting to stop the Wizards from taking cheap shots at him. Blatche was never hurt, but it is quite possible that the Wizards aggravated LeBron's injury.

Knott has a history of writing stuff like this..it would be nice if the Washington Times would move him solely into the Op-Ed section, rather than keeping him in the Sports Section with all of the "real" journalists.