Fair comment

Now, I like Tim Tebow. From my perspective, in fact, what’s not to like?

But that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be touched by honest criticism of his game.

LeBron James feels differently, tweeting of ESPN analyst Merril Hoge’s recent negative analysis of Tebow’s abilities:

“Listened to Merril Hoge today on SC and he was just blasting Tebow. The man hasn't even play a full season and its only his 2nd year in. Guys get on that TV and act like they was all WORLD when they played. How bout encouraging him and wishing him the best instead of hating!!"

Here’s what Hoge said on SportsCenter:

"(Tebow) is awful as far as accuracy goes and what's kind of even more disturbing, he's probably worse moving and running around with the football and throwing than he is from the pocket. Can you get better there? A little bit. If everything is perfect, the pocket, your feet are good, all your fundamentals come into place, the coverage is what you want it, you can be successful. But that doesn't happen at the National Football League. Rarely does that happen."

Newsflash for LeBron: As a fellow athlete, if you want to encourage Tebow, good for you. If a fan wants to encourage Tebow, good for him or her.
But encouragement isn’t Hoge’s job — analysis is.

Friday column: Two egos in perfect harmony

I’ve been cheated. Been mistreated. When will I be loved?

The Everly Brothers sang those words first in 1960. Linda Ronstadt sang them in 1975. I always thought Ronstadt’s cover superior. I can still hear that amazing voice:

When will I be-eeee … lov uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-ved?

I doubt anyone will ever do it better.

Except possibly Bret Favre.

And maybe LeBron James.

Now, I don’t know if either can sing a note. But that wouldn’t matter. They would bring such depth of feeling to the words, such gut-wrenching pathos to the rendition. I’m thinking platinum. First week. Easy.

Favre, of course, is back with Minnesota after the Vikings successfully courted the 40-year-old passer. Not that it was a simple affair.

They not only offered Favre a $3.5 million raise on his $13 million salary — with another $3.5 million in incentives thrown in — they also dispatched head coach Brad Childress to Hattiesburg, Miss., on bended knee.

When that didn’t elicit a “Yes, Brad,” they sent three of Favre’s teammates to ply the Vikings’ troth.

One of them, Steve Hutchinson, recalled the wooing this way: “ ‘The guys on this team want you here. Everybody wants you here.’ Basically that’s what we told him.”

Finally, in the backyard of Favre’s mansion, assured of the Vikings’ undying affection, the quarterback brought out the grill, slapped on the steaks, and the four bonded over beef and guy talk. At long last, love!

Listen to the words of Ryan Longwell, another of Favre’s suitors. Instead of being chagrined at being sent to beg Favre to play, the punter positively gushed. The quarterback, he said, “loves the guys in the locker room” and “is doing it for all of us.”

Cue the violins and hand me a hanky — but keep one in reserve for James, who, as it turns out, in Cleveland was looking for love in all the wrong places.

Yes, it’s true that Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert offered “The Chosen One” the moon to stay with the team, but it turns out he really only cared about James’ talent, not James himself (sniff).

“I don’t think he ever cared about LeBron,” James told GQ, giving himself the famous-athlete-celebrity-third-person treatment, undoubtedly to lessen the sting of rejection.

What about the Cleveland fans? Didn’t they love “The King,” for who he was?

No. They merely took him for granted.

“I love our fans,” he said. “Cleveland fans are awesome. But I mean, even my family gets spoiled at times watching me doing things that I do, on and off the court.”

Still, all’s well that ends well. Favre is beloved in Minnesota, James is adored now in Miami. Of course, next year about this time, after a critical interception ends the Vikings’ season and after the Heat fail to win a ring, doubts will creep into the superstars’ fragile psyches once again.

When that happens, may I suggest a duet.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

Friday column: No class anywhere night of ‘Decision’

Let me start with this:

In his self-promotion and glory seeking, LeBron James — egged on by his suck-up entourage — has been shameless. Patience and a tall beverage wasn’t what was needed to get through The Decision. What was needed was a barf bag.

And his ego-fest the next day in Miami with new running buddies Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh might have been worse.

Wrote Israel Gutierrez of the Miami Herald:

“They giggled, danced and whooped while waiting to be raised onto the AmericanAirlines Arena platform, literally rising from the floor in a cloud of smoke before 10,000 of their most devoted, delighted and delirious fans.”

All that was missing was the public address announcer intoning: “And now, Miami, bow down to your new gods” — that and human sacrifice.

Now, if Dan Gilbert had been around …

But the thing about James is he’s all of 25, and from a very young age has been told that he’s the greatest thing since … well since never. He’s been told he’s the greatest thing. Period.

So, while one would hope that James would know better, there’s reason to see why he doesn’t.

The owner of the Cavs, on the other hand, is 48, and he definitely should know better. Gilbert’s written rant the night of The Decision read like a hastily penned screed from a pimply 16-year-old dumped by his first girlfriend.

(And no, Jesse Jackson, there’s really no reason to bring race into the issue but thanks for playing, just the same).

James had every right to make the move he made. And while his decision to keep his hometown team twisting in the wind was ill advised, he also had the right to do that. If Gilbert didn’t relish the prospect of being blindsided, he could have given James a deadline.

For that matter, if Gilbert really thought that James was an out-of-control narcissist, as he claimed in his letter, he could have given “The King” some boundaries while he was still a Cav. He could, for instance, have told James he wouldn’t put members of James’ entourage on the Cleveland payroll, told him his gang couldn’t ride with him on the team plane. Could have told him “no” once in a while.

If Gilbert really thought James had “quit” on the Cavs during the playoffs, as he alleged in his letter, he should have called him on it then.

I feel for the Cleveland fans who feel devastated and betrayed by James’ leaving for South Beach. But part of me also wants to say, “Get a life.” To Dan Gilbert, I want to say, “Grow a spine.”

There are a 1,001 ways LeBron James could handled his departure from Cleveland with more class. But the proper response to his actions was not to demonstrate even less class.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

Friday column: No, no, Kevin — that's not how you do it!

Poor Kevin Durant.

Doesn’t this clueless kid know how the NBA superstar game is supposed to be played?

First of all, even if you are going to stay with your current team, you don’t just sign an extension and be done with it — you play the string out, keep the fans guessing, keep the pub flowing.

Then you visit your suitors — no, no, that’s wrong; you make your suitors come to you.

On bended knee.

With open wallet.

And puckered lips.

You get ink-stained wretches and their broadcast equivalents to talk about you for days on end.

Then you get a money-grubbing, no-sense-of-proportion network to do an hourlong special — hourlong! — on your momentous “decision” (drum roll, please).

The whole world is watching!

With LeBron James — I mean King James … Lord James? — showing the way, building his brand, how could Durant just quietly re-up for five years with Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City?

Tweeted Durant: “God Is Great, me and my family came a long way.”

Said Durant’s agent: “Kevin wanted to make this commitment to the Thunder because he and his family are very appreciative of the commitment that the Thunder have made to him.”

Appreciation? Commitment?

I’m worried about this kid. I fear he’s got the wrong attitude, a poor approach. He’ll never become a billionaire or a global icon this way.

* * *

The funniest line I read during the free-agent “recruitment” process came from Pat Riley, once and future coach of the Heat.

The Miami president said he was confident of star guard Dwyane Wade’s return to South Beach in part, he said, because “We’re about stability. And we’re about family.”

Family?

Tell that to Stan Van Gundy, the Heat head coach Riley kicked to the curb four years ago in his rush to collect his sixth NBA championship ring as a coach. For Riley, the 2006 ring was his first since leaving Magic Johnson and the Lakers, and thus a form of validation.

To get the ring, Riley had to convince Van Gundy that Van Gundy really needed to spend “more time with (his) family,” thus opening a spot for Riles’ return to the bench — this a season after Van Gundy had coached the Heat within a victory of the NBA Finals.

Now, with Wade’s return and the addition of James and power forward Chris Bosh, the Heat suddenly are relevant again. I wonder if that makes Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra just a little bit nervous. I wonder how much time Spoelstra’s been spending with his family.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

Letting Westbrook play: That’s disrespect

When the Cincinnati Bengals player formerly known as Chad Johnson flashed a dollar bill at a referee during a replay challenge, he was fined $20,000 by the NFL — and properly so — for the display of disrespect.

When Tennessee owner Bud Adams gave Buffalo fans the middle-finger salute after the Titans’ victory over the Bills, he was fined $250,000 by the NFL — and properly so — for the display of disrespect.

Sunday, three weeks after Philadelphia’s Brian Westbrook suffered a concussion against Washington — he was out cold — he was allowed to play against San Diego.

With all we’ve learned recently about the link between football head trauma and cognitive damage, allowing a player to return that quickly, whether he’s asymptomatic or not — that is disrespectful, to the league, to the player’s life, to the player’s family.

Against the Chargers, unsurprisingly, Westbrook suffered another concussion. Eagles head coach Andy Reid insists his running back’s health is his No. 1 concern. If he respects his own word, he will not allow Westbrook back in pads this season.

* * *

Speaking of respect, what kind are the Bengals showing the league and their community with their signing of Larry Johnson?

Johnson last week was released by the Kansas City Chiefs after twice using anti-gay slurs and publicly ripping his own coach. But that’s just the tip of the Johnson iceberg.

In his time with KC, Johnson was accused four different times of assaulting women, was benched three games last year for violating team rules, and was sentenced to two years probation for disturbing the peace at a nightclub.

The Bengals, who have a history picking up bad actors, keep pledging to mend their ways. But this latest move says Cincinnati’s credo remains talent — even fading talent — over character.

* * *

Staying with a theme, as it appears we are, LeBron James wants to show respect to Michael Jordan. Which is fine.
But James wants to do it by convincing the league’s teams to retire Jordan’s number.

“I just think what Michael Jordan has done for the game has to be recognized some way soon. There would be no LeBron James, no Kobe Bryant, no Dwyane Wade if there wasn’t Michael Jordan first.”

Say what?

If there had never been a Michael Jordan, there most certainly still would have been James, Bryant and Wade.

To show the way, James says he’s going to give up his No. 23, Jordan’s old number, and switch to No. 6.

News flash for James: The greatest winner in NBA history is not Michael Jordan, but one William Felton Russell. Went by Bill. You must have heard of him — he won not six titles like Jordan, but 11.

Oh, and by the way, he wore No. 6.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

Oh — soooo sensitive!

We discovered LeBron James’ sensitive side — sensitive as in oversensitive — when he was too ashamed of losing the Eastern Conference finals to congratulate the winners.

We see more of it now that it appears he directed a Nike flack to confiscate tape showing Xavier sophomore Jordan Crawford dunking over “The King” as Lebron’s Camp.

According to Ryan Miller, a 22-year-old freelance photog, following the Monday game in which James was posterized, James called over and spoke to a Nike official, who then made a beeline for Miller and his tape.

Reportedly, when reporters tried to talk to James about this on Tuesday night, James agreed to an interview. But the Nike flack came over a minute later and said that James wasn’t talking.

After all, gotta protect the product. I’m not sure, though, that allowing James to be seen as a Kim Jong-il on stilts really protects James’ image all that much. By Thursday, at least one Web site was peddling T-shirts reading: “I dunked on LeBron (but he stole the video).”

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/2009/07/09/2009-07-09_lebron.html#ixzz0KoFmLSH1&C

Has he never seen a prize fight?

So.

LeBron James is too much of a competitor, too much of a “winner” to congratulate someone who’s just beaten him?

Give me a break.

James has handled both his enormous hype and his enormous success rather well. But his leaving the court without shaking hands with the Orlando Magic after Cleveland’s Game 6 defeat and his boycotting of the post-game news conference were childish moves.

"It’s hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them," James told reporters the day after the Cavs were eliminated. "I’m a winner. It’s not being a poor sport or anything like that. If somebody beats you up, you’re not going to congratulate them. That doesn’t make sense to me. I’m a competitor. That’s what I do. It doesn’t make sense for me to go over and shake somebody’s hand."

Hockey players — who go at each other significantly harder than basketball players — routinely shake hands at series’ end. And boxers — who literally, not figuratively, beat each other up — routinely embrace.

It appears that James, 24, still has some growing up to do.

I hope Obama's working on this

The state of the economy has gotten to the point that I’m worried — no, not about me, about Our Athletic Heroes.

First, Tiger Woods has his endorsement deal with GM canceled by the troubled car company. Then LeBron James has his deal with Microsoft nixed.

Without that extra walking-around money from mega-company endorsements, what’s a global icon to do?

In James’ case, he might spend some time at home and more fully consider the advice of Charles Barkley, who’s suggested the free-agent-to-be stop talking about where he might land in two years, when his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers expires.

“I'm getting so annoyed he's talking about what he's going to do in two years,” the NBA Hall-of-Famer said. “I think it's disrespectful to the game. I think it's disrespectful to the Cavaliers."

James took Barkley's constructive criticism like a man.

“He’s stupid,” he said.

Oh, well. A troubled economy can make anyone edgy.