If There is No parade, I’m Out!
2014-06-16
LeBron is now 2-3 in Finals appearances. When discussing the Heat’s attempt to claw back from a 3-1 series deficit to the San Antonio Spurs, James made the normal “Why not us?” argument. What followed was both strange and emblematic of a prevailing attitude toward playoff competition.
I’m not sure exactly when it became normal, but there is a sentiment in today’s culture that is neatly summed up by LeBron’s subsequent quote: “I’d rather get my two months off.” Basically, LeBron would rather miss the playoffs completely than lose in the NBA Finals.
What?
How did this become even semi-acceptable for society on the whole let alone for the NBA’s best player? There used to be honor in a hard fought loss. Now it seems people are more concerned with being cool than appearing the loser. We have long defined “cool” as someone who doesn’t care about what people think, someone uninhibited by societal conventions. Over time this has morphed into someone who simply doesn’t care. If you care and you win, then great. But heaven forbid you care and you lose. It seems far better to mail it in and have a ready made excuse. “I wasn’t really trying, anyway. I could have won had I REALLY given it my all.”
This is not limited to sports. We all have things we pretend we could have accomplished if only we had given it our real effort. We fabricate excuses for why it was that we didn’t have time, money, or the freedom to really pursue our goals. But it is a blatant fear of failure and all encompassing worry about social acceptance. Everyone is afraid of being outed as one without extraordinary talent. Like the phrase “better stay silent and be thought an idiot than to open your mouth and remove all doubt,” this fear of total commitment has permeated all activities. If we give max effort and STILL we aren’t good enough, how are we suppose to accept ourselves? We live in America, where we can be whatever we want to be!!!
Right. I could be the starting Center for the Cavs at only 6 feet tall. We have been fed continual nonsense about how we all “can be whatever it is that we want to be, if only we work hard enough.” It’s a pleasant thought, and for a select few, it can be the reality. But for most, it only sets up a feeling of failure if one’s best shot is still not enough. For ego preservation it becomes far more relaxing to remain passive, indifferent and “cool.”
How does a normal person stand a chance when even the most gifted basketball player on planet Earth, a two-time NBA champion and 4-time league MVP still can’t accept that his hardest work can still not be enough? Don’t be fooled into thinking his quote comes from competitive nature. He is saying quite clearly that he’d rather not play at all than play and not win. He would rather give up the opportunity to play a beautiful game against the best players in the world if he can’t celebrate at its conclusion. That is the opposite of competitive.
This is obviously not the first time that LeBron’s competitive spirit has been questioned. No one who followed LeBron’s tenure in Cleveland can truly account for historic no-show against the Celtics in 2010. The Heat’s Finals loss to the Mavs strengthened the media chorus. LeBron seems to develop interesting ailments whenever it becomes slightly possible that he doesn’t play on the better team. Elbow issues, cramps, stomachaches, and lingering ankle issues have all been in the media whenever a James team is behind in a series. Would his brand suffer so greatly if he simply lost at full strength?
I want to be clear that I am in no way celebrating the plight of the “lovable loser.” Our necessity to identify someone very purely as a “winner” or “loser” has done nothing but further confuse our evaluation of success. There are countless examples in sports history of players who could never win the big game until they finally could. And for every vindicated John Elway, there is a ringless Dan Marino, a Charles Barkley for a Gary Payton. The Spurs have lost 10 playoff series in the last 15 years. Are they losers? Now that they have completed the job in 2014 and secured a fifth NBA championship in 15 seasons, are they strictly winners? It’s impossible to say according to the popular definition.
As the Cavs look to build a winning culture, it is imperative that the players and coaches give 100% effort, even if the odds of winning are low. It’s my biggest issue with Kyrie’s relaxed play. It is my biggest issue with tanking. A winning culture is not born from winning. It is not predicated on “cool.” It comes from being totally fearless in the face of defeat. It comes from the understanding that losing IS a possibility, but that one need “not go gentle into that good night.” All-in on effort. All-in on thought. There can be value in a loss. Loss can contribute to victory. When in doubt, look at the Spurs.
I thought this post wasn’t really about LeBron at all, it was using LeBron as an example to make a broader social observation. Whether you agree with it or not I felt like it was worth reading it through and passing fair judgment instead of slagging on it as Lebron hate (and for people who cannot condone hate, some of the commenters sure have no problem with expressing an irrational degree of hostility toward the author). Also, I think at this point the LeBron hater haters are more out of control than the LeBron haters . . . who doesn’t… Read more »
…i still standby my opinion of wanting mark jackson…..hear me now, believe me later….
I’m so tired of the LeBron hate articles and comments on this site I just won’t come back to this site anymore. I used to wonder why the LeBron haters didn’t just turn away. Since I’m a big time fan and supporter, I’ll follow that advice and turn away from this site!
Nate:
Why would someone write the finals wrap up BEFORE the last game, and then post it afterwards? That is beyond lame.
Because the piece clearly isn’t a finals wrap-up, Raoul. It’s an opinion piece about current attitudes towards winning. And it’s still just as topical today as it was yesterday.
I think we might all be a little guilty of reading far too much into LeBron’s every action and word. But this article has some great insight on life itself and the mindset of our current society and generation. Keep in mind that LeBron is part of the current up-and-coming generation, the “Millennials” or whatever you wanna call us, and a lot of the issues people have with the youth and young adults today are mirrored in what we criticize about LeBron. This is the social media era, the swagger generation, where everyone puts on a macho front to hide… Read more »
Oh please, Older people criticize every new generation as being lazy or ignorant or unable to be as great as whatever generation they are comparing them to. You can find newspaper and magazine articles from the late 1800s and early 1900s that say almost exactly the same thing about the youth.
Give it a break.
Of course every generation thinks the newer, younger ones are lazy/ignorant/[insert negative adjective here]. It’s expected as society changes. That doesn’t mean there isn’t an aspect of truth or insight behind certain criticisms. Regardless, I did not make a generalization so broad as this generation being “lazy”. I was pretty specific about the social media/swagger stuff. I don’t think they were complaining about Twitter in the 1800s. There is much to be said about the negative impacts social media may have on our culture, and LeBron is probably the most prominent case study we’ve seen in this regard.
People made the same arguments about telephones, radio, and teevee. Twitter is not the first societal change that the olds thought was ruining the younger generation.
Never implied this is the first societal change. Just a newer one worth looking at. Just because people always complain doesn’t mean there’s nothing to complain about. We take steps forward AND backward as a species in general.
I’m sure when today’s kids are olds they will have some new form of social interaction that they will complain is ruining the world. It’s a never ending thing. Every old generation thinks the new one sucks.
Wow. Strong opinions on this one. Glad you stuck up for yourself, Ben. To rebut some of the castigation above: this was 99% written before game five, and we posted it this morning. There was no attempt to pile on, and we would have had to re-write it a different way if the Heat had won. First off, let me say that one of the great things at CtB is that outside of a few ground rules, we don’t tell people what they can and can’t write, and the piece is not coming down. Second of all, the one quibble… Read more »
If you look at the box scores from this series, you’ll see that Lebron stuffed the sheet. I do, however think that lebron played a little too much of his Cavaliers game: PnR; quick iso 3pters/drives. He lost sight of what made him dominant in the last two years: low post offense, drawing double teams, and kicking to shooters. Kawhi’s on ball defense is simply too good for lebron to play point guard.
Yeesh. LeBron was typically awesome in this series. His team was awful. LeBron was the best player on the court all series, but the Spurs had the next best what, 5-6 players?
The over-reaction in these comments is ludicrous. Asking to take this post down is a joke; I’ve seen stuff 100x worse on this site (not that there is anything wrong with the post anyway). Get off your high horses, people.
I, for one, have followed this team since well before we won the lotto in 2003 and have zero problems with this opinion piece, know what I’m saying?
Bravo Ben Werth. Nice article. I would agree, I thought it was a lot cooler when you could see the travesty on the spurs faces last year. This is a team that wasn’t afraid to try their hardest, put it all on the line, and come up short.
I do not necessarily believe that LeBron falls into this denier category. The guy has busted his ass to become one of the greatest of all time. I do believe that his development as a basketball talent far outpaced his development in the maturity and life lesson department. Tough for it not to happen that way with the talents he was blessed with (including the drive to be great). Ben, I really enjoyed the piece. Granted, it was not exactly basketball related, but I’m OK with that from time to time. Always good to remember that what we are watching… Read more »
Gotta say, I’m surprised by the comments. I thought it was a thoughtful piece, though I did not read it as a LeBron rip piece. The idea that there are people out there who have not learned the value of losing properly is not ground breaking, but something I need to be reminded of consistently… less I forget the lesson myself. Set your goal, bust your butt, get your butt kicked, and learn from it. Re-evaluate, set a new goal, and start again. I am sure many of us have to deal with individuals on a daily basis who are… Read more »
Not a fan of this “article”. Agree with JHill – this feels like a ‘bleacher report’ article, really no point to it.
Ben I think its safe to say you failed on this one. But get back on the horse and try again, one bad article isn’t the end of the world. Unless you would have rather not written it at all and gotten your two months off? =)
haha. Well played, Jason.
I suppose I should clear up a few things as some people seem to have missed the essence of my post. 1. This is an opinion piece. I do a lot of basketball analysis on here, but this is certainly not an example of that work. 2. I wrote this before Game 5 and think that LeBron played rather well. It didn’t smell of Cavs vs Boston of 2010. 3. Biggest point: I am saying (apparently not clearly enough) that there is no shame in losing if one has given his max effort. I don’t mean that the losing is… Read more »
Whether we like or not LBJ is the one guy who came into the league with all the talent in the world blessed with otherworldly physical attributes and the actually did put the work in to become the best player in the NBA. He could have just got by on his natural talent been a 20ppg popular giy that never accomplished anything. if anything coming out of high school it was more likely. If LBJ cared more about his style and brand then he would have never done the Decision. Yeah he dresses like a goofy Miami style dbag but… Read more »
I’m usually against saying anything here is bad, because I can’t remember anything bad… I don’t like telling the writers they did bad either… first post I did not like. Can Nate, Tom, or Robert tell us to calm down? I don’t like it like this. This isn’t CtB.
I can’t stomach anymore ludicrous anti-Lebron analysis. Let’s move along.
I don’t think the article should be taken down, but Ben’s ‘analysis’ (if we can call it that) is ridiculous. Meanwhile, I kind of felt bad for Lebron – he played fairly well throughout the series, but the heat were simply outclassed and after carrying the Heat for four years and 400 games he looked exhausted when he sat on the bench. I think he knew that the Heat’s run is over and it devastated him. I’ve always believed that Lebron is every bit as competitive as MJ, Kobe, etc – he just has a different personality and playing style.… Read more »
This “article” should be taken down before the morning is over. I’m no lebron apologist but damn, quit piling on.
last night Duncan said winning this year made losing last year “ok”. Holy heck if LBJ had made a similar comment. Lets not dissect everything he says as if its the most disgraceful thing ever.
I agree with the handful of posts above mine.
No one is acting like its the most disgraceful thing ever. It is a bit disappointing though.
I haven’t commented in years, but this is an example of why I stopped reading this blig religiously. I miss Krolik’s takes. This straw man takedown is a reach. I don’t understand what this post is trying to accomplish, and judging by many of the comments above, I am not alone.
I’m really trying to avoid making inflammatory remarks, but how do you get paid to write this trash? You want to find out where the old “I gave it my best and that’s good enough” idea went? Well, I want to know what happened to objective journalism. How can five games, albeit high profile games, be indicative of a personal philosophy? Lebron’s effort and IQ were the engine, fuel, and steering wheel for everything the Heat did on both offense and defense. What other player exerted that much energy on both sides of the ball while successfully holding together a… Read more »
The guy has had built in excuses for years. This isn’t an isolated incident. As Ben werth notes, there are plenty of examples of things not Going James way and him dismissing the issue entirely as out of his control. In game 5 against the Celtics he figured his team wasn’t good enough and clearly gave no effort. After the dallas series saying “Ya’ll gotta go back to your lives and I’m still a millionaire” whatnot. His laughing at the postgame press conference after they got shellacked at home, twice in a row. The guy has always shown signs of… Read more »
First off CavZ, Mark Jackson is a terrible choice. Secondly to the author of this article calm your tits, this is some Bleacher Report crap that Cavs the Blog readers are here to avoid. You take something that was said by a guy who has been the most critiqued player in all of sports since the 2007 Finals who is incredibly frustrated because his team had been completely and utterly dismantled by a group with 0 max contract players on it. Even as the Spurs celebrate the Heat and LBJ are going to be the only thing that anyone is… Read more »
…should be a Very interesting next week for the cavs…hopefully they land Mark Jackson.