Read the opposing argument from Loyal Homer.
My opinion on the ego-driven, selfish behavior of professional athletes today has been thoroughly
chronicled here at The Sports Debates. In fact, it seems like all I have written about in the past few weeks are the exploits of
guys like LeBron James, Chris Paul, and Darrelle Revis.
As a true fan of sports, it is very frustrating to me whenever a person (the athlete or coach) believes they are bigger or more important than the game. These people have been told all of their lives that they are winners, but they have never been instructed on how to BUILD a winning philosophy. When things are going good, they do and say all the right things. But as soon as they are presented with adversity they
stomp their feet and whine.
Check that – they don’t just stomp their feet and whine. They quit.
That is what players like LeBron James, Darrelle Revis, and Chris Paul are – QUITTERS! They have been trained throughout their entire lives to be takers. They have been told they are special, and led to believe that they already are champions. They have been given everything and had excuses made for them, because outsiders (also takers) have perceived them as cash cows.
To them, the journey means nothing more than formality. They lack the real conditioning and training required to EARN a championship. And just like everything else, value is drawn from HAVING, rather than WINNING that championship.
These quitters will only play as long as they continue to get their way. As soon as something happens that they don’t like, they just quit.
In fairness to James, Revis, and Paul, they are not the first athletes to make selfish demands on their team. They are simply among the latest in a very long line of contract athletes who have an over-inflated sense of self-worth. And now the fraternity of quitters has a new pledge – Carmelo Anthony.
We’ve heard the song and dance before. His team isn’t giving him the tools he needs to win a championship, and so he wants out. Blah, blah, blah. The REAL situation is that he has watched his buddies land new deals that appear to be from the land of championship milk and honey. As a fellow taker, Anthony absolutely MUST keep up with the Jones’s (or James’s, as the case may be).
Unhappy with his situation in Denver, Anthony seems eager to force a trade. He doesn’t believe that Denver is in a situation to help him genuinely compete for a championship, and so he wants out.
There is a difference between Anthony and guys like Revis and Paul, though. Anthony has leverage. His contract is expiring at the end of this season. If he walks, the Denver Nuggets get nothing in return.
Well Said, I have to agree and I am with you, i hate ego self centered people.
Cut your losses now…or later? I’ve read all the opinions from all over the country. It would seem that Carmelo, or more appropriately – La La and her escort is going to the Knicks, oh, wait..the Rockets, what…The Clippers, no?…Golden State,…no, oops…the Bobcats… and the parade goes on and on. Every team will offer a “super package” of talent and draft pick that work for the Nuggets this year but will make the a contender 3 or 4 years from now and every year after for the next 10,… BULL! what I wonder if others realize is that there is a price to be paid for La La and Carmelo (and when he’s wearing your colors you’ll be paying that price for a long time, La La will see to it). This is not just about basketball, but more about where La La wants to be when she packs up his nads and drags him off by his johnson. Who here thinks Carmelo is in control? He reminds me of Drago in Rocky IV. On the basketball side of this the Nuggets still hold a pretty strong hand. why do they want anyone else’s Euro-trash? or anyone else’s trash for that matter. Tghey’ll never get equal or even fair trade value for him now and there’ll be free agents again next off season. Right now if they were to trade him they’d be paying what other teams offered to pay their players and then have a bunch of trash and expiring contracts at the end of next year anyway. If they wait and let the offer expire, he can sign it and take the money and maybe make nice and ask for a trade then everyone gets fair value, or he can let it expire and take about 20 million less (from all reports with what the new CBA will look like) from someone else and the Nuggets are right where they’d be anyway. In my opinion (and it’s only that), in my opinion, if La La didn’t have his nads in her purse in her night table he’d have signed the offer already.