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Monday, June 1, 2009 | 8:34am
? Of The Day: Did Lebron Show Poor Sportsmanship with Handshake Diss?
Following crushing defeat to the Magic, Lebron James stormed off the court without acknowledging opponent.
Led by the Superman himself (Dwight Howard) the Orlando Magic punished Lebron James‘ Cleveland Cavaliers Saturday night 103-90 sending them packing while advancing to an NBA finals match up with Kobe and the Lakers.
But after the game Lebron James, who did just about everything he could do to will his team to victory was not in a congratulatory mood. As the final buzzer sounded, James quickly departed the court as his teammates shook hands with the Magic. James also dodged many of the national media choosing instead to issue a very abbreviated statement to the local media.
It’s hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them,” LeBron James said. “I’m a winner. It’s not being a poor sport or anything like that.”
What do you think about that? Keep in mind this the poster child of the NBA and the MVP of the league. It she showing poor sportsmanship or just disappointment from the ultimate competitor?
FILED IN Sports
POOR SPORTSMANSHIP. No matter what, you be a man about it and face defeat.
that’s some childish ish right there. If you are going to bare the title of “THE MAN on the court” than be a man off when you gets ur azz bust…
poor sportmanship def. and I am a fan….
I 100% totally felt LeBron on being pissed at not winning. The man worked damn hard to get his team to where they were and if you look back at the games played against Orlando you would see that LeBron was putting in work that other players couldn’t do in their life time. The man would make a shot at one end of the court and travel down the opposite end to block a shot. I would be as pissed if not even more if all that hard work went in vein. The only other players that were holding it down was Mo Williams, West, and Gibson (when they allowed him on the court, what was that about?) but even that didn’t help thanks to the dumbness that is Varejao.
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It would have of course been better if he sucked it up and played the politics (better known as “sportsmanship”) and shook hands instead of running home to mommie but he had every right to be mad at not winning, winning is great. At some point in everyone’s life we have thrown a fit or two let him have his moment. I’m sure he won’t repeat this act again (hopefully) but for now I say let him be him.
I’m not sure you’re answering the question. there’s no debate that Lebron was outstanding and should win the MVP of the series despite losing but does his action exhibit poor sportsmanship?
Thanks Juan. I don’t think he answered the question either.
ok, I thought I was clear with my answer but I guess I’ll just express it simpler, Who cares about sportsmanship? So what he didn’t shake anyone’s hand after losing, he didn’t feel like it. His emotions was running high after playing hard and working practically alone and took the loss hard, everyone has their moment. People are making a big deal out of nothing for what, because no one wants to empathize or is it that he is only worth it when he can make 3 pointers with only a second on the clock, let the man live. Sometimes people are just not in the mood to play politics.
It was poor sportsmanship, but at the same time It’s one of those situations you’re so emotional that you just want to remove urself from the situation. If he had stayed around maybe we would have seen a side of Lebron that he’s hidden up to this point. The “Wild out nigga” side. I’ve been in situations like that we’re I have to leave immediately or else something bad will probably happen.
poor sportsmanship. i coach youth sports and this is not the example we try to set. win lose or draw you always congratulate the opponent on a game well played.
I agree. I coach too, and still play in softball and basketball leagues. I think many athletes show poor sportsmanship in different sports. All the chest-thumping and posturing after making a tackle in football or hitting a 3-pointer in basketball, in my opinion is poor sportsmanship. In baseball, where they are always talking about “playing the game the right way” they show poor sportsmanship by throwing at hitters. I don’t think I even need to talk about hockey. The incredible amount of money that is generated in sports opens the door to poor sportsmanship because athletes, coaches and management do “whatever it takes” to win. This leads to cheating on many different levels, not just steroids.
I think in hockey fighting has become part of the sport. I don’t think that’s poor sportsmanship. That’s something else.
Baseball has had a long standing tradition of the bean ball. When done correctly its a self-correcting mechanism for players who cheat, try to gain an extra advantage or in fact EXHIBIT poor sportsmanship (ie: hot dogging around the bases.) However as players have gotten stronger, thrown harder and have more expensive salaries, safeguards have watered down that very unique aspect of the sport.
While I do agree some of the posturing is a bit too much in football and basketball its entertaining and why many fans watch. I think there’s a way to do it and yet exhibit sportsmanship.
Good points; overall, I think sportsmanship in this me-first, glossy, high-tech sports world is not where it should be. It is a reflection of life in general. I may be getting old or something, but things were different when I was a kid (hey, I’ve heard old people say that before!).
I was taught good sportsmanship throughout my life. I teach my children about good sportsmanship. Lebron James was wrong and should have done the right thing by excepting responsiblity for poor judgement. My concern is for the young children who admire him and mimick their game after him.
Poor sportsmanship hands down.
He’s only human, even jordan, kobe did that once or twice. So what if he didn’t shake hands or talk to the media. With all those emotions going on the “wild out nigga” may have came out. After lossing the biggest game of his life, he’s suppose to play the politics and say superman beat me, goodluck magic, fuck that. Everyone can say they coached or played this sport while showing good sportsmanship but nobody has been in James shoes as the King of the NBA, giving it all you had with uncontrollable negative emotions and all cameras looking at you. At 24 he dealt with the situation the best he could. He gets a pass from me at this early stage of his career for not playing the politics
Ok I get your point but then should we expect that he should exemplify corporate products (ie: Nike endorsements) if he can’t control his actions enough to shake someone’s hand.
He is showing poor sportsmanship but I don’t see the big deal. I didn’t even notice that he didn’t shake hands or whatever. They lost and he left the court. It has become a big deal now and my problem is the way it’s being handled. The story won’t go away because he didn’t just apologize(whether he means it or not apparently doesn’t matter) but the story keeps going on and on with ESPN and sports talk radio. He should apologize, even if it’s just to kill the story. Saying I’m an ultra competitor isn’t going to cut it.
Speaking politically correct, yes he showed poor sportsmanship. I just think that the man deserves to be cut some slack though. He played that series like his life depended on it and a good portion of his team didn’t so he took that lose real hard. Me personally, I didn’t see poor sportsmanship up until after it was all said and done when he still didn’t congratulate them on the win.
POOR SPORTSMANSHIP, PERIOD.
I must admit, his name doesn’t come up in all of that other garbage that goes on , but he blew it this time. We need to stop overly defending people when they screw up. Maybe he’s learned from it.
You know i’m not even going to say his behavior was unsportsmanlike he MADE a choice, that was to not shake with a opponent that defeated him for a championship title and inevitably a spot on the greatest stage for basketball the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, why the hell should he face an shake his opponents hand? Albeit after a defeat too? i don’t think I’ll have the guts to shake my opponents hand especially if it is a rivalry thats been going on for centuries. And lest be honest with each other if u were on the losing side giving your all for the team and then decide to shake hands with the winning team, don’t u think its a bit demeaning to the losing team, to me right there shaking hands with winning team just seems like I’m bowing before them, it’s like I’m suppose to acknowledge their greatness or something, thats just insulating to me right there, it does nothing for my ego, or pride. NOTHING.
It’s “lost” LeBron!
hell no!