Under Pressure

It is typical for fans at an NBA game to clap their hands and pound their feet to the raucous beat of Queen's "We Will Rock You," but maybe the song that we become more familiar with in the sporting world is Queen's "Under Pressure."

For those of you who have been following the NBA playoffs this year, one theme has been prevalent: will this be 2-time NBA MVP LeBron James' last season in Cleveland? The two dominant sides are: if the Cavs win the NBA title, King James is going nowhere, and if the Cavs lose, LeBron is on the first flight out of town, most likely to New York.

If you had the opportunity to watch the game last night (I did not because I was at the PDX Pop Now! meeting), you saw what sports media are calling one of the worst performances of Lebron's 7 year career. James was 1-11 shooting, looked flat footed on offense, and would pass on open looks. For someone heralded as one of the all-time greats, he sure looked normal.

For a little perspective, James has been playing with an elbow injury which is probably effecting his shot, and he is probably playing in a lot of pain. But if you look at the current sports media landscape, James has been playing under incredible scrutiny as well. The constant conversation revolves around where James will be next season, what will his legacy look like if he can't win this season, is James the only star on a weak cast? The number of questions are infinite, but the point I make is this: regardless of how good James is, he is hearing a lot of hypothetical rumors that are creating a negative air around his game, and the game of basketball in general.

LeBron James is a man just like any of us who is great at what he does, but as a human, he is susceptible to the influence of rumors, allegations, pain, and general trash talk. For the entire series against the Celtics, their has been almost no talk about the Celtics, and they have won 3 of 5 games, with dominance. The talk is how James couldn't carry his team, or play up to his potential. Is this kind of scrutiny fair?

Let's get off of these issues in sports media and focus on the game, the successes, the challenges, not the off the court stuff that has not yet happened, and may never happen. Let's give the man a break as he has done incredible things for the game of basketball, and refocus on what is really happening in the sports world (or the real world for that matter) in general.