Olympic Gold bigger than NBA Ring? Really?

[CoachCowens]

this is whats wrong with fans, blogs, sports radio, etc....the athlete is [dang]ed if they do and they are [dang]ed if they dont.  if they say the nba championship is more important, they are labelled as being unpatriotic.  if they say the gold medal is more important, they are hit with skepticism as not being honest.  really who cares what they hold more important.  it is their opinion either way.

What if they didn't try to make a comparison? If Lebron left his comment at. "this is the biggest thing for me", then there would be no room for criticism. He goes on to say the NBA Championship doesn't compare which leaves him open for criticism.

****, ok.

if lebron said "this is the biggest thing ive ever done" you think people wouldn't just add on "wow, guess the NBA title isn't a big thing" to hsi sentance.

please.

Huh?  He never won an NBA championship. This is the biggest accomplishment of his life. Why put down the NBA championship by saying there is no comparison.

I don't know if he really put down the NBA championship.  It is just a different thing. 

This guy is proud of his accomplishment.  What is wrong with that?

He should be proud. Nothing wrong with that and I didn't knock him for that.

Maybe we are reading the quote differently. To me it sounds like he is trying to infer that the Olympics is much bigger than the NBA championship.

 "winning an NBA championship never would compare to winning a gold medal for my country"

Usually when you say something like that you mean it pales in comparison, not, you can't compare because it is different.

And if he did mean that, what is wrong with that?  I think a lot of people would take more pride in winning for their country than winning for some team that his only connection with is because they drafted him or pay his contract?

Just opens it up for criticism. You can have pride for your country without denigrating the NBA championship. The NBA and and Olympics are different as you said. Why even compare them?

[crownsy]

this is whats wrong with fans, blogs, sports radio, etc....the athlete is [dang]ed if they do and they are [dang]ed if they dont.  if they say the nba championship is more important, they are labelled as being unpatriotic.  if they say the gold medal is more important, they are hit with skepticism as not being honest.  really who cares what they hold more important.  it is their opinion either way.

What if they didn't try to make a comparison? If Lebron left his comment at. "this is the biggest thing for me", then there would be no room for criticism. He goes on to say the NBA Championship doesn't compare which leaves him open for criticism.

****, ok.

if lebron said "this is the biggest thing ive ever done" you think people wouldn't just add on "wow, guess the NBA title isn't a big thing" to hsi sentance.

please.

Huh?  He never won an NBA championship. This is the biggest accomplishment of his life(basketball wise). Why put down the NBA championship by saying there is no comparison.

what does that have to do with the price of tea in china?

If he said;

"this is the thing i've been workign towards, its the biggest thing ive ever done!"

i will bet you any amount of money that within the day there would be a thread here along the lines of

"Lebron not motivated enough to win a title"

these threads are pretty blatently motivated, espcially the anti-kobe ones, by the perception that these players should be prefacing every sentance about basketball with;

"we'll, this is nice, but of course the celtics won the only thing that matters in my life. i cry myself to sleep"

as has been brought up in every thread, of course they will say this is the greatest thing ever, its called PR.

[Chris]

this is whats wrong with fans, blogs, sports radio, etc....the athlete is [dang]ed if they do and they are [dang]ed if they dont.  if they say the nba championship is more important, they are labelled as being unpatriotic.  if they say the gold medal is more important, they are hit with skepticism as not being honest.  really who cares what they hold more important.  it is their opinion either way.

What if they didn't try to make a comparison? If Lebron left his comment at. "this is the biggest thing for me", then there would be no room for criticism. He goes on to say the NBA Championship doesn't compare which leaves him open for criticism.

****, ok.

if lebron said "this is the biggest thing ive ever done" you think people wouldn't just add on "wow, guess the NBA title isn't a big thing" to hsi sentance.

please.

Huh?  He never won an NBA championship. This is the biggest accomplishment of his life(basketball wise). Why put down the NBA championship by saying there is no comparison.

what does that have to do with the price of tea in china?

If he said;

"this is the thing i've been workign towards, its the biggest thing ive ever done!"

i will bet you any amount of money that within the day there would be a thread here along the lines of

"Lebron not motivated enough to win a title"

these threads are pretty blatently motivated, espcially the anti-kobe ones, by the perception that these players should be prefacing every sentance about basketball with;

"we'll, this is nice, but of course the celtics won the only thing that matters in my life. i cry myself to sleep"

as has been brought up in every thread, of course they will say this is the greatest thing ever, its called PR.



as

I think you are right, and I think this is a big reason why everyone outside of Boston hates Boston fans right now.  Too many of them are completely lacking perspective (which doesn't make too much sense considering we have all felt what its like to cheer for a loser year after year).

[dark_lord]

this is whats wrong with fans, blogs, sports radio, etc....the athlete is [dang]ed if they do and they are [dang]ed if they dont.  if they say the nba championship is more important, they are labelled as being unpatriotic.  if they say the gold medal is more important, they are hit with skepticism as not being honest.  really who cares what they hold more important.  it is their opinion either way.

What if they didn't try to make a comparison? If Lebron left his comment at. "this is the biggest thing for me", then there would be no room for criticism. He goes on to say the NBA Championship doesn't compare which leaves him open for criticism.

so if he thinks the gold medal is more important, he is open for criticism? thats his opinion, who are u or anyone else to knock him for that if he feels that way?! 

again, why is he hit with skepticism?  if thats how he feels, so be it.  as i said, its a lose/lose for a lot of players to comment on their gold medal.  they are unpatriotic if they say the nba is more important, and if they say the gold medal is more important they are labeled as being disingenuous .  u cant knock a person on their opinion

[dark_lord]

You can have pride for your country without denigrating the NBA championship. The NBA and and Olympics are different as you said. Why even compare them?

he didnt denegrate anything.....he said he values the medal more! 

[CoachCowens]

this is whats wrong with fans, blogs, sports radio, etc....the athlete is [dang]ed if they do and they are [dang]ed if they dont.  if they say the nba championship is more important, they are labelled as being unpatriotic.  if they say the gold medal is more important, they are hit with skepticism as not being honest.  really who cares what they hold more important.  it is their opinion either way.

What if they didn't try to make a comparison? If Lebron left his comment at. "this is the biggest thing for me", then there would be no room for criticism. He goes on to say the NBA Championship doesn't compare which leaves him open for criticism.

****, ok.

if lebron said "this is the biggest thing ive ever done" you think people wouldn't just add on "wow, guess the NBA title isn't a big thing" to hsi sentance.

please.

Huh?  He never won an NBA championship. This is the biggest accomplishment of his life(basketball wise). Why put down the NBA championship by saying there is no comparison.

what does that have to do with the price of tea in china?

If he said;

"this is the thing i've been workign towards, its the biggest thing ive ever done!"

i will bet you any amount of money that within the day there would be a thread here along the lines of

"Lebron not motivated enough to win a title"

these threads are pretty blatently motivated, espcially the anti-kobe ones, by the perception that these players should be prefacing every sentance about basketball with;

"we'll, this is nice, but of course the celtics won the only thing that matters in my life. i cry myself to sleep"

as has been brought up in every thread, of course they will say this is the greatest thing ever, its called PR.

I was commenting off of what he did say. Not what ifs.

so here is my what if.

What If Tiger never won the Masters then won the Ryder Cup and said the Masters doesn't compare to the Ryder Cup?  What would people say then? I'm pretty sure people would be all over Tiger.

[crownsy]

this is whats wrong with fans, blogs, sports radio, etc....the athlete is [dang]ed if they do and they are [dang]ed if they dont.  if they say the nba championship is more important, they are labelled as being unpatriotic.  if they say the gold medal is more important, they are hit with skepticism as not being honest.  really who cares what they hold more important.  it is their opinion either way.

What if they didn't try to make a comparison? If Lebron left his comment at. "this is the biggest thing for me", then there would be no room for criticism. He goes on to say the NBA Championship doesn't compare which leaves him open for criticism.

****, ok.

if lebron said "this is the biggest thing ive ever done" you think people wouldn't just add on "wow, guess the NBA title isn't a big thing" to hsi sentance.

please.

Huh?  He never won an NBA championship. This is the biggest accomplishment of his life(basketball wise). Why put down the NBA championship by saying there is no comparison.

what does that have to do with the price of tea in china?

If he said;

"this is the thing i've been workign towards, its the biggest thing ive ever done!"

i will bet you any amount of money that within the day there would be a thread here along the lines of

"Lebron not motivated enough to win a title"

these threads are pretty blatently motivated, espcially the anti-kobe ones, by the perception that these players should be prefacing every sentance about basketball with;

"we'll, this is nice, but of course the celtics won the only thing that matters in my life. i cry myself to sleep"

as has been brought up in every thread, of course they will say this is the greatest thing ever, its called PR.

I was commenting off of what he did say. Not what ifs.

so here is my what if.

What If Tiger never won the Masters then won the Ryder Cup and said the Masters doesn't compare to the Ryder Cup?  What would people say then? I'm pretty sure people would be all over Tiger.

if lebron said "this is the biggest thing for me" your original thing you approved of, people would immediately post

"oh look! the Olympics are the most important thing to him! he'll never win a title with that attitude!!!!"

. the justification is clearly what most not all, of the people putting up these threads want.

if we weren;t the NBA champions, you think there'd be 12 (by a quick skim) threads since the start of the games lead up criticizing and nitpicking players we beat in the playoffs (there all about lebron and kobe, even though wade and others said similar things) about not respecting the championship enough in pre-fab press comments?

I'm with chris and dark, i don't. This has been a petty month on the boards, and it sickens me.

[CoachCowens]

You can have pride for your country without denigrating the NBA championship. The NBA and and Olympics are different as you said. Why even compare them?

he didnt denegrate anything.....he said he values the medal more! 

I guess we just interpret the original statement by Lebron differently. To me , he is saying the gold medal is far and above the NBA Championship. His entitled to that position but I believe that does leave him open to criticism or maybe i should say debate.

As far as knocking goes. I believe i was quite mild in any "knocking" of Lebron. I like Lebron James. It's seems like I'm being hit with how dare your question the "King"

[Neurotic Guy]

Wow, what a thread!  Which is better Vegetables or fruit? Progresso split pea or lentil?  Quien es mas macho, Ricardo Maltaban o Richard Gere?

I can't fathom the excitement of being a young man enjoying 2 weeks in the midst of frenzied excitment with great athletes from all over the world.  Seeing awe-inspiring performances by Phelps and Bolt.  Being around people who are awestruck by the sight of you, and then in the same instant being awe-struck by the sight of them.  What an experience for them.

I don't blame any of them by being carried away by the moment and speaking in grandiose terms about a once in a lifetime experience.  Good for them!

My bet is that if any of them win an NBA title in the near future they will be equally carried away by that moment.  Can't an emotional comment be made without it having to be analyzed and subject to scrutiny?

[Redz]

Wow, what a thread!  Which is better Vegetables or fruit? Progresso split pea or lentil?  Quien es mas macho, Ricardo Maltaban o Richard Gere?

I can't fathom the excitement of being a young man enjoying 2 weeks in the midst of frenzied excitment with great athletes from all over the world.  Seeing awe-inspiring performances by Phelps and Bolt.  Being around people who are awestruck by the sight of you, and then in the same instant being awe-struck by the sight of them.  What an experience for them.

I don't blame any of them by being carried away by the moment and speaking in grandiose terms about a once in a lifetime experience.  Good for them!

My bet is that if any of them win an NBA title in the near future they will be equally carried away by that moment.  Can't an emotional comment be made without it having to be analyzed and subject to scrutiny?

TP for all that...especially the "Quien es mas macho"  reference.  Lorenzo Llamas es mas macho BTW

[zerophase]

First Kobe, then CP3, now even LeBron.

The Arizona Republic:

"It's the biggest thing for me ever," LeBron James said. "I got to the NBA Finals, and I thought it was pretty big for me. But winning an NBA championship never would compare to winning a gold medal for my country."

Are they kidding me? Don't they understand that their comments are so obvious that people think they just say it because they weren't able to win the NBA Championship? Or do they really think so? I mean, you train and prepare yourself a couple of months for the NBA season, not the Olympics, and you play at least half a year in the NBA, compared to the 2 weeks in the Olympics. You live for the NBA, and you are rich because of the NBA, not the Olympics. Are they really kidding me?

yea like the others have said... on what grounds does he have to say this? neither cp3 or lebron have won championships.

[dark_lord]

You can have pride for your country without denigrating the NBA championship. The NBA and and Olympics are different as you said. Why even compare them?

he didnt denegrate anything.....he said he values the medal more! 

I guess we just interpret the original statement by Lebron differently. To me , he is saying the gold medal is far and above the NBA Championship. His entitled to that position but I believe that does leave him open to criticism or maybe i should say debate.

As far as knocking goes. I believe i was quite mild in any "knocking" of Lebron. I like Lebron James. It's seems like I'm being hit with how dare your question the "King"

if he does feel that way, why is he open to be criticised or even debated?  that makes absolutely no sense!

i dont care if u like lbj or not. i never said, nor implied "how dare you question the king", nor have i even "knocked" you.  ur reading what u want out of lbj and other bloggers posts, rather than taking it what you should, at face value.

[dark_lord]

I'm with chris and dark, i don't. This has been a petty month on the boards, and it sickens me.

agreed.  the off season is usually tough on the blog, but this offseason has been especially brutal!

[dark_lord]

I guess we just interpret the original statement by Lebron differently. To me , he is saying the gold medal is far and above the NBA Championship. His entitled to that position but I believe that does leave him open to criticism or maybe i should say debate.

so based on this post, correct me if i am wrong, u are saying you value the nba championship more than a gold medal.  thus, because u value the nba championship more and you have a difference of opinion of lebron (who values the medal more), lebron is open for criticism and debate? 

if that interpretation is correct, ur very egocentric and hypocrital with regards to this discussion!

[ACF]

Personally, I'd take the ring any
day of the week. To me, it's just
more of an accomplishment. But I
agree that for the players it's a
lose-lose situation:
If they say Olympic gold is bigger
then people will question if they
really have what it takes to become
NBA Champion. If they go with the
'Ship, they're "unpatriotic".
Like I said, lose-lose.