LeFRAUD

In my mind LeBron James will go down as the greatest basketball player ever to play the game when all is said and done. I rooted for him ever since his coming-out party in high school, when he destroyed also-heralded Lenny Cooke in summer league play. He arrived to the Association ready to play, with that once-in-a-lifetime combination of man-child size, strength skill and maturity.

But he lost me during that first playoff series with the Wiz. Write off LeBron's low-class heckling of Gilbert before those free throws as nothing more than gamesmanship, but poor sportsmanship from an all-time great always irked me more than that from the journeyman. He's got the skill to win without whining about calls or tearing down his opponents, but LeBron just doesn't seem to get it. Whenever your mama's got to get involved, your class is suspect.

And LeBron playing with his Cleveland fans with his flirtation with free agency:

Narcissus so himself himself forsook,

And died to kiss his shadow in the brook --- Twelfth Night

But since the moment I saw this, I knew LeBron had stepped over the line.

The image of throwing resin is original, cool, a signature move that helps define the King James mythology.

One problem.

It's completely ripped off from former sumo wrestler Mitoizumi, who always ended his pre-bout ritual with a gasp-inducing heave of salt that earned him the nickname "Salt Shaker" in Japan.

Now retired, Mitoizumi started that routine way back in the mid-80's before calling it quits in 2002. A feisty wrestler whose antics were always more memorable than his win-loss record, Mitoizumi came across as a nasty, mean bully who was a pleasure to root against. Hence, his other nickname, "The Asshole," in David Benjamin's immortal The Joy of Sumo. Oh, and just to pile on Mitoizumi with more villanous qualities, he bore an uncanny resemblance to Gabara, the cat-faced monster nemesis in Godzilla's Revenge. In fact, when Mitoizumi and diminutive Takatoriki would tussle, it would seem alot like Ganbara kicking Minya's butt up and down Monster Island. Minus the electro-shocks.

But I digress.

LeBron copped his act off The Asshole, which is appropriate, but unoriginal.

Quoted in the Cleveland Plain Dealer: "I don't know why I started throwing it up," James said. "But it is definitely trademarked."

Sure, but by Mitoizumi, who was doing it when LeBron [edit] first started wearing diapers.

YES WE CAN!

BLAKE GRIFFIN

Super Bowl Slumber

• News & Notes! during one of the most boring two week stretches in the sports calendar
  
• 17 years and counting for the Skins since their last Super Bowl... or their last NFC championship game. 
  
• Eagles have been to 5 NFC championships in the past 7 years -- I'd buy that for a dollar. I'd take a contender who has a chance to win it any day over a guaranteed  win. Give me 5 NFC championships, even if they end in heartbreak, over 1 Super Bowl and 4 poor seasons.
• 50/50 Will Eagle DeSean Jackson have more receiving yards in his rookie season than all three Skins rookie receivers in their careers? Current score: DeSean - 920, Fred Davis, Devin Thomas, Malcolm Kelly - 147  Keep in mind both Devin Thomas and Fred "Sleepy" Davis were taken before Jackson was in the 2nd round. Oh, yeah, Bronco Eddie Royal (980 yards, 5 TDs) was taken on the board when we picked Thomas, too. Thanks, Vinny.
• Best use of the Skins money? Give Wade Phillips a $3-million contract...to continue coaching the Cowboys. Throw in some for T.O while you are at it.
• Trade Clinton Portis for Anquan Boldin straight up. Cardinals get a better running game, we get the receiver we need. Start Betts until better talent comes along.
• Gotta love Baltimore making a run -- Danny's gotta hate that. 

Rey Mauluga Has Good Taste in Sideline Reporters, Needs to Work On Pickup Skillz

Only DC team that's winnin'!!!

Answers from the ATL

The parallels are eerie.

• The Washington Redskins and the Atlanta Falcons have identical 65-77 records in the 21st century (Ever wonder how far down the sports totem pole we've fallen ? -- Atlanta has never in their team history had back-to-back winning seasons).
• Both teams had owners accused of being too involved in the day-to-day operations of the franchise, with Arthur Blank palling around with players down on the sidelines and Dan Snyder's well-documented foray into team management.
• Both faced GM and coaching searches last year, the Falcons after their disastarous 2007 season that featured a dysfunctional organization with a quitter for a coach (Petrino) and sniping players who took public shots at the direction of the team.
• Here the parallels end.
  
• The Skins hire the owner/Vinny as GM and Zorn as coach.
• The Falcons hire GM Thomas Dimitroff from the personnel department of the Patriots and Mike Smith, Jacksonville defensive coordinator as coach. Blank distances himself from the day-to-day operations of the team.
• Coming off a 9-7 season Skins flounder after a fast start, winding up 8-7 with one game left.
  
• Coming off a 4-12 season, the Falcons rise to 10-5 with one game left.
• Dimitroff is touted as NFL executive of the year.
• Vinny/Danny are not.
• Mike Smith is discussed as a possible coach of the year.
• Zorn is not.

What did the Falcons do?

1. The owner becomes detached from day-to-day operations. Hard to take dad seriously if mom is always open for complaints. An owner getting too chummy with players encourages the coach to do the same to curry their favor. Jim Mora was canned by the Falcons for doing too much of this, the same Jim Mora who the Seahawks will likely give the keys to the kingdom to after Mike Holmgren leaves instead of in-house QB coach Jim Zorn.
   
2. Hire an unglamorous, football saavy GM, giving him the power and independence. He hires a similar coach.
3. Make football moves that benefit the team, regardless of sentiment or star power: The mercurial bad apple DeAngelo Hall -- gone. All-star tight end Alge Crumpler -- gone. Warrick Dunn, great character guy but done --gone. All ties cut with Vick. The result was a team with less talent but more character. Portis? Campbell?
   
4. Build through the draft. Of course it helps to draft perhaps the best rookie QB ever in Matt Ryan. But all the rookies for the Falcons have contributed. The Skins draft was crap, full of guys who either shouldn't've been drafted, or have claimed they have had trouble adjusting to living on their own.
   

Gotta tear it down before you really build a contender. Hire Cowher and Colbert. And Danny should back the hell off.
A reminder of Cowher's resume:
15 years.
11 winning seasons.
10 trips to the playoffs.
161-99-1.

Collapse

No other word for it. The Redskins are as bad as the economy. They are the Lehman Bros. of football; the stock market of sports teams. Cash out! Cash out!
It's sad, really. And we should blame ourselves for getting too excited at 6-2. I watched Sunday's game like a rubber necker on the highjway, just pure schendenfreude (yes, I speak bad German).
Not enough fingers to point at all the problems. Vinny? Danny? Zorny? etc. I just keep thinking one more season, one more season. But reality is we are far away from becoming an elite playoff team.
Merry Christmas.