OT - Izzo's real reason for staying
Surprise, surprise, surprise...
Despite what every scrapped-knee media voice said about Tom (son of Mary and Joseph) Izzo, he stayed at MSU because he knew Lebron wasn't staying in Cleveland:
http://www.theonlycolors.com/2010/7/18/1576028/and-now-we-know-the-rest…
Ignoring the laughable conclusion paragraph of the article, it's clear that Izzo only stayed in E.L. because he knew Lebron was gone. I think Izzo is a great coach/recruiter and don't blame him a bit for looking at his options, but the diva act (and savior redux) is rubbish. I think "spartan for life" lasts maybe one more year.
But yeah, the savior/diva act was obnoxious.
He just wanted his ego stroked
....or until something better comes along.
They're also-ran in academics and in coach retention too.
How splendid. Sparty schadenfreude makes Moe happy!
can't blame the guy for looking into coaching LBJ.
I always thought he stayed because even Sparties know Ohio sucks.
...is that Dan Gilbert is a complete loon.
We all wish Izzo would leave sometime soon, but I just don't see it happening. Say all you want about how you think it was diva-ish for him to handle things the way he did, but it all comes down to him making a huge decision in a relatively short period of time. Can anyone really blame him for taking a week to decide whether to move his whole family and leave behind the university he's been at for so long?
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Asisw0B7dxxElRE6rxc2p.C8vLYF?slug…
Is really interesting, long, but interesting.
That article was fascinating. It really gives you an inside look as to who Lebron really is. He's a petulant immature narricist. As a Pistons fan I never liked Lebron, it looks like I had good reason to all along.
While it was an interesting read, the article was as much a hit job as Rosenberg's investigation was. Actually, it was more of a hit job in that no specifics whatsoever were given about sources, aspirations on James' character were made without credible sourcing or reason, the article was intentionally written as a narrative to engage interest from readers at the expense of actual quotations or facts, and the article didn't even give James a chance to explain himself. Furthermore, numerous people have made it known publicly that they have an axe to grind with James, so writing on James from a negative perspective without naming any sources, or at least stating the organizations they work for, is patently dishonest. This article has no credibility whatsoever and should be ignored in its entirety.
While the article didn't directly state its sources, Adrian Wojnarowski is a very good writer and probably the only reason I ever visit yahoo sports. I'm hard pressed to believe he just made all of that narrative up without thoroughly checking his facts.
No one had more intelligence and better monitored the disconnect between James and the Cavaliers than Miami Heat president Pat Riley. He had informants and spies everywhere, including his own star, Wade, who had been telling Riley for most of two years they could lure James to South Beach. The Heat had everything they needed to sell James, except for what finally arrived on the eve of the NBA draft: salary-cap space.
For James, the problem with back-to-back presentations was his short attention span. Cavaliers coaches had always tried to keep film sessions short because James would drift away and lose interest. As the New York Knicks followed the Nets by repeating those themes with an array of power points and charts about accumulating wealth, James drifted in and out of focus. Later, James would tell Jay-Z that parts of New York’s presentation felt too redundant to New Jersey’s.
Chicago officials never directly requested Rose to reach out with a call, and the young point guard felt James could’ve always reached out to him had he wanted to discuss the possibility of playing together. James needed to be courted, needed to be wooed and apparently it surprised him there was a star who wasn’t falling over himself to do that.
That statement is just plain irresponsible. Unless James actually said, "I'm not going to Chicago because Derrick Rose didn't call me and I'm surprised he didn't.", then this statement is baseless. And even if he did, then it's still irresponsible to say, "...it surprised him that there was a star who wasn't falling over himself to do that.", as it serves purely as an embellishment to the sentence so as to further bias the reader against Lebron.
There are numerous other instances of bias and dubious claims in that article. However, I don't think it's worth my time to break them all down. However, I feel that what I've detailed above is pretty emblematic of my problem with the article, namely that Wojnarowski abandons the journalistic integrity of the article along with any degree of objectivity in order to produce an interesting and inflammatory narrative.
This article is a complete piece of shit. I am now dumber for having read it.
after reading my first thought was that it had not reflected well on Lebron. But in making my way back through it I found very few damning specifics--the author obviously sought to leave a poor impression of him, but it wasn't substantiated.
Obviously a dumbo move to do the farewell show, but beyond that and a distaste for the whole marketing aspect of the thing (which you can't fairly blame on James alone), not so much. . .
And lost miserably. It is interesting to note that Lebron did try to persuade Bosh just days before announcing he would join them in Miami. I definitely think Lebron wanted to make Cleveland work, Dwyane and Chris just forced his hand.
Wow, jealousy is never pretty....when you have a crap bball program it's very easy to rip on the elite. you have Beeline, enjoy your thumpings.
1. While we certainly would like to have the level of success MSU has had with their basketball program this decade, we care much more about football. As our football history is immensely superior to yours and as we hold a significant advantage in head to head competition with you, despite losing the past couple years, we don't have any envy for your athletic programs. Combining this with our academic superiority simply makes us look down on your institution.
2. You are on a Michigan sports blog and you are one of our rivals. As such, your teams and coaches will be abused here from time to time. Furthermore, the level of abuse leveled at MSU in the Michigan blogosphere is far less than what the reciprocal level of abuse Michigan takes in the MSU blogosphere, where people have defended Corey Tropp for slashing Steve Kampfer in the neck after Kampfer received an incredibly dirty hit from behind by Andrew Conboy.
3. If you are going to join a Michigan blog for the purposes of trolling, you could at least come up with puns and insults that are amusing and creative, rather than something as boring and dumb as the one you used in your post. Your post comes off as idiotic and irritating, rather than amusing or painful. It is actually emblematic of why so many here look down at both your institution and your fanbase.
As a point of reference, they would have to dominate the next decade also (as in win every single game if we played twice per season) just to even up the basketball series. Outside of Tom Izzo, they have had a very mediocre basketball program. Just because we care more about football doesn't mean our basketball history (minus the past 15 years) isn't something to be very, very proud of. UCLA and Michigan are the only teams in the NCAA to have made the championship game at least once per decade in the 60's, 70's, and 80's (and would have been 90's also if we didn't forefit the Fab Five years). Our basketball program has just as much history as the Spartans program.
I love how the Sparties all spell his name "Beeline."
If it was any other fanbase I would think it was a failed attempt at a joke, but in this case I'm quite certain they just don't know how to spell, or have simply given up on the English language.
His name is Beilein. Spell it with me...B-E-I-L-E-I-N.
look it up, and placing his finger on it, and going back to it again and again to make sure he got it right. And not being super-sure then.
Thank you Captain Obvious...the Cavs job w/o Lebron is the worst job in the league. It's become evident that Lebron was never staying in Cleveland, thus Izzo was never leaving. Either that or the "We <3 Izzo" was the most successful viral marketing campaign in recent memory.
Terry Crews resents that. Some poor building is about to meet it's doom.
EXPLOSION!!!
Oh, I must have missed the previous reports where Lebron's people directly informed Izzo that Lebron was leaving Cleveland. Either that, or they didn't exist.
First of all, if I was recruiting against him, I would mention that he was one LeBron phone call/assurance away from leaving his "Beloved Spartans," and that the next offer he gets might be "the" offer. Secondly, I don't see players ready to run through walls for him anymore. You can fool the public, but you can't fool the athletes for long. They will see through Izzo as someone who would rather be in the NBA, despite his grandiose proclamations of being a "Spartan for Life."
I think Izzo's diva routine will cause him to lose that "extra two or three percent" he could get out of players when games are close. I think he will lose a few more close games this year than "normal," and I don't see MSU getting to the Sweet Sixteen. This will cause him to take a serious look at himself, his "window" of being percieved as a desirable coach to NBA teams, and his market value.
Either way, I think Izzo pissed his "it factor" away this summer, and I don't think things will ever be the same for him at MSU.
First of all, I think negative recruiting is pitiful. Second of all, as much as I would like to see this hurt Izzo's credibility with recruits, etc his flirtation with the NBA has never hurt him before and I doubt it will this time. if anything, it's another feather in his cap to say, "Spartan for life."
What exactly did Izzo do to make everyone call him a diva and such?
He took time to consider a serious career and life opportunity. He made sure he made the decision that made the most sense to him.
The media portrayed him poorly because he withheld information about an open job offer, which is totally in his right.
What exactly did he do wrong?
In all seriousness though, you hit the nail on the head here.
I have no problem with his flirtation with Cleveland, but I don't want to hear anything about what a good guy he is. The man's the biggest negative recruiter in the conference.
The man's the biggest negative recruiter in the conference.
For all this community's bellyaching about the lack of credibility associated with the current, journalistic animal, many of you have absolutely no problems offering similarly baseless commentary. Yes, I know that you're not professional journalists, but it is laughly hypocritical to act in direct contrast to your stated opinions. Whatever.
Izzo did what any of you would do. If we criticize Izzo for looking to get a better job, shouldn't we also join the WVU RR tar and feather mob?
Tom Izzo is the best basketball coach in the Big Ten, Sparty or not. People like Tater can continue to predict his deminse, but it ain't happening.