NBA and Fanaticism

Lets establish one thing: The NBA is not a team oriented league. It is a player oriented league. I think we can all agree on this. If you don't understand what this means, I will briefly explain.

If Kobe Bryant never played in LA, then nobody would care about the Lakers except for the few diehards there are.

If Lebron plays for the Knicks next year, then you can anticipate a slew of "diehard" Knicks fans that we unexplainably never cheered for them before.

There are several pros and cons with method of fanaticism.

Pro: If the Clippers miraculously convince Lebron to move to LA and play with them. Then the Clippers would become the most popular team in the League. All of a sudden you'd hear things like, "My Clippers have a shot at the title this year!" or "My Clippers are going to rock Kobe tonight." The blessing is that overnight a team can go from being forgotten and belittled, to the favorite team in the league.

Con: If Cleveland does lose its star, the Cleveland fans will disappear all over. I'd estimate that 90% of the so-called "fans" of Cleveland, would end up becoming fans of the Bulls, or Knicks, or whatever team lands Lebron this summer. Fans come and go. Jersey sales will skydive underground, and the league will never know what it means to have stability.

Pro: Thats why I don't necessarily have a favorite team. For the moment, I am cheering for the Suns, but not because I like the team, I just like Steve Nash, Lou Amundson, Channing Frye, and the rest of players. If Steve Nash was playing for the Lakers, then I'd be one of the annoying Laker fans that tweets about them nonstop.

Cons: Confusion. How do I react/cut ties with a team that I have been cheering for? Or how do I start liking a team that I used to cheer against? An example of this is when Ben Wallace went from Detroit to Chicago. I loved the Detroit team that won the title, with Wallace being my favorite player. Then he ended up in Chicago, and I found myself cheering against the Pistons.

Pros: Options! Lets imagine you have 10 players in the NBA that you love, and of the 10 players, 8 of them made the playoffs. You have 50/50 chance of one of them winning the title. The playoffs are interesting longer, and you always have something to keep you paying attention.

Cons: A player will overshadow a team effort, even if the star player has an off night. A few weeks ago. The Lakers were playing an overmatched OKC Thunder team. In the final game of the series, it went down to the wire. Kobe (aka the only reason people cheer for the Lakers) has the ball in the winding seconds. He throws shoots...................... and misses............. Pau Gasol gets the rebound and scores. LAKERS WIN! As basketball fan, I was thrilled. Buzzer beaters are always amazing. To my shock, dismay and disappointment. SEVERAL people sent me texts and tweets roughly stating: "Kobe does it again!" "Kobe is a beast" I shook my head, and realized the problems NBA has.

You make up your mind whether this a good thing or bad thing, but lets be real.... This will never change, and by the look of things......

Chicago and Lebron will be my favorite team next year....

Letter to Lebron

Dear Lebron James, Your Majesty, The King..... THE Akron Hammer:

I still believe in you. If it means anything at all, I still have faith in you. I don't think there is player in the NBA that can match your skills. Every player that has ever played with you has complimented your charisma, your loyalty, your unselfishness. Every player in the NBA wouldn't mind lacing up their kicks and playing ball with you. MJ had Pippen, Kobe had Shaq and now he has Gasol and D-Wade had Shaq. That is all you are lacking, but I think we can save that discussion for another day.

The purpose of me writing you is on behalf of people of Ohio, specifically the greater Cleveland area. In Ohio, you are the only King in the Kingdom. Their is no greater sports icon. To give you a hint about your dominance. Shin Soo-Choo is best player for the Indians, and Colt McCoy will likely be the best player for the Browns. Do you see what I am getting at? This town needs you. If they don't have you.... gulp..... Mo Williams is the best basketball player in Cleveland.

Cleveland needs you. Ohio needs you. Simple as that. You know the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child." Do you want to abandon this village that raised you? Then they'll be left with the nephew of Kim Jong the North Korean Dictator as their city's sports star.

You gave them hope. June 26, 2003, "The Mistake By the Lake" was actually the envy of every team in basketball. They had The Basketball God's prodigal child. I don't think Cleveland has given up on you. Your first game, the entire world tuned in. You are the only NBA player I've seen where people actually buy your high school jersey. Arena's that don't fill up for their own team will fill up when you are in town. Cleveland has never had a superstar - the closest thing was almost 50 years ago with Jim Brown.

So the reasons for staying are simple. You would be the hero. You would give a city that hasn't known championship in any sport since 1964. They will start naming their kids after you.

Apparently there are only a few teams in the market. The ESPN ticker has mostly been talking about three options, Knicks, Bulls and the Heat. I closed my eyes and tried to picture "James" on the back of one of those jerseys, and it just didn't work, and I'll tell you why each one of those places isn't for you.

New York sounds appealing doesn't it? I know whenever I blast "Empire State of Mind" by Jay-Z, I even consider packing up and heading there. But here is your situation if you go there: Your sidekicks would be David Lee and Tracy McGrady. If your supporting cast was bad in Cleveland with Mo Williams and Anderson Varejao and a handful of other unselfish players, then you are walking into a terrible support group. And we will see how sincere the love is between you and Knick fans after a slow start, and missed expectations. The boo birds will be present, love will be tarnished, and no titles will be won.

Chicago looks really good on paper. Good supporting cast. You would finally get that supporting cast that previous superstars enjoyed. Derrick Rose even looks like Scottie Pippen. It is a big time city that loves its sports, and its fans are loyal. But you would be like the 2nd husband to a widowed woman. You would live in a house where MJ's photos still hang on the wall. You'd go to bed in his bed. You'd sleep with a woman who is thinking more about her first husband. Radios, blogs, studios all over the country will be talking about how you remind them of MJ. You'd be a sequel, and sequels are never remembered, they are just reminders of the first.

Miami. What more can I say about Miami, that Will Smith hasn't already said.

"Don't get me wrong, Chi-town got it going on
And New York is the city that we know don't sleep
And we all know that L.A. and Philly stay jiggy
But on the sneak, Miami bringing heat for real
Y'all don't understand
I never seen so many Dominican women with cinnamon tans
MIRA this is the plan
Take a walk on the beach draw a heart in the sand
Gimmie your hand
Damn you look sexy
Let's go to my yacht in the West Keys
Ride my jet skis
loungin in the palm trees
Cause you gotta have cheese for the summerhouse piece on South Beach
Water's so clear you can see to the bottom
Hundred thousand dollar cars, every body got em
Ain't no surprise in the club to see Sly Stallone
Miami my second home."

Who wouldn't like to be able to head home after each game with their top down, and spend your days off on a yacht. What doesn't sound good about that? You and Dwayne Wade would make quite the dynamic duo, but I don't think you know how much they love D-Wade down there. You would be the lovable friend that D-Wade brought over. In the old television series "Growing Pains", this character was none other then Boner Stabone, best friend of Benjamin Seaver. You are better then that, you aren't a sidekick, you're not a Tito Jackson, Robin or a Tonto. Miami is a place that would be fun to visit, and even live in during the offseason, but I don't see you in a Heat jersey, and lets be honest, neither do you.

Cleveland is your city. You have two sons with your high school sweetheart with whom you are still with today. You are a self-proclaimed loyal guy. You are the only guy I've seen who invited the whole city to come to his MVP ceremony. You yourself has said, "I want to put this city [Akron] on the map." Have you done that yet? Have you left them anything? I know you can, if you just stick around. Be as loyal to Cleveland, as they have been with you. You wouldn't leave your high school sweetheart for the hot girl in New York who wouldn't be with you, if you weren't a superstar. Cleveland was with you during those AAU days. You probably played your first basketball game in the YMCA. Be that guy, the American sports hero that hasn't been heard of. There is only one place where you can do it, Cleveland, Ohio.

We are all witnesses.

Sincerely,

Jake Alan Runyon

Childs Play

A small child comes up to you. He has a new toy. He loves this thing, but it has it’s flaws. Nonetheless, this child adores this toy, and is loyal to it above all other toys. The child sheepishly hands you it to have you fix it. There is only a little bit of tinkering that has to be done.

You smile at the little one.

With a large breath, you throw your shoulders back, lift the toy above your head, and with all your force, you smash the toy in the ground. Crushing the small child’s hopes in the process.

Does this sound like you?

Would anyone with a soul ever do this?

This tragic think is something that is at the helms of occurring. Symbolically of course.

The heartless, and deceptive adult that is supposed to be in control is the NCAA. The easily fixable, and solvable toy is college football.

We are obviously the disappointed, and heart-broken child.

The NCAA is taking this great thing of college football, that we have seemed to love unconditionally forever, and trying to destroy it. I don’t understand it, and I never will understand why they want to destroy this almost perfect sport, especially when they have the opportunity to make it flawless.

Here is the situation. The major conferences like the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, PAC 10, ACC and Big East have been whispering about “expansion.” And in the confusing list which involves several teams jumping from one conference to the other. Here is what the rumors are:

The Big 10 would become 12 teams... (Bigger 12??) by STEALING schools from other conferences like Missouri (Big 12) and Syracuse (Big East). The Big 12 in retaliation would go after TCU (Mountain West Conference) to replace Mizzou, and possibly Arkansas from the SEC (Which I don’t think they would be able to convince to come over). The SEC has threatened to go after Texas. The PAC 10 is rumored to be sweeping the Utah out from under the MWC.

What does all this mean?

The college football world will become 4 Sumo Conferences (Pac 10, Big 12, Big 10, and SEC) and all the other conferences will just get the crumbs of the BCS money.

The Mountain West Conference, I think, would be the most effected. In both Football and Basketball, The MWC has shown that they can compete with the best teams in the country. Each year, they have multiple teams end the year ranked in the top 25. If TCU were to leave, then we lose a team that has the talent and criteria to reach a BCS Bowl Game. If Utah were to leave, then the conference would lose a team that can potentially contend for a National Title in football, and that can occasionally be ranked in the top 25 in basketball. For UNLV, SDSU, and BYU, this means that conference is left out of a share of millions of dollars. Recruiting goes down, quality of play goes down, something to cheer for goes down.

However, here is my proposal. If the NCAA isn’t going to get rid of the BCS (which I don’t think they will), then there is one idea of expansion that makes perfect sense.

Boise St. graciously leaves the WAC to join the MWC. This undoubtedly turn the MWC into an automatic qualifying conference because it would have at least four teams that would contend for a BCS spot (Utah, BYU, Boise St, and TCU). As far as basketball goes, Boise St would be a middle of the road team in the conference, which will occasionally be able to contend against the elites. If this were to occur, based on recent history, the best conferences would go as such.

SEC

Big 12

Big 10

MWC

ACC

Pac 10

Big East

In basketball

Big East

ACC

Big 12

Big 10

MWC

PAC 10

SEC

But obviously, this won’t ever happen. But could you guys imagine. The MWC being treated like the giants. It’s what I hope for, and I what I want to work to make it happen. Write your senator.

Until then, I am holding onto my slightly flawed toy, at least until the adult gets responsible.

Optimism

Am I optimistic? Yes. Is that a good thing? Of course it is! An optimist thinks everything is a good thing. Before I go on, let me mention that I am one of those UNLV Football fans that every year I somehow spill this out of my mouth, “This year is the year.” So before this optimism wears out. Let me tell you why this year is the year.

Mike Sanford is a fantastic coordinator. He will have alot of success as a coordinator. Simply put, he isn’t Head Coach material. Bobby Hauck however is a good head coach. He fits well in UNLV. He is hard-nosed, understands west-coast recruiting, defensive minded, and carries a small ego. His career at Montana speaks for itself.

-7 Conference Titles

-3 National Title Appearances

-5 Seasons of 11+ Wins

-0 Seasons with a losing record

That last point to me is the most important. UNLV has failed to have a winning season since 2000. I was 11 years old and probably spent half the game watching cartoon network, and the other half the game jumping up in down in my Jason Thomas jersey.

Bobby Hauck reminds me a lot of Bob Stoops at Oklahoma. They both yell, and are known for having tough practices. In fact, they have a similar records.

-6 Conference Titles

-3 National Title Appearances (1 Championship-2000)

-9 Seasons with 11+ Wins

-0 Seasons with a losing record

When Sanford got fired, we had to wait for a new Athletic Director before finally getting a new head coach. I thought that Hauck was the best option available. The last thing UNLV needed was another coordinator and must I say it, a softie.

Short term, Hauck will install a simple offense and an efficient defense. Just enough to possibly get a winning season in his first three years.

Long term, we have a guy who is experienced in west coast recruiting. He was an assistant coach in Washington, and UCLA. So far, he has done a simple idea that all other previous coaches forgot to consider. Las Vegas athletes. For years, we saw some of our top athletes move out of state to play football. Before even starting this season, he already has a handful of local talent. Talent that likely would have ended up with conference rivals.

I don’t think that it is a stretch to say that his Montana teams could beat UNLV.

I know we are a basketball school, and I don’t consider that a bad thing. The underlying challenge that Coach Hauck has is to accomplish is filling up Sam Boyd Stadium and getting local residents to care. The only way to do that is getting more numbers in the “W” column then in the “L” column. Lon Kruger did it with basketball, and the Mack is as loud as it has been years.

Omar Clayton is a consistent QB. With the exception of one game, he threw for over 50% all year and had a passer rating of over 100 in all but two games. With a simpler offense, those numbers could go up. We have depth in the QB position with Mike Clausen as a more then effective backup.

The running back situation is up in the air. Besides Frank the Tank and Dominique Dorsey, its hard to think of some consistent backs the Rebels have had over the past 10 years. But now, with a simpler offense, with a handful of backs that can share the load. We might be able to see consistency on the ground game.

As I said earlier. Mike Sanford was a great coordinator and will go on to be a great coordinator in college football. UNLV has finally got a Head Coach that isn’t past his prime. f think the future is bright for UNLV Football. Then again. I’m an optimistic.

and optimistically thinking....... This is our year.