Miami Heat: LeBron James, "It's Not Always Great to be the King"

"What should I do? Should I admit that I've made mistakes?"
"Should I remind you that I’ve done this before?"
"Should I give you a history lesson?"
"What should I do? Should I tell you how much fun we had?"
"So, this went well. Should I really believe I ruined my legacy?"
"What should I do? Should I tell you I’m a championship chaser, I did it for the money, rings?"
"Should I be who you want me to be?"
"Should I accept my role...as the villain?"
"Should we just clear the decks and start over?" 
"What should I do? Should I be who you want me to be?"

The words of the new LeBron James commercial keep echoing in my head.
Never before has a player fallen from the good graces of fans, so far, and so fast, for just changing teams. What is our culture coming to, when a player is hated at this magnitude?
Does he deserved to have his jerseys burned, his banner torn down, and his legacy ruined, for his decision to switch teams.
Tiger Woods cheated on his wife with countless women, which tore apart his marriage, resulting in a divorce. Kobe Bryant cheated on his wife, and was accused of rape.
Ben Roethlisberger has been suspended from the NFL countless times, and was also accused of rape. Michael Vick was involved in a dog-fighting ring, in which he did inhumane things to dogs.
Yet none of these iconic sports figures are hated anywhere near the magnitude in which LeBron James is hated at the moment. They all broke the law, or failed morally, and yet all are applauded on the road to recovery.
James was a free agent who switched teams in the offseason, and yet he is forced to walk this road alone with only a small number of faithful fans.
Should LeBron be punished for his decision?
In his commercial, he asks "Should I really believe I ruined my legacy?" If the above-mentioned athletes have not ruined their legacy by breaking the law, or failing morally, then why should James be held to a higher standard for switching teams.
LeBron has been fueled by all this hatred, and we are seeing a different side of the king these days.
Many people now think of LeBron as the villain, and have posted hateful tweets on his Twitter account. He has reposted many of these messages, letting the world know that this is what fuels him now.
He said he has been taking mental notes of everyone who was hating on him, and he will use this to his advantage.
LeBron once ruled the city of Cleveland. He put them on the map, gave them good years, brought them an incredible source of income.
How does the city of Cleveland repay him? By burning his jerseys, tearing him down verbally and trying to destroy his legacy.

LeBron has had to walk through this adversity alone, for the most part. It goes to show that it is lonely at the top, and when you are the king, people are going to try to knock you down.
So the next time you go pointing your finger at LeBron, realize that there are plenty of others you should be pointing at first.
I wish James the best in this time of his life. He is my favorite player and will always be, but this season will test him emotionally.

There is a very popular saying, "it's great to be the king", but LeBron has shown us that it is not always great.
With the great title, comes great expectations.

When it's all said and done, LeBron will show us, "it's great to be the king, when the king finally has his ring."

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Date/Time: Sep 21, 2010, 8:50pm Competition: Brazil Serie B Live/Repeat: Live Venue: Estádio Joaquim Henrique Nogueira (Sete Lagoas, Minas Gerais)

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                Tournament Matchups

 

                                     Set 1    Set 2     Set 3      Set 4       Set 5

First Round
Sergiy Stakhovsky	6 8	7	3
Peter Luczak	7 10	5	2
In-Progress

First Round
Marcel Granollers	2	5	6	6	4
Andreas Seppi	6	7	3	2	2
In-Progress

First Round
Ivan Ljubicic (15)	3	7 7	3	2
Ryan Harrison	6	6 4	6	4
In-Progress

First Round
Andy Murray (4)	6	1
Lukas Lacko	3	0
In-Progress

First Round
Tomas Berdych (7)	6 3	3
Michael Llodra	7 7	4
In-Progress

First Round
Juan Ignacio Chela	5
Yen-Hsun Lu	3
In-Progress

First Round
E. Schwank / H. Zeballos	2
C. Fleming / K. Skupski	2
In-Progress

First Round - 1:00PM ET
Stanislas Wawrinka (25)
Mikhail Kukushkin
Has Not Started

First Round - 1:00PM ET
M. Fish (15) / M. Knowles (15)
M. Lopez / P. Riba-Madrid
Has Not Started

First Round - 1:00PM ET
A. Falla / S. Giraldo
J. Chardy / C. Kas
Has Not Started

First Round - 3:00PM ET
Dudi Sela
Xavier Malisse
Has Not Started

First Round - 3:00PM ET
Philipp Kohlschreiber (29)
Tobias Kamke
Has Not Started

First Round - 3:00PM ET
Mikhail Youzhny (12)
Andrey Golubev
Has Not Started

First Round - 3:00PM ET
Gilles Simon
Donald Young
Has Not Started

First Round - 3:00PM ET
M. Bhupathi (4) / M. Mirnyi (4)
A. Clement / N. Mahut
Has Not Started

First Round - 3:00PM ET
J. Melzer (7) / P. Petzschner (7)
K. Anderson / V. Hanescu
Has Not Started

First Round - 5:00PM ET
John Isner (18)
Frederico Gil
Has Not Started

First Round - 5:00PM ET
Gael Monfils (17)
Igor Andreev
Has Not Started

First Round - 5:00PM ET
Marco Chiudinelli
Jack Sock
Has Not Started

First Round - 5:00PM ET
D. Marrero / R. Ramirez Hidalgo
J. Hajek / K. Vliegen
Has Not Started

First Round - 5:00PM ET
M. Berrer / V. Troicki
M. Gonzalez / S. Ventura
Has Not Started

Second Round - 6:00PM ET
Gael Monfils (17)
Igor Andreev
Has Not Started

First Round - 7:00PM ET
B. Bryan (1) / M. Bryan (1)
A. Dolgopolov / B. Phau
Has Not Started

First Round - 7:00PM ET
M. Kohlmann / J. Nieminen
S. Bangoura / N. Pasha
Has Not Started

Second Round - 9:00PM ET
Andy Roddick (9)
Janko Tipsarevic
Has Not Started

Second Round - 9:00PM ET
Andy Roddick (9)
Janko Tipsarevic
Has Not Started

First Round - 9:00PM ET
Andy Roddick (9)
Janko Tipsarevic
Has Not Started

First Round - 9:00PM ET
Andy Roddick (9)
Janko Tipsarevic
Has Not Started

First Round - 9:00PM ET
Andy Roddick (9)
Janko Tipsarevic
Has Not Started

First Round
Sam Querrey (20)	6	4	7	6
Bradley Klahn	3	6	5	4
Final

First Round
Nicolas Almagro (14)	4	6	6	7 7
Potito Starace	6	4	4	6 5
Final

First Round
Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo	4	6 6	5
Dustin Brown	6	7 8	7
Final

First Round
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez	6	6	7 7
Lukasz Kubot	3	2	6 4
Final

First Round
Victor Hanescu	6	6	6
Carlos Berlocq	2	4	3
Final

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Tiger Woods Should Keep Caddy Williams and Add Swing Coach Sean Foley

Foley should be added sooner than later
Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Despite the nightmare that Tiger Woods has found himself unable to wake up from this year, the world's number one golfer has no plans to replace his long-time caddie Steve Williams. At least, that's what Williams believes.
Talking with New Zealand radio a few days ago Williams expressed a feeling of security in his job.
"I'm sure that if there was going to be some sort of parting of the ways, I'd be the first to know," Williams said. "From my point of view, I don't see that happening."
The media has spent the year speculating on possible replacements for Tiger's long-time caddie, but Williams believes there will be no change.
"I'm fully supportive of the guy and he's been great through this whole situation with me, "Williams said.
A few months ago I wrote that Woods would be better off with someone new on the bag. A change, simply for the sake of change and association, was what Tiger needed.
However, despite the less than stellar last few months, I have to say I've changed my tune. Tiger has endured the worst stretch of golf in his professional life and saw his image sink to an unfathomable new low. Yet, despite that, Tiger has survived, and he is still out there fighting to repair his golf game. He has weathered the worst, and the time when a caddie change may have helped him has long past.
Williams and Woods have been one of the most successful golfer—caddie pairings in the history of the game. A change now, at this point, would most likely be counter productive. If Tiger had any thoughts or plans of replacing Stevie, that time is over.
On the coach rumors swirling with Sean Foley, Woods should definitely act sooner than later. Even Williams agreed.
"He hasn't decided if that's the coach that is going to be with him," Williams said, "but I really like what this new guy had to say and what his theories are. If Tiger decides to stick with Sean, I believe he'll get better. It might take a little while."
Tiger, working with Foley during the week of the PGA Championship, was able to improve from the worst finish of his professional career the week before to a 28th place finish at Whistling Straits.
Not exactly winning, but certainly a step in the right direction. If Tiger is buying into Foley's theories at all, he should take the leap and add the 35 year-old Canadian teacher to his team.
By working with Foley at all Tiger has shown us he is ready to abandon the concepts of his previous coach Hank Haney, whom he split with earlier in the year.
Foley's current clients include Justin Rose, Sean O'Hair, Hunter Mahan, and Stephen Ames. The first three names on that list have each had an exceptional 2010.

Woods and Williams know how to win together
Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

After the fourth round of the PGA Championship and his 28th place finish, Woods was asked what he thought of working with Foley for the week.
"I like some of the things he had to say about my golf swing and where I needed to go," Woods said. "I like the direction because I was able to hit some of the shots I used to be able to hit feel-wise. When you get that kind of contact again, it's good. As far as working down the road, I'm sure I'm going to him a little bit more. I still want to pick his brain. I don't really have all of his whole concept yet. But I would like to get to know him more before I fully get into it."
Foley himself had this to say on after the PGA Championship: "I want to get Tiger back to a place physically that he has been before, but with new understanding. If he had understood what was so good about what he did before, he wouldn't have changed it. At the same time, I want to give him a better awareness of what he is doing now. The reason he has been hitting it where he has is that he didn't understand. As good as he is, as much work as he put in, the stuff he was working on couldn't have been right, or it would have worked better."
No shortage of confidence or assertiveness from Foley. This is exactly what Tiger needs. But Tiger does need to buy into it, thus the "getting to know him better" that Tiger mentioned regarding Foley should happen sooner instead of later.
Perhaps caddie Steve Williams said it best: "Tiger knows how to win and people know that he knows how to win. When he gets back into the situation where he's playing well again and he's in contention to win, he'll get the job done."

Jeff Gross/Getty Images

Here's guessing when the that winning does start happening again Williams will be on the bag and Foley will be the coach.

Does Federer's Cincy Win Make Him the US Open Favorite?

 Roger Federer

Does winning the 17th Masters title of his career make Roger Federer the favorite to win his 17th Grand Slam next month at the U.S. Open?
Federer defeated Mardy Fish 6-7 (5), 7-6 (1), 6-4 on Sunday to win the Masters title in Cincinnati, outlasting a stacked field that included every major challenger for the upcoming Open. It was Federer's first tournament victory since winning the Australian Open and solidifies his No. 2 ranking before play begins in New York next Monday. It also makes him, once again, the man to beat at a Grand Slam.
He's not a prohibitive favorite like he was during his stretch of five straight titles, but with the man who beat him in last year's final out with injury, Rafael Nadal playing on a quick, hard surface which doesn't suit his game and the other main contenders having dicey Grand Slam track records, the Swiss star earns that distinction almost by default. Remember, Federer's game may have slipped, but if not for a stunning afternoon of tennis by Juan Martin del Potro last September, we'd be talking about his quest for seven straight U.S. Open titles right now. Consider: Only one man in the current field has defeated Fed at the Open and that came seven years ago when David Nalbandian scored a fourth-round upset.
This isn't to say that Federer has a clear path to the title or that he'll even snap his streak of semifinal-less Slams (now at two). Nadal wants to win in New York as much as Federer used to want to win in Paris, Andy Murray is playing on his best surface and is bound to come through one of these days and there's always the possibility of an Open surprise. (In retrospect, del Potro's victory should have been easy to see coming, but that doesn't mean many people did.)
Since the Argentinian can't defend his title, thus abdicating his title of King of New York, Federer gets to reclaim the throne; for now, anyway.

Paul the octopus backs England 2018 bid

Paul the octopus backs England 2018 bid

Paul the octopus, the oracle of the World Cup in South Africa, has become an official ambassador for England's bid to host the tournament in 2018, organisers said Friday.

Paul, who was hatched in England but has spent the last two years in an aquarium in western Germany, joins footballers David Beckham and Rio Ferdinand, Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton and singers Noel Gallagher and Sting in backing the bid.

"Paul has spent the last two years of his life in Germany, but he is definitely a proud Englishman and is therefore delighted to put his support behind England 2018," said Nicola Hamilton, manager at the Weymouth Sea Life Centre in southern England, where Paul was born.

"We have had a number of football approaches from around the world but Paul was only ever going to choose his homeland."

She said Paul had officially retired from predicting matches, a skill that won him worldwide fame during this year's World Cup when he correctly predicted the outcome of seven Germany games and that Spain would win the final.

He did this by choosing one of two boxes lowered into his tank, each of which contained a mussel and the flags of the opposing team.

"With his predicting days behind him Paul is now concentrating on a number of new projects and the England 2018 campaign is something we are sure he feels passionately about," Hamilton said.

Following his prediction success, Paul has signed a book deal, is due to appear in a film and is the face of a range of merchandise, with the proceeds to be donated to charity, according to the England 2018 bid team.

A delegation from world football body FIFA arrives on Monday for a four-day visit to assess England's bid.

England is competing with Russia, the United States, Australia, and joint bids from Spain and Portugal, and Holland and Belgium to host the 2018 tournament.

The winning bids for 2018 and the 2022 World Cup will be revealed on December 2.

Eighties stars dominate West Indies all-time XI

	Garry Sobers and Brian Lara, along with Viv Richards and George Headley, make the West Indies all-time middle order look invincible

Five players from the all-star West Indies sides of the 80s have made it to Cricinfo's West Indies all-time Test XI: Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards, Curtly Ambrose, Michael Holding and Malcolm Marshall.

Viv Richards was the one unanimous pick from that era. Garry Sobers, considered the world's greatest allrounder, and George Headley, nicknamed the black Bradman, were the other two to get all 10 votes.

Like in the Pakistan all-time XI, there are no current players in the XI, a reflection of the sorry state of two teams that were once world-class.

Greenidge was picked by nine jurors to open the innings, but his partner Desmond Haynes, with whom he made a record 16 century stands missed out; the other opener's spot went to Conrad Hunte, who opened in all of his 44 Tests for West Indies and scored over 3000 runs. Other prominent omissions were the three Ws and Andy Roberts.

Brian Lara made it to the middle order with six votes, while the gloves were given to Jackie Hendriks. Though Jeff Dujon and Clyde Walcott were the better batsmen, Hendriks got the nod over them because of his remarkable skills behind the wicket, including to spinners. And with a middle order that boasts Headley, Richards, Lara and Sobers, the XI can afford to have a pure keeper in the ranks.

The most debated-on position among the readers was that of the spinner: whether West Indies, with its fast-bowling pack, needed one. The jury thought they did, and all but one picked Lance Gibbs, the first spin bowler to take 300 Test wickets, over Sonny Ramadhin and Alf Valentine.

That left three fast-bowling spots, which went to Malcolm Marshall (nine votes), and to Michael Holding and Curtly Ambrose (six votes each).

Barbados, traditionally the powerhouse of Caribbean cricket, accounts for four players in the XI, followed by Jamaica with three.

We invited our readers to pick their XI, and their middle-order, fast-bowling, spinner and allrounder picks matched the jury's. Sobers got close to a unanimous vote for the allrounder's spot, while Gibbs got over 80%. A majority of readers picked the Greenidge-Haynes pair to open the innings, and over 77% voted for Dujon to keep wicket.

The jury included former Test player Jimmy Adams, journalists Tony Becca, Fazeer Mohammed and Garth Wattley, radio commentator Joseph Perreira, cricket historian Hilary Beckles, sports psychologist Rudi Webster, writers Ian McDonald and Frank Birbalsingh and former West Indies media manager Imran Khan.

More about the XI here

The XI: Gordon Greenidge, Conrad Hunte, George Headley, Vivian Richards, Brian Lara, Garry Sobers, Jackie Hendriks, Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Curtly Ambrose, Lance Gibbs.

Readers' XI: Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, George Headley, Viv Richards, Brian Lara, Garry Sobers, Jeff Dujon, Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Curtly Ambrose, Lance Gibbs.

Nominees

Openers: Conrad Hunte, Roy Fredericks, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Chris Gayle.

Middle order: George Headley, Everton Weekes, Clyde Walcott, Frank Worrell, Rohan Kanhai, Seymour Nurse, Clive Lloyd, Lawrence Rowe, Alvin Kallicharran, Viv Richards, Richie Richardson, Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Allrounders: Learie Constantine, Garry Sobers, Gerry Gomez, Collie Smith.

Wicketkeepers: Clyde Walcott, Jackie Hendriks, Deryck Murray, Jeffrey Dujon.

Fast bowlers: Wes Hall, Charlie Griffith, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Colin Croft, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall, Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Ian Bishop.

Spinners: Alf Valentine, Sonny Ramadhin, Lance Gibbs.

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