Callers will be mocked. Listen or don't.



Bernstein: Jordan’s Birthday Not A Referendum On LeBron


By Dan Bernstein-
CBSChicago.com Senior Columnist

(CBS) They come at night, the sports memory thieves. They must.

I have yet to figure out exactly how they extract cherished images and experiences from the brains of Bulls fans, but it appears they do. They may be microscopic in size, getting in through the ear canal and ablating the specific cells that recall Michael Jordan’s greatness, or perhaps they pull up in a black sedan and reprogram us MIB-style, with a Texas drawl and the white flash of a neuralizer.

This has to be what’s occurring, because it’s the only way to explain the odd secondary response to the coverage of Michael Jordan turning 50 over the weekend. It has not been enough for some fans to celebrate their favorite player, feeling compelled to reaffirm his unassailable standing at the greatest ever and lashing out at the perceived inadequacies of LeBron James as if he represents some kind of threat to Jordan or his legacy.

The numerous retrospective looks at Jordan’s impressive accomplishments should simply be proud opportunities for those who enjoyed his work so thoroughly. Instead, too many seem to react as if endangered – using this marking point to beat back any possible argument that dares to question Jordan’s utter, eternal superiority.

It’s both childish and provincial, two aspects of sports fandom all too common in Chicago.

Nothing about James has any effect whatsoever on how one feels about Jordan. There should be no need for concern about the erosion of a great legacy because another historically-talented player is forging one of his own. The assumption of finite, zero-sum territory for legends is total nonsense.

It is also completely unfair to both players to continue with these attempts at linear comparisons and contrasts between two fundamentally different athletes, playing in different eras. One was a maniacally-driven overachiever who pioneered the conversion of his individual game to levels of artistic expression and international commerce. The other is an idealized physical specimen who has always preferred to function as part of a larger group, with his prodigious influence on the action discernible more in aggregate than in explosive punctuations.

There’s no point for the kind of small-mindedness that prevents so many Jordan fans from appreciating James. Anyone who enjoys watching the best athletes on the planet should find a way to make room for something this special, instead of acting on reflexive insecurity. Why bother watching any of it or caring strongly about it if there’s the constant desire to protect the heritage of a statue?

The personalities involved have something to do with this, too. The often-angry Jordan sets the tone for his defenders – always has – with his penchant for insults, bullying, and self-created enemy straw-men to fuel his relentlessness. James is a different kind of cat, more at ease among friends and less likely to take verbal pot-shots at competitors. He was damaged by his lamentable PR stumbles in free agency, but is well on the way to repairing his image through more joyfulness around the court and well-managed professional branding.

Jordan fans act like Jordan, taking the fight to the opponent. James doesn’t yet have a group that acts similarly on his behalf — largely due to the alienation of his hometown base in Cleveland – so there’s never a strong response.

And there shouldn’t have to be. There shouldn’t have to be any of this, in the first place.

Jordan can keep his place in the hearts and minds of Chicago fans, whatever it may be. No special memories are going to be erased.

In fact, if there’s just a little bit of effort to be open and honest about what one sees now and in the future, they can even be enhanced.

_________________

I think there might be at least one person who does this...

So the takeaway here is the same at it has always been: Jordan was great, LeBron is great, there is no need to compare athletes that played in different eras and try to determine who was better. Unless of course we are talking about Dick Butkus. Rinse and repeat.

_________________

_________________

That's the signal that this will be a bad show. In the latter half of transition there will be mention of today's column and DB will toss out the strawman Jordan supporters with his specific brand of one-sided spin. It will go downhill from there as he and Boers, well Boers will agree blindly, will talk as if they actually know anybody who really fits this image. They'll troll for calls, call them stupid, and then repeat what they said 20 minutes ago as if it was misunderstood then.

Hey, if James never wins another ring these two think they should build statues of him in Akron, Cleveland, and Miami.

_________________
DRINK BƎTTƎR. @theRIPH

That is exactly how the show will go and Drinky will selectively put callers through who want to make stupid points like "James will never have the fire and will to win that Jordan had". The show is becoming a parody of itself and has simply become lazy radio. And for some reason, I will be tuning in for a portion of it.

_________________

Who uses this word, "ablating"? My goodness.

_________________
Hawaii (fuck) You

Comparing players from different eras is stupid, except when Ray Lewis is better than Dick Butkus; nobody defends LeBron, now here's three full segments discussing his body; you're allowed to like what/whomever you want, as long as we say it's ok.

_________________
The Bulls haven't done anything wrong, and they're not going to do anything wrong.

Someone brought up the possibility of Lebron on Ped's last week. Danny said while you should always be skeptical "there are no whispers" of anyone big taking stuff in the NBA.

_________________

Did he check Terry's voicemail to be sure?

_________________
Hawaii (fuck) You

Are we really considering the late-'90s period of the NBA a different era than now? I understand the style of play has changed some but a different era, to me, is a completely different brand of player and game.

I'd probably give you the '80s but 1997?

_________________
You know me like that.

Haven't there been significant rules changes regarding defense?

_________________
Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

The irony is that by writing a big ole column on why M.Jeff's 50th birthday is not a referendum on LeBron MAKES M.Jeff's 50th birthday a referendum on LeBron. It's kind of like having a in-her-prime freshly-implanted hip-a-tit-us-C++ Pamela Anderson walk into a room full of guys who aren't paying attention to her and loudly proclaiming "DON'T STARE AT MY TITS, GUYS" --- just what the fuck do you think is gonna happen?

Regardless, since all this stuff is pointless because each of these guys is seminal/paragon to their times in the NBA to have their respective eras named after them, it only stands to serve as fodder for radio hosts like BurnSTINE to prattle on ad nauseum about their talking points. In this case, it's a continuation of BurnSTINE's passive/aggressive relationship with the Chicago sports fan as he continues his quest to forever tarnish their idols as a means of making them "more intelligent" by embracing a cold statistically driven analytical approach to "quantifying" sports as the end result of a complex equation as opposed to a dynamic "game" played by human beings capable of randumbness.

_________________

Thursdays at 5:00, Dan

The hand checking rule alone makes it a different era in my opinion.

LeBron Better Than MJ? No. If there's any player that's the closest to his "Airness", and has the NBA Championships to back it up, you may have heard of him. That's still the Lakers' Kobe Bryant. LeBron still needs quite a few Championships just to match Kobe, and I'm not sure he's going to reach it.

But look at his body.

_________________

CH, it's not the body that I was looking at. I was looking at actual NBA Championships, and last I looked, LeBron has only 1 title compared to 5 for Kobe & 6 for MJ.

There's no doubt that LeBron is currently this league's best player, but he doesn't have multiple titles...yet.

Its great that even when Bernstein isn't directly fellating LBJ he never gets too far away to at least tickle his balls a bit.

_________________
Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Bernstein's weird with his fetishizing black male bodies.Yet he has a fear of the black woman's ass. Hope no black guys go to Bernstein's gym, they'd have to go home to shower with peeper bernstein around.

_________________
If you don't judge my do-rag, I won't judge your red flag

I haven't the first idea what that word means. Therefore, it's ghey.

_________________
Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

Comparing athletes from different eras is precisely one of the things that makes sports so fascinating. There is never an absolute answer because the athletes are not directly competing against one another. It is much more interesting of a discussion than listening to Bernstein pontificate about statistics. That is way too easy and it is consistent with one person termed to be lazy radio. that is one of the reasons that I don't listen as much because Bernstein looks at what some computer geek writes passes it off as absolute. He asks you to ignore what you are watching and seeing on the field or court. Its not a fun statistic to hear plus/minus talk all day or effeciency ratings analyze the games/players and discuss it rather than use statistics as the basis for every argument. Its boring

_________________

_________________
-- source

Here's the Wednesday Game Plan w/Dan & Terry:

*2P: Today's "B & B Hall of Fame" Nominees
Voting Continues on BoersAndBernstein.com/670TheScore.com

*3P: Tribune Illini Writer Shannon Ryan
A Preview of Illinois' Home Game vs. Penn State Thursday

*3:30P: "The Second Half"

"Scoreboard Updates": Chris Rongey

There's no Laurence Holmes show this eve. DePaul tries yet again to be a nationally ranked team in NCAA Basketball this eve. The Blue Demons are in Washington this eve to face #11 Georgetown. Tipoff @ 6P with Zach Zaidman & Jeff Blanzy LIVE from the Verizon Center. At around 8:15P or so, Joe Ostrowski & Connor McKnight guest host the nighttime SCORE after DePaul/Georgetown until Midnight. "SCORE Overnight" with Les Grobstein & Adam Harris follows at Midnight.

That was, what, 2004? I don't consider 2003 a different era. I agree it has impacted the style of play but that seems more like an evolution of rule changes that continued for a number of years prior to that. There was a hand-check rule before that - it just wasn't emphasized like it was at that point.

IMO, a true difference from one era to the next would mean there are very few people from that era that could compete in this new era. I don't think a change in the hand-check rule would create an entirely different era.

But, if you think so, I don't care enough to argue it. You win.

_________________
You know me like that.

Love your suit, SHARK.

_________________
-- source

Wasn't Turkoglu just suspended?

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Yes. 20 game suspension for a form of a banned steroid.

I don't understand why people cite that Lebron is bigger and stronger than Jordan. Jordan's size had nothing to do with how good he was. The league was filled with bigger and stronger players for much of his career. It would be like saying that Karl Malone is bigger and stronger than Jordan. Well yeah, he is. Who cares?

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!