This may be old news to some of you, but the Forbes list of the NBA's most valuable franchises came out this past year. Somehow, despite having a storyline similar to a season of The Wire, the New York Knicks are the league's most valuable franchise. I think we can chalk that one up to the sheer value of Madison Avenue and nothing else.
The Cavaliers did crack the top-10 this year at 7th place overall in between the Mavericks and Suns who were ranked 6th and 8th respectively. Dan Gilbert's investment checked in with a estimated value of $455 million which is up from $375 million he paid for the Cavs in 2005. The increase in value is credited mostly to FSN doubling its deal to broadcast games to a cool $25 million per year as well as the revenues generated from the team's playoff runs the past couple years.
Spoiler alert! Andy Rooney-esque rants ahead! (Editor taking a deep breath…)
Of course none of this would be without LeBron James. For all I care, this guy could get all the god damn speeding tickets on I-71 he wants. Hell, if I had a Benz, I probably would treat our local highways like its Indy, Darlington or one of those other hick Hot Wheel tracks too. Of course, the glaring difference being I would be driving that fast to beat the 30 minute time limit to deliver a pizza while LeBron is driving that fast because…well…because he's LeBron f'ing James I guess.
On Tuesday night he dropped 51 points on the Grizzlies in an overtime win. To boot he had 8 rebounds and 9 more assists. Not bad considering he shot an efficient 18-for-28 from the floor including 6-of-12 behind the three point arc. Once again let us remind you that his 29-7-7 season stat line has only been done by Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan, and LeBron back in his second season in the league as a twenty-year old!
The local and national media should end their attempt at a feeding frenzy on LeBron over a freaking speeding ticket (glaring at The Plain Dealer's direction via Cleveland.com) at once. Who the hell hasn't gotten a speeding ticket in their lifetime? Should we confuse this with Jose Canseco who sped 140mph and then punched out his wife's windshield? No. This is just a guy who cruised 101mph on a deserted Medina area highway at 3 a.m. on his birthday. Trust me, I live in the area, it might as well be Mayberry down here. People speed here all the time. There was no snow/ice on the ground and there was no risk.
It's time for a moratorium on this chatter. This is a guy who has really done nothing wrong off the court (Yankee caps aside) since becoming a member of the Cavaliers. He puts in more time and money toward his local communities than most other superstars do and he does it because he wants to. It's not like he's running for a seat in Washington for Christ's sake. It's time that our local media finally lighten up and remember what real news is in this town.
Read the complete post at http://kidcleveland.blogspot.com/2008/01/lebrons-game-101-mph.html