Manns Medium

One of the best things about watching team sports is seeing the raw talent of many different style players being meshed together to build a nearly unstoppable force whether it is on the field or the court.  It did your heart good to see a well-played game come down to the final seconds and the true determination of a team willing itself to victory when it first looked like their number was up.  I’ve seen money, millionaires and corporations attach themselves to a sport and through their sheer will of influence turn a sporting event into a franchise played for the flavor of ownership and ignore those truly dedicated hard working people who pads their pockets, the fans.  The advantage used to be the team which wanted it more, now it’s more about the owners whose connections are better. For the true fan, it is becoming painfully obvious that the NBA has gone the way of Hollywood and instead of pitting talent against talent, it’s turn against turn.  Many of us was l...

Much is being made about the video showing LeBron James pushing coach David Blatt during the loss to the Phoenix Suns but I find it quite amazing that more attention was not focused on the lack of calls by the referees or the obviously slant on them favoring Phoenix.  Either way none of this is the point. The point is that as soon as LeBron James stepped foot in Cleveland, the visions of an NBA Championship has been dancing through the heads of all who call Cleveland and Ohio home.  Sad because that amount of expectation weighs heavily upon those on the court and especially those sitting on the sidelines.  This unseen but clearly present pressure is where many on the team awaits to see if LeBron will step up and take over the team while LeBron is attempting to stay humble and not become the saving grace of management.  By his style of play last night, I believe that LeBron James is about to make a decision if being that floor general is the role he must take in ...

2014 NBA Championship Poem Now the stage is set And the time draws near, The NBA Championship Is almost here. The San Antonio Spurs Are going for five, And since they been here before, Expect their crowd to be live. But mistake free ball Is what they must play Otherwise the Miami Heat Will end their day. They have planned all year King James and the crew To taking the crown This is not new. So we gather together, One and all To watch this great battle Knowing one must fall. The Spurs or the Heat So who will it be? We’ll just have to take our seats And wait to see. Ronnie Manns 6/1/14

When I was discharged from the Marines and moved to Illinois, I wasn’t really following basketball.   Then I began to see the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan, Scotty Pippen and Dennis Rodman play that game in such a way that made it hard to turn away.   I began to learn more and more about this game and see things that I did not pay attention to earlier.   I discovered that Phil Jackson was more of a guru than anyone had ever thought. The Chicago Bulls is not as entertaining as they once were and I have found myself searching for that one inspiring team that would hold my attention as the Bulls once did.   I thought I had found it in the Miami Heat with LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh but I can see very clearly that they are missing one very important ingredient and it is not a player on the floor.   It’s another Phil Jackson. I, like most sport fans, tend to get overly involved with the game and try to coach from the couch.   I had alwa...

Firm yet fair, has anyone else ever heard of this?   How about, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander?   Nothing fuels hostilities more than officials being seen as favoring one team over another.   Many will point to several instances where the Miami Heat has gotten some pretty favorable calls in their history but that is not the whole story. According to The Sports Xchange in their article titled Heat's Haslem suspended for 1 game, Pittman for 3 it is reported that “the NBA has suspended Miami Heat forward Udonis Haslem for one game and Heat forward Dexter Pittman for three games for their retaliatory flagrant fouls in Tuesday's Game 5 of their series against the Indiana Pacers.    Haslem hit Hansbrough across the face and shoulder with both arms in the second quarter of the Heat's 115-83 victory and the 6-11 Pittman leveled Pacers guard Lance Stephenson with an elbow in the final minute of the game.”    But the one thing that was qu...

I often times am surprised by those who say that they speak their minds and are not influenced by personal feelings when it comes to commenting on sporting events.   Many analysts say that they are impartial but then come an event which shows their real colors.   I expect it from everyday fans or those of us who are not paid to sit and critique teams but it is still surprising and somewhat discouraging to hear it coming from them. Almost to a Tee, many of those spoke about above had nothing but mean things to say about the elbow from Ron Artest/World Peace to James Harden during the Lakers Thunder Game   and according to an art5icle written by Kevin Kolczynski of Reuters much of what was quoted could have been contributed to many of these knowledgeable and partial commentators and analysts.   The report quoted NBA Commissioner David Stern as saying “The concussion suffered by James Harden demonstrates the danger posed by violent acts of this kind, particularl...

In order to understand this question, I will attempt to set the stage and the parts that each actor is playing.   NBA Owners and David Stern will be casted as Wall Street and Congress refusing to help create jobs, ESPN and the other media will be playing the part of Fox News while the NBA players will be playing the part of the 99ers or laborers. The players are really the ones who are putting the butts in the seats and why tickets sell, it is not how expensive the arena looks or feel that draws the crowds and even though many of the laborers receive a hefty salary for their work, there is still a such thing as respect that right now appears more important that a paycheck.   NBA Owners and David Stern have been running roughshod over this group for years and using money as the carrot to make the workers mind unwilling to accept that their titles does not declare them the soul reason for the billions which pad their bank accounts.   It has gotten to the point that the...

It became apparent in Game 5 that the Miami Heat was lacking something.   It was not the “killer instinct” that many experts talked about nor was it impressive scoring from LeBron James in the 4 th quarter that everyone else likes to point the finger at.   What the Miami Heat was lacking was the reserve tank required to win an NBA Championship.   The Dallas Mavericks did not have it when they first attempted to win the title but this series, it was on total display. You heard the Heat players and some of the coaches always referenced how they played during the regular season and that in itself was the problem.   How a team performs during the regular season is not how they should perform during the playoffs.   Each playoff game needs to show something different in a team, a bench guy who suddenly comes to age but doesn’t start the next game.   An aging player coming off the bench who has not seen much game time but is only needed for a few minutes at t...

After watching the first two games of this series, I often had to check myself to make sure that I was watching the same two teams yesterday.   Miami stepped on the floor and as soon after tipoff became a team of novice 1 st year players mired in mud.   Their shot selection and even fear of taking the shot was so evident.   Chris Bosch was more a uniformed players running up and down the court with one-eye than he was relevant.   They played like they had been paid by the National Basketball Association (NBA) to lose the game in order for them to make bigger revenue on extending the series than a team looking to advance. The article by Jimmy Golen of the Associated Press titled Rondo returns and helps Celtics beat Heat 97-81 puts it best “Miami led 46-44 at the half, but the Celtics scored nine of the first 10 points, capped by Rondo's first basket of the game, a driving layup with 3 minutes gone in the third that gave Boston a 53-47 lead. In all, the Celtics s...

Of all of the articles I go through during a day, this one was one that made me finally feel like there is justice in this world.   Will Graves, Associated Press Sports Writer article titled Rodman, Mullin lead 2011 Hall of Fame class. It reported that “ Here's one the player who created chaos on — and sometimes off — the court never expected: Hall of Famer. Rodman headlined the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's 2011 class announced on Monday at the Final Four, a group that includes former Dream Team member Chris Mullin and Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer.   "It's just unreal," Rodman said.   "I looked at the way I am, and I thought I wouldn't get in," Rodman said.   When informed of the honor last week, Rodman thought it was a prank. He figured there was no way the voters could get past his outlandish antics and focus on a career in which he became one of the best rebounders in league history.”   Finally it has come to the effectiveness ...

LeBron James is my man and I love to watch him play that game of basketball but I also like to see his team win.   He went to Miami hoping to finally capture that elusive Championship Ring and I believe that between there and Chicago, he has the best chance to do that.   That was until I watched a few recent games where they lost their lead in the final minutes of the game at a time when he, Dewayne Wade and Chris Bosch had always demonstrated an ability to finish.   It became my mission to try and determine why that was. I was grateful to read and article by the Associated Press Sports Writer Tim Reynolds titled Riley gives Spoelstra vote of confidence because after looking at the possibility of it being the coach’s fault, I came up with nothing.   I watch him send in plays and I watch each player acknowledge and set up.    This tells me that this coach is very much aware of what he wants to see and what works.   Reading in the article where “Rile...

I worried whether the NBA or any entity within would ever do right by this All-Star and have advocated for this for quite some time.   I am grateful that it finally happened that somebody stood up and did right by Dennis Rodman but especially because it was done before he died. Kelly Dwyer’s article titled “ Pistons to retire Dennis Rodman's number, acquire new owner ? ” reports great news for Dennis Rodman fans like me and for others who feel that regardless of whether that person is like us or not, we all deserve the benefits and accolades we earned and this man earned plenty.   “The Detroit Pistons announced Friday that Dennis Rodman will have his number retired by the team , a fitting tribute to a player who absolutely dominated both the rebounding glass and defensive end from 1986-1993. Rodman was an integral part of two Pistons championships in 1989 and '90”   “And even as this game's all-time greatest rebounder -- and easily its most versatile defender -- Dennis ...

While I am a big fan of LeBron James, I can still not accept sloppy play.   The game is a full four quarters and if players wish to cruse then they should make sure that they are thirty plus points ahead with less than two minutes left in the game. On TNT tonight it was the first of two games featuring the Miami Heat against the Orlando magic in Orlando.   When the game started it looked as if both teams were still getting to the arena long after the game had started.   It was a rough going for all of them except LeBron.   I was quite happy to see him get hot and stay hot until he got his points before he started to really get the others involved.   The Magic was no joke tonight as well but they still had a hard time finding their three pointers and short range jumpers until after the first half. Miami took the lead at the beginning of the game and never relinquished it.   This was something to watch until time winded down past the two minute mark in the ...