Winning: The answer to anything.

by bengalithugg13 on Jun 15, 2011 9:16 PM PDT

Congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks for winning their first title in 31 years, or simply put, franchise history. Congratulations to Mark Cuban, Rick Carlisle, Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry, Jason Kidd, and the rest of the Mavericks team and organization. After years of criticism, you all finally decided to take none of it, and simply gutted everything out. All the emotion of losing for so many years came out and all the criticism from years past came out. But, if there's one thing that people are missing through all this "MIAMI LOST WOOOOO" and "A Mavs win is a win for the NBA" is that the Mavs winning solidifies one truth: Winning validates all. This post will be dealing with more recent history, because I simply do not recall much from the past as I was not there to live it.

Winning validates all. A statement that seems rather cliche, but it still makes sense. For years, Dirk Nowitzki has been criticized for being a regular season guy. It's not like Dirk just got his Larry Bird comparisons, for it started many years ago. What finally validated it? Winning. Skill is one thing. Skill gets those conversations going. But it's proving that one can win that gives truth to those conversations. Think about it this way. If Larry Bird hadn't won rings, would we say he's one of the best of all time? Karl Malone is considered one of the greatest ever to play his position, but his no-ring status now puts him behind Dirk Nowitzki in the tier of greatest power forwards of all time. Why? Winning. It's one thing to win in the regular season. Dirk himself proved that. In 2007, Dirk was the lead on a 67-win team that seemed poised to win it all after coming two wins close the season before. Six games into the postseason, they were eliminated by a 42-win team who was not in the playoffs until the last day of the regular season. In fact, when he was needed most, Dirk had a 2-13 game with 8 points. No one remembers this? Why's that? Dirk proved himself by winning this year.

Dirk is not the only example. Look at our Lakers. We have the guy who was suspended the whole season for going into the stands and creating one of the biggest scares in NBA history. Do a lot of people remember that now about Ron Artest? Yeah, maybe only people who live in the past. Kobe Bryant has had personal problems all his NBA career. Not meeting his parents for years, having his teammates skip his wedding, and even having affairs with others while married. Do people remember that about him? Yeah, once again, only haters. People who can't find anything wrong with his game, so they attack his character. Even more so, the part that is now long behind him. The past is the past, but it is easily forgotten with winning. Without winning, who knows where Kobe would be? I mean, think about Tiger Woods. Similar situation to Kobe, except dealing with a divorce as well. He's only won one tournament in more than 20 months. Had he been winning anyway, we'd be hearing the story "Tiger Woods, despite his personal life, has been on his game! Look at him win!" Instead, we now deal with hearing "Tiger Woods had lost his game. Could his personal life issues be the reason why?"

No matter what the situation is, winning cures most problems, especially when one has personal life problems. You feel good when you hear these stories about how athletes overcome adversity to reach the pinnacle. Jason Kidd played 17 seasons before he finally won his first championship. However, he wasn't put under the same light as say LeBron even though he was knocked out of two previous Finals appearances. I like to believe it is because of his two gold medals from the 2000 and 2008 Olympic games, which is winning yet again. So LeBron does not have to worry much. Just win a few championships, and the Decision, these disappearances early, being swept out of the Finals, all of it will be forgotten. I mean, if people forgot because of Kobe's 5 rings, both he and LeBron now have the same amount of series losses in the Finals. And one of the two for each came with an embarrassment, whether it was a 39 point demolition, or being broomed out the playoffs on the biggest stage.

(Note: Please feel free to object. I would like to hear what you all think.)

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Who doesn't remember The Malice at the Palace? Or Kobe's legal troubles?

Forgiving is not the same as forgetting.

by LAMojo on Jun 15, 2011 9:33 PM PDT reply actions

Dude, so many of your "facts" are wrong.

That said, screw the Mavs. Time for them to go away now.

If being greedy means wanting it all, then yes, I'm greedy.
Yes, I'm smug, withholding, and judgmental, but at least I'm better than you. - Anonymous
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by SoCalGal on Jun 15, 2011 10:16 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs

LOL. Yes, time for us to start plotting our revenge :D

by no stance on Jun 15, 2011 11:08 PM PDT up reply actions

rec'd

Go Lakers !

The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work. ~ a fortune cookie.

by Cup Noodles on Jun 16, 2011 7:52 AM PDT up reply actions

Uh, mind saying WHICH facts are wrong?

"The only yardstick for success our society has is being a champion. No one remembers anything else." – John Madden

by bengalithugg13 on Jun 16, 2011 8:18 AM PDT up reply actions

Sure.

EVERYONE remembers this about Ron Artest.

We have the guy who was suspended the whole season for going into the stands and creating one of the biggest scares in NBA history. Do a lot of people remember that now about Ron Artest?

Proof please?

Kobe Bryant has had personal problems all his NBA career.

Proof please?

even having affairs with others while married.

Of course he wasn’t under the same scrutiny as a high school phenom who was raised as an ESPN foster child. Ridiculous.

Jason Kidd played 17 seasons before he finally won his first championship. However, he wasn’t put under the same light as say LeBron even though he was knocked out of two previous Finals appearances.

Not even close to Kobe’s situation.

Tiger Woods. Similar situation to Kobe, except dealing with a divorce as well

Finally, Kobe’s Finals failures can’t be compared to LeBron’s for one simple reason: Kobe never gave up in a game. Even Game 6 in Boston saw Kobe fighting until the end. Same with the Mavericks series. He was the only one fighting to win at the end. The same cannot be said of LeBron.

If being greedy means wanting it all, then yes, I'm greedy.
Yes, I'm smug, withholding, and judgmental, but at least I'm better than you. - Anonymous
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by SoCalGal on Jun 16, 2011 8:55 AM PDT up reply actions

Perhaps Lebron would better be compared to Pau Gasol in this case

Labeled as “soft” after the Boston series, but then “shed” the label after winning two consecutive titles.

But now, because of the loss this year, people are back to calling him “soft” and asking for his head. If we had somehow miraculously won this year, all this talk about “soft” won’t be present.

Same for Dirk. He was called a “soft” and a “choker” for a decade…but not anymore after this year. Next year, he’s going to be running against kobe for best “closers” in the game. But if they lose next season, we’ll see what the media have to write about him again.

by no stance on Jun 16, 2011 11:03 AM PDT up reply actions

1. Okay, I guess I meant to say what someone said earlier. People forgive but don’t forget. I guess that should have been my argument. My apologies on that.

2. I gave your proof in the article. I don’t know about you, but I’d hate to deal with not talking to my parents for a number of years, and I’d feel pretty depressed if my teammates who I considered my brothers were ditching my single most memorable day.

3. Kobe said that he should have done what Shaq did, which was pay the ladies to shut up. (The link is right here if you believe that this fact is also incorrect. I’m not Kobe or anything, but he probably did something if he needed a $2 million ring to make up to his wife (although I have heard people saying he ordered the ring before he was caught or something of that nature).

4. I simply stated that Jason Kidd was not put under the same light. If you feel that’s an understatement, then do so. Please do not call it an incorrect “fact”.

5. We will never know about any other relationships Kobe has had with other women, but Kobe and Tiger were definitely in a similar situation. Both married, both cheated on wife, but one had a divorce as a result. How both reacted after the situation has nothing to do with the situations themselves.

6. LeBron trying or not trying is his character. If he gets a three-peat, people may forgive him for not trying. MAY forgive him. Now remember that the Mavericks series was a conference semi-final. I was talking about the Finals. LeBron put up a better effort when he was in a Cavs uniform against the Spurs.

"The only yardstick for success our society has is being a champion. No one remembers anything else." – John Madden

by bengalithugg13 on Jun 16, 2011 4:02 PM PDT up reply actions

Kobe def doesn't have the

track record of women Tiger has publicly. Just one high profile incident. I wouldn’t call it the same position at all. Kobe’s still performing, Tiger’s kinda slumping.

Also, the only reason I disagree with this whole thing is because winning isn’t necessary. Just being good and focusing on your craft. For instance, Jason Kidd went to jail for hitting his wife, however, because he was good on the basketball court after that even in season that didn’t end up with a Finals win people don’t even talk about it anymore unless they’re Lebron zealots who don’t want him to be looked at negatively.

These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world... and then we fucked up the end game. - Charlie Wilson

The key to championships = SIGN LUTHER HEAD!!!!!!!!

by Marty Mart on Jun 16, 2011 4:25 PM PDT up reply actions

I'd venture to say Kobe did not consider those guys his brothers. He was a kid living with his parents when he entered the league.

Those guys were all much older and he was never particularly close to any of them outside of Fisher. I honestly don’t know if his teammates were invited to his wedding. I doubt it’s affected him all these years later, but who’s to say.

His parents were unhappy with his marriage and their relationship was strained for a couple of years until his first daughter was born. It didn’t go on forever and I have no way of knowing how scarred he was by that. Still not sure how this is a personal problem that persists throughout his career.

As for what he told the Eagle, CO police, his reference was to what Shaq did with the ladies, not what he did with the ladies. Not one other woman has come forward to say Kobe had an extramarital affair with her. As for the ring, it was custom-made (a purple diamond sitting ready in a jewelry store? yeah, right) and ordered months before the incident in Colorado, even according to the jeweler. Timing is everything, right?

You cannot possibly compare Tiger Woods’ and Kobe Bryant’s situations. Tiger was a serial philanderer; Kobe was unfaithful to his wife once that we know of. Even if it were more than once, the situations are completely different. You’d probably be better off comparing Shaq & Tiger instead of Kobe & Tiger.

As to Kobe and LeBron, their Finals situations are also different. As I said, you never say Kobe give up in ’04, or ’08. LeBron gave up. End of story.

If being greedy means wanting it all, then yes, I'm greedy.
Yes, I'm smug, withholding, and judgmental, but at least I'm better than you. - Anonymous
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by SoCalGal on Jun 16, 2011 4:35 PM PDT up reply actions