NBey6's Blog

LeBron's chasing celebrity, not titles

Updated Jul 9, 2010 1:51 PM ET

by: Jason Whitlock

FoxSports 

This was Tiger Woods II, a wounded child star revealing the toll of celebrity and brand-building on his character, decision-making and self-awareness.

As of right now, we have no clue if we’ll ever again see the old Tiger Woods, the ruthless, lethal golfer eclipsing Jack Nicklaus. Thanksgiving ’09 damaged that Tiger.

 

 

The Summer of ’10 may have done irreparable damage to LeBron James.

Thursday night, his LeBrontourage and ESPN enablers dressed him in a clown suit, topped it with a black hat and turned him into a buffoonish laughingstock and villain.

Will he recover?

For seven years, James seemed to delight in, court and fuel himself with universal adoration and respect. It’s gone now, and it’s not coming back. He’s a hero in Miami, a coward in New York, a spoiled, narcissistic punk most everywhere else and Black Modell in Ohio.

Cavs fans burned his jersey in the streets. Police protected his house in Akron and a giant “Witness” banner in downtown Cleveland.

Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert eviscerated LeBron’s reputation, telling the Associated Press that James quit in the playoffs, wouldn’t return phone calls or text messages for more than a month and described James’ televised reality-show exit self-promotional and cowardly.

Maybe LeBron wants to be the NBA’s Bad Boy, a mix of Allen Iverson, Isiah Thomas and Bill Laimbeer. Maybe the venom directed LeBron’s way will motivate him, mature his competitive focus.

Or maybe he’ll melt.

Tiger looks guilt-ridden and less confident since his flaws were exposed, since his initial prisoner-of-war press conference turned him into Jay Leno and David Letterman fodder.

 

The Summer of LeBron will continue on South Beach. He picks Miami.

 

“The Decision,” LeBron’s emotion-free, lovemaking session with Jim Gray, Stu Scott, Mike Wilbon, Jon Barry and Chris Broussard, is something sports fans will never forget.

It was America’s first all-male, PG-13 celebrity sex tape.

The problem is, LeBron’s handlers failed to warn him that sex tapes enhance the careers of female celebrities. The men, unless strapped like Tommy Lee and performing opposite Pamela Anderson, don’t get much bounce or they’re ridiculed.

“I wanted to do what was best for LeBron James,” King James told Wilbon. “What LeBron James was going to do to make him happy.”

Yep, his most memorable speaking line from LeDecision was delivered in third person. He’s a joke, and only the insanely dishonest will defend his performance and the decision to host LeBron-apalooza.

LeBron and Maverick Carter, the King’s right-hand man, actually thought a $2.5 million check to the Boys and Girls Club and online scholarships to the University of Phoenix would clean up this mess, would ease the pain in his hometown.

Can LeBron handle the mental abuse he’s about to endure? Will being reviled energize him the way being revered did?

You can’t effectively fly insulting banners over NBA arenas, but you sure as hell can heckle and taunt with signs. The abuse some would like to heap on Tiger Woods on the golf course, they’ll be free to unload on the new, tattooed poster child for athletic self-indulgence and narcissism.

Tiger operates in a PGA-fortified cocoon. LeBron works in the NBA’s boiling pot, ground zero for the culture war between hip-hop values and corporate sponsorship.

He’s a target now. The preening and dancing and powder-throwing have a stench, a B.O., as in Bron Owens, the NBA’s Terrell Owens.

 

Where was Nike? Why didn’t Phil Knight put a stop to this, get James to comprehend the risks?

No one cares about LeBron giving the advertising dollars from “The Decision” to the Boys and Girls Club. James would’ve been better served cutting a personal check to a Cleveland/Akron charity and informing the Cavs he was leaving immediately after the playoffs.

It appears Dan Gilbert is irate because he realizes LeBron made LeDecision long ago. This whole spectacle was a gigantic tease, a charade. The Cavs‘ offseason approach (draft, free agency, Mike Brown, Danny Ferry) might have been dramatically different had the organization known from the get-go James was leaving.

LeBron owed Gilbert and Cavs fans a heads-up.

“I wanted to do what was best for LeBron James,” he said. “What LeBron James was going to do to make him happy.”

When James announced his decision, he didn’t say he was joining Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat. LeBron said he was going to South Beach.

He’s Tiger Woods, chasing a childhood celebrity stole. LeBrand, Maverick, Drama and Turtle are headed to South Beach to party with D.Wade and CB4.

There’ll be more new baby-mamas than championships.

Old School

 

 

New School

On Sunday, July 11, 2010, a total solar eclipse will occur with the new moon. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring Earth's view of the Sun. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across the surface of the Earth, while a partial solar eclipse will be visible over a region thousands of miles wide.

The eclipse will be visible over much of the southern Pacific Ocean, touching several small islands including Tuamotu in French Polynesia and Easter Island, as well as the southern tips of Argentina and Chile in South America.

 

Watch for these numbers:

520, 047, 259

TIW 7-8-10 NC Evening

Winning Numbers: 112 & 1018 

 

514, 621, 865, 817, 842, 476, 903, 257
4167, 5413, 6295, 3721, 3805, 7540, 7360
8246, 8943, 8957, 8561, 2490, 1960, 0218

514, 625, 736, 847, 958, 069, 170, 281, 392, 403

842, 953, 064, 175, 286, 397, 408, 519, 620, 731

4160, 4161, 4162, 4163, 4164, 4165, 4166, 4167, 4168, 4169

0167, 1167, 2167, 3167, 4167, 5167, 6167, 7167, 8167, 9167

2490, 2491, 2492, 2493, 2494, 2495, 2496, 2497, 2498, 2499

0490, 1490, 2490, 3490, 4490, 5490, 6490, 7490, 8490, 9490

 

69, 97, 14 and/or 42 pairs

China is the world's top apple producer.

- Provided by The World Almanac 2010 -

"Many people have too much will power. It's won't power they lack."

- John Shedd -

Claiming to be King's sire

 

Who's your daddy?

 

A Washington, DC, lawyer and Princeton grad is claiming to be LeBron James' father and is suing the superstar and his mom, accusing them of tampering with a paternity test, according to court papers.

 

But that's not keeping Leicester Bryce Stovell (pictured) from wishing LeBron the best in his free-agency decision.

 

Asked by The Post yesterday where he'd like to see LeBron play, Stovell, 55, said, "Whatever team he is comfortable and happy with."

 

In his lawsuit, Stovell said he met James' mom, Gloria, then 15 years old, at a DC bar in March 1984 and they later had unprotected sex.

 

He reached out to LeBron's lawyer in 2007 and arranged a paternity test. While the results came back negative, Stovell, now a lawyer for the Securities and Exchange Commission, claims the samples were tampered with and is suing for $4 million in punitive damages.

 

LeBron's lawyer told TMZ.com yesterday that Stovell is just a "money-grubber" trying to take attention away from LeBron as he is set to announce where he'll play next season.

TIW 7-8-10 SC Midday

Winning Numbers: 687 & 0700 

 

174, 287, 021, 073, 048, 432, 569, 813
3957, 4396, 5814, 6789, 6204, 7430, 7650
2835, 2136, 2147, 2459, 8310, 9150, 0892

021, 132, 243, 354, 465, 576, 687, 798, 809, 910

048, 159, 260, 371, 482, 593, 604, 715, 826, 937

2140, 2141, 2142, 2143, 2144, 2145, 2146, 2147, 2148, 2149

0147, 1147, 2147, 3147, 4147, 5147, 6147, 7147, 8147, 9147

0204, 1204, 2204, 3204, 4204, 5204, 6204, 7204, 8204, 9204

6200, 6201, 6202, 6203, 6204, 6205, 6206, 6207, 6208, 6209

 

76, 59, 21 and/or 04 pairs

Midday & Evening

** until 7-12-10 **

6874 4867 6408 4860 7119 9117 0793 1072 9851 2387 2461 3106 3296 4809 4502 4513 4197 8056 7596 4075 7296 8520 8316 5641 5871 3247 3948 3965 3670 2491 0971 1203 4861 4862 4863 4864 4865 4866 4868 4869 3360 3361 3362 3363 3364 3365 3366 3367 3368 3369 7110 7111 7112 7113 7114 7115 7116 7117 7118 9110 9111 9112 9113 9114 9115 9116 9118 9119

Solar plane lands after completing 24-hour flight

By ELIANE ENGELER, Associated Press Writers

Eliane Engeler, Associated Press Writers

20 mins ago

PAYERNE, Switzerland – An experimental solar-powered plane completed its first 24-hour test flight successfully Thursday, proving that the aircraft can collect enough energy from the sun during the day to stay aloft all night.

The test brings the Swiss-led project one step closer to its goal of circling the globe using only energy from the sun.

Pilot Andre Borschberg eased the Solar Impulse out of the clear blue morning sky onto the runway at Payerne airfield about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southwest of the Swiss capital Bern at exactly 9 a.m. (0700 GMT; 3 a.m. EDT).

Helpers rushed to stabilize the pioneering plane as it touched down, ensuring that its massive 207-foot (63-meter) wingspan didn't scrape the ground and topple the craft.

"We achieved more than we wanted. Everybody is extremely happy," Borschberg told reporters after landing.

Previous flights included a brief "flea hop" and a longer airborne test earlier this year, but this week's attempt was described as a "milestone" by the team and comes after seven years of planning.

The team says it has now demonstrated that the single-seat plane can theoretically stay in the air indefinitely, recharging its depleted batteries using 12,000 solar cells and nothing but the rays of the sun during the day.

But while the team says this proves that emissions-free air travel is possible, it doesn't see solar technology replacing conventional jet propulsion any time soon.

Instead, the project's overarching purpose is to test and promote new energy-efficient technologies.

Project co-founder Bertrand Piccard, himself a record-breaking balloonist, said many people had been skeptical that renewable energy could ever be used to take a man into the air and keep him there.

"There is a before and after in terms of what people have to believe and understand about renewable energies," Piccard said, adding that the flight was proof new technologies can help break society's dependence on fossil fuels.

The team will now start to build a second solar plane that will be more efficient and have a larger <snip>pit to allow for longer flights. That plane should be ready for international flights by 2013, said Borschberg.

The round-the-world flight will eventually be made with five stops along the way.

Borschberg took off from Payerne airfield shortly before 7 a.m. Wednesday, allowing the plane to soak up the sunshine as he flew gentle loops over the Jura mountains west of the Swiss Alps.

The custom-built aircraft with its thin fuselage and the wingspan of a Boeing 777 passenger jet managed to climb to 28,000 feet (8,535 meters) and reached top speeds of over 75 mph (120 kph).

Borschberg, a 57-year-old former Swiss fighter who was wearing a parachute — just in case — dodged low-level turbulence and thermal winds, endured freezing conditions during the night and ended the test flight with a picture-perfect landing to cheers and whoops from hundreds of supporters on the ground.

"The night is quite long, so to see the first rays of dawn and the sun returning in the morning — that was a gift," Borschberg said after touchdown.

Borschberg said he did yoga exercises in the <snip>pit to stimulate the blood circulation and used breathing exercises and a water spray to stay awake, as the plane has no autopilot.

Former NASA chief pilot Rogers E. Smith, one of the project's flight directors, praised Borschberg's feat of endurance and the overall success of the mission.

"We ended up with perhaps 20 percent more energy than we in the most optimistic way projected," Smith told The AP.

After completing final tests on the plane after landing, Borschberg embraced Piccard before gingerly unstrapping himself from the bathtub size <snip>pit he had spent more than 26 hours sitting in.

"When you took off it was another era," said Piccard, who achieved the first nonstop circumnavigation of the globe in a balloon, the Breitling Orbiter III, in 1999. "You land in a new era where people understand that with renewable energy you can do impossible things."

Piccard said he was confident the success of the night flight would help to secure the 20 million Swiss francs ($19 million) still missing for the privately funded project with a total budget of 100 million francs ($95 million).

TIW 7-7-10 SC Evening

Winning Numbers: 162 & 4452 

 

827, 912, 598, 524, 571, 749, 630, 184
8301, 9837, 0259, 7123, 7649, 1984, 1704
6280, 6587, 6591, 6903, 2854, 3504, 4236

 

598, 609, 710, 821, 932, 043, 154, 265, 376, 487

630, 741, 852, 963, 074, 185, 296, 307, 418, 529

0259, 1259, 2259, 3259, 4259, 5259, 6259, 7259, 8259, 9259

0250, 0251, 0252, 0253, 0254, 0255, 0256, 0257, 0258, 0259

0236, 1236, 2236, 3236, 4236, 5236, 6236, 7236, 8236, 9236

4230, 4231, 4232, 4233, 4234, 4235, 4236, 4237, 4238, 4239

 

04, 18, 59 and/or 63 pairs

The preachers that you see on Sunday mornings trying to keep you from going to hell for your sins. I was so entertained with the "crying" for you to "stop history from repeating itself" I just might have to try and find that show again {last night's show that is}. We all know that Voter Fraud, Voter Intimidation and the like are a fast track to the downfall of America and the constitution. But to use Martin Luther King as a billboard for this is funny, in my opinion, and I think most common sense people see right through his words and blackboard theatrics. That's all fine and dandy, but here's my take on the dog and pony show that these talking heads keep saying night after night to build up the "party"............You can vote all you want, but if you don't recognize game, then YOU will be played no matter who you vote for.

Don't believe me, watch and see!! I know the talk is over, but

this will give everyone time to get ready the next time they come

at you with a "Hurry while supplies last" scare tactic.