Lebron Squatting

                                                       

   When you hear that an athlete is scratched from the starting lineup/game, what is your first thought? What is their injury? When did they get injured? Most importantly, how long will they be out? Last night, against the Indiana Pacers, in Indiana, Lebron James was a “healthy scratch.” We’re about 35  games into this relatively young season, the almighty great LeBron James is has sat a few times already.  Forget the fact that people paid to go see him because I disagree that fans of opposing teams go to the game just because of LeBron. My question is if this going to happen in his age 31 season, will he retire early?

    At the beginning of the 2003 baseball season, Derek Jeter dislocated his shoulder against the Toronto Blue Jays. I was a junior in high school and I remember someone telling me that Jeter will come back and the Yankees will win the World Series. That person was awfully close, he came back and the Yankees lost the Marlins in the Series. What’s my point? Jeter did everything possible to get himself bac on the field that season and stay healthy. Wouldn’t you think that LeBron would condition himself to be healthy enough to play all (or almost all) the seasons games? Baseball is a longer season than basketball and just as grueling of a schedule.

     LeBron does have 11 plus years of basketball seasons on him. There were 5 of them in which he did not make the NBA Finals, which means he has had extended rest on his body. Something I have learned this week is that you need to take care of yourself. The former superstar wrestler, Vader, announced he has 2 years to live because of a heart condition. He is someone who is over 300 pounds. Don’t you think if he took care of himself and conditioned himself better that maybe he would not be in this situation? Now LeBron is not the only one who is guilty of this issue. Greg Popovich has done this with his superstars of Parker, GInobili and Duncan towards the end of the season to get them ready for the playoffs. Wouldn’t you let the players build up the momentum going into the playoffs? You may only be resting them to play 4 games in the playoffs(if they get swept). 

     Michael Jordan, Cal Ripken, Jr., and Bret Favre never asked for games off(unless obviously they were hurt). Are those days over? To me, I feel that players from that era just wanted it more than they do now. Lebron has been to 6 straight finals and has won 3 of them, if he does not win another one I believe he could care less. Many people put in over 40 hours a week for a work week for a job they don’t even enjoy, but these athletes enjoy what they do and people come to see them, shouldn’t they think this through?  Michael Kay brought up a point about this and maybe they should come up with an injury. Should they? Maybe. All I know is that once these players retire, they will rest then until then take care of  yourself and play the game.