DeShawn Appears to be Popular in Cleveland
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Why do I continue to mildly defend the indefensible tomfoolery that has threatened to torpedo yet another Wizards season while turning the entire country against this team? I'm not really sure. I still find them likable, somehow, and anyways, everyone else has already piled on, with reporters even looking for smack where it doesn't exist.
Homer McFanboy is with me here, urging them to wear Bullets jerseys and come out to the music of Nikolai Volkoff: "Maybe the Wiz are better off openly embracing the role of the villain. I mean, they're already down three games to one and nobody outside of the beltway is rooting for them. So go with it."
Here goes.
Akron columnist: Cavs Need to Take Out the Garbage
It has gotten old, all of this off-the-court stuff about music and comments and gestures.
So get ready for another column about it.
There has been ridicule, back-and-forth junk, a throat-slash gesture and petty silliness.
In this series, sure. In this year, though, let's make it "two throat-slash gestures."
Much, much more has come from the Wizards than from the Cavs, but Cavs' fans aren't innocent.
The Cavs themselves, though, are as pure as a late February parking lot snow. Um, besides that whole Jay-Z thing.
To paraphrase former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, we've watched LeBron James, we've seen LeBron James. DeShawn Stevenson is no LeBron James.
The question was never whether DeShawn was as good as LeBron. You'd have to be wayyyyy nuttier than DeShawn to make that argument. It was whether LeBron is as good as LeBron's reputation. I'd tend to say yes, he is, but it serves no purpose to obscure the original comment.
The Wizards have done something foolish in three of the four games in the series. They lost all three -- and won the one game when they concentrated on basketball. Think it's a coincidence?
The Wizards won the one game where Caron Butler shaved "Tough Juice" into his head, Nick Young got a fade, Stevenson and Andray Blatche showed up with mohawks and Soulja Boy danced in the aisles. Think it's a coincidence?
It was fun for a while to talk about the back-and-forth chatter. Fun to talk about, fun to write about. Now it has gone on long enough. On Tuesday, two kids were shot and killed at a school in northeast Washington. Tornadoes destroyed homes in Virginia. Bombs went off in Iraq. That's real, not the garbage that has been tossed about in this series.
No argument here. Although I might make the claim that even had these players all kept their mouths shut, pulled up their shorts, erased their tattoos, shaved off their mohawks, started listening to Stravinsky and shot their free throws under-handed, Iraq and tornadoes and school killings would remain more important than a first-round NBA playoff series. By a little, anyhow.
The Cavs can do themselves and the rest of the world a large favor tonight.
Er, drat. I thought we just agreed that, in the grand scheme, this series matters not to the rest of the world? No?
Cleveland columnist: Fierce Wizards a Joke That Just Keeps Us Laughing
When the Black Knight loses his left arm in a sword fight with King Arthur in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," he says, "'Tis but a scratch." And when his right is lopped off, he says, "Just a flesh wound." When the left leg goes, he proclaims, "I'm invincible."
"What are you going to do?" says the King. "Bleed on me?"
The Black Knight is black-bearded Washington Wizards guard DeShawn Stevenson. I believe we all know who King Arthur is in this first-round series. (Hint: His license plate reads, abbreviating his home town, "King of Ak.")
It's actually an apt metaphor. DeShawn Stevenson does, in some way, remind one of the Black Knight. As for Python's Arthur, he refers to himself in the third person, has a lackey make fake horse noises whilst he clomps about, stages a grandiose battle against a rabbit and attempts to convince everyone in sight that he is a king.
"I didn't know we had a king," says one woman, unfamiliar with this mighty leader. "I thought we were an autonomous collective."
Like I said, fairly apt.
By Dan Steinberg |
April 30, 2008; 11:04 AM ET
| Category:
Wizards
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Posted by: CreditZard | April 30, 2008 11:20 AM
If the issue is "Is Lebron as good as his rep?" then a concurrent issue must be "Does DeShawn have any right to be ripping Lebron?" It may not be an actual answer to the Lebron question, but it is at least relevant to note that even if he is way overrated, he's still ten times as good as the guy calling him, and on some level DeShawn has to actually do something in this series to validate his own legitimacy since he is ripping the legitimacy of better players.
Posted by: Elliot S. | April 30, 2008 11:31 AM
Oh, and you write better than the Ohio writers. Let's add that to the soup: our news coverage is better than their news coverage!! Ivan Carter and Michael Lee!!
Who'd they have? Who is this person who writes: "There has been ridicule, back-and-forth junk, a throat-slash gesture and petty silliness."
All you guys can and do write better than that! "back-and-forth junk" -- oh, yeah, that's specific, really adds to the list, makes a lot of sense, everyone knows what that means. "Junk" -- I think perhaps that's a good day for a Cleveland sports writer. On a bad day, it would be "back-and-forth things."
BRING ON THE MEDIA WAR! BRING ON THE "JUNK"!!
Posted by: Nancy | April 30, 2008 11:36 AM
My farts smell better than Cleveland's farts.
Posted by: Publius | April 30, 2008 11:50 AM
Elliott, obviously James is better than DeShawn. So what? Every recording artist is a better singer than I am...does that mean I can't criticize any of them? I can't say that I like so-and-so's voice? That argument is tired and ridiculous.
Big props to Steinberg for defending the home team. We need the local media to stick up for the Wiz more, and fan the fires a little less.
Posted by: Anonymous | April 30, 2008 12:00 PM
If Lebron weighs the same as a duck, then he's made of wood, and therefore... (feel free to replace "w" with "b")
Posted by: Sir Bedevere | April 30, 2008 12:07 PM
Can you imagine the news coverage coming out of Cleveland had DeShawn Stevenson made up a lie claiming LeBron had hit him with a closed fist during the last game?
Posted by: Barno | April 30, 2008 12:09 PM
steino the rhino is really enjoying this whole series...as am I. I wish it could last till the wee hours of the twinkling year's end.
Posted by: hello | April 30, 2008 12:13 PM
"On Tuesday, two kids were shot and killed at a school in northeast Washington. Tornadoes destroyed homes in Virginia. Bombs went off in Iraq. That's real, not the garbage that has been tossed about in this series."
I can't even begin to understand how he thought it was appropriate to throw this in there. That's just awful writing and an incredibly over-the-top comparison.
What is his point exactly? That basketball is less important than war?
Congratulations, sir! Few in the world show the courage it takes to stand firm and take that kind of controversial position! If more columnists would tackle issues like this, surely tornadoes would stoop leveling towns.
Posted by: KC in DC | April 30, 2008 12:26 PM
No argument from this Cavs fan. Mcamanamanaman is a terrible columnist, and the Post's columnists are much better. There's a reason he's stuck in Akron.
On the other hand, The ABJ's beat writer, Brian Windhorst, is better than Ivan Carter by a good country mile. I don't think he'll be in Akron much longer. Happily for Post bloggers looking to feel superior, the Cleveland PD's beat writer is as bad as Ivan.
Posted by: Anonymous | April 30, 2008 12:41 PM
windhorst writing for espn about the cavs-wiz series, no bias there.
Posted by: CreditZard | April 30, 2008 12:46 PM
Steinberg, ftw
Posted by: Smith | April 30, 2008 12:54 PM
If my memory serves me correctly.... G@Y ass damon jones did the "i cant feel my face" then did the slashing the neck gesture as well in game 2 when he played his 2 minutes at the end of the blowout.... WHY DIDNT HE GET FINED???? The nba is becoming a ridiculous league... catering to its superstars and when someone like deshawn gets a bad name/image they hlp it get worse by fining him for EVERY possible thing.... soon the will be a beard length rule or something ridiculous like that...watch
Posted by: DeShawn for life | April 30, 2008 1:09 PM
I love how cocky everyone in Cleveland is. Does anyone remember how close games 1 and 4 were. Did Cleveland not witness the spanking we gave them in Game 3? Did they not see that we crushed them all year?
Don't get me wrong we're down 3-1, and they are the clear favorite to win the series... but why do they feel so effing secure in Akron?
Posted by: Jeff V | April 30, 2008 1:11 PM
Did you not catch the Game 2 beatdown? The time the Cavs beat the Wizards with 6 guys and 2 D-League players? The last two years being eliminated in the first round? If anyone has the right to feel secure, it's Cavs fans.
Posted by: Mike C. | April 30, 2008 1:33 PM
Q: Who is the person inside the "Burger King" handing out Whoppers on a platter?
A: LeBron James
Posted by: greg | April 30, 2008 1:45 PM
Did you not catch the Game 2 beatdown? The time the Cavs beat the Wizards with 6 guys and 2 D-League players? The last two years being eliminated in the first round? If anyone has the right to feel secure, it's Cavs fans.
Posted by: Mike C. | April 30, 2008 1:33 PM
umm...its actually normal to have an 8 guy rotation (so i'm missing your point there) and i do believe Game 2 was followed with a bigger Game 3 beatdown
as for the first series: every game cleveland won except for the first was decided by 3pts or less
second series: no gilbert or caron...and cleveland goes on to get swept by the spurs REALITY CHECK
cleveland has the right to feel what they want
but we made it to the playoffs (finishing only 2 games behind cleveland) without gilbert 60+ games and caron 20+ so we are very secure and hardly intimidated
Posted by: DISTRICTofCARON | April 30, 2008 2:00 PM
Moral self-righteousness AND Monty Python quotes? Duuuuuuuuuuude, Ohio obviously knows how to party. I need to get me a ticket to Akron, asap. The Miller Lite and Jalapeno poppers happy hour at Applebee's is not to be missed.
What I honestly cannot wait for is the summer of 2010, when His Travelness opts out of his contract and blows Ohio off once and for all. Let's see- he wears Yankee caps to Indians playoff games, he's romantically involved with Jay-Z, and Jay-Z just happens to be a part owner in a basketball franchise in New York. Uh oh.
Posted by: bryc3 | April 30, 2008 2:00 PM
These posts are great. It really does feel weird to cheer for this now widely maligned team, which to me still seems silly and irreverent and optimistic. It's a shame the spin is getting so out of control. Not sure about the Vick jersey, though... but I appreciate what DeShawn's doing.
Posted by: Erik | April 30, 2008 3:28 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
when lebron checks his lip after every drive is he sir robin?
Sir Robin: Would it help to confuse it if we run away more?
King Arthur: Oh shut up and go and change your armour.