Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

``` The hype around the Mom-Gate first skyrocketed on the internet. As a representative of the new era of social media, Twitter demonstrated for the first time its influence over public opinion in the sports world. Suddenly, Delonte West and Gloria James became hot topics on Twitter. Then, Kwame Brown, who joined Twitter last year and became the Twitter king of the SuperSonics, was at the forefront of the gossip. This man, who proclaimed himself as the NBA's top power forward, tweeted, "I've heard an unbelievable rumor, Delonte, I hope it's not true!" A day later, The Seattle Times reported on Mom-Gate. This was the beginning of the mainstream media following suit. From then on, Mom-Gate evolved from a rumor on an unsubstantiated gossip website into a scandal that swept across the world. It spread from the United States across the Pacific to China and then dispersed worldwide, setting the foundation for future self-media trying to create sensational news with absurd stories like "Vanessa married to Jordan and pregnant." But at the moment, the impact of this rumor on James's camp was staggering. Especially on James himself. Before this, James had never considered the influence of social media, and he was reluctant to open his own Twitter account like Yu Fei. But when he saw people on the internet and Twitter using rumors as weapons, humiliating his mother with countless tweets, his mentality collapsed. James immediately contacted his lawyer, Fred Nance. But Nance thought that the rumor had no truth to it and wasn't worth responding to. James accepted his professional advice. Then, in the King of the Hill battle held in Milwaukee, Bucks fans unveiled a photoshopped poster showing Delonte West wearing a crown and James kneeling before him. "GO! GO! GO! LeBron West!" The on-site Bucks fans brought the malice from the internet into reality. In this crucial game that influenced the season's trajectory, James made only 3 of his 14 shots, scoring 15 points with 6 rebounds and 7 assists. For tonight, the 37-year-old Shaquille O'Neal looked more like the king, scoring 22 points with 11 shots made out of 7 attempts. But without James firing on all cylinders, Shaquille O'Neal couldn't become the deciding factor. The Bucks unexpectedly dominated the Cavaliers at home. This surprised their key player, Danny Granger. "It's not hard to understand." Granger tried to be a bit friendlier, "If my life went through such changes, I wouldn't want to play either." James's slump was quickly linked to Mom-Gate. From that moment on, the veracity of Mom-Gate was no longer important. What mattered was that James was affected, and this exacerbated the spread of the event. James's lawyer finally realized the severity of the issue. The day before the sixth game of the Eastern Conference Finals, he sent a warning letter to the source of the rumor, "I am the lawyer of Gloria and LeBron James. I am writing to demand that you cease spreading rumors about Gloria James. They are outright defamation." It was too late. The damage had been done, and the influence was still spreading. The Cavaliers lost the most critical game of the year where they needed to push the hardest. Now they were returning home with a 2-3 disadvantage. James was rallying, but his teammates had already lost their spirit. Delonte West had vanished. The players of the Cavaliers were each looking out for themselves. They didn't know the truth, and James couldn't possibly bring this up for discussion. So, the sixth game became a one-man show. James put up 34 points, 18 rebounds, and 11 assists against the Bucks. He completely blew Granger out of the water, but it was useless, given that the Bucks also had the inside combination of Kevin Martin, Big Jah, and Aldridge. Tonight, Shaquille O'Neal's dominance was no more, targeted by shots until his defeat, and James's superhuman effort ended in an honorable defeat. But does this ending really make one feel honorable? "LeBron James failed to pull the Cavaliers out of the mire," Bill Simmons wrote acerbically after the game. "Before writing an elegy for LeBron's last game with the Cavaliers, let's pretend we don't know who led the team into the mire. Let's first acknowledge one thing, if this is LeBron's last game as a Cavalier. Then his record shows six consecutive losses to Frye, four straight playoff eliminations by the Bucks, especially in this and last year's series where he was undoubtedly the best player, but we never saw him turn the tide. That epitomizes his six consecutive losses to Frye. We thought he could do it, but he just let himself lose gracefully." Now, Mom-Gate is no longer important. What matters is where James will go after this summer. Buzz Bissinger, who co-authored a memoir with James for The New Yorker, actually chose to "criticize" James in his column after another defeat of James's. Bissinger believed that James had done nothing in Cleveland to be proud of, and if he left this year, it wouldn't be "going out on top" but a "disgraceful flight." He thought that James's heart had never truly matured. Only by enduring hardship with a tough team could one's spirit be strengthened, but it seemed the King refused to embrace the trials. Bissinger's backstab was a microcosm of public opinion. ``` With another defeat, James faced widespread criticism. ESPN's notorious ranter, Skip Bayless, bluntly said on air, "LBJ is a regular season superstar. He's suited to be featured in our 'SportsCenter Tonight' because he always performs well in the regular season. But come playoff time, he suddenly loses energy. He is the most overrated and overhyped superstar I've seen in this industry." As the public relations person responsible for maintaining James' media image and public opinion, Maverick Carter was powerless. The writer hired to pen James' autobiography backstabbed him publicly, and their buddy ESPN allowed their ranter to wildly criticize James on air for views, with articles from major media outlets filled with the words "James is overrated." No one could tolerate comparing James to Yu Fei anymore. In the words of Yu's supporters, "This is the greatest insult to Frye." Since James became a loser once again, even disgraceful rumors lacking credibility like the one involving his mother became weapons for public opinion. Why were you so incompetent in the King of the Hill battle that you performed like crap? Because of rumors? If the rumors are false, why do you care what they say? If a trivial rumor can sap your motivation to play, doesn't that suggest the rumor has some truth to it? Over the years, the media network that Nike had built for its stars suddenly malfunctioned. In those days, no one spoke up for James. He not only became the biggest loser in the basketball world but also the most overrated athlete in the world. So, what about Yu Fei? Would he kick his weakened enemy while he was down? He did not, firstly because there was no need, and secondly because he was too busy. At this stage of the season, all the major regular-season awards had been announced. As expected, Yu Fei, who led his team to the best record in history, broke through "aesthetic fatigue" and was elected by a wide margin as the regular season's Most Valuable Player. This was his fifth MVP trophy. From now on, he had as many MVPs as Jordan. Besides, Yu Fei was selected again for the All-NBA First Team. At the same time, Durant and Roy were named to the Third Team. Marion was picked again for the Second Team All-Defense. DeAndre Jordan, with an average of 6 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 block per game, made the All-Rookie Second Team amidst some controversy. It was a bountiful year for the SuperSonics, as they collected all that was available to them, with only one goal left now. Afterward, Yu Fei symbolically held a press conference. He answered some questions, but most were trivial, formulaic inquiries. It wasn't until James' name came up that his mood showed a slight fluctuation. "How do you see LeBron as the biggest loser in sports, during his six years in Cleveland?" Yu Fei couldn't help but say, "Did I hear you wrong? Did you say he's the biggest loser in sports? I mean, do you think someone who has never played in the Finals is the biggest loser in sports?" "I'd like to thank those teams that won silver on his behalf." After that, nobody talked about James anymore. Because there was no longer any competition between Yu and James, bringing up the latter was just an attempt to provoke Yu to twist the knife, but if The Chosen One disdained to do so, why bother? "Stephen Curry, a leading candidate for the 2009 draft, said the team he most wants to play for is the SuperSonics. Does this have anything to do with your experience on the Dream Team?" "You know," Yu Fei said with an easy smile, "Stephen is a fine young man, and we are a great team. Excellent individuals and great groups always attract each other." "Now that you've matched MJ in the number of MVPs, does that have any special significance for you?" Yu Fei looked at him indifferently, "Oh, Jim, the significance of this is that I have to receive the award in front of the person who was second in the MVP vote again (Kobe)." "I think Kobe wouldn't mind." "I think so too." Yu Fei smiled, "What was it you said before?" "Your number of MVPs has matched MJ's..." "Is that so?" "Yes, do you have any thoughts on that?" "No thoughts." Yu Fei stood up and nodded to everyone, "But thank you for voting for me." With that, he left. It was an undoubtedly impolite exit, but no one felt there was anything amiss. He came and went as he pleased. Those at the scene who had voted for him in the MVP selection didn't even get a chance to ask questions, but hearing him thank everyone made some feel their choice was worthwhile. Frye thanked me, what more do I need?