A Sea Of Red

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... gD98CU6880

I am not a big fan of Colin Cowherd, or at least I wasn't a big fan of his, but when he brought this up I was forced to agree, and decided to post it here.

And for anyone who thinks LeBron will be better with a better supporting cast, then you better find a way to get him a supporting cast in Cleveland, cuz he ain't goin' anywhere.

Like Cowherd said, "You don't buy a restaurant with a star chef, and then let the chef go. IN the same way, this Chinese investment group is not buying the Cavs so they can have Big Z and Mo Williams. They want LeBron, and they're not prepared to let him go." (Loose paraphrase)

I just saw that on The Herd. I thought it was pretty good. There are more kids to sell shoes to in Shanghai than Queens.

What can a Chinese investment group offer that an American group cannot? (Here me out):

LeBron is (obviously) getting a maximum contract. A Chinese firm cannot offer over the maximum.

While yes, you'd expect that a Chinese firm would want to market LeBron to its Chinese audience, you'd figure that LeBron's current sponsors (such as Nike) are already doing the same. And those sponsors (Nike) say they'll give him something like a 30% boost in sponsorship deals if he'd play in New York or Cleveland.

My opinion? LeBron isn't going anywhere, because he doesn't need to go anywhere. The Cavs are in the running for the NBA championship. The team is perfectly built around him. Yes, they can get better -- but I think it'd be easier for the Cavs to win a title than for LeBron to go to, say, the Knicks and start all over.

They are simply offering him the same contract any other NBA team with the exception of guaranteeing him the ability to sell 100x more merchandise then any other NBA team could offer.

The other thing Cowherd mentioned was that NY's taxes are so much higher and the cost of living is so much higher than Cleveland (or other places) that it would be dumb for him to go there.

Ed Dantes wrote: And those sponsors (Nike) say they'll give him something like a 30% boost in sponsorship deals if he'd play in New York.

If that's true, his sponsors are morons and so is he for staying with them. He's Lebron Freaking James. He's already on ESPN every night. People already care what team he's wearing when he shows up to baseball games in the offseason. On top of that, he's Lebron Freaking James.

What could playing in New York possibly get his sponsors that they don't get already?

Ed Dantes wrote:What can a Chinese investment group offer that an American group cannot? (Here me out):

LeBron is (obviously) getting a maximum contract. A Chinese firm cannot offer over the maximum.

While yes, you'd expect that a Chinese firm would want to market LeBron to its Chinese audience, you'd figure that LeBron's current sponsors (such as Nike) are already doing the same. And those sponsors (Nike) say they'll give him something like a 30% boost in sponsorship deals if he'd play in New York or Cleveland.

My opinion? LeBron isn't going anywhere, because he doesn't need to go anywhere. The Cavs are in the running for the NBA championship. The team is perfectly built around him. Yes, they can get better -- but I think it'd be easier for the Cavs to win a title than for LeBron to go to, say, the Knicks and start all over.

I think this has no impact on him staying in Cleveland, he will stay.... However, my understanding is that the theory is.... this move increases the availability of funds and liquidity and as the cavs payroll goes up so does their luxury tax hit (and other major expenditures). For instance, if I'm not mistaken the Luxury tax is paid in a one time deal -- thats a lot of cash. So it decreases the impact of costs like that because more people are invested.... (they are all making boatloads so not like it matters)...and then of course the marketing in China is big. The NBA is encouraging it. LeBron has reportedly learned mandarin chinese and has publicly said he wants to be the biggest star in China -- as part of his plan to become a 'billionaire athlete.' He always said he wanted to be the first billionaire athlete but I think Tiger is going to beat him there (I know Tiger is close??). Then again maybe its just LeBron's obsession with beating Kobe because if I recall from the olympics -- Kobe is huge over there...

Trust me when I say that LeBron has not learned Mandarin Chinese. He may have memorized a few words/phrases. I have 2 coworkers from Taiwan who speak it and have tried to teach us a little. It's one of the most difficult languages in the world.

SuperJon wrote:The other thing Cowherd mentioned was that NY's taxes are so much higher and the cost of living is so much higher than Cleveland (or other places) that it would be dumb for him to go there.

Don't trust Cowherd's reasoning. He'll take the same situation and argue the complete opposite side if it benefits what he's saying. Just a few weeks ago he was saying emphatically that the Lakers were the deepest team in the league. Today he was saying that they are Kobe and nobody else. The dude is a contradiction machine.

A-rod went from Texas, with cheap cost of living, better climate, and no state-income tax, to New York. Sure, you could say that his life has taken a turn for the worse (mostly self-inflicted), but he wasn't the celebrity he is until he went there. He was a great player in Texas, but it was New York that turned him into a star. Argue against it all you want, but New York City is a difference maker, much like LA.

olldflame wrote:Trust me when I say that LeBron has not learned Mandarin Chinese. He may have memorized a few words/phrases. I have 2 coworkers from Taiwan who speak it and have tried to teach us a little. It's one of the most difficult languages in the world.

Actually he has...it was widely reported back in 2006 (do a google search) that he had been taking classes and studying it because his goal was to be able to hold press conferences without a translater by 2008. I don't think he made it to that goal but its been reported that he can and does sometimes speak it, and that he is still studying it. I didn't say it was easy... but he's working on it.

ALUmnus wrote:A-rod went from Texas, with cheap cost of living, better climate, and no state-income tax, to New York. Sure, you could say that his life has taken a turn for the worse (mostly self-inflicted), but he wasn't the celebrity he is until he went there. He was a great player in Texas, but it was New York that turned him into a star. Argue against it all you want, but New York City is a difference maker, much like LA.

Had Texas been winning and going to the ALCS and the World Series, would you not think that A-Rod would have been a star?

SuperJon wrote:

ALUmnus wrote:A-rod went from Texas, with cheap cost of living, better climate, and no state-income tax, to New York. Sure, you could say that his life has taken a turn for the worse (mostly self-inflicted), but he wasn't the celebrity he is until he went there. He was a great player in Texas, but it was New York that turned him into a star. Argue against it all you want, but New York City is a difference maker, much like LA.

Had Texas been winning and going to the ALCS and the World Series, would you not think that A-Rod would have been a star?

Not as big. Albert Pujols is arguably the best player in all of baseball for about five years now, and has never been linked to steroids. But outside of baseball fans, who the heck knows who he is?

ALUmnus wrote:

SuperJon wrote:

ALUmnus wrote:A-rod went from Texas, with cheap cost of living, better climate, and no state-income tax, to New York. Sure, you could say that his life has taken a turn for the worse (mostly self-inflicted), but he wasn't the celebrity he is until he went there. He was a great player in Texas, but it was New York that turned him into a star. Argue against it all you want, but New York City is a difference maker, much like LA.

Had Texas been winning and going to the ALCS and the World Series, would you not think that A-Rod would have been a star?

Not as big. Albert Pujols is arguably the best player in all of baseball for about five years now, and has never been linked to steroids. But outside of baseball fans, who the heck knows who he is?

Good point.