LeBron Or Bust / Delusional Dan

Since the Red Sox are on a four game winning streak, Shank has been forced to 'write' about other subjects, including (surprise) his reminder that the Cleveland Cavaliers will win this year's NBA championship. He doesn't really believe it, though. He's just trying in vain to make up for the last time he pissed off an entire U.S. city. Otherwise, why would he contradict himself so many times in the same column?

How can you not root for Cavaliers to win it all?

Because the Golden State Warriors will run through them like crap through a goose?

These things I believe:

1. LeBron James is the best player in the NBA.
...
Let’s talk LeBron first. You all know that Stephen Curry was just named NBA MVP for the second straight year. Golden State’s sharpshooting guard was a unanimous pick. His team set the league record with 73 wins, and many expect the Warriors to win a second straight NBA title.
...
He still has some trouble closing and has won championships only twice in six appearances in the NBA Finals,
...
I will never understand the irrational LeBron hate that pollutes the sports landscape. Certainly “The Decision” was odious, and LeBron is a bit of a poseur, but he has done little to earn the hate that is showered on his huge head nightly.

Other than that, these statements were accurate!

Talk about the gall of Shank to half-lecture his readers about irrational hate - how many times has he taken a dump on the Kraft family, Bill Belichick, the Patriots, Claude Julien, the Bruins, or about two dozen current and former Red Sox players (just a partial list) over the past thirty years?

This year the Cavs are healthy. LeBron, Irving, and Love make for a nifty Big Three.

Are they playing any better than Steph Curry, Klay Thomson & Draymond Green?

They have the maniacal J.R. Smith and Channing Frye draining rainbow jumpers from international waters. Tristan Thompson is a rebounding robot. Iman Shumpert is a serviceable two-way player.

Look at the Warriors' bench - Shaun Livingston, Leandro Barbosa, Mo (Buckets) Speights, Festus Ezili, and Andre Iguodala. J.R. Smith's a headcase who can be counted on to screw the pooch at the worst possible time.

So, let's review - Lebron is, according to Shank, the best player, but...

But this is about the city of Cleveland more than it is about LeBron James or the Cleveland basketball team.

UPDATE, AT 4:40 PM - A commenter accuses Shank of plagiarizing last year's column of the same theme, where he writes, in part:

Sorry, I know many of you will find it hard to cheer for LeBron James. He’s a little full of himself, he has been a Celtics rival for many years, and he inspires a lot of irrational hatred for a guy who never really has done anything offensive other than stage an ill-conceived media event with Jim Gray.

.
Verdict - GUILTY!

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

If anyone doubts Shank's disdain / hatred for David Ortiz isn't real or doesn't exist, this ought to remove that doubt:

Listen for yourself. First fucking sentence from the racist Red Sox Globe "Hallof Famer." https://t.co/j4mi6LPb3C

— Patriots SB52 (@PatriotsSB49) May 16, 2017

Unfortunately, the audio is on iTunes, which I refuse to use now. It's already installed on my computer, yet every time I go to run one of these links, I'm prompted to re-install iTunes. I simply refuse to run any more crapware than I have to.

Back to our subject - you can tell this is 'irrational hatred', to borrow a phrase, for one reason - most rational people would give a non-native English speaker / writer a break in a matter like this one. Back in college I once had to do an oral exam in German on a subject of my choosing, no cheat sheets. Being the cocky little prick I was back in those days, I chose the subject of my final statistics project, the US dollar / German deutsche mark exchange rate. I wound up having to learn at least fifty new words for this exam, the overwhelming majority of them I know I screwed up. In any event, this lack of respect for the English skills from a non-native English speaker is reprehensible coming from a mamember of the media, who ought to know better.

Oh, The Irony

This is one of two things - either Shank is painfully unaware of certain things, or he's just trolling us now:

On today from 11-1 with @ZoandBertrand. Lots of talk about irational LeBron hate around these parts. Oh, and Sox train wreck of late, too.

— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) May 16, 2017

My vote is for the latter - he's been milking this theme at least once a year for a couple of years now, most likely in response to a few hysterical Sports Hub callers. Stealing themes from this local radio station is also not exactly a news flash. It takes a certain level of gumption for Shank, a black belt in petty vindictiveness and character assassination, to then accuse others of 'irrational hatred' of an athlete on another team. Are we really supposed to rub LeBron's balls in buttermilk every time he makes a trip to the Garden, Shank?

Maybe You Should Move There

Here's Shank writing about the NBA Finals, jumping on the Cleveland bandwagon:

Go Cleveland. Go Cavaliers. Go LeBron.

It’s the only way to go.

The NBA Finals start Thursday, and unless you are a fan of the Golden State Warriors, or perhaps a fan of Steph Curry’s adorable 2-year-old daughter, you simply must root for the Cavs.

Sorry, I know many of you will find it hard to cheer for LeBron James. He’s a little full of himself, he has been a Celtics rival for many years, and he inspires a lot of irrational hatred for a guy who never really has done anything offensive other than stage an ill-conceived media event with Jim Gray.

'Ill-conceived' is Shank speak for 'convenient memory lapse':

“Despicable Me.’’

Starring LeBron James, ESPN, Jim Gray, and the Miami Heat.

All despicable.

It’s been more than 36 hours since “The Decision’’ and I’m still nauseous.

Truly, has there ever been a more hideous sports-related hour than what we saw Thursday night?

It’s hard to know where to start. We had MeBron speaking of himself in the third person and saying, “I’m going to take my talents to South Beach.’’ We had ESPN lying to us about at what point MeBron would announce his move, then morphing into game-show mode. We had Gray forever forfeiting all semblance of integrity, taunting America (particularly Clevelanders) by intentionally delaying the only question we wanted him to ask. And now we have the Miami Heat — a veritable team of A-Rods, the team we will root against in every game as long as LeBron, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh are together.

Despicable. All of them.

This column's his makeup call for trolling Cleveland a few months ago, nothing more.

Take Your Pick

It looks like Shank may have a point after all concerning 'irrational hatred' for Lebron James, or someone's not too happy with our 36th President:

Best. Sign. Ever.#Celtics #LeBron #CavsCeltics #wbz pic.twitter.com/sH6w5HBNGb

— Scott Sullivan (@SullyBunz) May 17, 2017