Can't Handle It

Bill Buckner was one of the greatest baseball players of the late 1970s and 1980s. He was as reliable of a corner outfielder as you were going to find in the American League and the Boston Red Sox were lucky to have such stability at one of their key infield positions. I never knew who Bill Buckner was other than the player who had the ball slip through his legs in Game Six of the 1986 World Series.

After retiring from baseball three seasons later, Buckner moved to Idaho, which isn't exactly near Boston or the painful memories that he was reminded of every day since the Game 6 debacle. Depending on who you reference, blame for Buckner's mishap could be overblown by overzealous fans, over-eccentric media or over-hyped citizens from the largest city in America, who happened to be the recipients of the World Series trophy that season.

Since the fall of 1986, Buckner's life was threatened. His children were bullied and tormented. His wife would hear her husband and family name as the punchline of countless jokes and references to failure. Certainly it was not fair. It was down-right cynical and torturous.

But do you know what Bill Buckner did after Game 6 and Game 7 of that World Series?

Bill Buckner stood at his locker, looked at the local, national and world media directly in the camera, and answered every single question they could ask him.

Do you know what Bill Buckner did the Monday after the World Series?

He did an interview with NBC to try and explain exactly how he felt, how the play unfolded and what he would do from here.

Buckner understood his responsibility to the team and the fans of the Red Sox. It was striking to me to read the above link about how he was cheered along Boston even after the Red Sox came up just short. The majority of people in New England forgave Buckner, even though it probably wasn't his fault at all.

And now look at LeBron James.

People may know that I am not a LeBron James fan. His weekend removal from the NBA playoffs comes as a shock to everyone, even if they say otherwise. The Cavaliers were pushed around by the Magic - who probably should have won 5 of the 6 games played in the series.

After Orlando destroyed the Cavs in the final game by 13, James - true to his classlessness, stormed off the court in a huff, not acknowledging the Magic for a hard fought series. He did even look at OSCAR ROBERTSON - one of the NBA's all-time greats in the face to give him a handshake at the conclusion of the game (look closely at the :11 sec. mark of the video - the gentleman in the white hair.)

The worst of it came the next day. James was gracious enough to dawn the media with his presence and proclaimed that he is "a winner" and "a competitor" and "doesn't see the point of congratulating someone who just beat him up. I just don't see the point in that." Listen to how many times he says "I." Hardly ever "we" or "the Cavs."

James may be the best player in the NBA. He may love to smile and take stupid, fake photos of his teammates and throw chalk in the air as they win 66 regular season games and he may love his Vitamin Water when they take-out the Pistons and Hawks. And in the heat of frustration, it's marginally excusable if The King wants to pout his way of the floor so he doesn't get too much confetti in his delicate eyes. But he's embarrassed his teammates, the organization and anyone else that competes and loses with grace. Just because you've gotten whatever you want whenever you've wanted it doesn't mean you can't acknowledge a victor.

I know that I will never be pointing my athletes or people that I influence to emulate James. He may win 10 NBA titles by the time he's done playing ball and he may make trillions of dollars as a "global icon." But I'm glad he's not playing anymore this season. The people playing, I guess you could say, are the winners.