A very fitting example of 'Playing To Win' just unfolded on the national stage...

[Lofobal]

Originally Posted by SpicyCrab

How any one could say that sports are not strategically interesting is completely beyond me...

Well that depends on the sport.

[jiaflu]

I don't think people give the "Big 3" that much shit about them teaming together as much as people just despise LBJ on his poorly conceieved delivery of his FA decision...

[Jobber]

Big time sports has a legacy component. Today's stars will be compared to tomorrow's, all the while being compared to yesterday's. So people who think LeBron wants to be an all-time great, if not THE Greatest of All Time (GOAT), there's good reason to think this hurts his legacy because he left his team to join another superstar's team.

There's a lot of emotional nonsense involved, too. Fans expect loyalty from stars, and demand that they stay with their team. There are exceptions; fans will pity a guy who works hard and leaves a team because he's at the end of his career and wants to win badly. But leaving via free agency at the height of your abilities probably has never been popular among jilted teams' fans. Then there are the other teams that courted the free agents, and those teams' fans are angry that LeBron, Bosh, and Wade didn't join them. I'm a Bulls fan, so I saw this frustration first hand. Also, consider where LeBron's from. Cleveland has a franchise in each of North America's biggest sporting leagues, and not won has one a title since the 1960's. The romanticists wanted LeBron to be the one to end Cleveland's misery, which obviously he can't do now.

But to me, a sports fan, that "emotional nonsense" is a lot of fun. I always get a kick out of seeing these so-called Benedict Arnold figures return to their place of former glory and get excoriated by fans. It was great to see the "We'll never forget you, Brent" signs in Lambeau Field. We love our heroes, but we love having villains to hate. And let's not kid ourselves, LeBron's ego has been out of control for some time. Sports fans were sort of appalled in the spring 2009 when the Cavs were knocked out and LeBron refused to shake hands. Then a few days later he was wearing a shirt proclaiming his MVP status. The final straw for me was when Carmelo Anthony hit a game winner over LeBron's outstretched hand and LeBron said afterward, "It's finally me being on the other end I guess. I'm so used to being on the other end making shots and looking at guys... If I got any closer, I was going to foul him." Insecure anyone? And we didn't even talk about that horrible ESPN special...

So LeBron now has the makings of a classic sports villain, a narcissistic (Dan Gilbert's words, much truer when you consider psychiatric narcissism stems from insecurity) egomaniac deserving of humiliation, and sports fans' lives are now more interesting because of it. I look forward to the day the Heat visit Cleveland next NBA season. I just hope LeBron doesn't have a mysterious injury that'll force him to sit out that day, which wouldn't surprise anyone.

One last comment. ESPN's own ombudsman wrote a scathing review of the entire "The Decision" programming farce. If you're into journalism ethics, which ESPN is seemingly always breaking, check out that article. A one-sentence summary of the article can't do it justice.

I should also add that as far as PTW goes, LeBron might not have made the right choice of teams...

[WhitemageofDOOM]

Originally Posted by MisterGuyMan

I should point out that it's largely the fans and media that have a problem with this. The actual players around the league that play at the highest levels have no problem with it.

It's simply a matter of competing interests.
The fans want a game that's interesting to watch and a super team that completely dominates there games is not.

Originally Posted by SpicyCrab

How any one could say that sports are not strategically interesting is completely beyond me...

*Shrug* everyone has there prejudices.

[MisterGuyMan]

In sports, winning defines everything. This summer all the bad press about LBJ was left out there without any of the potential good press of winning. Everyone loves Kobe today, for example, despite the fact that he did far worse a few years ago. If Miami wins several Championships then LBJ's bid as GOAT is legitimized regardless of what people say today. The 90s Bulls without Jordan for example, made it to the Conference Championships. Nobody remembers that they Bulls were absolutely stacked in every position. They just remember their decade of dominance.

To me, all the people that complain about the Big Three in Miami, suffer from the same mentality as the people that complain about cheap tactics in an arcade. What they consider a cheap tactic is nothing more than the most obvious tactic that maximizes winning.

Originally Posted by WhitemageofDOOM

It's simply a matter of competing interests.
The fans want a game that's interesting to watch and a super team that completely dominates there games is not.

That's simply not true. NFL ratings were crazy when the Patriots were on their undefeated bid. The 90s Bulls elevated basket interest internationally. Even in golf adding Tiger Woods to any tournament will markedly increase ratings.

[Jobber]

Originally Posted by MisterGuyMan

The 90s Bulls without Jordan for example, made it to the Conference Championships.

The 1994 and 1995 Bulls lost in the conference SEMI-finals, i.e. they weren't top 4 teams.

And no, they weren't stacked at "every position," unless you think Bill Cartwright, Will Perdue, Luc Longley, and Bill Wennington were all-star caliber centers.

[bbobjs]

Originally Posted by SpicyCrab

How any one could say that sports are not strategically interesting is completely beyond me...

From a coaching/administrative standpoint they might be but I believe Sirlin meant it from a player's standpoint. In many sports your potential is capped at birth and there are few strategic options you can explore to improve your standing. In many other sports the most viable option is simply to become physically stronger with basically no cap on the benefit (thus the need for steroid regulations). Most sports are played at Yomi Layer 0 most of the time and I think that article that Sirlin linked awhile back on basketball and the full court press is a prime example. Not only did all teams that encountered the full court press not bother to apply a counter, they probably never even considered trying to counter it. Furthermore the team using the full court press had no backup plan; the reason it was being used is that they had no other option. Even though it seems strategic the reality is that all teams involved played at Yomi Layer 0 because they didn't consider other ways to play.

[xAS]

Dwayne Wade plays to win!

http://vimeo.com/14128850