Traina Thoughts: LeBron Is Having a Month for the Ages, and Everyone Should Appreciate It
1. LeBron James scored 35 points, dished out 17 assists, grabbed seven rebounds and did not turn the ball over once in the Cavs' 132-129 win over the Raptors on Wednesday night. While those numbers alone are ridiculously impressive, here is some context for how special James's performance was.
Obviously the numbers are mind-boggling, but you have to watch James to truly appreciate his greatness. He's 33 years old, is in his 15th season, has played in 1,132 regular season games and he still makes passes like this:
The amazing thing is that whenever I tweet about James still being the greatest attraction in sports, I inevitably get one or two tweets like this:
I just can't fathom not appreciating the greatest athlete in American sports because he complains to refs, just like pretty much every other athlete who plays team sports...but to each his own, I guess.
2. I'm thrilled to announce that I'm the new host of the SI Media Podcast. The podcast will come out each Thursday, so please subscribe. The guest for this week's episode is journalist and author, James Andrew Miller, who discusses his bombshell interview with former ESPN President, John Skipper.
3. Everybody loves some solid ESPN-on-ESPN crime, so here's an amusing story about ESPN Radio host Dan Le Batard mocking the network's latest NFL-coach-who-got-fired hire, John Fox.
4. My favorite thing on Twitter right now is this Bears fan who has sent one tweet a day since March 1 to NFL Senior Vice President of Officiating Al Riveron demanding an apology for refs blowing a touchdown call on a Zach Miller catch. This was the fan's first tweet:
And here's the one he sent yesterday. Click and follow the thread. Clearly, Miller appreciates the guy's effort.
5. Odell Beckham Jr. made quite an entrance when his fellow Giants wide receiver Sterling Shepard married model Chanel Iman last month.
6. The WWE is going all out to drain every bit of emotion it can from fans over Daniel Bryan's return to the ring, which was extensively covered in yesterday's Traina Thoughts. The company posted this video yesterday of Bryan preparing the speech he gave during the opening of Tuesday's "SmackDown Live."
7. Here's a fun story from my colleague Jake Fischer on how gray jerseys became all the rage in college basketball.
8. RANDOM WRESTLING VIDEO OF THE DAY: I never knew until this morning that Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan once appeared on Nickelodeon's Double Dare and now my mind is blown.
The best of the Internet, plus musings by SI.com writer, Jimmy Traina. Get the link to a new Traina's Thoughts each day by following on Twitter and liking on Facebook. Catch up on previous editions of Traina Thoughts. And check Jimmy Traina's weekly podcast, "Off The Board," on iTunes, SoundCloud and Stitcher.
IN CLOSING: I would really like the idea of ESPN using the College GameDay crew on NFL Draft coverage on ESPN2 if their best guy, Kirk Herbstreit, was going to be a part of it, but he's going to be on the main set for ESPN.