Gatorade Takes Twitter Shot At Lebron James

[key2win]

https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-b...092952101.html

SAN ANTONIO – After LeBron James was carried off the court with cramps in the critical closing minutes of the opener of the 2014 NBA Finals, he instantly became a target for critics. Not the least of which was the company that supplies the very product many athletes use to help fight dehydration:

Gatorade.

@ryanbkoo The person cramping wasn't our client. Our athletes can take the heat.

— Gatorade (@Gatorade) June 6, 2014
James is an endorser of competitor Powerade, and the people running Gatorade's official Twitter account took great pride in pointing out the distinction after James couldn't return to the game.

@CarmichaelDave This is awkward....We don't sponsor him. #fail

— Gatorade (@Gatorade) June 6, 2014
@LazyBumDrew we were waiting on the sidelines, but he prefers to drink something else. — Gatorade (@Gatorade) June 6, 2014

And Gatorade continued trolling James…

@PrinceAmukamara You've always had good taste, Prince.

— Gatorade (@Gatorade) June 6, 2014
@OfficiallyRandy Thanks, Randy. We've been hydrating all day. We never cramp.

— Gatorade (@Gatorade) June 6, 2014
@AthIeteMotivate Especially during important games.

— Gatorade (@Gatorade) June 6, 2014
Gatorade apologized Friday for the comments posted to the company's Twitter feed. "Our apologies for our response to fans' tweets during [Thursday] night's Heat vs. Spurs game," the company said in a statement. "We got caught up in the heat of the battle. As a longtime partner of the Miami Heat, we support the entire team."

James took his own dig at Gatorade Friday after the criticism. "I really don't care what people say about me, I don't care about that sports group, the drink group that – I'm not even going to say their name," James said. "I'm not going to give them a light in the Finals. This is about the Spurs and the Heat, and it's not about everybody else, man. I don't care."

James had to ask out of the game three times because of cramps, which were brought on by 90-degree temperatures on the court after the AT&T Center's air conditioning stopped working. James tried to return with about 3½ minutes left, but was told by coach Erik Spoelstra to stay on the bench.

"The best option for me to do was not to move," James said. "I tried, and any little step or nudge, it would get worse. It would lock up worse and my muscles spasmed 10 out of 10."

Powerade's official Twitter account saluted James earlier in the game when he joined Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant as the only players to reach 4,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists for their postseason careers.

Consistency, unselfishness and a drive to succeed. Congrats @KingJames on 4,000+ points and 1,000+ assists in the post-season. #powerthrough

— POWERADE (@POWERADE) June 6, 2014
James, despite Powerade's hashtag encouragement, could not power all the way through. Gatorade likely has a theory or two why.

[azdbacks1998]

That's feegin' hilarious!! I love it!!

[key2win]

San Antonio Spurs say the air conditioning at their arena has been repaired - ESPN

SAN ANTONIO -- The electrical failure that caused the air-conditioning outage at the AT&T Center during Game 1 of the NBA Finals has been repaired, the San Antonio Spurs announced Friday.

"The AC system has been tested, is fully operational and will continue to be monitored," the team said in a statement. "The upcoming events at the AT&T Center, including the Romeo Santos concert tonight, the Stars game on Saturday night and Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday, will go on as scheduled. We apologize for the conditions in the arena during last night's game."

Temperatures reached as high as 90 degrees in the arena with uncomfortable conditions affecting both teams. Players were using cold towels and ice packs on the bench, as fans rolled up programs to fan themselves throughout the game.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he was satisfied the air-conditioning issues have been cleared up and will not affect play come Sunday.

"We learn something new all the time," Silver told The Associated Press on Friday at an NBA Cares event. "The league checklist continues to get longer, the things that we need to ensure are functioning properly before games."

[key2win]

LeBron James will never be beloved - ESPN



And as much as people hate Kobe too, they hate Lebron more. LOL!

"I know I'm the easiest target that we have in sports, I'm aware of it. I really am. I believe it." -- LeBron James in an interview with ESPN's Michael Wilbon on Friday

The minute he couldn't move, the second he stood on that baseline unable to take another step, the instant they began to carry him off the court, you knew it was about to happen. Twitter. FB. Instagram. Google Plus. Sports bars. Sports radio. "First Take." "SportsCenter." Another universal and public annihilation of LeBron James.

"#cramps. #lebron. So this is why LeBron isn't in Space Jam 2." Picture of him in full body cast with #cramplife underscored. Gatorade tweeting: "The person cramping wasn't our client." The Atlanta Daily World calling it a "total bloodbath on social media." Memes of people "LeBroning."

If there was ever a wrong time for the wrong thing to happen to the wrong person, this was it.

But there is more to this than a public opportunity for millions to take shots at LeBron. This recent incident is possibly final proof for us (and LeBron) that, as much as he might be respected and honored as a basketball player/iconic athlete and as much work as he's put in to become the "global icon" he told us from the beginning he was striving to be, he will never be loved or beloved.

The hate for LeBron began way before "The Decision." It happened the second he became the youngest player to be the subject of Slam's High School Diary and has continued with every "youngest player to … " milestone that has followed. It happened when ESPN aired his high school games. It happened when his mother purchased him a Hummer for his 18th birthday. It happened when he didn't openly apologize for being so good so young and for living up to a degree of hype that was almost purposely set up for him to fail. It happened when he gave himself the name King James.

The belovedness that should have been unconditionally associated with someone of LeBron's stature, worth, value and appeal didn't happen for him. Instead of understanding, empathy, sympathy, benefit of doubt or any other human form of fair judgment, LeBron got scrutiny as his frenemy. And the sometimes lack of humility that comes across in his responses to criticisms of his play or behavior remains one of the primary reasons the world has never accepted him with open arms (and never will, as witnessed with Crampgate).

He'll never get the love of a Lionel Messi, but he catches twice the hell and hate of Cristiano Ronaldo. He's much closer to understanding A-Rod's public pain than Derek Jeter's public adoration. Wayne Gretzky, Cal Ripken Jr., Roberto Clemente, Tom Brady and California Chrome -- that type of love will never happen for LeBron. He will never get the chance or understand what that kind of acceptance feels like.

And here's the sad thing: LeBron James might one day become greater than Magic Johnson, but history will never know it because the people who write history simply aren't going to feel about James the way they did (and still do) about Johnson.

LeBron finds himself in that weird and unusual space of being a fascinating player but not someone we are fascinated by. His Nike sales are through the roof, but his TV ratings always tend to be low in comparison to other global superstars. And as subjective as that might be, that has almost as much to do with why he'll never be ultimately loved as anything else.

Tiger Woods fascinated us. Ali fascinated us. Ruth, Pele, Mays fascinated us. And Jordan…

Which is probably why this continues as the one LeBron comparison with Michael Jordan that goes undiscussed. It is important to the overall LeBron dialogue because this "unlove" LeBron can't escape is so much a part of his existence that it eventually will affect his legacy. If it hasn't already.

Reputation can be a gift and a curse. In LeBron's case, in times like this, it has become what he has to compete against. The bad Boston games are revisited. Previous losses in the Finals to San Antonio and Dallas are brought up. When he walked off the court at the end of the Orlando series and refused to shake Dwight Howard & Co.'s hands. Every time he either missed the shot or didn't take it to win a game (which translated into "ran from it" in most people's minds) gets rehashed, and the whole "no clutch gene" criticism, it all comes back into play.

And gets held against him.

There's a great graph in an Ethan Sherwood Strauss piece that reads: "It's easy to believe that winning a ring just makes all the ill will go away, that the hoisting of a trophy is a magic spell that turns your haters into fans. The truth is a little more complicated. LeBron doesn't win hearts and minds overnight because winning people back is different from winning them over in the first place."

Damn. I so wish LeBron could do something to change the course of this, but it's too late. If him catching cramps causes this much venom, what is going to happen once he doesn't win another championship? Hell, what's going to happen if the Heat happen to lose this series in seven and all the blame comes back to the last 3:59 of Game 1?

So when LeBron says, as he did Friday at the post-practice media junket, "you guys should know me by now (pause) … I don't care. I really don't. I don't care what people say about me," he is telling the truth. His truth.

But what they feel about him is something that is going the haunt him for the rest of his natural life.

[jsab4807]

His entire perception with the general public would change if he goes back to Cleveland and wins a title with them.