Earvin “Magic” Johnson, along with Larry Bird, has been the centerpiece in a brouhaha surrounding Michael Jordan’s comments on the “free agency frenzy” that ultimately saw Lebron James go to the Miami Heat to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Jordan said in so many words that he would never have consulted with or sought to team alongside either Magic or Bird in an effort to win a championship.

“In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys” he stated bluntly from a celebrity golf tournament in Las Vegas.

According to Bloomberg News, when asked his opinion about the matter, Magic offered, “We didn’t think about it ’cause that’s not what we were about. From college, I was trying to figure out how to beat Larry Bird.”

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Michael Jordan took to the golf course this weekend to participate in a celebrity tournament in Nevada and was asked, among other things, his opinion of the free agency frenzy.

The six time champion, who also happens to be the General Manager for the Charlotte Bobcats, didn’t seem exactly fond of the idea of the superteam that was recently formed in Miami.

“There’s no way, with hindsight, I would’ve ever called up Larry, called up Magic and said, ‘Hey, look, let’s get together and play on one team,’” Jordan said. “But that’s … things are different. I can’t say that’s a bad thing. It’s an opportunity these kids have today. In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys.”

MJ offered that there remains a great deal of activity to be made this summer, now that the “Big 3″ are out of the way.

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July 8, 2010 will go down as a historic day. Catastrophic and historic just the same.

On one hand, you had basketball’s most talked about player finally decide where he wants to play next season. On the other there was Oscar Grant – a 22 year old Black man from Oakland that died senselessly at the hands of Johannes Mehserle - a 27 year old officer.

The decision in the O.G. case represented a lot of things. Above all, it was a chance for the justice system to finally get it right on the big stage, as people from coast to coast weighed in.

With an example like Rodney King (who survived his attackers) before him, it seemed simple. With all the camera angles and interpretations we watched over a year and a half ago, it seemed… easy. But it wasn’t. The verdict proved to be yet another reminder that we still live in a corrupt system which empowers irresponsible people. (continue reading…)

Kobe Bryant was in front of a few cameras this weekend and addressed the topic of the Miami Heat Big 3.

Bryant took it in stride, offering he is happy for all three players and hoped all along that they would make the best decision for themselves and their families.

The world will attempt to read into the fact that he expressed joy for Wade and Bosh sans Lebron… then did so when asked about James specifically.

Before we get all carried away with what Bryant said and how he said it, let’s acknowledge the fact that we don’t know the line of questioning. It’s very possible that some reporter asked Kobe about Wade and Bosh specifically, and another brought up Lebron.

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In the end there was “The Spectacle.”

Millions around the world watched ESPN last night as Lecoon Lebron James waltzed into a Greenwich, Connecticut Boys & Girls Club where he met the world with baited breath and announced who he would play for next season.

“The Decision” the network called it – and after uttering the words, “I’m going to take my talent to South Beach next year,” his hometown of Akron and Cleveland, Ohio dubbed it, “The Betrayal.”

Surely there are dozens, maybe hundreds of other ways to interpret what happened last night and that’s what he, Lebron James wanted.

One thing he won’t likely get now though, is the satisfaction of being “The Man.”

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