• After 9 seasons, 3 MVP awards, 115 playoff games and 2 brutal NBA Finals series that he played poorly in and lost, Lebron James is finally an NBA champion. The Heat defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 121-106 Thursday night to clinch the franchise's second NBA Title. The first came in 2006 when Dwayne Wade and Shaquille O'Neal led the team instead of Wade and Lebron (OK, fine we'll throw Chris Bosh in this list too).
• Whether it's fair or not, nobody has been more harshly critiqued than James over the past few years but his numbers in the Finals, and the entire playoffs for that matter, should silence any criticism of his play (other issues still abound with James but that's a topic for another time) and leave no doubt as to who won this series for Miami. He averaged 28.6 points (never scoring less than 26) 10.4 rebounds and 7.4 assists (25 total in the last 2 games). He played cool, calm and collected and took over the series despite playing against a Kevin Durant-led Thunder team that many thought was better. When the Thunder only sent one defender at James, he scored almost as well and when they inevitably double-teamed him, he passed to wide open 3 point shooters Shane Battier, Mario Chalmers, Mike Miller and others who seemed to barely miss a shot for the entire series.
• Now that he has one, the question can be raised: How many will he win? According to him, there are quite a few more to come.
Unwritten Lines Crossed in MLB
• Joel Peralta has never been a superstar, but has been putting up impressive numbers in his first year with the Tampa Bay Rays. In his career Peralta has pitched for 5 teams in 7 years, including a stint with the Washington Nationals last year. While this movement is not atypical of a relief pitcher out of the norm, Peralta’s case became interesting on Tuesday night.
• The Rays and Nationals were playing in the 8th inning when Peralta was called into the game. While he was warming up, the umpires congregated on the mound, checked Peralta’s glove, and ejected him from the game before he threw his first pitch. Turns out, Peralta had pine tar in his glove, a substance that helps the pitcher grip a ball better and put more spin on it. This substance has been illegal for almost a century.
• How did the umpires know to check Peralta's glove? Well it turns out that the Nationals tipped the umpires (according to Nationals Manager Davey Johnson) based on information from one of his own players, who tipped him off and he asked the umpires to check. Rays manager Joe Maddon was furious calling Johnson’s move “bush league” and saying he was breaking an unwritten rule and that it was unfair to single out Peralta (insinuating that potentially many other players do the same thing).
• While the correct ejection was technically made, it raises all kinds of questions about what is kept "in-family" among MLB players. Peralta was just suspended 8 games for the infraction and his suspension might make players think twice about going to Washington if all of their dirty laundry will be aired as soon as they leave or are traded.
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