Jordan's comments about Lebron.

[Phishfan]

The thing that pissed me off about the whole Kobe thing was that he lied to me, directly.  I don't care that he lied to his wife.  But, he held a press conference to his fans and denied sleeping with her, saying "you know me."

So, I believed him.

That pissed me off.  I felt personally betrayed, strangely.

I think you confused Kobe with Bill Clinton. Kobe never denied sex in his press conference, he denied rape. Remember how his wife was by his side at the press conference and he was admitting to have cheated? That was the talk about the whole thing.

[Pappy13]

Hope in one hand, and crap a good load in the other...and neither hand will prevent the titles from coming to LeBron, Dwyane and Chris.

I'm not so sure.  People are awful quick to annoint them champions before they have even stepped on the floor together.  No doubt there's plenty of potential there, but it's just potential right now.  I've seen better teams not win championships because of injury, selfishness, poor coaching, lack of effort etc.

[Sunstroke]

I've seen better teams not win championships because of injury, selfishness, poor coaching, lack of effort etc.

I question whether there has ever been "a better team" than the one Miami is assembling, that DIDN'T win an NBA title. I don't believe there has been, but "better" is such a subjective term.

[Dave Gray]

Kobe did deny sex at first.

...and I don't even care that he lied about it.  I care that he specifically called a press conference for fans and called on them to recognize his reputation and that he wouldn't do that.

Then, he realized that lying about that would only hurt his case, so he came clean about the sex part -- and his wife started showing up with a big piece of jewelry.

[Phishfan]

I don't think he ever denied it. His press conference was an admission to adultery but denial of rape. He never had a press conference calling on people to recognize he wouldn't cheat on his wife. His statement all along was that they had sex.

I think you may have a separate thing confused with this. At one point he had a housekeeper accuse he and his wife of harassment which was denied.

[Pappy13]

I question whether there has ever been "a better team" than the one Miami is assembling, that DIDN'T win an NBA title. I don't believe there has been, but "better" is such a subjective term.

I'm not really an NBA guy, so you may be right, but some of the Dallas Mavericks teams were pretty well stacked and didn't win a championship.  First it was Mark Aguirre, Brad Davis, Rolando Blackman, Derek Harper, Sam Perkins and Detlef Schrempf in the 80's and then later it was Dirk Nowitski, Michael Finley and Steve Nash.  I won't argue with you if you say neither of those teams were as good as the current Miami Heat, but they were pretty good teams that didn't win.  All I'm saying is that you never know.  Miami may get all the way to the championship and lose to Kobe and Gasol.  Would that be an upset?  Perhaps, but it's certainly not out of the realm of possibilities.

[Phishfan]

I won't deny that it is likely the HEAT are going to win at some point. I would really like them to get beat out the first year these guys play together though.

[Sunstroke]

^^^ I actually think their first year together is the "only" year in the next four that they could possibly not win a title. 2011, 12, 13...those belong to Miami. If they win it this season, they'll win at least 3-4 straight.

Flagging this post so I can quote it in a few years.

[Dave Gray]

I don't think he ever denied it. His press conference was an admission to adultery but denial of rape. He never had a press conference calling on people to recognize he wouldn't cheat on his wife. His statement all along was that they had sex.

No, there were two different exchanges with the media.  In the first, when the rumors were just circulating, he made a statement that it was all a lie, including the line "c'mon guys, you know me."

Then, after it came clear that this was the real deal (I think, but am not sure, that it was the very next day), he had a press conference with his lawyer and wife, where he admitted to adultery, but denied the assault charge.

I remember it pretty vividly, because it struck me as "no...yesterday was a lie, but TODAY....TODAY is the truth."   It was like the boy who cried wolf.

[Phishfan]

I haven't seen any clippings about outright denial (I looked because I don't remember it), but maybe. That may have been, but the press conference (which you specifically said it was) was about admitting the relations but denial of assault.

[CF DolFan]

Magic Johnson said the same thing as Jordon and Barkely. He said from the time he left college he was trying to figure out how to beat Bird and not join him.

We didn't think about it 'cause that's not what we were about," Johnson said at Baruch College in New York, according to Bloomberg News. "From college, I was trying to figure out how to beat Larry Bird.

[Sunstroke]

If I had a dollar for every time I've heard an ex-professional athlete talk out of their ass about "how things used to be" or "how current athletes aren't as motivated/dedicated/professional/etc... as they were," I'd buy the Miami Heat myself and help Wade, Lebron and Bosh hoist the championship trophies.