Miami Heat Ban Anti-LeBron Writer

Before the laker/kobe swamp rats crawl out, LONG…LIVE…THE…FU*KING…KING!!!

They should ban me too cause all I have for mortgaging Wade’s future with two one man shows.

I love when y’all get all intellectual and sh!t. Turns me on.

Not being able to get credentialed by an NBA team for no clear reason is worthy of letting the world know about it, no?

I thought the clear reason was the continued disparaging remarks made about one of their players? Why do they need to have more of a reason? In actuality, they don’t need to give a reason, they can choose to ban whoever they want to…..and that includes unruly fans, who actually PAY to be there or a deranged hot dog vendor that might want to poison part of the fanbase.

I guess the Heat’s PR staff learned nothing from Nike’s Videogate.

Bryan, I also think the fact that you have a gig with SLAM, you’re speaking from a guarded view. If some odd writer kept talking massive amounts of sh*t about Derrick Rose or Joakim Noah with every opportunity he/she had, would the Bulls be welcoming to that particular person and want them to be within shouting distance of either of those guys? Would ANY team want to subject one of their players, let alone a franchise player, to some non-descript writer with a vendetta. ‘Cause believe me, before today, and probably once the sun rises tomorrow, 99.9 percent of the population knew or will remember Raab’s name.

Cheryl, Woj writes disparaging remarks about LeBron on a regular. Has been for a very long time. It’s just cleaned up for public consumption…more “professional.” But that’s the only real difference between what Raab writes about LeBron and what Woj writes. The main difference is the outlets. The Heat don’t depend on Esquire for sports coverage, so banning Raab doesn’t matter to them. But, it does send the wrong message. On an NBA credential (and in the team media guide) it lists the types of things/circumstances that a member of the media can be banned for. Writing disparaging remarks about the team or the player — even if they are well within their right to do so — is not listed.

B, just because you possess a press pass doesn’t mean you’re automatically “granted” access to an arena. You could argue that and chastise the organization for bi*ching out, but if you are blacklisted, you won’t be allowed entrance. There is no “law” that prohibits that. This I’m certain of. I heard some of those old head writers on ESPN a couple of weeks ago stating that today, there is such little respect that is showed to modern athletes, it’s abymssal. They brought up how 30, 40, 50 years ago, sports figures were shown the highest respect by sportswriters and they wouldn’t never write such scathing pieces about particular players and wouldn’t try to embarass guys over a personal vendetta. It was an unwritten code. I think it was Woody Paige that was talking and he was being backed up by the other guys on the show that day. Today, the lack of respect is EVERYWHERE (including right here on our beloved SLAMOnline)because there are so many unfiltered outlets. Not sure if it’s because the athletes today are so over-proccessed, the writers think they are way more important than they actually are or that sports in general have just become a mockery of the “glory days” of the past. I’m sure it’s a combination of all of them, but I’m not smart enough to sort through it all.

I woke up this morning and asked, “What would momma want me to do?” Her only response, “I’m riding West.”

^^^ hysterical

@Lebron de Con—Im ridin West lol. Heard mama got a tat on her thigh with an arrow pointed to her cooch says “where the West was one”

E, this guy obviously has to request game creds in advance so it’s at the discretion of the Heat if they want to grant him access or not. Now, had he possessed a league wide NBA credential, the Heat couldn’t do that as easily, if at all. Raab knows that the average reader doesn’t understand the credentialing process so he can paint a very damning picture of what happened. He’s not a “sportswriter” anyway, so in the bigger picture it doesn’t matter if he got banned, the issue is that he got banned for doing something that wasn’t especially egregious but more unflattering.

Co-sign Myles. He said himself that it was only a matter of time before the Heat got at him. But while protecting themselves and LBJ, they gave this guy GREAT material for his book.

Dude made an off-hand comparison of Lebron to Hitler for being nominated for Time’s person of the year. Perhaps you should rethink your stance, B. Unless trivializing what Hitler did to an entire population of people is your cup of tea. This is the type of ignorance I think those dudes on ESPN were referencing.

You ever hear the term “too smart for his own good”? Yeah, I think this dude is in the process of writing THAT book.

I wonder if he was the same dude that tackled the 8 year old Jet fan at the Browns game this past Sunday. Cleveland people stay classy.

^^This WAS NOT posted by me!!

I’m not a fan of any team trying to cut-off access of the media. The team has the right to set standards for who is/not ‘allowed’, but it shouldn’t be based on if they like or approve of what the media writes/reports on. I do believe his comments were out-of-line for a professional, and I would understand if LeBron didn’t want to give him a personal interview, but I just don’t agree with banning him because they don’t like what he writes.

Cmon now, the issue is not whether he likes LeBron. That has never been the criteria, some beat writers sh-t on their team constantly. The issue was that his attacks were ad hominem, offensive and unprofessional. There’s a very clear distinction. And Bryan, you’re just playing dumb at this point. You know he knows why he’s not welcome in that arena. And so does everybody else, he was looking for a publicity stunt to generate interest for his upcoming book and het got it. There’s nothing more to it, there are no rights to defend here, merely a privilege. Now whether that guy is a genius or not is debatable, he may be a helluva writer but his judgement is suspect… after all, he’s going batsh-t crazy because a basketball player decided not to play for his hometown team anymore and he chose to make that very basketball player the centre of his universe.

Obviously.

While I can’t blame the Heat for banning Mr. Raab, shout out to him for riding hard for his city in lieu of professionalism. That takes guts. Or, it’s just a byproduct of being a 58-year-old man that has seen his hometown teams suffer for decades and he just doesn’t give a damn anymore. I’m not from a city that has experienced sports failures at the level that Cleveland has. Thankfully, the Cubs aren’t the only show in town. Still, given the circumstances, I’m not going to bash anyone from Cleveland for taking this personally. Sure, from the outside looking in, it makes no sense and appears to be stupid, but most of the people who feel that way obviously have no sense of what loyalty means in reference to sports. It’s cool to be a fan of certain players, but you should always be loyal to your favorite team(s). That’s the way I came up. So I can appreciate and respect the passion of Cleveland sports fans.

Dan Gilbert was right…ok, not really. Well…sort of.

^^Very funny, whoever is doing this…

Nupe
This isn’t like your city council, or Congress cutting off media access.
This is a privately run corporation refusing to allow employees from other privately run corporations to attend its events for free.
That’s what it boils down to. While media outlets often perform important services, they are first and foremost businesses. Never forget that.