Man Crush Baseball

Two words: Series. Over.

Sun, 31 May 2009 13:06:37 -0500

Two words:

Series. Over.

Does it surprise you in the slightest that Lebron put up a...

Thu, 28 May 2009 22:50:00 -0500

Does it surprise you in the slightest that Lebron put up a 37-14-12 game so sick that Man Crush Jay-Z was saluting him after the game? It shouldn’t.

“It’s win or go home,” Lebron said after. “There’s one thing we don’t want to see right now and that’s the end.”

The stat of the night is King James scored or had an assist on 31 straight Cavs points. From the end of the 3rd quarter until the game ended, Lebron had a hand in EVERY point they scored. As his boy Jay-Z might say, “I. Will. Not. Lose. Evah… Suckas.”

(via beekeeperssociety)

Wed, 27 May 2009 12:55:00 -0500

(via beekeeperssociety)

I hope we haven’t set a Sports Illustrated or Madden cover...

Wed, 27 May 2009 12:48:29 -0500

I hope we haven’t set a Sports Illustrated or Madden cover precedent here at Man Crush Baseball. We named Lebron Man Crush of the Week after his last second three and he hasn’t won since. Is he done? Are the Cavs in as much trouble down 3-1 as the Blackhawks are? I don’t think so.

Matt- If you think this series is over, you’re in for a surprise. I’ll give credit where credit is due. I’ve got man love for Superman and he was an overwhelming force down the stretch. Double digit points in OT is pretty undeard of. Even with the refs slobbing on Lebron’s knob to ensure a Kobe-Lebron finals so they could use all the puppet commercials they’ve made, Superman did what he had to do to get the W.

He made his free throws, proved why he’s defensive player of the year and threw down monster dunks (partly because that’s all he can do.) Let’s get some perspective. Most experts thought Dwight and his Magic would be lucky to win a game this series. Now up 3-1, the superstar that can’t usually close games has to close a series against the MVP, who’s hungry for a ring.. Lebron will watch Kobe take game 5 at home tonight and know he can do the same tomorrow.

After taking 39 of 41 home games in Cleveland this season, The Cavs go home facing elimination. Even with a sloppy game for Lebron in which he turned the ball over 8 times, the Magic needed a team-record 15 3’s to beat the Cavs in Orlando. The Cavs can only get better and the Magic can’t stay that hot.

Does it help that Mo Williams looked like hus puppy died after game 4? Of course not. Is he going to guarantee victory again? I doubt it, but I’ll do it for him. Cavs are taking game 5. Dwight Howard is not closing this series out in Cleveland. If the Cavs role players can get confident and fill their roles, the Cavs will steal game 6 and wrap it up at home in 7.

Superman vs. The King - Pt. 3 LeBron James may have dominated...

Wed, 27 May 2009 07:00:00 -0500

Superman vs. The King - Pt. 3

LeBron James may have dominated for nearly all four quarters of Game 4 on Tuesday night, but it was Dwight Howard who dominated when the game mattered most. And now it’s Howard who will likely be heading to the NBA Finals — NOT the reigning NBA MVP.

Dropping 44 points — to go along with 12 rebounds and seven assists — is rarely a harmful stat line for a team. But in this case, King James’ selfishness got the best of him. The Cavs’ star ultimately refused to pass the ball when the game was on the line and, when he did, threw the ball away. Bron-Bron performed his usual Oscar-nominated flops on Tuesday night and turned the ball over eight times. All of it is absolutely inexcusable for the “biggest superstar in the NBA.”

While LeBron struggled against his ego, Howard played like a man possessed in Overtime, scoring 10 of the Magic’s 16 points and racking up 27 altogether in the game. Howard also nabbed 14 rebounds and had three blocked shots. Howard led an Orlando defense that completely closed off the paint for King James in the waining moments of the game and prevented the star from getting to the basket.

These two players will continue to be compared for the next several years. But there will always be a few huge differences — LeBron will always be the top offensive player in the league and the lone star on his team, while Dwight will be the best defensive player in the league with (eventually) a championship ring.

Suck on that, LeBron.

Superman vs. The King Everyone’s talking about Lebron vs....

Tue, 26 May 2009 11:50:00 -0500

Superman vs. The King

Everyone’s talking about Lebron vs. Kobe. It’s a fun debate, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, we’re not at the finals yet. Superman is up 2-1 on King James and has home court advantage. Can Superman pull off the upset? Let’s put it to a man crush-off.

Watch the :35-:45 portion of this year’s dunk contest. Superman bows his head to Nate Robinson and lets the little man rub his nuts on his forhead as he posterizes him. Lebron looks on in a dapper yellow sweater, seeing the Kryptonite in action. Superman may have won last night’s game to go up 2-1 in the series, but this is the year of The King. He’s not losing again.

James scored 41 points with 9 assists and 7 boards in game 3. Looks like a damn good game on paper, but it was an Iverson-esque game. He scored a lot, but he missed 15 of his 17 jumpers and was 1-8 from downtown.

Does that make Howard the hero? Not really. Superman was in foul trouble, as usual, playing only 28 minutes and fouling out on this atrocious call where he had a clean block on King James. The foul sent Lebron to the line for 3 free throws, but the game was as good as over with Orlando leading by 8 with less than 40 seconds to go.

The game was in hand, partly due to the man crush free throw exchange. With under two minutes to play, Lebron missed two free throws and Dwight made both of his. Dwight’s got the lead in the series, but he hasn’t shown the ability to close. He gets in foul trouble early and disappears in the 4th quarter. Lebron only gets stronger. He’s got Kobe in his sights.

Superman vs. The King - Pt. 2 There’s no question that...

Mon, 25 May 2009 15:03:00 -0500

Superman vs. The King - Pt. 2

There’s no question that LeBron James is the most physically gifted athlete and player in the NBA today. At a close second place in the category of “physical freak”, however, is Dwight Howard, aka “Superman”.

At 6-foot-11 and 265 pounds, Howard has become a dominant force in the league. He’s broken the mold of stereotypical big men and ushered in a new era and style of play. Quite simply, it’s the jump-as-high-as-you-can and have-incredibly-quick-reaction-speed era in the NBA — and Howard is the poster child for it.

Men wanna be him and women (and probably some men) wanna be with him. He doesn’t have the mega-superstar quality of LeBron because, well, he’s not the lone gifted player running his team. Howard doesn’t take 25 shots a game — but he shoots high-percentage shots, gets to the foul line and plays hard-nosed defense. Bron-Bron, on the other hand, shoots well from mid-range, but is an incredibly erratic free throw and 3-point shooter. He plays defense when he feels like it and is too cocky to be man crush-worthy in my book.

I can’t possibly argue that Dwight is the better player, because he’s not. But King James’ huge ego is too much of a turnoff for me. Dwight is a high energy, high emotion player who does some pretty good impressions and makes me giggle. He’s himself, and he’s not desperately trying to become the next Michael Jordan as LeBron is trying to do.

Man Crush of the Week: Lebron James

Sun, 24 May 2009 20:42:00 -0500

Lebron is here to take over the league. You wanna crown him? Yeah, go ahead and crown him. King...

Lebron has kicked it up a notch in the Eastern Conference...

Sun, 24 May 2009 20:37:00 -0500

Lebron has kicked it up a notch in the Eastern Conference Finals. In Game one he poured in 49 points, dished 8, grabbed 6 and denied 3. Despite his inhuman effort, the Cavs lost. King James made a perfect pass and perfect tip, but his teammates couldn’t finish the job.

The reigning MVP wouldn’t let that happen in game two.

A Cleveland news room was ready to give up on the Cavs season....

Sun, 24 May 2009 20:00:00 -0500

A Cleveland news room was ready to give up on the Cavs season. They forgot about Lebron.

What is Man Crush Baseball?

Mon, 11 May 2009 00:48:00 -0500

It’s a fantasy league in the most literal definition of the word fantasy. We took the concept...

Why Man Crush Baseball?

Sun, 10 May 2009 23:35:00 -0500

t’s not a gay thing. It’s a respect thing. It’s an “I see what you’re doing and I like it” thing....

The active Man Crush Baseball league roster

Sun, 10 May 2009 21:56:00 -0500

Here’s the initial group of Man Crushes we came up with. Give it a once over and tell us who...

Zack and Matt's Original Man Crush Teams

Fri, 08 May 2009 00:52:00 -0500

Zack’s original man crush team: Line-up:1. Paul McCartney SP- The best songwriter of all time is...