It certainly comes as no surprise to anyone in the basketball world that the LeBron James free agent show would take precedence over other superstar signings in the league. James took a prime-time stage while everyone else was lucky to catch a shout-out on Mike and Mike.

Durant quietly resigned with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Amar’e jumped to New York with half a cycle of coverage. Dirk resigned to crickets. Bosh went to Miami—pre James’ signing—with a few lights flickering. And Carlos Boozer, former Utah star forward, joined the Bulls with no one outside of Chicago blowing a horn.

Lost in all the hubbub over the LeBron-Wade-Bosh machine in Miami is the branch on the power tree of the East the Bulls hurdled over by picking up a legitimate front-court presence. Already tops in the league with rebounds, Chicago got a solid 11+ rebounder, a low-post offensive threat, and a yang to Joakim’s ying who, unlike the still learning Florida star, can score consistently.

Chicago fans might be a little blue over LeBron choosing to go south—probably to skirt more Jordan comparisons—but the Bulls are looking awfully competitive in an Eastern Conference that sees a playoff team eliminated already in Cleveland, not to mention a one-year-older Celtics squad and an Orlando team still stuck with Vince Carter.

The chances of bringing this together are solid for Chicago faithful. Of course, all the online casinos for USA players and sports books would give far better odds if James joined – 11:1, in fact. But the Bulls could easily be the next-up contenders behind Miami next season. And anything can happen in the playoffs…

But no gambling man would rule the Bulls out completely. After all, Miami’s mega-star conglomerate has been tried in places like the NFL to no avail. And with Rose, Noah, Gibson and other talented players in place, Boozer joins a complete team with chemistry and simply adds to it without bringing a ball-hoggish, need-to-score approach.

You might find better odds on a slot bonus game, but the Bulls, no longer babies, are looking stronger this year than any year MJ wasn’t suiting up.

Time will tell, obviously, how everything melds. But the next time you’re floating around looking for an online casino bonus, check out the sports book link and, if you can grab some good odds on a Miami vs. Chicago Eastern Conference Finals, take it.

Saying James choosing not to come to Chicago is really a blessing in disguise would be a lie. But the Bulls have competitive fire, a score to settle, and now a legitimate piece of the puzzle to push them over the hump.

h/t: Javier Sandooski

h/t: Lamebook

Sure this is only one cover of the new Slam Magazine (the other is LeBron in a Knicks jersey…gross), but its still pretty cool:

h/t: Tremendous Upside Potential

At 6:50 pm on May 13, I prepared my computer to track the Cavaliers-Celtics game that was to start ten minutes later. I wasn’t sure what the outcome would be but I knew that a Celtics win would be bad news for the future of Lebron James in Cleveland. That’s when I turned around in my chair and looked west toward the United Center. There it was, a sign from the heavens, with clouds breaking and one lone beam of light shining down on the corner of Damen and Madison Avenues on Chicago’s West Side. It was at that moment that I knew the Celtics would emerge victorious and the Lebron James Sweepstakes would begin.

The chatter in the press and amongst fans has not subsided in the last three weeks. The only person who hasn’t come out with an opinion on the matter seems to be Lebron himself. (Did anyone really believe him when he said Cleveland still has the edge?)

• World Wide Wes, a long time advisor of James and others in the NBA, has Lebron going to Chicago.
• Carmelo Anthony thinks Lebron is staying in Cleveland. Funny that you would think that Melo, that would mean more dollars available to you next year as the lead dog in the 2011 Free Agent Class.
• Jay-Z isn’t going to push Lebron to come to the Nets, because he would feel guilty if they started 4-30 next year. Ouch, that’s not really a vote of confidence from a minority owner.
• No one outside of Manhattan seems to think the Knicks still have a shot, with Charles Oakley going as far as saying he would tell Lebron to go to the Heat and pair with D Wade or the Bulls.
• A contributor from Bleacher Report proclaims Miami is the front runner for Lebron, all but assuming D Wade will also stay with the Heat.
• This is my favorite rumor that was floated/advanced by Bill Simmons during his Game 2 Live Chat on Sunday. Tom Thibodeau, the new unofficial head coach of the Chicago Bulls, once served as an assistant coach at Harvard University. One of the players he took under his wing? Arne Duncan, who is now U.S. Secretary of Education. Who’s Duncan’s boss? Barack Obama. For the uninformed, he’s the President of the United States of America. And when the POTUS asks you to play for his adopted hometown team, you ask him how high. Am I right?!

As July 1 approaches, the Bulls stand on the brink of a franchise-changing, nay, league-changing off-season.  A few poorly-thought out decisions could send them plummeting into mediocrity to toil away as an also-ran in the East for years to come.  The right decisions, well the right decisions could catapult the organization to the heights of NBA success for multiple seasons.  The first step in this off-season, selecting a coach, could tank the whole effort.    With Paxson, Forman, and Reinsdorf running the show, you never know what the result will be.  Hell, it seems like they don’t know what the result will be either most of the time.  This time, however, they finally got it right.

Coming off the Vinny Del Negro era, most people from the top of the organization down to the casual fan would say that the most important quality the new coach must have is head coaching experience.  While I would agree that Vinny’s lack of experience definitely contributed to his flawed reign, that does not logically mean that someone with head coaching experience will automatically be good while someone without it will not.  Take a look at all the available coaches with head coaching experience.  Avery Johnson micromanaged his point guard so hard that the offense slowed to a crawl in Dallas.  I don’t think handcuffing Rose is anyone’s idea of a good strategy.  Mo Cheeks?  Perhaps as an assistant, but his abilities as a head coach have never really amounted to much.  Lawrence Frank, Eric Musselman, and even Dwayne Casey are all good names, but they have all underperformed with relatively talented rosters.  And let’s be honest, Phil Jackson and Doug Collins just aren’t happening.  Thibodeau is well-respected around the league.  He has been an assistant coach for 18 years and while some say he may not have the personality to coach, his defensive system and ridiculous success implementing it will earn him the respect he needs.

See, the most important thing in sports for a coach is what I like to call the “Buy-In Factor” (trademark Stormin Norman Disciple 2010).  The players on a team must buy in to whatever system the coach is pitching.  It always amazes me that coaches like Bill Parcells or Jerry Sloan are such successful coaches at motivating their teams even though they are complete asshats to everyone.  Who would want to play hard for those people?  Are they really that great at pre-game speeches?  The answer to that last question is no, they are not.  What they do have, however, is a game plan that the players truly believe is better than the other team’s game plan.  They believe that Jerry Sloan’s style of coaching or Urban Meyer’s crazy gimmick offense will give them the edge they need to win.  That belief in the game plan gives the team confidence and confidence leads to victories.

Am I saying it doesn’t matter what the game plan is as long as the players believe in it?  Absolutely not.  In fact, most of the time the players choose to believe in it because of how good it is.  For instance, Vinny had no system so he had nothing of real value to sell to the players.  Thus they didn’t “Buy-In”.  However nice a guy he may have been and however much the players may have liked him (Mo Cheeks is a great example of this), they didn’t believe they could win if they did what he said.  That’s where Thibodeau has the huge edge.  He has a defense the players will believe in.  Take a look at what happened in Boston, they’ll think.  If we listen to this guy, we can win.  That will be enough to garner their respect and help lead this team to great new heights.

And if all that fails, at least he is represented by William Wesley and CAA, the same group that represents Lebron, Wade and Bosh.  People can buy into a player as much as a system and getting one of those guys could cover up any holes in my “Buy-In” theory anyways.

The guys over at SendLebrontoChicago.com were apparently able to raise enough money to buy this billboard at Grand and LaSalle for two weeks.  I’m pretty sure it won’t be the deciding factor for King James, but it may help.  Although if I’m understanding the sign correctly, its saying LeBron has unfinished business?  Because having 6 trophies is definitely not unfinished business for the city of Chicago, right?  Come to Chicago and take care of your unfinished business LeBron.  I still like it.

Right now, after reading dueling articles from ESPN’s LeBron Tracker, I am finding it more and more difficult to believe LBJ is coming our way. Believe me, I actually thought this was a possibility a couple of months ago, but, after Jackson snubbed the rumor he would be willing to depart L.A. for Chicago, I just cannot believe it anymore.

So what if Jackson said he was not coming back east to lead the Bulls to another dynasty? That should not have any true bearing on James’ plans, right? Wrong, this is about more than simply wooing a professional basketball player. This summer is about courting a cultural figure who transcends the popularity of the sport in the United States and worldwide. This is an honest to goodness culture war and the Bulls are playing it the wrong way.

First, we fired Vinny Del Negro and demoted John Paxson from GM to VP of Basketball Operations. Then the organization let’s a rumor stating Phil Jackson will return marinate in the media before getting shot down by the Ring Maker right before a playoff game.

Vinny may have been a terrible coach and Paxson may be no Steve Kerr, but now we begin the search for another head coach. A search that only reminds everybody outside of the Chicagoland area how the Bulls could not pull the trigger and at least make Mike D’Antoni hesitate before escaping Phoenix for the bright lights of the Knicks.

The rumor of Jackson’s return to the Second City was lingering in the ether at the beginning of May, but then Chris Broussard goes and releases a story paraphrasing back channel sources. Suddenly PTI and Sportscenter discuss and report the story and Jackson is forced to answer the question before a freaking playoff game. Have we not learned Phil Jackson hates being painted into a corner? Of course he said no, and now he may be even more inclined to say no for real, after the season is over and he starts a public war over taking a pay cut.

We look terrible. We have PR professionals in this city, let’s freaking hire them. Following the example of one Jerry Krause is not the path that leads to LeBron. Instead, we look like the same disorganized franchise that failed to land Tim Duncan, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, Eddie Jones, and even Tim Thomas in the summer of 2000.

To put this is another light, Bill Simmons made a point of stating LeBron would choose Chicago if he was truly about winning, but what about our organization says we have a culture of winning? The Bulls have no coach again, no high profile GM, and no chance of landing LeBron as of right now.

This is not to say the other candidates are really any better. The Nets are bringing in a wild card majority owner from Russia, the Knicks are hardly going to surround him with championship material (even with another max guy), and Cleveland just fired the Coach of the Year from last season.

Luckily the sad state of these other franchises and the fact nobody wants to play for the Clippers gives the Bulls a little more than a month to repair the damage done and put the city, team, and duo of Rose and Noah in a better light. Then maybe Bulls tickets will be good for more than a first round exit after a terrible first half of the season and amazing second. Maybe, but it is becoming harder to believe.

We’re not trying to turn this site into “Lebron TMZ” but he is certainly making news with his actions early in his off-season.  From reports of his entourage/team/brain trust showing up at a Troy Smith charity event sporting Bulls gear, to reported brokering by World Wide Wes to package Lebron and John Calipari, the internet has been abuzz with rumors of backroom conversations in every city with cap space.

The latest rumor that sprouted up last night and continued to gain steam this morning was that Lebron was spotted in Highland Park getting out of an SUV at a mansion on Sheridan Road with a For Sale sign.  A friend of the blog who teaches in the northern suburbs was told by one of her students that they saw James getting out of his vehicle at the estate yesterday.  It should be noted that Highland Park sits right next to Deerfield, the home of the Berto Center, the Bulls’ practice facility.

Kudos to King James for factoring in the commute to his future place of employment. Maybe we should be calling him “Green James” instead.

Stay tuned tonight for the Draft Lottery folks! If the Nets secure the #1 pick then they will be offering a slightly lesser platter of talent to James in the form of John Wall, Brooke Lopez, and if they can trade Devin Harris, enough room to sign another max free agent.

Bill Simmons wrote an excellent piece on the LeBron James situation.  He not only breaks down what LeBron is and can be, he also points out why Chicago is the best option for him:

If he cares about winning titles (multiple) and reaching his full potential as a player, he has only one move: the Chicago Bulls. That’s always been the play. If you’ve been listening to my podcast or reading this column, you know that I’ve been touting this possibility since the winter, and here’s why: Deep down, I think LeBron (and, just as important, the people around him) realizes that he needs one more kick-ass player to make his life easier. That means Miami or Chicago. And really, I can’t imagine him signing with Miami because Dwyane Wade is almost too good. LeBron wants help, but he doesn’t want to be perceived as riding someone else’s coattails, either. Wade might be the best player alive for all we know — he certainly was in 2006, and he’s been banged-up and trapped on bad teams ever since.

No, Chicago makes more sense. Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah proved they were warriors these past two springs. They could be LeBron’s Pippen/Grant or McHale/DJ. Easily. Rose could take the creative load off LeBron on nights when he doesn’t have it. Rose could come through a few times in the clutch. Rose could hide some of LeBron’s faults. It’s the single smartest basketball move for LeBron James. It’s the Michael Corleone move.

Of course, it doesn’t have the same upside as New York: Biggest market, great fans, most meaning. If LeBron saved professional basketball in New York and brought Knicks fans their first title since 1973? That’s the best available accomplishment in team sports right now. Name me a better one. You can’t. Biggest star, biggest city. But it wouldn’t be a smartbasketball move. He could bring only one good free agent with him, and from what we’ve seen, would LeBron + (Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, Joe Johnson or Amar’e Stoudemire) combined with what the Knicks already have (not much) translate to anything more than what just happened in Cleveland? Please. That’s the Sonny Corleone move.

The other realistic option: Just stay in Cleveland. Finish what you started. That’s the second-best available accomplishment in team sports right now: Be like Tim Duncan. Be the guy who didn’t flee for greener pastures. Be the guy who stayed when almost everyone else would have left. Be the hometown kid who saved Cleveland sports, brought home the first title since 1964 and single-handedly removed the fatalistic malaise that hangs over the city. Be the guy who proved loyalty matters more than anything else. That’s the Connie Corleone move. Remember when she finally forgave Michael for killing Carlo and became the matriarch of the family? Exactly. Family trumped logic.

(And yes, if you’re scoring at home, the Clippers would be the Fredo Corleone move.)

It’s one of the greatest sports decisions I can remember: LeBron can choose winning (Chicago), loyalty (Cleveland) or a chance at immortality (New York). We have one answer — Doc 2.0 with some Magic and Bo sprinkled in — and now, we’re waiting on the other. Within the next six weeks, we will find out precisely what matters to LeBron James. Just know that, wherever he lands, he’s going to need a little more help than we thought.

I highly recommend you read the rest of Simmons’ piece.  While it is extremely critical of LeBron in the sense that it is saying he really isn’t one of the greatest players to ever play the game (essentially because he did not show that MJ determination to win at all costs), the fact of the matter is that LeBron and the Bulls would win rings.  Could this really be happening?

With LeBron bombing a second straight game and his Cavs being bounced from the playoffs, the speculation about the future of his career is now reaching a fevered pitch.  As July 1 approaches, it will only get crazier.  Fans from Cleveland could not imagine that he would leave, fans from New York could not imagine that he would go anywhere else but the Big Apple, and fans from Chicago seem to be on a hope and a prayer.  Until the last few days that is.  ESPN’s Chris Broussard has shaken up the equation and Chicago fans can only sit back and smile.  Sure we thought getting Wade or Bosh would be great, but LeBron?  It’s almost unbelievable.

Watch this clip and let yourself believe with Mr. Broussard for just a moment.  It’ll make you feel good, I promise:

Sonny Vaccaro, the godfather of shoe deals and amateur basketball, seems to think it could happen too.  And of course, some league GMs are buzzing about it as well.  But back to reality for one moment. What Broussard doesn’t seem to be taking into account is the turmoil in Chicago’s front office. Sure Jerry Krause is gone, but Reinsdorf is still there and the Pax-Gar management group is flawed at best and incompetent at worst. Also, no coach? The Bulls will need to get that situation resolved quickly and properly if they even hope to lure any free agent, let alone the biggest free agent in the last 10 years.

God I hope it happens.

So, 2010 is finally here.  For most people, its just another year, but for NBA fans its been a longtime coming.  This summer the most heralded class of free agents since 2000 (which featured Tim Duncan, Grant Hill, and Tracy McGrady) will be coming onto the market.  A lot of teams have been jockeying for position to land a big name by clearing as much cap space as possible.  Now that the deadline has come and gone, its time to really take a look at which teams are in a position to make a max offer to one of the big free agents, and which free agents are likely to go where.  A max contract can range from $17-$22 million dollars a season.  In order to bring everyone up to speed, here is a list of the teams that have the space, followed by a list of the notable free agents and where they may end up.

This exercise was not simple.  The first issue is determining what the salary cap will be.  Rumors have it ranging from $49 million all the way to $58 million.  For this post, we will be assuming it is $53 million.  Also, there are many player options, team options, conditional contracts, draft picks and other variables that must be considered.  The initial salary number next to each team is based on an educated guess about what teams will do with options and draft picks.  The last thing to keep in mind is that any of these players may re-sign with the team they are currently on and go over the cap due to the Larry Bird Exception.  That puts Toronto in the running for Bosh, Cleveland for James, Phoenix for Stoudemire, and so on.  I used HoopsHype for all the salary information, but be careful if you click that link, its extremely addictive.  Anyways, here we go.

TEAMS WITH ENOUGH SPACE TO SIGN AT LEAST ONE MAX CONTRACT

MIAMI HEAT
2010-2011 Salary: $7.13 Million
Estimated Cap Space: $45.87 Million

The Miami Heat literally only have 2 players on the books for next season, Beasley and Daequan Cook.  Presumably they will pick up Chalmers $847,000 option, bringing them up to about $8 million.  Wade has a $17.15 million option, but that will be a non-issue since the Heat would have to cough up more than that to match the max offers he is likely to get.  If you allow for the Heat to fill out their roster with scrubs that will still leave them about $40 million in space under the cap, enough to comfortably offer Wade and another big name max contracts.

NEW YORK KNICKS
2010-2011 Salary: $18.64 Million
Estimated Cap Space:$34.36 Million

Ahhh the Knicks.  Somehow they managed to swing a miracle before the deadline and land McGrady’s gigantic expiring contract.  Hilariously enough, the only really bad contract they have left from the Isiah era is Eddy Curry’s $11 million.  With Gallinari, Curry, Wilson Chandler, and Toney Douglas, the Knicks don’t exactly have the pieces to help a star win a championship.  On the other hand, with the money they have available, they may be able to sign two max contracts.  It would push them over the cap a bit, but they haven’t been shy about doing that before.  It’s also New York and the Garden and the lights and the media, so that could be a huge draw for guys like LeBron.

NEW JERSEY NETS
2010-2011 Salary: $31 Million
Estimated Cap Space: $22 Million

Okay, I made up that $31 million number.  The truth is that its more like $26 million, but everyone knows that the Nets will probably have a top 3 draft pick, putting them on the hook for another 4.5-5 million.  The question is: Does anyone want to play for the Nets?  At first glance the answer is no, seeing as how they are just awful this season.  But if you look a little closer the fact is that they have two very good young players in Devin Harris and Brook Lopez.  There are really only 7 teams with space for max contracts (9 spots if you think the Knicks and Heat each get two, though that is unlikely).  There is a possibility that one of the guys that doesn’t go to New York, Chicago or Miami may want to get rich playing in New Jersey.

CHICAGO BULLS
2010-2011 Salary: $31.86 Million
Estimated Cap Space: $21.14 Million

The Bulls have the best core out of all the teams with legitimate space to sign a max contract.  Rose, Hinrich, Deng, Gibson and Noah.  That’s one all-star/rising superstar in Rose, two borderline all-stars in Noah and Deng, and two very good role players in Kirk and Taj.  Even after draft picks (the Bulls own and the one they may be getting from Charlotte), they still have about $20 million to spend.  Chicago, Miami, and New York are the frontrunners for a big name free agent, but Chicago has by far the best young core to place around him.

WASHINGTON WIZARDS
2010-2011 Salary: $34 Million
Estimated Cap Space: $19 Million

You have to assume two things here, though anything can change.  First, that the Wiz will decline Josh Howard’s $11 million team option, and second, that they will pick up Randy Foye’s $4.75 Million option.  So the Wizards have enough space to just barely offer a max contract.  The same thing I said about the Nets applies here, the only difference is that the Wizards don’t have any talent.  At all.  Like the Nets someone might want to come to the Wizards and get rich toiling for a terrible team, but it definitely won’t be LeBron or Wade.

THE REST (Teams that are cutting it close in cap space)

Sacramento Kings
2010-2011 Salary: $34 Million
Estimated Cap Space: $19 Million

L.A. Clippers
2010-2011 Salary: $35 Million
Estimated Cap Space: $18 Million

Minnesota Timberwolves
2010-2011 Salary: $35.17 Million
Estimated Cap Space: $17.83 Million

THE FREE AGENTS AND THEIR LIKELY DESTINATIONS

LeBron James: Will he stay in Cleveland?  If he can win with Antawn Jamison right now, it seems plausible that he will stay.  On the other hand you never know.  The allure of New York may draw him, especially if he can bring his buddy D-Wade with him.  That possibility exists now that the Knicks cleared the space.  The only other real contender for James is Chicago purely because of the talent they can put around him, although their chances are slim at best.

Dwyane Wade: Miami can keep Wade and sign another big name, if another big name will come there.  James and Wade in Miami?  It could happen.  The main other target for Wade is Chicago.  It’s his hometown and he has always liked Rose (rumor has it he lobbied Riley to try to trade up to get Rose in the 2008 draft).  While the Heat do have a ton of cap space, they also have no talent to put around him.  The only way they keep Wade is if they get another big free agent to play alongside him.  Otherwise, he’ll be in Chicago or New York by the end of the summer.

Chris Bosh: Don’t tell Raptors fans, but its possible Bosh could leave Canada.  It appears he does like the city, but they are in no position to really shake the team up at all.  Is he content to toil away in obscurity for a .500 team and hope the youth improves around him?  Maybe, but he might also be looking to sell some jerseys and win some championships.  Chicago, New York, and Miami are all options, although he may consider going to one of the other teams with space, since he has expressed his interest in being “The Man”, which wouldn’t go well with him on a team with James or Wade.

Kobe Bryant: Los Angeles.  Not only are they the best team in the league, but he would probably have to take a pay cut if he exercised his early termination clause.

Dirk Nowitzki: Dallas.  There is no reason to think he would leave.  He loves Dallas and they love him.  He will definitely exercise his player option unless something crazy happens.

Joe Johnson: Everyone is talking about how this guy will be leaving, but my question is why?  He is on a great young team in Atlanta that is getting better every year.  He is the alpha dog on that team, and he is living and playing in a great city.  On the other hand, the allure of Chicago or New York or playing with James, Wade, or Bosh may draw him out.  Although James/Wade/Bosh are the most talked about names, don’t let JJ slip under your radar.  He is a very versatile big guard that can do it all.

Carlos Boozer: Who knows where he will go.  He seems like the kind of guy that would take max money to go waste away in Washington or New Jersey, doesn’t he?  After he screwed Cleveland a few years back, its hard to think that he cares about anything beyond the money.  That being said, he may be the “other” guy that Miami or New York is looking for after signing Wade or James.

Amare Stoudemire: I can tell you where he probably won’t be: Phoenix.  They have spurned him so many times its ridiculous.  Steve Kerr clearly doesn’t want him.  Could he go to Chicago?  Maybe.  New York? Miami? Maybe.  There’s no way to tell how it will shake down, but if teams can get past his defensive liabilities, he will be a high-profile target.

Paul Pierce: Boston.  He won’t leave.  Now that he has a ring there, Rondo is an all-star, and Garnett is signed through 2050 (just kidding, 2012), he’ll stick it out with this crew and try to win another ring.

OTHER NON-MAX CONTRACT NOTABLE FREE AGENTS:

Marcus Camby, Manu Ginobili, Ray Allen, Brendan Haywood, Kenyon Martin, Tyson Chandler.

The Bulls game was not a pretty affair last night, and I’m not just talking about the blowout the Cleveland LeBrons put on Chicago. Noah, frustrated with his play perhaps but also annoyed with LeBron’s showboating and celebrating too much, started barking at LeBron from the bench. LeBron took exception to that and started walking over after his first free throw. Enjoy.

I can understand Noah’s frustration. The Bulls have struggled since leaving for the Circus Trip and Noah is a passionate guy that hates to lose. If anything this makes me like him more. Also, if I was getting blown out and someone from the other team did a stupid little celebration dance, I would probably be pretty pissed too.

***UPDATE: According to Ric Bucher’s Twitter: Sources @ the bench on what Joakim said to LeBron: “This is so ****ing old” + the clincher that got LJ coming at him: “You’re a b****.”

Whether you agree with him or not, you have to love the balls on Noah to call the NBA’s biggest superstar a bitch.

I’m not saying the Cavs should hit the panic button, but after the 0-2 start, it might be time to give Shaq a new nickname.  What do you think of  “The Big Shaqckle”?

Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points in a game yet it wasn’t televised.  Did it really happen?  Lawrence Taylor sends hookers to the opposing team’s rooms the night before the Super Bowl, but no one can confirm or deny it (well, some people have confirmed it, but still).  William Wallace was 10-feet tall and shot lightning bolts out of his arse, but it was 1000 years ago so no one knows for sure.  And now LeBron James gets dunked on by a second-rate college sophomore and there’s no video of it anywhere.  But wait, apparently there is!  And as expected with any mythical occurrence, when you actually see the thing happen, it loses its mystique.  Here is the video of the dunk, and as expected, its sort of “meh” when compared to the greatness of the story without hard evidence.  I wish this video didn’t exist, but here it is.  Don’t watch if you want to preserve the image in your head of LeBron getting railed by some kid:

h/t: EBaum’s Nation

If you want to see the blurrier TMZ version, go here.