LeBron Who?

So like the Reebok debacle of Dan vs. Dave before the '92 Barcelona Olympic game Nike has the Lebron vs. Kobe gaff for the '09 NBA Finals with their puppet commercials. With all the hype surrounding the network droolfest for a Lakers v Cavaliers Finals I was thrilled when the Orlando Magic defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers last night.

Since the end of the regular NBA season all anyone has heard about is the "Dream Final" between the two mega basketball stars. Even while the Magic took a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals all ESPN and TNT wanted to talk about was how LeBron James would turn things around for his team to make it to the NBA Finals. Guess what he didn't!

Even this morning it seemed like the coverage of the Magic winning their first title since 1995 was mainly about LeBron. Get over it!! They lost. You don't get the "Dream". You get Superman and his super friends vs. Kobe.

I will say this about last night. It was amazing. What a difference it was covering the Magic winning the Eastern Conference title compared to the Tampa Bay Rays winning the American League pennant last Fall. The celebration last night was different mainly because of the proximity of the fans to the playing surface compared to baseball.

With 2:42 left in the game it became apparent that the Magic were in fact going to win Game 6 and play the Lakers for the NBA Championship. The crowd kicked it into an even higher gear and cheered on Dwight Howard and his teammates as time expired.

In the last minute, security brought out a yellow rope for everyone to stay behind during the initial celebration which allowed me to get some images but not great ones. Then came the trophy ceremony at half court. I was somehow able to sneak my way into the secured zone to get up front pictures of the team as they hoisted the trophy in front of the fans.

So I now have the next nine days off from covering basketball which is nice as I have a ton of office work to get done. I will be part of a four-man crew for the European Pressphoto Agency covering the Finals when the series returns a week from Tuesday for Game 3.

I'm kind of excited that in the last seven months I will have shot my first World Series and now my first NBA Finals. It's also pretty cool that in Benjamin's life the Rays have gone to the World Series, the Magic have gone to the NBA Finals and the Pittsburgh Penguins have always played for the Stanley Cup. This kid is my good luck charm.

Go Magic!!!