Shoutouts: Why it’s time for LeBron, and the media vs. the Panthers

I give a lot of shoutouts to slide shows around here because we do a lot of slide shows. Today, two standard articles, as we call them, are worth a look.

Confessed LeBron James hater
Nate Hamme tells why the wait is over for James.

I confess I don’t really get the references to the movie “Halloween,” but beyond that, I love the way Hamme takes a methodical approach to his argument, listing the reasons “we hate him” — he’s a quitter, he gets all the calls, etc. — then pointing out how they are myths.

Also taking a methodical approach is Caleb Garling, who takes on Yahoo Sports NFL columnist Mike Silver in a solidly argued piece that wrestles with Silver’s criticism of the Carolina Panthers players, who have shut the media out of their practices.

Silver called the Panthers players “morons” and “wimps” for hiring a uniformed guard to keep reporters away from their practices at a Charlotte high school, calling it “a punk move, pure and simple.” He wrote that the players are making a huge mistake: “Cut yourself off from the media at a time when access should be your best friend, and your message might not be broadcast as effectively as you’d hoped.”

Garling ticks off Silver’s arguments and fires back, pointing out among other things that the Panthers players have plenty of access to the fans — three Panthers have upwards of 22,000 Twitter followers, Garling points out. “The team can talk to the public when it wants; it doesn’t need reporters as intermediaries, distorting — in their eyes — their words.”

Garling does a great job of making his arguments, as well as anticipating points that someone who disagrees with him might make and arguing with those. That’s an important part of opinion writing.