Who said Everyone loves a winner?

It probably wasn't somebody from Utah.

You'd think that the team with the NBA's best record going into the All Star break, a team that includes one of the more likable young stars in the game would be embraced.

But for the Utah Jazz, those anticipated hugs have arrived as daggers.

All the Jazz have done since blowing a 31 lead to the Nuggets in the bubble is respond exactly the way you'd want your team to respond.

The reactions, however, have not exactly been deafening applause.

You had Shaquille O'Neal deciding to randomly call out Donovan Mitchell for not being good enough.

Coming off a single playoff series where Mitchell had to 50 point games shacks playoff Career high was 46 by the.

The referees have been so frustrating to the Jazz that the normally nice guy Mitchell cursed about officials in an interview this week and was fined for complaining along with Rudy Gobert.

Then came the captain's picks for the All Star game.

Go.

Baron Mitchell were the last two sad players left on the board.

Despite that Utah 7 50 winning percentage and just to pour some Salt Lake into the wound.

Captain LeBron James said it was because no one ever plays with the Utah Jazz on video games.

Growing up.

Ouch.

I know go bare flippantly touch some microphones last year.

But do they really deserve this?

If these Jazz finally do do it in the playoffs this season, they might actually be able to say, no one wanted to see us when and not be exaggerated.

This weekend, one of the best athletes of our generation will once again take center stage.

Now, I suspect some of you think I'm about to talk about the NBA All Star festivities, but I'm not.

The man I'm referring to is one of the most formidable opponents in any sport.

A relatively anonymous undefeated champion, he's a true showman who backs it all up.

So for the uninformed, let me tell you a little bit about the last style.

Bender Israel Adesanya.

He's the current reigning and defending UFC middleweight champion.

He's part dancer, part destructor, possessing both precision and power.

Tonight he'll attempt to become just the fifth fighter in UFC history to hold two belts in two different weight classes at the same time, He's currently 20.

Oh, and MM, and nine of those wins have come inside the famed UFC Octagon.

He's also 75 5 as a kickboxer and five and one as a pro boxer.

This is a resume unmatched.

And yet, when we talk about the best athletes on the planet, his name never seems to come up.

He can still walk down Main Street USA without stopping traffic unless he wants to know he won't be on Team LeBron or Team Durant dunking basketballs in Atlanta.

But I'd argue he's the best athlete competing this weekend and very wise to check him out.

By now.

You would think the shut up and dribble refrain would have lost its novelty, But no, in fact, now it's being parented not just by political commentators but by world class athletes as well.

Well, actually, one world class athlete, this guy Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swedish soccer superstar who now plays for a C Milan, last week's Latin singled out one LeBron James, for criticism for being too political, which is another way of saying for being too vocal about issues beyond dribbling, he said in part, I don't like when people have some kind of status.

They go and do politics at the same time.

That's the first mistake people do when they become famous.

Stay out of it.

Just do what you do best because it doesn't look good now with a lot of time.

Sometimes it's hard to know if he's speaking from the heart or for effect or simply to stir things up.

He is, after all, the same fellow who once said, I can't help but laugh at how perfect I am.

We should at least give him credit for punching up.

But of course, that's also the way to attract attention.

Does Latin really believe that the world would be a better place if LeBron kept quiet about systemic racism?

Or if Arthur Ashe Muhammad Ali hadn't taken bold stands against apartheid in Vietnam or Billie Jean King hadn't been such a powerful voice for women's rights?

I don't think so.

I think he's smarter than that.

But if he isn't, maybe he's the one who should consider keeping his thoughts to himself.

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