|
08 July 2010
LeBron James is going to announce where he's going to play the next part of his career tonight at 9PM on ESPN. He is getting absolutely slaughtered by the media, people on Twitter/Facebook and random people I just happen to talk to. The thing I can't figure out is... why?
LeBron is a 25 year-old guy, who just might be the best basketball player on the planet. He was anointed as the "next Jordan" when he was a sophomore in high school. He was the NBA Rookie of the Year, he's been to the NBA Finals, he won a gold medal in the 2008 Olympics and he's been the NBA MVP the last two seasons. That's a hell of a resume for a 25 year-old.
Now, a guy in his mid-twenties is about to make the biggest decision of his life. LeBron's been criticized for how he's handled his free agency. First, when he was going to take tours of all the cities he might go to, he was getting killed. "He just wants free trips! He just wants to be wined and dined!" is what people were saying. Then, when he chose to have teams come to Cleveland instead, he still got killed. People complained he wasn't taking it serious enough. People said he wasn't dressed appropriately. LeBron couldn't win.
Then, reports came out that LeBron was going to have a one hour special on ESPN to declare where he was going to sign. People flipped out. LeBron became Public Enemy #1. Message board commenters, sportswriters and some of my friends have all referred to LeBron as cocky and arrogant. Are some of those people cocky and arrogant? Yes. Are any of them even close to as good at what they do as LeBron is at basketball? Not even close. Would they be cocky and arrogant (or even more so) if they were? Yes they would.
Most of those people fail to mention that LeBron is selling ad time during his special and all the proceeds will go to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. The few people that do mention it say that he can, "Just write a check!" People don't say that when athletes have celebrity golf/bowling/basketball events, probably because those athletes aren't as famous as LeBron. The Boys & Girls Clubs of America are going to get an hour of publicity on ESPN in front of millions of people they would NEVER get otherwise tonight. I think it's pretty cool that a random guy watching might be intrigued and want to get involved with that charity. Hell, someone might even write them a check based on tonight.
It's not like the hate for LeBron will stop after he picks a team, either. People have built in reasons why he shouldn't go to every possible team. I don't agree with most of them, and I really don't care where he plays. He's one of the two best basketball players in the world, whatever team he goes to is going to win a whole bunch of games next year.
Basically, there's not a decision that LeBron can make tonight that will make most people happy. People say he's "ripping Cleveland's heart out" if he leaves. He's one basketball player! I'm pretty sure the city will still function on Friday, even if LeBron chooses to play elsewhere. Just a further example of people taking the sports world way too seriously.
Maybe LeBron is cocky and arrogant. But, is that the worst thing we can say about him? That he's cocky and arrogant? It appears so. He's never been accused of rape like Kobe Bryant and Ben Roethlisberger. He's never killed someone like Rae Carruth or Leonard Little. He's never been arrested for alcohol/drugs like JaMarcus Russell, Tank Johnson and many others. Being cocky or arrogant doesn't look so bad compared to those things, right?
No matter what, I'm sure LeBron will continue to be ridiculed and "hated on" by a lot of people. I still can't figure out why. He's just a 25 year-old guy living out everyone's dream.
(Props to Brubaker for some help with this one, he made all the good points.)
(Also, "Defending LeBron" has always been one of my worst nightmares. I'm pretty sure he'd drop 100 on me.)
