I didn’t watch the farce that was Lebron James announcing where the fuck he was finally going to play on ESPIPI. Nor do I, judging by the uber-fluff question posed by Jim Gray asking if ‘Bron still bit his nails, regret it. Reruns of ‘Golden Girls’ was more appealing than a cynical, manufactured piece of crap destined to make one city happy and embarrass another. The only thing that keeps me from going unhinged is that the $4 million raised went to charity.
Barely,since, let’s face it, it wasn’t about the children.
Seriously. What the hell was that? How much more awkward and uncool can someone get in search of publicity? No sports fan with a healthy self-esteem would fault James for leaving Cleveland and signing with the Miami Heat – even for less cash; although I would love to know the details of the deal. No one leaves $30 million jacks on the table without some calculation on how to get some if not all of it back.
What James did is just biz-ness. Nothing pers-nol. He doesn’t owe anyone squat. Sports fans get that. I doubt the more reasonable (a relative term these days I know) among us ran to their room, kicked off their slippers and jumped on their Star Wars bed to cry inconsolably screaming “Why, why, why!”
Mom: It’s okay Gordie.
Gordie: But it hurts so much!
Mom: Why, honey?
Gordie: I’m…not sure…
Oh, the state of journalism as a whole! No one has the balls to step up and properly investigate anything or ask the hard questions anymore lest they won’t get invited to that exclusive posh political dinner or be on someone’s text message list.
We get all that.
But.
What’s harder to get is how he handled it that makes it all so ugly on the surface. Surface ugliness can give way to internal beauty as Quasimodo eternally showed us, right? Is there anything remotely good in this? It should be asked: What kind of person permits this to go on like it did and to top it off with a sketch that belonged on a SCTV scrapped tapes. I’m gonna give James the benefit of the doubt and just assume it was a misguided bad idea.
To hang out an entire city out to dry like that is unfortunate. ESPN is moronic for airing that crap (despite the ratings) and the NBA is without balls for letting one of its teams be lampooned like that. All from a guy who hasn’t won a title.
Lebron James was once thought to be the next Michael Jordan. With this decision, it’s hard to see how he can ever reach that level. Heck, he may not even knock off his contemporary Kobe Bryant who, in some circles of opinion, is making the Jordan comparison more and more legitimate.
James truly had a shot at becoming an iconic sports figure by bringing a title to a town starving for some love.
Instead, he opted for a glitzy option where being the “go to” guy may be an issue. Basketball, more than any sport, can have a game changed by the hands of one player. Most of the greats want the ball for a shot at immortality.
By going to Miami, he goes from King of Cleveland to Queen of Miami. He will always trail Duane Wade by one championship.
James basically waved a white flag and said he doesn’t necessarily want that. Even if they agree to set their egos aside (Bosh abstains) and share the big shot duties, there’s only so many touches available. Who will be Miami’s ‘Jimmy’ from Hoosiers, huh? Huh?
In fact, I’m not so sure Wade, James and Chris Bosh – despite the crazy talent – are a shoe in for a title. For starters, defense remains an issue as well as a thin bench.
And what is it with all this ridiculous colluding and campaigning crap anyway?
Sports is and always will have a cynical side. Anyone who ignores this is a hopeless romantic who’ll likely marry a person who takes advantage of them. “Honey, I just need 4 grand for this business…you see…it’s complicated…but don’t worry about it…we’ll buy a boat….I promise, k?”
And with the lousy free-agent drama James just subjected fans too, he may as well go join that dude on those infomercials selling the Slap-Chop.
I hear Brett Favre is mulling over a TV special announcing something.
