Clearing the Air on LeBron
Saturday, July 10, 2010
A friend of mine got me thinking. Am I being too hard on LeBron James? Let me explain myself and exactly where I am coming from.
After posting my column on GoLocalProv.com Friday, a friend of mine from high school by the name of Chris White commented on my facebook page, “very clever Red. You are not biased at all!”
First let me explain the “Red” comment. In case you don’t know, I have red hair. It’s actually more orange in color if you ask me. But that’s not important. In high school my nickname was “Red.” Enough said.
The “you are not biased at all” comment was clearly a tongue-in-cheek comment in reference to my love for the Celtics and all New England sports teams and my new disdain for the Miami Heat.
My response to him was, “you’re right, I am biased. Show me someone who’s not biased and I’ll show you someone who’s not a true fan of any team,” I said.
Still, Chris was right. What was left unsaid is the fact that if LeBron had chosen to play for the Celtics, we here in New England would be hailing it as great decision. We would applaud LeBron for wanting to join the franchise that has won more NBA titles than any other because he, too, wants to be a champion.
We would say that LeBron appreciates the history of the game and made a brilliant move by coming to Boston to add to the rich tradition of our storied franchise. We would be welcoming him with open arms as they are in Miami. And I would probably be leading the parade in doing all of those things.
Why? Because, as Jerry Seinfeld once said, “we root for the laundry.” If an athlete is wearing out laundry we shower him with unconditional love. Or, if he was a problem child elsewhere, we would say that he deserves another chance. Not necessarily because we believe that, but because he would be wearing our laundry.
But I would like to think that if the Celtics were a franchise with as much cap space as Miami and if those same three superstars all colluded to join the team that I root for that I would have been at least somewhat objective about what went down.
The problems as I see them regarding LeBron James are as follows:
- He left his hometown team – Cleveland – high and dry. Don’t get me wrong, when given the choice of working in Cleveland or Miami, it would take me no more than a nanosecond to pick South Florida. However, if Cleveland was essentially my hometown, it would be Cleveland all the way.
- He, Bosh and Wade are trying to take the easy way out. Michael Jordan continually came up short to the Detroit Pistons in the early years of his career but never thought about leaving Chicago to be a Piston or team up with some of their players to win a title. He stayed in Chicago until he and the Bulls could get the job done. If this trio does, indeed, win the NBA title it will be cheapened by the fact that they took the easy way to get it by teaming up instead of winning it individually with Cleveland, Toronto or Miami as Wade has already done.
- The primetime decision show on ESPN. It reeked of nothing more than self promotion and only made for a more painful ending for the franchise he once played for and their fans. They deserved better.
The late Michael Jackson once sang, “I’m starting with the man in the mirror.” It doesn’t appear that LeBron James is doing that.
After Cleveland’s loss to Boston in the Eastern Conference semifinals there was obvious disappointment amongst the Cavaliers and their fans for coming up short of their goal of winning the NBA championship.
LeBron’s handling of his free agency and ultimate decision to join Miami portrays a superstar who believes that he was not well enough equipped in Cleveland to win a title. That he needed to go elsewhere to pursue that dream.
How, then, did his Cavs finish the 2009-2010 season with the NBA’s best record. By sheer luck?
I don’t have a problem with LeBron James the man. By all accounts, he’s a pretty good dude. Unlike other NBA stars, he didn’t get accused of sexual assault. He didn’t go into the stands and punch a fan. And he’s not a deadbeat dad who has fathered 7 children by 7 different women as far as we know.
What he is, is one of the league’s all-time greats looking for the easiest possible road to winning a championship. And, try as I might, I just can’t seem to wrap my arms around that concept.
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