The King James "Las Vegas Coverup": Was It Really Neccesary?

Lebron James has worked hard to shape his image over his seven years in the NBA; he has a publicly stated several times that he wants to be the first billionaire athlete.  People refer to him as “The King” because of his last name and the fact that some believe he is the best player in the NBA. Lebron has been very careful to keep his private life out of the limelight, which is relatively easy to do when you play for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

There is now a new reality for James one that he may not have considered when making “The Decision”.  James now plays in Miami, Florida which is a place where keeping your personal life quiet does not happen all that often. The media in Miami are much different than the media in Cleveland, and now that he is in a more visible place reporters from all over the country will be snooping around for any information they can get their hands on.

Recently reporter Arash Markazi for ESPNLosAngeles.com had the opportunity to party with Lebron James in Las Vegas, and the subsequent story he wrote about his experiences was pulled by ESPN. The story chronicled an event that was straight out of a dream for most men, here is an excerpt from the story to give you the full effect.

“A bout a dozen security guards, moving their flash lights, direct us to a roped off section on the dance floor of Tao next to a couple of apparently nude women in a bathtub full of water and rose petals.

Bottle after bottle of "Ace of Spades" champagne is delivered to the table by a waiter flying down from above the dance floor like some overgrown Peter Pan on a wire. One time he's dressed like a King, another time as Indiana Jones and another in a replica of James' No. 6 Miami Heat jersey.

James, who can hardly see the flying figure through his tinted glasses, almost gets kicked in the head on the waiter's last trip down. He looks at the girls around him and says, "I wish they'd have one of these girls with no panties do that instead of the guy."

Toward the end of the night, Boston Celtics forward Glen Davis walks past James' party and looks at the scene up and down several times like a painting in a museum, soaking in the images of the go-go dancers, the "King" sign and the costumed man delivering bottles of champagne.

Davis shakes his head and walks on.”

“Five security guards are stationed around him, one at each corner of the table he's about to sit at and another roving around with him, watching his every move. Anyone who takes two steps toward James is stopped and must have James' approval to come closer.

The waiter bringing him his cup of green tea with a spoonful of honey and a dash of lemon juice makes the cut, as does the scantily clad brunette with a tattoo of a heart on her right shoulder.

She wants to take a picture with him. "I can't right now," says James. "Maybe later, upstairs, I'll remember you're the one with the tattoo."

That was during dinner, as James and his entourage head to the club through back hallways in the bowels of The Palazzo Casino and Resort, the story picks up.

“James, now wearing sunglasses in the dark club, immediately stands up on the couch and folds his arms high on his chest and nods his head.  He smiles as he looks at the dozens of people crowded on the dance floor.  Noticing him, they stop dancing and snap pictures as the DJ screams out, “LeBron James in the building!” and plays LMFAO’s “I’m in Miami.”

A giant red crown-shaped cake is brought over to James while go-go dancers dressed in skimpy red and black outfits raise four lettered placards that spell out, “KING”.

This is nothing new for James much like many other athletes, but stories like this about Lebron have only been rumored for the most part. Very few concrete stories of his off the court activities are out there, this is all part of James’s plan to keep his image on the up and up. He saw what happened to Tiger Woods and his endorsement deals when Tiger lost control of the information about himself being released to the public.

My problem with this situation is not the fact that James is celebrating his fame by partying it up in Las Vegas, any young red-blooded man would do the same thing. But the fact that the story was posted on the Internet and pulled within a half hour tells me that both James and ESPN did not want the story out there. ESPN claims the author did not go through proper editing channels and the story was posting prematurely, then later they said the story would not be posted at all.

Why the cover up? ESPN has invested a lot in Lebron and cannot afford for his image to take a hit in the public eye. Having a self serving party in Las Vegas is par for the course when dealing with professional athletes. I think Lebron over did it a bit, and I think he is over playing this “King” moniker a bit too much. When a majority of the television viewers see themselves as conservative, and a majority of the viewership is struggling financially the last thing ESPN wants is their marketing cash cow viewed in an arrogant light.

The interesting part of all this is what if this were Ron Artest, Terrell Owens, or Chad Ochocinco would all of this be covered up so fast? The answer is no, it would be almost front page news. Ron Artest at club with a crown on dancing with naked strippers! That would be the headline, but when it is King James all we hear is silence. I have a variety of sports sources and I only stumbled across this story purely by accident, once again I am not saying that Lebron cannot party and have his fun. 

My only point here is, let’s eliminate the double standard, if Terrell Owens self serving actions get reported on in the media then Lebron should be no different. Making an ass of himself in public is his choice, but he should not be free from the same scrutiny as everyone else. Doing crossover dribbles, shooting fake baskets, and faking dunks on signs outside of businesses inside a Casino are all immature and childish things to do.  But who can blame him, all the people around who want his money and to profit off of his fame are going to continue enabling him to act this way.

You can read the original posted article here if you want to see all the details about what went on at the party, this was captured by a few people before it was removed by ESPN.

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