Miami's LeBron James under the Microscope: Why the Hatred Is Unwarranted
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We are all witnesses.
Imagine anything you do and everything you say being monitored. Think about that.ย There is always someone watching. Every move. Every word.
This is the life of NBA superstar and new Heat addition LeBron James.
Iโm not saying anyone should feel bad for the man. After all, he is set to earn over $14 million this season for playing a game that 99.9 percent of people play for pure fun, and thatโs without taking endorsement money into consideration.
Still, close your eyes for a second.
Go back in your head and retrace everything you said and did over the last few days. Now imagine those recent events replayed on the jumbotron at a stadium with billions upon billions of people from all different backgrounds in the stands. The odds are strong that someone, anyone, would take offense to something you said or did, right?
The latest criticism surrounding Jamesโand there has been an awful lot of it these last few monthsโhas been about race.
In an interview with CNN, Soledad OโBrien asked LeBron whether race played a role in all of the negative publicity he has been receiving following โThe Decision.โ
โI think so, at times,โ replied James. โItโs always, you know, a race factor.โ
Boom.
Not even three seconds worth of words and there was public outrage. โJames drops race cardโ and โLeBron is to blame for media backlashโ were the theme of the thousands of stories posted within minutes of theย interview.
People have such a problem when an athlete talks about race. Well why isnโt anyone blaming the interviewer for bringing it up? The media has learned to push the LeBron Button, and if I were him I wouldnโt agree to do another interview for a very long time. Anything he says will be tossed into a negative light.
Charles Barkleyโthe former NBA superstar who has been quick to criticize LeBron this summerโadded his say. Shocker!
โItโs like watching a movie,โ Barkley said. โ Just when you think it couldnโt get any stupider, it gets more stupid.โ
Thank you Sir Charles for your highly valued insight.
What really irritates me with Barkley is that he should be the last man on earth to criticize an athlete for โmistakesโ they made publicly. When an officer pulled over a drunk Barkley this past year for running a stop sign, he reasoned with the officer that the purpose for running the stop sign was because he was on his way to get fellatio.
This is anย aspiringย governor ladyโs and gentlemen.
This is the same man who once heaved another person through a glass window of a bar.
This is the same man who has gambled away more than $10 million.
Yet, this is the man who is always the first to run his mouth.
Barkley has absolutely nothing on James. In fact, putting the two side-by-side is a no-contest, on and off the court. Itโs a shame that Barkley has engaged in this behavior because heโs one of my favorite entertainers.
His book โI May Be Wrong But I Doubt Itโ is hilarious. TNTโs Inside The NBA is one of my favorite shows. But Charles, you are wrong.
LeBronโs closest adviser and long-time friend Maverick Carter threw in his input about the backlash of LeBronโs announcement on national television that he would be leaving Cleveland for Miami.
โThe execution could have been a little better and I take some of the blame for that,โ said Carter.
Honestly, everything regarding LeBron has been blown out of proportion. Was โThe Decisionโ really that bad?
It was rumored to be Carterโs idea to begin with. The plan was to have a telecast on national television announcing LeBronโs โDecisionโ in the wildest free agency in NBA history. The event would end up raising over $3 million for the Boys and Girls Club for the advertisements slipped in.
Yet, LeBron has been blasted for it.
How could he do this to the people of Cleveland, the only city he has ever known? Which is less important, hurting feelings or raising aย ridiculousย amount of money for Americaโsย underprivilegedย youth?
Obviously Iโm not speaking from the beaten down heart of a Clevelander. Still, have some perspective on a broader scale. โThe Decisionโ certainly did a lot of good, even if it was dubbed by many as a nightmare.
Everyone needs to step off. Give James some space and donโt twist every word spewing from his mouth into a pretzel.
He is the best basketball player in the world. Enjoy him for that! When he steps onto the court, you might never see some of the things he does ever again. In that respect he has some MJ instilled within him.
Once the season starts and he begins to do his thing, he wonโt be an outcast for long.
Regardless of your NBAย loyalties, you will witness LeBron do something amazing on the court in that very first game in Boston. And if youโre even the most minuscule fan you will be watching.
There will be a time during that festival of a game when your eyes will widen, your body will chill, and youโll reach for your phone because the NBAโs most hated man will have just done something that was only thought to be possible in a video game.
The hate will suddenly disappear, even if itโs just for those 10 visually explosive seconds.
Until then, keep the animosity coming and feed the beastโs fire. He will be unleashed on the evening of October 26.
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