LeBron James Should Receive Love Not Hate from Fans

In one calendar year, LeBron James has gone from one of the most popular athletes in the world to possibly the most hated. But if you think about it, he is only being vilified for the same things we love about sports.

Everybody loves to hate the villain. The 2011 NBA Finals had its best viewership in years, mostly because people were rooting against the Miami Heat. The Dallas Mavericks became “America’s Team,” simply because LeBron was on the opposing bench.

Where did all of this frustration come from?

Never before has an athlete become so polarizing a figure after a seemingly innocuous moment. Tiger Woods lost fans and sponsors when it was discovered he was having affairs with multiple women. Michael Vick and Plaxico Burress broke the law and each spent almost two years in jail. Even Brett Favre tarnished his legacy with sexual harassment suits. LeBron did none of these things, and yet people show the same amount of hatred.

On July 8, 2010, LeBron James went on national television and made the biggest decision of his life. People hated the ego of having a special for himself, they hated the fact that he stabbed his hometown team in the back, and they hated that he was taking the easy road to winning a championship. In reality, what he did was make a smart decision that could help himself and his league tremendously.

As fans, we value winning. A superstar athlete can only go so far with stats before people start demanding championships. When James was on Cleveland, people started to question his ability to win the big games.

In 2007, the Cavaliers went to the NBA Finals behind Lebron and…um…Zydrunas Ilgauskas? Yet we still demanded more from him, even without the help he needed. Jordan had Pippen and Rodman; Kobe had Shaq and then Gasol. No one can do it completely alone.

Therefore, when LeBron announced that he was joining forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, he was only trying to get some help from his friends. He wanted to win championships. He could have made more money by staying in Cleveland, but decided that winning was more important to him. Since when do we hate athletes who choose winning over more money?

This winter, Cliff Lee shocked everyone by choosing to go to the Philadelphia Phillies to chase rings instead of taking more money with the New York Yankees. He was praised by the media for his commitment to the sport over slightly improving his lifestyle. LeBron did the exact same thing. He gave up money in Cleveland and fame in New York to attempt to win titles.

The biggest cause of anger from the anti-LeBron crowd is his ego. We saw him on his “Decision” and realized how much attention he craves. However it is important to note that the special helped raise funds for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. While this might have simply been a ploy, he should not be hated by helping contribute to charitable foundations.

In addition, the choice he made to come to South Beach really proves how small his ego is. Old-timers kept saying “Magic, Bird or Jordan would not have joined their rivals, they would have tried to beat them.” In reality, doesn’t that mean that those players had the ego? These men had to prove how great they were, LeBron simply wanted to win. Instead of worrying about his legacy, he seized the opportunity in front of him.

Did he take the shortcut to a championship by joining other superstars? I think this year’s finals proved that it will not come so easily. Next year if they win, it will show that they did it because they worked harder and formed a cohesive unit to be better than the 29 other teams in the NBA. Isn’t this what sports are about?

I will agree that “The King” was smug during his announcement by saying he was “taking his talents to South Beach,” but he is not a villain. He is a man with amazing basketball abilities who had some poor judgment. If his ego was too big during the year, the loss to the Mavericks should bring him back to earth. He now has a drive to win and prove all of the haters wrong.

America hates the villain, but we also love redemption. I believe we should all give him a chance.