LeBron James: King James Rightly Named Most Influential African-American Athlete

Love him or hate him, you've got to admit that LeBron James is as influential as any African-American athlete in the world today.

TheRoot.com certainly agrees, as James placed 36th overall in the 2011 The Root 100 List. The rankings were determined by a formula that "defines influence as the marriage of reach and substance", with "reach" quantified by popularity among news articles, Google searches and Twitter followers, and "influence" calculated more intuitively on a 0-10 scale depending on the impact and importance of the individual's contributions. The final influence score is simply a multiplication of the "reach" and "influence" scores for each candidate. Only individuals between the ages of 25 and 45 were considered for the list.

To put James' ranking in perspective, he pulled in an influence score of 73.9, well behind Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, who checked in at No. 1 with an influence score of 131.1. In his own sphere of society, James still checked in ahead of women's tennis star Serena Williams (No. 41, 71.9), the only other active professional athlete who placed among the Top 100.

But does LeBron James, the reach and substance of whose professional career would seemingly pale in comparison to that of an NBA champion and global icon like Kobe Bryant, really deserve to be recognized as such an influential figure?

Strangely enough, I have to say that the answer is a resounding yes. I dislike LeBron James as much as the next guy for the way he skipped out on Cleveland, humiliating the Cavaliers and the entire city with one of the most poorly thought-out marketing ploys in the history of professional sports.

Yet, I can't deny the influence of that moment, nor can I deny the impact he had in taking his talents to South Beach, not only on the Heat, but also on the NBA, the sport of basketball and the city of Miami as a whole. Like so many millions of fans, I couldn't help but be captivated by James' exploits, both on and off the field. I was mesmerized by just how polarizing a figure he became, how he turned an entire summer—nay, an entire season—into his own. As heartwarming as it was to see Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks win their first NBA championship, they figure to play second-fiddle to LeBron and the Heatles in the basketball history books.

And it's all because of LeBron, because of just how monumental a figure he is in the realm of professional sports today. Remember, folks, he hasn't won a ring yet and he still manages to hog the headlines.

Granted, James has toned things down a bit, especially over the past few months. He's popped up here and there, playing in Pro-Am showcase games, making cameo appearances in McDonald's commercials and playing football at his alma mater in Akron, Ohio.

The NBA lockout has seemingly taken its toll on LeBron's visibility, but not necessarily to his detriment, at least on a personal level. As far as The Root is concerned, though, it's reasonable to suspect that had the league been up to business as usual this summer, he would've been more ubiquitous in the media than he turned out to be and, thus, his influence score would've been a tad bit higher.

Not enough to crack the Top 10, or even the Top 25, but certainly enough to move up a spot or two in the rankings.

Then again, having a title or two on his resume would likely have boosted LeBron up further than any plain ol' TV time could have.