-Lebron James has been the next big thing (the shiznit if you will) since he was about 9-years-old. People have known that he was going to be the king of the NBA for almost 15 years now, and they've been treating him as such. That means every foul call that could go either way, has gone his since he started playing this game. That lifetime of preferential treatment (think Duke Basketball x 1000) has created an ugly sense of entitlement that we've only recently started to see.
Last week Lebron James and his (and I mean "his" in every possible meaning of the word; and I mean "every possible" in all ways too for that matter) Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals. At the end of that game Lebron walked off the court without shaking hands with his opponents, or even so much as a nod. We didn't even get the customary "I just lost the Oscars but I'm clapping because I know that more people are looking at me than the guy who just won right now." Lebron, how you gonna have worse manners than Russell Crowe? Even the hated jocks from every sports movie ever made give a little slow-clap when they get beat by the underdog heroes (save for Revenge of the Nerds I-V of course, but I don't think Lebron wants to invoke the Ogre comparison). Then he quickly got changed and skipped mandatory news interviews and pouted his way back to the team bus where he sat quietly and reflected (my guess is that he was thinking about the commercial appeal of coming in third place; which I don't think is quite puppet-worthy)
That was bad enough, and a lot of people were outraged when it originally happened. Then he tried to explain (I think he should have been trying to apologize for it but thats just me) why he did what he did, and he came off as an even bigger prick. Here's my favorite part, "It's hard for me to congratulate someone after you just lose to them....I mean I'm a winner." I'm glad he cleared that up, it was tough for everyone to recognize that he was winner considering he has yet to win anything. I understand where he's coming from. No, I haven't had any ad campaigns or photo-shoots or anything, but I still consider myself a professional model because my parents have always told me I'm very handsome; and that alone makes it so. Lebron might be able to play ball better than almost anyone on this planet, but he knows less about the concept and values of sport itself than my local tee-ball team. I don't really know what I'm witnessing (The Christ symbolism in that ad just became a whole lot funnier/more ironic to me by the way) right now, but I'm starting not to like it very much.
Posts
It looks like Ricky Bobby and LeBron James have something in common - they're both WINNERS! If you're not first, you're last.
ReplyDelete