Look, I really don't care about LeBron. Honestly. But like he said, people need to "get over it". Fans have this expectation that athletes are supposed to act like saintly heroes. Its silly. LeBron is a flawed human being, as most of us are. He's lived in a bubble, never had responsible parents or guardians to provide discipline, and he didn't handle his business this summer in the right way. But he didn't commit a crime, he didn't cheat the game, and all in all while he's unquestioningly self-absorbed he's really not that bad a fellow. And I don't care if he's a celebrity who you think should have thicker skin. Its not for me to judge how offended another person should be when they are being subjected to gross, sometimes racist, personal attacks. As someone who (thankfully) has never had to endure that, how can I presume to know how it feels? It galls me how these "fans" get a free pass for being total dicks while typing away in anonymity behind their keyboard. Those people piss me off far more than the athlete who chooses to respond every once in a while to the non-stop attacks. He made some dumb decisions in how we went about his business. You and I both think less of him. Fine. But that doesn't entitle people to vent through over-the-top personal attacks. You are apparently so fixated on LeBron accepting the consequences of his actions, in doing so you are giving waves of people a free pass to act like unrestrained assholes. Forget that. Athletes aren't entertainbots without emotions. If they get enough hate headed their way, eventually they will be compelled to respond -- that's a human impulse.
1. Race plays a part in everything, those who are racist are cowards... 2. I do believe the way he left the team was the wrong way. 3. I think the cavs should have did a better job in getting him the help he needed, that's there fault. 4. Kobe's a dick, Jordans a dick so get off Lebrons back he's not that bad...
and if somebody asked him when he was the image of the NBA, the most popular player in the league, if the race plays a part in his success? he would say no. so he was so popular only between the black people, and the white people still hated him? how he was the most popular player if the white hated him? how kobe sells more jerseys if race is part of everything? I dont really think the race has a part on this matter.
1) I don't know what you are talking about. Is this the 1940s WWII? Couldn't disagree more. Fan expectations of athletes is actually very low. 2) Nobody said he committed a crime. Just he did not doesn't mean there aren't consequences for his actions, even if some of the consequences are racial invective. That is life in these United States (or anywhere in the world). By the way, some argue he cheated the game in the playoffs against Boston. 3) If LeBron can't stand the heat of the fire he started, he should get out of the kitchen, sew his big trap shut and let his game do all the talking. Instead, he digs himself deeper and has the nerve to actually bait the racists and haters into spewing more trash. Give me a break! By focusing on LeBron, I'm "giving waves of people a free pass to act like unrestrained assholes"? That is total nonsense! What am I supposed to do to these morons, go on their forums and debate them? Tell Twitter to censor their tweets? Racist trash is racist trash and they aren't going anywhere. About the best we could hope for is most of them die off eventually. If somebody says something in my presence, I'll confront them forcefully. But the internet is the internet. LeBron is an NBA player and these other people are anonymous morons who will remain that way. I'm an NBA fan and care more about LeBron and don't care much about the racists. You don't care about LeBron and care a lot about the racists. Oh well.
lebron is right: GET OVER IT. a lot of sports fans are like little high school girls in college who holds grudges. let it go. you'll feel better. i understand cavs' fans pain. but for the others, sheesh. it's like you guys never seen a cocky and egotistical athlete before. 95% of athletes are cocky and egotistical. sure, the guy loves himself too much and gave himself his own "decision" show. it's over. the guy never committed ANY bad things off the court since he entered the league, which is key b/c he's one of the 2 faces of the NBA (along w/ kobe). and he's made this NBA season the most exciting for the casual fan w/ him being on the heat.
i wonder when all of this will be over, we need to drop this behind us because the season is starting, seasons just around the corner. Just let his actions speak for himself, it just goes to show you how stupid all of this is. if you want to blame anybody blame his PR team. (at least i think that is who is responsible for all this)
You're right. He shouldn't have done that, and the racists/haters shouldn't have taken the bait. I care about the behavior of fellow NBA fans. These are the people I interact with when watching and discussing the game. I'd rather not have to deal with people who are so far-gone in their hate-mode that they can't think clearly when discussing one of the great players this game has seen. It ruins my experience as a fan. As for LeBron, him being a prima donna really isn't my concern. I want him to play hard and play to win. To the extent he doesn't do those things (like apparently last year in the playoffs -- though I must admit I didn't watch the infamous game 5), I'll be disappointed in him. But he doesn't have to fake a goody-goody persona or mask his true feelings in front of the cameras to please me. He is what he is.
This is an agreeable post. Its saying its the sum of ALL his career decisions added together , his whole body of work that culminated with "The Decision" being the final nail in his delusion coffin. While Lebron thought on his own mind that he was building up a bandwagon in his favor, in actuality he was slowly turning people off to him through his own off-court actions. People simply don't like the way Lebron handles himself. Thats fair. Especially after he does "Hater Day" on Twitter to ignite the questions even more. I think in Lebron's case, less would be more. He's always gonna be seen as either very calculating trying to build his kingly empire. Or when he shows his "personable" side, he's gonna be seen as aloof and out of touch. My opinion- I'm late to the game on all this. Honestly I have NOT seen 1 second of "The Decision". I only read about it in a magazine recently. Everything else I've seen on it is nothing but backlash like these threads. From an outside perspective its WHY is this such a big deal? Why is the Lebron backlash so HEAVY?! Then I see the Miami Three getting their many photo ops posing it up, coming out of tunnels together being introduced together with fog machines and party lights....and I thought oookay thats a bit much perhaps. I think the main difference between Celtics Big 3, Bulls big 3 (Jordan, Pippen, Rodman), Rockets big 3 (Hakeem, Drexler, Barkley), and Lakers big 4 (Shaq, Kobe, Malone, Payton), is the AGE of the Heat players. All the other teams were older veteran ring chasers. The Heat are younger dudes in the prime of their lives looking to LIVE it up along with playing for the on-court accolades. I see that being no different than college ball where recruits go to the big schools together. Its happy-go-lucky college atmosphere in a professional setting. In contrast to the business-first approach of the other teams.
Honestly I'm not sure why people who aren't Cleveland fans hate Lebron. I mean, what the hell did he do to you that you're so butthurt over it? When Malone left Utah to play for the Lakers were you all so butthurt over it as well on behalf of all the Utah fans out there? I think people just don't want to accept someone who dances on the court as the best player in the NBA. If he growled and snarled every time ala MJ or kept quiet on the side like Durant I'm sure there would be far less detractors. BTW the "Decision" made a lot of money, all of which were donated to charities. Evil? Yeah right, more like an act of kindness...
Best player doesn't lose to underdog in consecutive year. Best player doesn't choke in playoff. Enough said.
Anonymous racists will nearly always take the bait when one stoops to their level and dignifies them. They have nothing to lose. I don't let morons affect how much I enjoy the NBA. If these kooks were anything more than a very small minority, I might feel differently. Nobody is asking him to fake anything. Don't know why you bring that up. The problem is a boatload of reasonable people strongly dislike the real LeBron. Like I said earlier, maybe Wade can be a positive influence and example for him.
When Malone left Utah he did it with a tad bit of class, if I may use malone and class in the same sentence. LBJ had every right in the world to leave Cleveland, just like a guy has every right in the world to leave his wife. But there are those who handle it like decent human beings, and those who are pricks. I think if he had left without the "Decision" or if he had aired the show and announced he was going back to Cleveland, he would be a hero right now and this would be a much different conversation. If he wants to raise money for charity he should play kobe 1 on 1 or something. Its like me going on tv to announce that i am leaving my wife and you say i am a good guy because i charged people to watch and donated the money to charity.
White people who are racist....probably don't watch basketball....unless they also enjoy self flagellation, there are 3 other major sports in America where the big names are strongly or almost entirely white (football is white qb favouring, baseball is mostly white, hockey is almost exclusively white). White people who aren't racist, don't like what Lebron did, because it was a tool thing to do. Black people who aren't racist, don't like what Lebron did, because it was a took thing to do (amazing coincidence this really). Black people who are racist, probably favour basketball as much as any sport and defend him. Of course this isn't universal, the demographic averages should be pretty obvious...
You think I was referring only to the kooky racists. I'm not. People can like or dislike who they choose, but I think the strong dislike has gotten to a point where its quite unreasonable. That goes for many people on this board -- the people I interact with regularly when talking about the NBA. And I don't know what sort of positive influence you hope for LeBron to receive from Wade (is Wade such a humble individual?), or why you think it matters. Again, LeBron's personality really is not my concern. I do appreciate players who are have winning personalities, don't get me wrong. But when players turn out to be jerks, as many of the really good ones do and have historically, I generally shrug my shoulders. Strong dislike for me is reserved for people that commit real offenses. Being kind of a douche is not an offense I care much about.
Do you really separate the players from their personalities when you watch sports? Even from players who really put their personalities out there? If so, you're missing a huge part of the enjoyment. Barry Bonds was one of the greatest baseball players of all-time, but because he was an ******* to virtually everyone, he was easy to root against, and Giants fans got to circle the wagons and defend him. The opposite was true with Ken Griffey, Jr. The nice guy personality and infectious smile made him very hard to root against, even when he played in the same division in as the Astros. The old-timers talk about a mythical time before ESPN when you didn't see players off the field, and they just went out and played for you. But that didn't really exist: See Babe Ruth, Joe Dimaggio, and Joe Namath. But it's part of the enjoyment. The fact that we are able to see what players are like off the field helps us make opinions about them, and changes our emotions about the players. It's human nature.
