I don’t think anyone can argue that LeBron is perhaps the most physically gifted player… maybe ever. He’s massive, he’s fast, he’s graceful… and he’s a big pussy. There. I said it. LeBron is a puss-wa. I say this with the complete knowledge that one day this giant man may stand before me and question my choice of words while I disappear in his shadow. That is when I will look up, raise myself on my tippy-toes, slightly pucker my lips before looking up at his massive chest and saying, “puuuuuusssssssssy”.
Pierce and Garnett hold back an angry LeBron after a fan says his jersey makes him look fat.
Am I saying I could beat up LeBron James? Nope. I’m just saying I would give it a shot if he wanted a piece. At 5’10″, 162, I would use my smallness to my advantage. My initial strategy would be to hide somewhere in his clothing, maybe his pocket or in his shoe. From there I would begin a vicious assault on his joints, or maybe even climb into an orifice and take him from the inside out like an angry squirrel in an attic full of wires.
Allow me to clear up the debate: LeBron isn’t fit to carry MJ’s jock strap. If any comparison can be made to MJ among the current players, let’s talk about Kobe Bryant. Had he not been accused of rape several years ago, he would be doing Hanes commercials and kids across America would be wearing Air Kobes.
Kobe Bryant was well on his way, and now with 5 championships under his belt and all with entirely different supporting casts (sound familiar?), it begs the question, “Is Kobe the next MJ?”. Let’s break it down:
Leader who elevates his teammates’ game. Check.
Killer jump shot. Check.
Top-notch defender. Check.
Takin’ it to the hole, baby. Check.
Three-pointer. (Kobe better from beyond the arc?)
Want the ball in his hands when game is on the line. Check.
One hand covered with rings. Check.
I’ve always found him to be a little smug, though as he’s aged, Kobe has seemed to humble (despite his continued accomplishments) and has become more MJ-like in just about every way. My point is, let’s look past LeBron’s enormous potential and pay a little attention to the guy who is actually doing it right before our eyes. Kobe Bryant may be the best basketball player we’ve ever seen, and for whatever reason, we’d rather not acknowledge it.
But enough about Kobe, let’s talk about his royal highness, King James. In an interview, Michael would clear it all up for us. After a recent celebrity golf tournament in Nevada, he succinctly, in true MJ fashion, wrapped up why LeBron will never be Michael Jordan:
“There’s no way, with hindsight, I would’ve ever called up Larry, called up Magic and said, ‘Hey, look, let’s get together and play on one team. But that’s … things are different. I can’t say that’s a bad thing. It’s an opportunity these kids have today. In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys.”
I was trying to beat those guys.
There you have it. The best wants to play against the best, not play with the best (unless it was to humiliate third-world countries on a global stage).
The Miami Heat may go on to win a championship. They may win five. But this also wouldn’t be the first time a sports team has assembled incredible talent and failed to bring home a championship. I certainly hope this is one of those cases.
Cleveland is known for its status as pretty much the poorest city in the country. Now, that’s not LeBron’s fault, but he is the only one who has ever been in a position to literally save Cleveland. I’m not being dramatic. A championship sports franchise can make a city, bringing billions to a local economy, thousands and thousands of jobs, and literal happiness for sports fans who’ve been gettting the short end of the stick for… ever.
LeBron was in a position to put Cleveland on the sports map for something other than being historic losers, and literally change the way a whole city was perceived by every sports fan in the country. It’s not LeBron’s fault that all of that was resting on his shoulders, it just was.
“With great talent, comes great responsibility.”
Like I said. It’s not LeBron’s fault a whole city depended on him. I mean, hey, he just came to play basketball and all these problems existed before he got here. So he’s going to take what he needs and move on, leaving those people with all the same problems they had before.
It reminds me of those old westerns. You know, the ones where the hero gunslinger rides into the town that’s been terrorized by bandits and as he’s getting supplies, the people are explaining how this gang comes in every couple of weeks, steals their children and burns their houses down. And then the hero gets all mad and squinty-eyed (Clint Eastwood) and says, “Bummer. Good luck with that. On my way to par-taaaaaay in South Beach.”
Sometimes in life you find yourself in a position where you can positively touch millions of lives, lives that could really use it. And as is usually the case, it might come along with some personal sacrifice. In my mind, these are the kinds of decisions that define who you really are.
For me, LeBron has told me everything I will ever need to know about him. He’s not a hero, just a selfish guy out for his. He has become the shining example of the ugly side of professional sports, and more importantly, the ugly side of people. Sometimes we all need a hero, and LeBron is not it.
MayoPie likes sports. He has a blog, too.
I agree with the things you said about LeBron. but you give Kobe too much credit. Sure he is a team leader, a great defender etc, but isn’t he also a cheater and quite possibly a rapist? LeBron James is disappointing as an athlete and as a champion of an up and coming city. Kobe (although admittedly above reproach on the court) is disappointing as a human being.
Okay, I’m ready to go back to beating up on LeBron now.
Yes, he is possibly a rapist and if that’s the case, I hate him. Jordan was also known for getting an extra step in here and there (well known for it). But the fact is, the only other player to closely mirror the accomplishments of MJ since MJ is Kobe. And my point was also that had he not been labeled a rapist, the debate would be alive and well every time he stepped on the court. Mike Tyson was a wife-beater and a convicted rapist. He bit Evander Holyfield’s ear off and beat up regular citizens. That does not change the fact that he had the most devastating hands in history, and Kobe’s indiscretions don’t change the fact that he just led his team to their 5th championship. I’m not giving him any credit for being a good human. Your comment supports my argument that we don’t want to give Kobe his due, and I get it. He doesn’t deserve the label and we don’t want our greatest player in history to be a rapist. I also don’t want the greatest golfer in history to like peeing on women, but he can still do things with a golf ball that nobody can do (not a sex joke). I don’t want to remember that watching Mike Vick run a football was one of the most awesome things I’ve ever seen, but it was. My only point is, from a pure basketball standpoint, he’s every bit the player that Michael Jordan was. I don’t like it, but it’s true.
I totally agree with your assessment of LBJ’s handling of the situation. I look at it this way: LBJ had a rare opportunity to inspire and elevate a city which desperately needed it. Few players, and very few of the great players, find themselves in the lucky position to be a hometown hero. LBJ is from Akron (suburb of Cleveland). If he had led them to a championship, I truly believe that he would have been famous for this glory for 100 years in Cleveland, and would have created an undying legend. A few titles in Miami with a contrived team will not be regarded as a special thing. And Cleveland was edging very close to victory over the past couple of years. They were feared, had the best record in the entire NBA, and were getting even better.
And by the way, that’s his mother in the pic (the fan yelling)… he’s telling her not to fight with the Celtics. You probably were just joking in the caption… sorry if you were.
I honestly think you are a Kobe fan and just dont like Lebron. People say he not good because he doesn’t have a ring but now he is trying to get one and people like you are saying he bad for that too. Make up your mind and let the man play basketball and accept the fact that he is a very talented basketball player.
It’s not about the fat that he’s trying to get a ring – it’s the manner in which he went about it. The comparisons in the blog are more about the journeys and the manners in which the other champions went on to get their ring(s) and the way they conducted themselves as athlete leaders – they elevated their teams and helped build their franchises, they didn’t go shopping for ones that had the best chance of giving them rings to begin with.