Another blow against Leprick
LeBron, The Hypocrite (midwestsportsfans.com)
Over the past few months, since he uttered the infamous and now ubiquitous words “I’m taking my talents to South Beach”, the popularity of LeBron James has plummeted. He went from being one of the most revered athletes in the country, and one synonymous with the city he lived and worked in, to the subject of scorn and vitriol from sports fans across the country.
Why? LeBron didn’t kill dogs, didn’t hit a woman, didn’t drive drunk, and didn’t do any of the other multitudes of egregious things that we see professional athletes do.
No, the truth is he actually did something worse…at least when it comes to public opinion in America. LeBron proved himself to be a hypocrite. His image has tanked as a result.
Admittedly, I am closer to the LeBron situation than most people. In fact, I would argue that besides true Cleveland fans — and we’ll get to this in a second — there is no one that is closer to the issue than myself.
My wife was born and raised in Cleveland. I grew up a diehard Indiana fan. The Colts, Pacers, and Cubs were my loves. I also learned to cheer for Notre Dame football and Purdue basketball. (This is a separate matter and a long story, but basically, Notre Dame football was good when I was in my formative years, and Purdue had “The Big Dog.” Did that make me a fair-weather fan at the time? Of course. But I was 5. You aren’t allowed to call me a fair-weather fan now because I have stuck with those teams through thick and thin. Seriously…I still like the Golden Domers’ football team. Insert jokes here.)
I moved from Indiana to Charleston, SC when I was 17 and have lived here ever since. This means that the closest professional teams in ANY sport are in Charlotte…and can we really call the Bobcats and Panthers real professional teams? (Again, this is why the South is so big on college sports. Can you blame them?)
In the past seven years, I have been to more Cleveland sporting events than all others put together. I’ve been to at least six regular season Cavs games and one massive home playoff game. I can’t count how many Indians’ games I’ve attended. I have never visited, and probably never will visit, a Browns’ game…because I’m not insane.
Seriously, I would have to be insane.
While we are here, I need to make this point: Cleveland is, without a doubt, the most passionate sports city in America.
I grew up going to Pacers’ games during their Rivalry with the Knicks. My grandfather, who is from New York, once took me to a game, and of course, he wore his Knicks’ jacket. I remember he got quite a bit of good-natured razzing throughout the first quarter, but after that the pleasant Indiana fans let him have fun with his grandson. Let me remind you that this all took place in the middle of Indiana, the most rabid basketball hotbed in America.
Three years ago, when the Indians were good, I took my wife to a late-summer game. At the time, they were tied with the Tigers for first place in the AL-Central. I was, quite simply, not prepared for what I saw.
The Cavs and Pistons has just battled in the playoffs in consecutive years. There was plenty of bad blood between the cities. Then, you could factor in the whole Ohio State-Michigan thing. I listened, bemused, as Clevelanders sung creative songs about how they “cared” about the entire state of Michigan. The vitriol being spewed from everywhere was at its peak.
And then, in the 5th inning, some idiot walked across the front of our section wearing a Steelers’ hat. I will never forget what happened next. Never before had I been scared for my life at a sporting event until that moment. Our entire section (I mean that in the most literal sense possible) stood up and started screaming at this poor fellow. Objects were hurled. Racial slurs were in abundance. Within three minutes, security was there to escort this man out of the stadium. The entire section celebrated like they had just won the World Series (and let’s be honest, you HAVE to celebrate small victories like this when you live in Cleveland).
I know the fans in New York are die-hard. Before 2004, I might have given you the city of Boston. Lakers fans are extremely loyal. Packers fans have an incredible energy. Nothing can approach the atmosphere of a college football game.
But as a whole, when you look at an entire city with all of their teams, no city comes close to Cleveland.
If you need any further proof, just ask the coward (I refuse to type his name out of principle) that moved the Browns to Baltimore. Do you realize that he has LITERALLY never gone back to Cleveland? Not even once? He’s scared for his life. That’s not an exaggeration.
All of this to say, for the past seven years, while I have remained loyal to my Indiana teams, I have had more contact with the teams from Cleveland. I could even admit they they would be my second favorite team in each sport. So when LeBron stabbed the entire city in the back this summer, I really felt like that if ANYONE could understand and empathize with the Cleveland fans, it would be me.
But I’m not here to talk about the Cleveland fans. I could never understand exactly how much pain they have suffered. And sports city has ever suffered something of this magnitude.
I don’t even want to talk about “The Decision.” You’ve doubtless read more articles than you would ever want to read concerning his move, and have probably developed your own opinion on it. (By the way, I think it was extremely cowardly, and Jordan would have NEVER done it, but I can’t really blame LeBron for leaving. I mean, his team was terrible, and now he can go play with his two supposed best friends? I can’t say I WOULDN’T have decided the same thing.)
No, what has intrigued me more than anything is the manner in which all of America, not just Cleveland, has turned on him.
In case you hadn’t heard, LeBron’s popularity has plummeted. In one summer, he went from one of America’s most beloved athletes, to one of its most hated.
Who is ahead of LeBron on this list of disliked athletes? Dog-hater Michael Vick, adulterer Tiger Woods, and attention-addicts Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco.
All because a guy wanted to take his talents to South Beach.
I keep asking the question, why? Didn’t the guy just show that all he cares about is winning? Is it valid to hate a guy because he wants to play with his friends? There is no way it’s comparable to what Tiger did, right?
In fact, Jerod wrote a VERY intriguing article on just this matter. Why are some of us hoping that Tiger Woods gets back on track, but we secretly pray for LeBron to break his leg?
My answer? Because LeBron, at his core, is a hypocrite.
We, as Americans, hate a lot of things. We hate the DMV. We hate speeding tickets. We hate politicians. But I would argue that Americans, more than anything, hate being lied to.
I honestly believe that this is why so many people were upset about the Tiger Woods saga. If backed into a corner, and you had to tell the truth, every man in America would have to admit that they could at least understand why Tiger did what he did. Am I saying he was right? Absolutely not. But here is a guy who was not only the richest and most recognizable athlete on earth, but he was also good-looking and friendly. Good grief, I remember how the girls in my high school threw themselves at a guy just because he had a nice car. Now you have some of the most beautiful women in the world throwing themselves at you at every stop, the temptation would have been through the roof.
Hey, most of America doesn’t hold it against Derek Jeter that he’s never been married. They just assume that “Yeah, he’s the face of the Yankees. Of course girls are gonna love him. Just let the man stay single and have fun. He can have as many girls as he wants.”
But we thought that Tiger was a family man. He gave a speech at Obama’s inauguration giving credit to his family. He loved his dad. He had two beautiful children with his wife. We thought he was different.
We were lied to. And that’s why women will never forgive him.
In a sense, we tell our celebrities, “We really don’t care what kind of person you are, just be real with us.”
Look at Kobe. Three summers ago, he threw a temper-tantrum. He wanted to be traded. He was angry at the Lakers’ organization. In the eyes of America, he was the punk-kid that ran Shaq out of town and now he was getting what was coming to him.
Then the Lakers stole Gasol from Memphis and the rest is history.
America has never loved Kobe as much as it does right now. Why? Because through the entire thing, he maintained that he wanted to do one thing – win. Yeah, he threw a child-like fit, and yeah, he may not have been loyal to the Lakers. But his third-best player was either Smush Parker or Kwame Brown! All he wanted the Lakers to do was get some better players. He never wavered. He wanted to win. That was what he had based his entire brand on.
Which finally brings us back to LeBron. From day one, what did he market himself as? A winner? Hardly. He never won anything. A funny guy? Getting closer. He liked for us to think that he was just “one of the guys.” A warrior? I don’t think so. While he showed flashes (the 48 Special), he seemed to be more concerned with how people perceived him.
No, from the beginning, LeBron marketed himself as the Hometown Hero. He was going to be the guy to bring Cleveland some championships. He was “The Akron Hammer.” He hired and hung out with his hometown friends because he was so loyal. He endorsed slogans like “Born here, raised here, plays here, stays here.”
He WAS Cleveland…and he loved it. He encouraged it. For the first time, Americans, even those living outside of Cleveland, could admire someone for his loyalty.
Look, I understand that he is the most physically gifted athlete the NBA has ever seen. I understand that he is a very unselfish player on the court. I get the fact that he’s more charismatic than nearly every other superstar. Those were all things that made us like LeBron a little. But he had a trump card. Something that made him different from Kobe, Wade, and ‘Melo.
He was the loyal, hometown hero.
Small-market fans like me thought it was great that a superstar would actually stay in a city like Cleveland. So when the Pacers, Bucks, Timberwolves, Grizzlies, Nuggets, Thunder, Spurs, Kings, Blazers, Bobcats, and Pistons were out, we enjoyed rooting for the Cavs to knock off the Knicks, Celtics, and Bulls.
LeBron was like us. He was small-town. He was old-school. He was the hometown kid.
“The Decision” proved otherwise.
LeBron couldn’t possibly care about ANYthing more than he cares about himself. We watched, in horror, as he spoke in third-person about joining a party in South Beach with his friends. In one fell swoop, LeBron wasn’t who we thought he was.
Should we be surprised? No. At the end of the day, he’s just like every other athlete.
Is anyone mad at Chris Bosh for leaving Toronto? Where is the anger over Amare’ bolting for New York? Why doesn’t anybody care that Shaq is joining his sixth team? Because we didn’t expect anything different. They never claimed to be in it for anything more than fame and fortune.
But the King was supposed to be different. And now, he’s without his trump card.
Will people start to like LeBron again? I think so. Once he has won a title or two, people will talk about how great it was that he chose to “give up his stats” in order to play on a champion.
But he will be like every other champion we’ve had since Jordan. Give LeBron a good team, and he can win a title. Give him a great team, and he can win multiple.
One day, we will talk about the greats from this era. Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, Shaquille O’Neal, Steve Nash, and LeBron James. That’s unfortunate. Because we should be comparing Jordan to Kobe and Kobe to LeBron. Those three should have been on a whole different level. And LeBron would have had the trump card. He stuck with his hometown team. He brought them a title. He persevered like Jordan and never whined like Kobe. He could have been, if everything fell into place, the Greatest of All Time.
But now, he is what we know him to be: just another athlete that’s in it for himself. Congratulations, LeBron, for choosing not to chase immortality.
And really, I hope you took mental notes on this because it won’t matter. You lost your trump card. Have fun winning the “D-Wade vs. LeBron” argument for the rest of your life.
We’ll keep arguing about the GREATS.
Jon Washburn The TwitchIN'DY Sports Guy
Over the past few months, since he uttered the infamous and now ubiquitous words “I’m taking my talents to South Beach”, the popularity of LeBron James has plummeted. He went from being one of the most revered athletes in the country, and one synonymous with the city he lived and worked in, to the subject of scorn and vitriol from sports fans across the country.
Why? LeBron didn’t kill dogs, didn’t hit a woman, didn’t drive drunk, and didn’t do any of the other multitudes of egregious things that we see professional athletes do.
No, the truth is he actually did something worse…at least when it comes to public opinion in America. LeBron proved himself to be a hypocrite. His image has tanked as a result.
Admittedly, I am closer to the LeBron situation than most people. In fact, I would argue that besides true Cleveland fans — and we’ll get to this in a second — there is no one that is closer to the issue than myself.
My wife was born and raised in Cleveland. I grew up a diehard Indiana fan. The Colts, Pacers, and Cubs were my loves. I also learned to cheer for Notre Dame football and Purdue basketball. (This is a separate matter and a long story, but basically, Notre Dame football was good when I was in my formative years, and Purdue had “The Big Dog.” Did that make me a fair-weather fan at the time? Of course. But I was 5. You aren’t allowed to call me a fair-weather fan now because I have stuck with those teams through thick and thin. Seriously…I still like the Golden Domers’ football team. Insert jokes here.)
I moved from Indiana to Charleston, SC when I was 17 and have lived here ever since. This means that the closest professional teams in ANY sport are in Charlotte…and can we really call the Bobcats and Panthers real professional teams? (Again, this is why the South is so big on college sports. Can you blame them?)
In the past seven years, I have been to more Cleveland sporting events than all others put together. I’ve been to at least six regular season Cavs games and one massive home playoff game. I can’t count how many Indians’ games I’ve attended. I have never visited, and probably never will visit, a Browns’ game…because I’m not insane.
Seriously, I would have to be insane.
While we are here, I need to make this point: Cleveland is, without a doubt, the most passionate sports city in America.
I grew up going to Pacers’ games during their Rivalry with the Knicks. My grandfather, who is from New York, once took me to a game, and of course, he wore his Knicks’ jacket. I remember he got quite a bit of good-natured razzing throughout the first quarter, but after that the pleasant Indiana fans let him have fun with his grandson. Let me remind you that this all took place in the middle of Indiana, the most rabid basketball hotbed in America.
Three years ago, when the Indians were good, I took my wife to a late-summer game. At the time, they were tied with the Tigers for first place in the AL-Central. I was, quite simply, not prepared for what I saw.
The Cavs and Pistons has just battled in the playoffs in consecutive years. There was plenty of bad blood between the cities. Then, you could factor in the whole Ohio State-Michigan thing. I listened, bemused, as Clevelanders sung creative songs about how they “cared” about the entire state of Michigan. The vitriol being spewed from everywhere was at its peak.
And then, in the 5th inning, some idiot walked across the front of our section wearing a Steelers’ hat. I will never forget what happened next. Never before had I been scared for my life at a sporting event until that moment. Our entire section (I mean that in the most literal sense possible) stood up and started screaming at this poor fellow. Objects were hurled. Racial slurs were in abundance. Within three minutes, security was there to escort this man out of the stadium. The entire section celebrated like they had just won the World Series (and let’s be honest, you HAVE to celebrate small victories like this when you live in Cleveland).
I know the fans in New York are die-hard. Before 2004, I might have given you the city of Boston. Lakers fans are extremely loyal. Packers fans have an incredible energy. Nothing can approach the atmosphere of a college football game.
But as a whole, when you look at an entire city with all of their teams, no city comes close to Cleveland.
If you need any further proof, just ask the coward (I refuse to type his name out of principle) that moved the Browns to Baltimore. Do you realize that he has LITERALLY never gone back to Cleveland? Not even once? He’s scared for his life. That’s not an exaggeration.
All of this to say, for the past seven years, while I have remained loyal to my Indiana teams, I have had more contact with the teams from Cleveland. I could even admit they they would be my second favorite team in each sport. So when LeBron stabbed the entire city in the back this summer, I really felt like that if ANYONE could understand and empathize with the Cleveland fans, it would be me.
But I’m not here to talk about the Cleveland fans. I could never understand exactly how much pain they have suffered. And sports city has ever suffered something of this magnitude.
I don’t even want to talk about “The Decision.” You’ve doubtless read more articles than you would ever want to read concerning his move, and have probably developed your own opinion on it. (By the way, I think it was extremely cowardly, and Jordan would have NEVER done it, but I can’t really blame LeBron for leaving. I mean, his team was terrible, and now he can go play with his two supposed best friends? I can’t say I WOULDN’T have decided the same thing.)
No, what has intrigued me more than anything is the manner in which all of America, not just Cleveland, has turned on him.
In case you hadn’t heard, LeBron’s popularity has plummeted. In one summer, he went from one of America’s most beloved athletes, to one of its most hated.Who is ahead of LeBron on this list of disliked athletes? Dog-hater Michael Vick, adulterer Tiger Woods, and attention-addicts Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco.
All because a guy wanted to take his talents to South Beach.
I keep asking the question, why? Didn’t the guy just show that all he cares about is winning? Is it valid to hate a guy because he wants to play with his friends? There is no way it’s comparable to what Tiger did, right?
In fact, Jerod wrote a VERY intriguing article on just this matter. Why are some of us hoping that Tiger Woods gets back on track, but we secretly pray for LeBron to break his leg?
My answer? Because LeBron, at his core, is a hypocrite.
We, as Americans, hate a lot of things. We hate the DMV. We hate speeding tickets. We hate politicians. But I would argue that Americans, more than anything, hate being lied to.
I honestly believe that this is why so many people were upset about the Tiger Woods saga. If backed into a corner, and you had to tell the truth, every man in America would have to admit that they could at least understand why Tiger did what he did. Am I saying he was right? Absolutely not. But here is a guy who was not only the richest and most recognizable athlete on earth, but he was also good-looking and friendly. Good grief, I remember how the girls in my high school threw themselves at a guy just because he had a nice car. Now you have some of the most beautiful women in the world throwing themselves at you at every stop, the temptation would have been through the roof.
Hey, most of America doesn’t hold it against Derek Jeter that he’s never been married. They just assume that “Yeah, he’s the face of the Yankees. Of course girls are gonna love him. Just let the man stay single and have fun. He can have as many girls as he wants.”
But we thought that Tiger was a family man. He gave a speech at Obama’s inauguration giving credit to his family. He loved his dad. He had two beautiful children with his wife. We thought he was different.
We were lied to. And that’s why women will never forgive him.
In a sense, we tell our celebrities, “We really don’t care what kind of person you are, just be real with us.”
Look at Kobe. Three summers ago, he threw a temper-tantrum. He wanted to be traded. He was angry at the Lakers’ organization. In the eyes of America, he was the punk-kid that ran Shaq out of town and now he was getting what was coming to him.
Then the Lakers stole Gasol from Memphis and the rest is history.
America has never loved Kobe as much as it does right now. Why? Because through the entire thing, he maintained that he wanted to do one thing – win. Yeah, he threw a child-like fit, and yeah, he may not have been loyal to the Lakers. But his third-best player was either Smush Parker or Kwame Brown! All he wanted the Lakers to do was get some better players. He never wavered. He wanted to win. That was what he had based his entire brand on.
Which finally brings us back to LeBron. From day one, what did he market himself as? A winner? Hardly. He never won anything. A funny guy? Getting closer. He liked for us to think that he was just “one of the guys.” A warrior? I don’t think so. While he showed flashes (the 48 Special), he seemed to be more concerned with how people perceived him.
No, from the beginning, LeBron marketed himself as the Hometown Hero. He was going to be the guy to bring Cleveland some championships. He was “The Akron Hammer.” He hired and hung out with his hometown friends because he was so loyal. He endorsed slogans like “Born here, raised here, plays here, stays here.”
He WAS Cleveland…and he loved it. He encouraged it. For the first time, Americans, even those living outside of Cleveland, could admire someone for his loyalty.
Look, I understand that he is the most physically gifted athlete the NBA has ever seen. I understand that he is a very unselfish player on the court. I get the fact that he’s more charismatic than nearly every other superstar. Those were all things that made us like LeBron a little. But he had a trump card. Something that made him different from Kobe, Wade, and ‘Melo.
He was the loyal, hometown hero.
Small-market fans like me thought it was great that a superstar would actually stay in a city like Cleveland. So when the Pacers, Bucks, Timberwolves, Grizzlies, Nuggets, Thunder, Spurs, Kings, Blazers, Bobcats, and Pistons were out, we enjoyed rooting for the Cavs to knock off the Knicks, Celtics, and Bulls.
LeBron was like us. He was small-town. He was old-school. He was the hometown kid.
“The Decision” proved otherwise.
LeBron couldn’t possibly care about ANYthing more than he cares about himself. We watched, in horror, as he spoke in third-person about joining a party in South Beach with his friends. In one fell swoop, LeBron wasn’t who we thought he was.
Should we be surprised? No. At the end of the day, he’s just like every other athlete.
Is anyone mad at Chris Bosh for leaving Toronto? Where is the anger over Amare’ bolting for New York? Why doesn’t anybody care that Shaq is joining his sixth team? Because we didn’t expect anything different. They never claimed to be in it for anything more than fame and fortune.
But the King was supposed to be different. And now, he’s without his trump card.Will people start to like LeBron again? I think so. Once he has won a title or two, people will talk about how great it was that he chose to “give up his stats” in order to play on a champion.
But he will be like every other champion we’ve had since Jordan. Give LeBron a good team, and he can win a title. Give him a great team, and he can win multiple.
One day, we will talk about the greats from this era. Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, Shaquille O’Neal, Steve Nash, and LeBron James. That’s unfortunate. Because we should be comparing Jordan to Kobe and Kobe to LeBron. Those three should have been on a whole different level. And LeBron would have had the trump card. He stuck with his hometown team. He brought them a title. He persevered like Jordan and never whined like Kobe. He could have been, if everything fell into place, the Greatest of All Time.
But now, he is what we know him to be: just another athlete that’s in it for himself. Congratulations, LeBron, for choosing not to chase immortality.
And really, I hope you took mental notes on this because it won’t matter. You lost your trump card. Have fun winning the “D-Wade vs. LeBron” argument for the rest of your life.
We’ll keep arguing about the GREATS.
Jon Washburn The TwitchIN'DY Sports Guy
Once a quitter is always a quitter.