Stephen A. Smith’s The One Starting Rumors About LeBron’s Personal Life
Barry Petchesky — If you tuned in to the ambient noise of the ninth circle of hell this morning, you heard Stephen A. Smith on Mike and Mike talking about LeBron James. And why yes, he did throw some shit at the wall.SportsGrid has the audio, as well as this summary:
This morning, Smith said that he's "[heard] things" through the "grapevine" of a "personal nature," and it may or may not involve, "somebody other than the player," and it may or may not "have a profound effect on the player," and it has nothing to do with "the game of basketball."
Smith won't say it, but the Internet will, and it's a very unlikely name being tossed around this time. (And mom isn't involved.) So now we have a starting point for the 2011 edition of this column, if it comes to that. It shouldn't, but it probably will, and only because the Heat are two games from elimination. We knew coming into this five-year experiment that it would take just big loss to start the LeBron James doubt machine up again. It didn't matter how much was his fault — any loss automatically becomes about him. And, of course, nebulous off-court business. Listen to Smith's comments again. There's no "there" there. There's nothing. There's something he saw online, and grapevines and weasel words and equivocation and rumors ofrumors and zero news, which is what Stephen A. Smith does when he's allowed to talk instead of write. This isn't passing along a rumor: it's starting one, and it's a low blow to bring it up at all to a world hungry for just this kind of bullshit about LeBron James. We can't put the genie back by ignoring this:it's too late for that. A loud man, on a hugely popular radio show, talking about the most famous man in sports? It's out there and "legitimate" now. LeBron's personal life belongs to the world now. Go nuts.
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daimoshokage
SBR Hall of Famer
02-07-11
8935
#7
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TobiasFunke
SBR MVP
02-12-09
1999
#8
Hahaha wow that's pretty awesome
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ChuckyTheGoat
BARRELED IN @ SBR!
04-04-11
37455
#9
The bigger Q = what ELITE athlete would let this bother them?
The strories of the maniacal focus of insane workout routines are well-known for the greats. Jordan, Bird...Jerry Rice, Walter Payton. These guys conditioned themselves to the N-th degree, and they're Legends b/c of it. If they have to let some of the personal life slip, so be it. That's the sacrifice.
The more stories you hear about Lebron, he sounds like an A+ talent w/o the Alpha-Male mentality. So many great athletes just shake off injury issues and personal problems, b/c that's what they do. They're conditioned to be great.
Man, the spotlight for Games 6 and Game 7 is bright. D-Wade is safe, from a legacy perspective, although he could add to it. But Nowitzki/Lebron are really crossing paths here. Nowitzki b/c the list of non-champions immediately puts him on the 2nd-tier of all-timers. Lebron b/c he expected this to be the start of him accumulating prizes for the trophy case.
Where's the fuckin power box, Carol?
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biggamer3
SBR MVP
04-16-07
2163
#10
I hate that dude so much
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teaserpleaser
BARRELED IN @ SBR!
08-14-08
26015
#11
"Dont attach that bs to me i know nothing about it..." love that fakkin guy ( no homo)
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Sunde91
SBR Hall of Famer
11-26-09
8325
#12
Queen is a bag of puss and there is no shaking it
Look at her tail her hubby Wade around and how they coordinate their post-game outfits
I thought Rashard Lewis piped her wife though?
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Shack
SBR Sharp
04-13-06
314
#13
Good reporting guys. Love the gossip. Please screw your head up Lebron.
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Shack
SBR Sharp
04-13-06
314
#14
I can't stop watching reruns on ESPN.
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bill2266
SBR MVP
10-17-07
2016
#15
thats so awesome
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shawnkang
SBR Wise Guy
01-14-10
547
#16
stephen a smith is a loser.
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sweethook
SBR Posting Legend
11-21-07
12667
#17
if everone would just learn to share
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jjgold
SBR Aristocracy
07-20-05
388179
#18
Good reporting Scorpy
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jwbama23
SBR MVP
01-17-10
2373
#19
Lebron is soft. He is not the chosen one and everyone always wants to compare him to MJ. MJ found ways to win. Lebron finds ways to choke
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stevek173
BARRELED IN @ SBR!
03-29-08
27598
#20
well done man. Never liked Smith much, I do a little more now though haha.
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Maxmillion
SBR MVP
05-18-10
2642
#21
Originally posted by shawnkang
stephen a smith is a loser.
but he has connections, i think he was the one to call lebron to miami