LeBron like Mike (Tyson, not Jordan) It’s time for commissioner David Stern to conduct a LeBron James intervention. LeBron and D-Wade on the same team? With Bosh? Very interesting. As much as I’ve enjoyed ridiculing, cajoling and lampooning the two-time MVP this summer, I now feel sorry for King James. A victim of unchecked ignorance is still a victim. Like most people, James simply doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. It is Stern’s job to teach him. The NBA’s most valuable asset is depreciating from self-inflicted wounds, and he’s damaging other assets in the process. SportsCenter ran a poll question linking James and Dwyane Wade to the NFL’s Man Tan and Sleep N Eat, Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens. Three months ago, no one would have connected James and Wade to football’s Bojangle Brothers. If David Stern is the cutting-edge, visionary commissioner he is hailed to be, he’ll recognize it is not in the best interest of his league to have its most electrifying player cast as Flavor Flav with a jump shot. We’re headed that direction with James. An ESPNLosAngeles.com writer spent the weekend with The King and his Court at Las Vegas nightclubs and filed a well-written account that confirmed James is an attention whore surrounded by childhood sycophants. The apologists who leaped logic and defended James’ classless, reality-TV-show exit from Cleveland are currently working overtime coming up with an explanation for “The Decision: Las Vegas.” Maverick Carter, the head of James’ marketing firm, LRMR, invited a writer to document his latest cash grab. Vegas nightclubs paid James to host a string of parties. It’s not a horrible decision. Paris Hilton and the Kardashians have turned party hosting into careers, and being portrayed in celebrity magazines as pampered, spoiled, narcissistic and bitchy divas who love to dance is good for their brands. LeBron’s brand? Not so much. Someone at LRMR or ESPN or Stern’s office figured this out and had the story removed from ESPN’s web site. Given the massive scope of negative fallout from “The Decision,” King James needed to keep his social life out of the media spotlight for a significant period of time. Maverick Carter should only invite the media to tag along when James is speaking to kids or prisoners, cutting checks to charities, visiting sick people in hospitals and/or working out in preparation for next season. The media shouldn’t be given access to James club-hopping. Seriously, if Maverick Carter represented JaMarcus Russell, Carter would demand that general managers interview Russell at casino buffets that served grape Kool-Aid. I apologize. I promised I was done ripping Team James. I’m also uninterested in shredding ESPN. Chastising the World Wide Leader for a lack of journalistic ethics is a waste. The Mothership no longer pretends to be an instrument of journalism. It’s strictly a marketing tool for its business partners. No, what’s interesting here is what Stern is going to do. The Next Michael Jordan is starting to smell like The Next Mike Tyson, a physical freak devoid of the parental foundation, maturity and intellect to manage the fame, fortune and predators bestowed upon him. James’s entourage -- Carter, Randy Mims and Richard Paul -- don’t know what they don’t know, either. They’re in over their heads. They need help. I respect LeBron’s desire to employ and empower his childhood friends. That desire should be nurtured and cultivated. It just needs to be redefined. You can give young people too much too soon and cripple them. Stern can and should deliver that message. He should do it in a conference room with Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Julius Erving singing in the choir. No one expects LeBron James to be perfect. Russell, Jordan, Magic, Bird and Julius were not perfect. But none of them flirted with being despised in the prime of their careers. None of them made a series of easy-to-avoid errors that eroded their respect. The solution is simple. LRMR should partner with a mature firm/agency. Carter, Mims and Paul need to spend five or six (more) years as associates learning the ropes. That’s how you support the people you love. You teach them to fish. You don’t dump them in the middle of the ocean in a lifeboat with a spear and say, “I hope you make it back to shore.” LeBron wasn’t dumped in the NBA. I know, he didn’t play college basketball. Still, little league, summer, junior high and high school coaches spent a lot of time developing LeBron’s God-given gifts. James didn’t exit the womb ready to take on Kobe Bryant. Representing LeBron James is the equivalent of playing in the NBA. He’s doing himself and his friends a disservice by not requiring them to go through proper training. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Has Lebron played himself to look like a bafoon because he has a bad management team or is the media just taking cheap shots
If this was a white celeb we wouldn't even think twice. Everybody wants to criticize a Black man when he gets to a certain level. Shit's even worse with blogs and such. I will withhold my comments if and when LeBron starts losing next season.
this article was written by a black man. sooo it kind of makes it worse to you huh ? it was written by jason whitlock
here is an article where espn pulled an article http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/ESPN-yanks-unflattering-LeBron-James-story-072810?GT1=39002 ESPN yanks unflattering LeBron story ESPN on Thursday permanently killed an unflattering LeBron James profile it had previously published, and blamed the reporter for “not properly identifying himself” while researching the piece. LIKE MIKE .... TYSON? LeBron is closer to becoming the next Tyson than he is the next Jordan, Jason Whitlock says. The article, by ESPNLosAngeles.com columnist Arash Markazi, depicted James as someone who “relishes being the center of attention” as handlers infantilize the 25-year-old. “The more you hang around James, the more you realize he’s still a child wrapped in a 6-foot-8, 250-pound frame,” Markazi wrote in the story, posted at 9:40am ET Wednesday. It was pulled shortly thereafter. One day later, with the story generating attention it may never have earned if it had been left alone, ESPN was forced to explain its decision. “We looked into the situation thoroughly and found that Arash did not properly identify himself as a reporter or clearly state his intentions to write a story,” ESPN editor-in-chief Rob King said in a statement. “ESPN.com will not be posting this story in any form.” That means it will be difficult -- though far from impossible -- for fans to read about James flirting with Las Vegas cocktail waitresses in clubs surrounded by naked women covered in rose petals. Though constantly surrounded by an entourage of security, family and longtime friends, he was disappointed when a club offered him a male waiter, according to the article. “I wish they’d have one of those girls with no panties do that instead of the guy,” he said as a waiter delivered another bottle of vodka. Even fellow basketball players seemed shocked at James’ behavior. In one nightclub, Boston Celtics forward Glen Davis walked past James’ group and surveyed the area “like a painting in a museum, soaking in the images of the go-go dancers…and the costumed man delivering bottles of champagne.” Davis shook his head, and moved on. Markazi, the author, accepted the decision in a statement released by his employer. “I stand by the accuracy of the story in its entirety, but should have been clearer in representing my intent to write about the events I observed,” he said. It was not be the first time ESPN flirted with James-related controversy. Its own internal watchdog blasted the sports network for what he said were ethical missteps in its recent broadcast of a program devoted to the star’s signing with the Miami Heat.
Arash Markazi, who if I havent forgotten, worked for CNNSI and use to write decent blog entries for their site. Few of his stories were bad and most were good though. Arash must have forgotten that he doesnt have that kind of freedom with ESPN as he did with CNNSI. He is going to end up back on CNN. After this little mishap. I dont know why any writer would go to ESPN besides for the money. No control and pretty sure ESPN offices have memos on who they can write good or bad about. Big Ben, LeBron, Jeff Gordon, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Barry Bonds are off limits. People out of be sick of LeBron. They have already resorted to writing pieces on how Chris Bosh was heckled in NY. We already know how the guy is and we get it.
nah i havent read that book, but im serious about the guy who wrote that joint. I didn't make that up. his heart was in the right place, but his mind...i dont know...if LeBron is a slave making millions of dollars per year, WTF does that make me and you?
I have to read the book to see what he is talking about but if I speculate then it could be the fact they do things that are slave like ...suchas the wonder lic (the test for intelligence) , the scouting combine and other stuff. then the draft and the trades and ect.. that is what Im assuming he is writing about. I would have to read the book
you really need to read this book from what you just wrote. It's not so much that Lebron is making what he makes, but the way in which he - like other black sports stars - are beholden to white team owners, executives, corporations etc. The slavery references is every bit anecdotal as it is historical i.e. these athletes are making their teams and corporate sponsors richer and richer while they are losing sight of the historical context within which they as black athletes find themselves. It explains the same phenomenon of black NBA players who find themselves bankrupt a few years removed from productive careers. Because they've been denied a chance at financial literacy and the ability to educate others, they essentially own nothing they work for, hence the slave reference.
Yeah, i read it when it came out. That one along with Souled Out? How Blacks are Winning and Losing in Sports. They both were very informative and revealing of the intricacies of sports in America, the inflammatory titles nonetheless. I suggest you read them too, they're pretty good.
naw I didnt. I just guessed at it. I figured he mite hit on the draft and the trades , conbines and stuff like that along with the brutal abuse of the body (football) for the entertainment of others. it is kind of odd that they will outlaw prostitution ( a form of entertainment) and ok football (another form of entertainment). both involve the body, both are voluntary or at least in some cases are involuntary and both are for someones entertainment
