The Narcissism of King James

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The Narcissism of King James

Written by Andy Furman

Saturday, 10 July 2010 00:00

Was it about LeBron James or the Boys and Girls Clubs of America?

We found out quickly. It was always about LeBron and it always will be about LeBron.

On Wednesday (for Thursday's post) I was going to rip LeBron James for feting himself with this over-indulgent hour of insanity. I heard about the effort to raise money for BGCA and backed away, thinking that maybe his heart was in the right place.

Sucker.

Fool.

I was conned. Wasn't the first time and won't be the last.

I watched the first 30-40 minutes of the hour 'special,' until I realized it was ... yep, always about LeBron. Not once did I hear ANYTHING about BGCA. Maybe if the special were a half hour and LeBron spent the first 15 or 20 minutes pumping the stories of BGCA, then maybe I would have felt this was a star using his marketing heft to do some good for charity. Instead, we got what Mushnick predicted, ESPN schtick dreck that was as phony as a $3 dollar bill.

Mushnick actually came to James' side, saying that he spoke like "a team guy, a modest guy, a good guy." I love Mushnick, but I completely disagree. Why? Because actions speak louder than words. Go read one of the books in the UltimateNYG Book Club, Good to Great. Leaders do not have 1 hour spectacles in primetime that are all about themselves. In one sentence LeBron is an overwrought victim of the two week frenzy, and in the very next sentence we are reminded that this show is the indulgence that he could have chosen to avoid. LeBron found the enemy and it was himself.

The entire hour was cheapened when Chris Broussard and Michael Wilbon leaked (at the beginning of the hour!) that their "sources" told them it was going to be Miami. Wasn't the whole point of the special to have everyone find out at the same time, from LeBron himself?

Let's finish this up by saying that hopefully this will never happen in football. Football is too much of a team sport. Every other team would beat the living snot out of a player if he came off like a King. The closest football ever came to this kind of spectacle was when Reggie White shipped out to Green Bay. For his sake, White was the first big name player to go through the new revolution of NFL free agency. The media built it up as a professional football first and they were right. White, for his part, certainly backed it up on the field. With 53 people on the roster and 45 dressed for every game, it is simply too hard for any one player to trivialize all the rest. Thank goodness for that fact. I've had enough narcissism for one week.

Comments (11) Add Comment

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written by rwall1971, July 10, 2010

The NBA and the players are a joke. I got into the NBA when Kidd came to the Nets and turned it around but was disgusted when I learned Kidd got the coach fired. It told me the players run the team. Now with the LeBron thing they can run the league. Who needs agents when the players schemed that they were going to play together and for "likely" less money. To bring this back to football it shows the "big head" players like Chad, Terrell and others have to be kept at bay.

Agreed
written by gman17, July 10, 2010

Great post. We are in an era called "meism". Although I did not watch "Lebronarama", as Andy states in this post, it was all about Lebron.

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written by ultimatenyg, July 10, 2010

rwall- As much as certain football players (yes, the diva TO's and Chad's) want to make it all about them, they end up having to either think team or get moving. Keyshawn "Star" Johnson got deactivated for the remainder (6 games) of the season when he repeatedly flouted rules, missing meetings, missing the team charter, missing curfew and generally disrupting Gruden's authority. Pea Brain Shockey found a championship when Brees and Payton read him the rules for winning (shut the f up and play!). In the NFL, it will never be about one player.

Glenn- you saved yourself some time. Think about it this way- under normal circumstances, a guy like Broussard reports that he is going to join Miami and then a day later they have a press conference and NO ONE watches. The media reports it and that is it. Finito. This time it was different? In LeBron's eyes, perhaps. I foolishly thought (or was hoping) he would try to do something new with it, but it turned out to be another sham.

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written by I Bleed Blue, July 10, 2010

Should you hook up with your rivals or try to beat their brains out? I'm both old and old school. And I'm entirely influenced by players now mostly retired and in their 40s and 50s & 60's who have to be mortified that LeBron would rather play with Dwyane Wade than try and beat him. Clyde, DeBusshere, Reed & Bradley went up against West, Baylor, Goodrich & Chamberlain. That was basketball at its best.

Could you imagine how much worse off the NBA would be today if Magic Johnson and Larry Bird had tried to join forces instead of remaining apart and going after each other for more than a decade? Suppose Michael Jordan, because his Bulls lost three straight years in the playoffs to the Pistons, had gone to Detroit to play with Isiah Thomas as a free agent instead of remaining in Chicago and demonstrating his own championship resolve?

LeBron at 25 has no competitive fire in my opinion, and his legacy, no matter how many rings he may acquire will now never be looked at as a true champion. He never will be the Captain of his own ship. He will just be another seamen on deck. When Knicks' fans are at the Garden this season, the chant should be every time LeFraud touches the ball "Scotty Pippen, Scotty Pippen" He is Wade's wing man. And it will sting because he is such a fan of Chicago's history. He obviously doesn't get it. A shame, no actually, shame on you LeBron.

Lebron
written by traydog, July 10, 2010

I did not like them leaking the news becuase it did make the special useless. But what I don't understand is when a owner ships you out when they get ready it's ok but when a player can control where he goes everyone is mad. Give me a break. That just tells me it's OK to be controlled and told where you go but how dear you want to control yourself. The special was not needed to leave but hey the media showed up so I guess you can do it anyway you want.

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written by Craig, July 10, 2010

Lebron is the biggest narcissist because they 3 of them had this planned out when they signed the deals that expired this summer instead of the max which Melo signed. There was no need to have the clippers or nets even interview. Knicks were about a 2% chance so they could have been skipped. it was gonna be whomever cleared about cap space for the 3 of them to sign. He could have made the announcement the day miami cleared the room, but instead he wanted the attention.

on a side note, i dont think this will work, the talent around them will be mediocre at best. who will cover dwight howard, who will cover rando, who will cover bynum and gasol. I dont see how they will win any rings, and wade has injury problems, as soon as he misses games, they will lose every game he's out. not to mention they wont have any draft picks for the next 4 years as Toronto and cleveland got 2 1st rd picks each

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written by Craig, July 10, 2010

not to mention, he can never be magic, or bird, or jordan, or kobe...ever, lebron will be at best worthy, mchale, pippen, fisher.

if he went to chicago he would have been the man and they probably would have won big time. cleveland would never have won with lebron, this year they won 61 games and couldnt get out of the 2nd rd, how can the team improve that much.

no longer the king
written by xtian, July 10, 2010

the person who came out the leader is wade; labron is an accessory, quite a good one, but not the rock reputation he had built. we saw that last year in the playoffs, too. i guess he got tired of carrying all that weight, so he shrugged it off and went to miami where they are setup to win next year with the big 3--cant blame him for that. he would have remained the big man if he went to nj, ny, or stayed in clev--chicago would always have the shadow of jordan unless he won 6+ championships; good luck on that. i agree that leaking the decision out beforehand was stupid as hell. they should have made it a press conference announcement instead of an interview-chat. oh, how the mighty has fallen.

its all up to the fans
written by Bob, July 10, 2010

As long as the fans watch this crap on TV, buy the tickets, buy the PSL's, buy the shirts & shoes, buy the beer & burgers, this B.S. will continue. Overglorified, egomaniac athletes. If the fans stop watching this stuff on TV, it will end immediately. Its up to the fans. In an era where there is 9.5% unemployment in the USA, and everyone is tightening his belt, how can the fans stand to watch king LaBron in his ego trip,as he walks away with $100,000,000 of their money. They're too dumb to realize that LaBron's payday comes from their pockets, in reality. They think " someone else" is paying for La Bron's winfall. nope, its us, we are paying the bill.

Done
written by psffur, July 10, 2010

I am done with the NBA. I was a big basketball fan for most of my life but someone has to take a stand and reject the way fans are treated and the type of players the NBA has,
Dwayne Wade spent his entire summer getting divorced and fight it out in court with former business partners.LeBron James and Bosh and Wade knew what they were going to do for months,perhaps years. These decisions were made well before last night. Pat"the snake" Riley is up to his neck in this mockery of sport and fair play.
Here we have a bunch of kids who can jump,run and shoot. These are God given talents and they and the NBA just mock the fans and serve up a bunch of losers who barely made it out of high school or took a students scholarship to p[lay a couple of years in college for nothing. We are paying all of this money to a bunch of ingrates wearing diamonds the size of your head. Half can't speak and we support this?
I have disconnected the NBA channel from my satellite service and I will NEVER watch another NBA game. I was already headed in that direction.
I prefer to remember the great Laker Teams,the Great Knick Teams,the great Celtics teams who made some money but played "for the love of the game".
The message these goons are sending our kids who worship them is all negative. They say cheat,manipulate,me me me and there is no room for the sport. I just refuse to support it in any way. I feel good about my decision.
No one should be able to buy a winner and in tough economic times this kind of garbage is just over the top.
These things have a way of not working out and I hope this blows up in the face of the players and the heat. Of course ticket prices will rise so the average Joe has no chance to attend a game. The people of Cleveland who worshiped this guy will never forget what James did.
I hope that millions do what I am as all of this crap has destroyed an American dream.

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written by pataroons, July 11, 2010

'The Decision' by 'The King' was 'The biggest joke I've seen in sports'. And if LeBron really cared about the boys and girls club, then he could have signed with Cleveland, and given that extra 45 million to the children of Akron. He used a bunch of complacent 8 year old 'witnesses' to distract viewers from the narcissistic nature of the whole program.
And while we're at it, can we PLEASE hold ESPN accountable for this circus. They spent years, and at least the last 6 months (The LeBron watch with Bill Daughtry) convincing us that this was something we cared about. As a news organization who depends so much on the big stars, and the sponsorships and advertisements associated with these athletes, they relentlessly pumped this story into our heads, to the point where even me (who hasn't watched a lick of basketball since Ron Artest threw a punch at a 5"8' out of shape Pacers Fan) was actually convinced that I cared where Lebron went. Well, now ESPN has a new 'big three' to capitalize on. Get ready for that scrolling headline in every episode of Pardon the Interuption, or whatever other crappy sports gossip show they have now. I can see it now...

-LEBRON/WADE... WHO'S THE STAR
-MIAMI THRICE
-T.O. BACK TO PHILLY?
-VICK IN MORE TROUBLE
-JESSICA SIMPSON A DISTRACTION AT COWBOYS TRAINING CAMP?
-LADY GAGA VS. NY YANKEES, THE SAGA CONTINUES
-KARL MALONE AND GARY PAYTON UNRETIRING TO JOIN THE HEAT?

Oh, and one last question, when is that dildo Pat Reilly going to fire the coach and take all the glory. I say Game 7 of the NBA finals at half time.

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