The Miami Heat Trio, The Hot Triumverate, The Trifecta of South Beach, The Three Kings. Whatever new teammates LeBron James, Dwyane (not pronounced dwa-ya-nee like it looks) Wade, and Chris Bosh decide to call themselves, these guys are beyond annoying.
In all fairness, Bosh seems pretty much disinterested in the whole fiasco. And Wade is just glowing with having a solid team around him and because he didn’t have to do anything other than just re-sign with his supportive team.
Really it’s just LeBron. Smug. Resentful. Angry. Cocky LBJ.
He’s even dropping the whole race card, saying that the negativity and backlash from his decision to sign with the Miami Heat and not re-sign with his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers was because he’s black.
What?
Okay, I haven’t heard every single thing that has been said about him because of “The Decision,” so I’m sure there are some racists d-bags out there who will be saying that stuff. Not to defend them whatsoever, but there are always those people who say that stuff.
The backlash from the majority of people outside of Cleveland is just that LeBron has gone too far with this whole self-branding endeavor, to the point that he just comes across like an asshole. Not that he should just shut up and play ball and entertain us. Nothing like that. Only that we get it already: he’s arguably the best player in the game, talent through the roof, mega-deals with huge sponsors. He’s larger than life.
We didn’t need to see him have his own TV show devoted to his next career choice. As curious as a lot of us were about it, I sure didn’t need the entire ESPN network devoted to all things basketball in the beginning of July. I mean, my Tigers were still in the division hunt at that point! Forget basketball! I mean the whole LeBron decision fiasco was a glorified infomercial. And unless you’re demonstrating the Magic Bullet, I have no need for infomercials.
People get tired of oversaturation and they respond with resentment and being overly critical. LeBron made himself this huge event. Now he has to deal with the repercussions.
And I love how now all the talk is about the adversity this super-team will face everywhere they go and how they plan on dealing with it. Oh no! Adversity! From opposing teams’ fans! Who knew! Give me a break. I suppose it’s the only angle of the story that can create any sort of drama about this team because anything they face will be their own doing.
That’s why I can’t stand how standoffish LeBron seems in these interviews. How he’s keeping track of all the haters to use as fuel for his fire next year for the title. Whatever. Did he expect to be loved for this? That people would applaud his switch to not just play for a different team, but to play with two other all-stars because he didn’t want it to be tough to win? He felt that he deserved a title because he’s that good and he thinks he’s entitled to a championship.
Fine.
The one thing he is definitely entitled to in return is the scorn that he’s been getting. I wish he would just say “You know, I get it. I get why you’re all upset. I made the decision for me and me alone and I mean no ill will toward you guys. I’m just being me and doing what’s best for me.” At least show some humility. People don’t like their sports heroes to be self-absorbed dicks.
Wouldn’t it be great to see the 2010 Miami Heat go down? I mean, don’t they realize America loves this story? The David versus the Goliath, the Horatio Alger, the rags to riches tale of the underdog winning that epitomizes the American Dream that you can do anything you want, be anyone you want, if you just work hard and believe. And while LeBron was in Cleveland, he was Alger. Everyone (well, not me: I’m a Pistons fan) wanted to see him win a title.
But now, he’s lost all that forever. Because who do you think people are gonna root for when it’s David vs. the Heat?
Agree to Disagree 