Sign In Using Facebook  |  Sign In  |  Sign Up

LeBron James Makes ESPN a Joke

B-Dub Written by B-Dub, Wednesday July 07 2010
Text Size - A +
Let me see if I've got this straight.
 
LeBron James and his buddies asked ESPN, the self-proclaimed "World Wide Leader in Sports", for an hour of airtime to announce where he will sign as a free agent?  And ESPN said yes?  That's pathetic, but not surprising.
 
ESPN has now officially crossed the line from sports reporting to full fledged hero-worship and ass-kissing.  I guess they figure that sports are the original reality show, so they might as well completely sell out and let LeBron and his friends take over the network for an hour to do and say whatever stupid things pop into their minds.
 
These friends would be LeBron's childhood friends who he set up for life when he created his own marketing firm, LRMR.  LRMR stands for LeBron James, Richard Paul, Maverick Carter and Randy Mims.  I have no idea what these guys do for LeBron or exactly what this "marketing firm" does, but Maverick Carter is listed as LeBron's business manager.  I don't know about you but I wouldn't put my billion dollar business in the hands of a guy named after Tom Cruise's charter in the cheesy 80s flick "Top Gun".  You think Richard and Randy fight over which one of them is "Goose" and which one is "Ice Man"? 
 
Of course LeBron also has a real agent named Leon Rose, but he has not commented on this three-ring circus.  I'm going to assume that he wants nothing to do with it, while he cashes his big checks. 
 
I do need to point out that they aren't doing this for the money.  That's more of a Michael Vick birthday party thing.  Apparently LeBron's group asked ESPN to allow them to sell sponsorship for the special with proceeds going to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.  That is truly a worthwhile cause and it's nice to see that at least some good will come from this whole fiasco.
 
But that's not why these guys are doing this.  They are a bunch of 25-year-old adolescents who can basically do whatever the hell they want in life, thanks to their buddy LeBron.  And LeBron seems to be nothing more than a big kid himself.  Can you imagine getting free reign on a worldwide network like ESPN for an hour?  These guys are living a dream.
 
Unfortunately for the all of us sports fans, this is more like a nightmare.  And we have ESPN to blame for it.  I have lost whatever respect I still had for ESPN after this announcement.  This eliminates any credibility the network might have had left.  What happens if one of their "reporters" finds out where LeBron is going to sign before the show airs?  Obviously he wouldn't be able to report the news and that's simply unacceptable.  It's all about programming these days.  Actual reporting takes a back seat to whatever the hot topic of the minute is.
 
They might as well have Oprah or Ryan Seacrest host this abomination and drop all pretenses that this is sports programming.  Hell, why not just change the name to EPN.  In case you didn't know, ESPN stands for Entertainment Sports Programming Network.
 
Oh sure there is a sports angle here.  NBA fans want to know where LeBron will sign a contract to play basketball for the next six years on a contract worth over $100 million on Thursday.  But unless I'm missing something here, that little bit of information should only take about 10 seconds to announce. 

LeBron James: "I have decided to sign with (Fill in team name here)." 

Hell, that isn't even 10 seconds.  So exactly what will these guys be doing and saying for the other 59:50 of this hour-long program?
 
Frankly, I won't be tuning in to find out.  I'll just wait for the million other news organizations to report it before the words are even done coming out of his mouth.  And I think it would be great if another news organization were to get the story out there first and make ESPN look stupid.  More stupid?
 
This whole thing is a complete and utter waste of time.  It's almost as bad as LeBron's Twitter feed that has exactly ONE post on it.  "Hello world, the Real King James is in the building."  That's it.  Really.  Nothing else.  Apparently that nugget of gold was good enough for there to be over 200,000 people with so little going on in their lives that they joined up. 
 
I guess his buddies won't be making good on their original promise that the announcement would be made on that Twitter page, huh?  Oh wait.  Maybe the hour-long ESPN show will be LeBron Twittering (Tweeting?  Tweetin?  Tooting?) his decision?  Wow.  That sounds like riveting television.  Or not.
 
I previously wrote that I think LeBron stays in Cleveland and I stand by that prediction.  The rumors of him joining Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami are just that, rumors.  All three can't get a max contract from the same team, so there is zero chance of that happening.  Athletes all want the money more than anything else.  Plus LeBron is an egomaniac, who wouldn't want to share the spotlight.  Did you miss the part where he's getting his own hour-long show to announce to all his adoring fans where he will sign his mega-contract?
 
Maybe instead of planning elaborate television programs / gigantic ego-stroking wastes of time, LeBron should work on his game so he doesn't choke in the playoffs again.  I mean, he's still looking for his first ring isn't he?  Maybe that should be what he concentrates on instead of this nonsense.  Michael Jordan won six championships not only because he was the most talented player, but because he worked his ass off to be the best player.  Rumor has it that LeBron can kick anybody's ass in NBA 2010 for X-Box.  See the difference there?
 
So while some of you mindlessly watch LeBron do nothing but revel in his own supposed greatness for an hour to tell us where he's going to play next year, I'll take a pass.  I admit that where he signs is newsworthy, but making the announcement into an hour-long "event" is simply a joke.  And I find it sad that the joke is on a network that should know better than to completely sell out for such empty sensationalism.  This is a sad day for sports journalism.  Luckily for ESPN, they were never really journalists anyway.      

Tags:  



Recent Cavaliers Articles






Leave a comment

Name *
Email *
Website

Create date
— :

Article

Sport

City

Team

Photo

X

Not So Fast! To publish your comment, you have to login

Not Registered? Register now as it only take 20 seconds!



Click here to browse




1 comment


0 up down 0
B-DubB-Dub, about 1 year ago said:

If LeBron leaves Cleveland with this big ridiculous production he will be the most hated man ever in Cleveland. I guess that would make Art Modell happy anyway.