It is so unseemly, so unmanly for LeBron James, a towering and chiseled 6-foot-9, 260-pound elite athlete, to get his feelings hurt so easily. But James demonstrates again how the critics’ and bloggers’ arrows are penetrating his paper-thin armor in his latest Nike commercial.
In the 90-second Nike commercial released Oct. 26, James trains his linguistic barrel at every single columnist, blogger, NBA analyst and sports pundit — especially Barkley — who took umbrage at the manner in which he made the decision to join the Heat in July. He addresses them, not through answers, but by questioning what they would have done if they were in his shoes. James concludes the ad by posing a simple rhetorical question: “Should I be what you want me to be?”
The tide of public sentiment reversed flow on LBJ ever since his disastrous ESPN-sanctioned “The Decision,” in which James thought he was cleverly declaring that his talents were more suited for “South Beach” as opposed to the city of Miami, and he has had to deal with sometimes harsh criticism for the first time in his diamond-studded life.
As a longtime LeBron James fan who takes pride in the fact that he’s from my hometown, I nevertheless am getting nauseated at the frequency and stupidity of James’ Twitter tirades. If James harbors animosity towards folks like Charles Barkley, who obviously is not intimidated by James, then he should channel that simmering aggression in one of two key ways: either arrange a meeting with Charles “The Round Mound of Rebound” Barkley at an undisclosed location and work it out; or, more intelligently, LBJ can harness his anger on the basketball court, close the holes in his offensive game and fulfill his goal of winning a championship.
It would make a much more effective statement if and when he holds up the Larry O’Brien trophy, which would hit the mute button on his most vocal, vociferous critics.
James should welcome the hate. Only talented people and teams draw envy, which is why so many fans despise the Los Angeles Lakers, the New York Yankees and the Dallas Cowboys. To continue on this “stop messing with me” rants is petulant and infantile and doesn’t speak well of how James will handle the pressure as the season progresses towards the playoffs.
Let everyone else do the talking and you speak with your play on the court. Try that one for a change, James. –terry shropshire
