From hero to villain, so fast your head spins:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5575810
I wonder how well liked Barkley was? Or Bill Russell? Should anyone outside of a real competitor's city genuinely like a player? I certainly hated Magic Johnson throughout his career, but that was mostly due to his success against my team (The Blazers). He was certainly one of the most likable players in the NBA, and I can see that now. I guess I've never been one of those guys that easily likes a player that might hurt my team. There have been a few exceptions, and when your team is horrible it's much easier to like other players as you switch rooting to a less horrible team for postseason, or to avert your gaze from ongoing tragedy (The Warriors). But generally speaking, why would I ever answer that I "liked" Lebron James, as long as he's destroying my home team? I guess there are lots of places where there is no home team, or where people are more attached to players than teams. This is part of an argument I'm having with Bethlehem Shoals over at Free Darko in my head, which I'll elaborate on later. His focus on the individual's expression over all other narratives seems limited to me.
that decision hour was insanely idiotic, and what had been a hubris that was actually fairly well matched to his talents (he thinks he is a bball god, he is a bball god) had finally exceeded the talent. and that rightly rubs everyone the wrong way, me included. but he's also going to a team where will initially be number 2, or tied for 1. so he's a little more complicated. if he really wanted to be in the brightest limelight, if that was the most important thing to him (as the Decision would make it seem), he would have chosen new york.
ReplyDeletebut all that aside i do think that the wave of negativity is out of hand and out of proportion with the crime, and it's driven by a sort of mob mentality, feeding frenzy. a green light for everyone to pile on, especially everyone who doesn't like black athletes who are self confident and self promoting. and it especially irks me when it leads to revisionism, dropping his value as a player. other than his lackluster performance in some of those games against boston this year, nothing has changed everything he did over the last 7 years on the court, one of the greatest first 7 years of any player in history.
And who's doing this disliking anyway? I just looked at the crosstabs, as they say in the biz, and Kobe Bryant is the fifth most disliked athlete in sports, with Lebron now sixth. Guess whose jerseys are the top two in sales? #1 is still Kobe, #2 is Lebron. Are people buying their jerseys and then bloviating about how much they hate them, or are they not asking the kids who are buying the jerseys? My guess would be the latter.
ReplyDeleteAgain, it brings up the whole problem of liking/disliking an athlete. In many ways, I can imagine being too well-liked as a major flaw. I really don't like him now, but as I said, I also hated Jordan, Magic, Bird and Isaiah Thomas. They account for pretty much every title in my lifetime. It could also be a marketing flaw, as evidenced by Kobe's ascendancy in jersey sales. There's an edge about Lebron now that was missing, and may make his legend actually grow.