Kel Varnsen wrote:
Watched Lebron's press conference after tonight's game and I don't understand why so many hate him. He seems like a really good guy, both intelligent and thoughtful.
i cant speak for everyone in this country, but i think most fans tend to turn against athletes who seem pre-programmed and packaged, if that makes sense. lebron turned heel when he left cleveland the first time and went to miami. it was called "the decision" here and ESPN made a huge deal about it. there was like a 1 hour tv show leading up to the announcement. and everyone just assumed he was going to stay in cleveland, it would be this great huge party and finally cleveland would come out on top. instead he basically said fuck you to cleveland, betrayed the place he was from, and went to miami so he could be surrounded by superstars and win a title. i mean, that basically turned everyone against him except miami fans, if you could find them, since that franchise was largely a joke before he arrived.
obviously time heals some wounds, and cleveland fans obviously worship him again because they know how good he is. i think a lot of people look at him the same way people look at other pre-programmed athletes. everything is about cultivating his image and maximizing his commercial brand. and lets be honest, thats smart of his management people, because he doesnt have tons of scandals off the court or anything. a lot of people felt the same way about tiger woods before his scandal. he never said anything controversial, he was so keyed in on cultivating his brand and maximizing his endorsements.
"the decision" was really low class horseshit, but there is no denying his ability. if i could have built a team around either lebron or kobe, it would be lebron by a mile
