We only have ourselves to blame for this.
NBA superstar LeBron James is pushing boundaries once again. “King James,” as he refers to himself, will announce the team he will sign with tonight at 9 p.m. in a one-hour long special on ESPN.
Most of America will criticize this seemingly ego-driven decision, but America will also still watch.
This form of hypocrisy is exactly the reason it has reached this point.
Society’s hunger for a Hollywood influence on sports created this monster, and it will only continue to grow.
Everybody thought the Brett Favre saga was dreadful, but this NBA free-agency period has been downright painful to watch. This has made Favre look like a down to earth average Joe.
It has just been a bunch of multi-millionaires getting wooed and complimented by billionaires, NBA legends and hip-hop icons.
This is what we have come to.
James is trying to justify this gross decision by donating the proceeds of his television special to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. I’m sure they will make millions of dollars off of this, but it still doesn’t help him in my eyes.
Sports used to be about the teams, not the players. Now leagues tend to get most of their publicity from off-the-field issues in the offseason.
Look at Ben Roethlisberger’s incident, the yearly Favre issue and baseball’s past steroid problems.
James is no different. He has undergone a transformation.
He grew up in little old Akron, Ohio, and said he missed the social media craze because he skipped college. But now he has a Twitter account, a newly-launched website and one-hour of national television dedicated to himself.
Isn’t this what everybody wanted ever since ESPN televised his high school games? Of course James has an ego. America created it.
This press conference is sure to become a trend.
So, don’t be surprised. Because what used to be reserved for high school athletes is soon to become the expected method of announcing your new professional team.
The only way to stop this is to not watch tonight. But that isn’t going to happen. The one-hour special is must-see TV.
As you sit down on your couch and learn where James will play for the second half of his career, remember one thing: this was your doing.
He wouldn’t be “The King” if we wouldn’t have crowned him.
