Taking my - to ...

[tm3308]

Agreed, but absolutely nothing has changed about him since his Cleveland days, minus the fact that the media puts every move he makes under a microscope. And while I agree with you about the way he handles himself on the court and the media, I don't see his actions or the way he carries himself that much different than anyone else in the league.

Yes, LeBron was the same guy in Cleveland. People elected to ignore much of the jerk-ness before this year. But The Decision was pretty tough to ignore. He showed his true colors for EVERYONE to see, and an awful lot of people didn't like what they saw. It served as more of an eye-opening moment than anything else, a lot like the Tiger saga and how that destroyed Tiger's image.

 

[kicker22]

Yes, LeBron was the same guy in Cleveland. People elected to ignore much of the jerk-ness before this year. But The Decision was pretty tough to ignore. He showed his true colors for EVERYONE to see, and an awful lot of people didn't like what they saw. It served as more of an eye-opening moment than anything else, a lot like the Tiger saga and how that destroyed Tiger's image.

I agree that the decision was absolutely a PR nightmare. The problem I have with it is that all of last season, his free agency was a media spectacle that couldn't be laid to rest. Every interview he seemed to have night in and night out a reporter had to ask a question about it. Then that same media went on to proclaim it as the biggest free agency event in sports history before his contract even expired. Then suddenly America is in shock that Lebron "took his talents to South Beach" on ESPN on prime time television, I guess my problem is the media created Lebron's PR nightmare and used his over-inflated ego to play it out exactly the way they wanted it to and then used it as an opportunity to punch their ticket the entire upcominng season and into the playoffs. No one can tell me that ESPN and other media outlets haven't done just as much to destroy Lebron's image as he has, and then used him as a glorified villian to boost ratings.

Do I think Lebron's a standup guy? Not at all. Do I think he's a hell of a player? Absolutely. I'll be the first to admit that I'm a huge fan of his on the court and think that the his sudden hatred has alot to do with him being manipulated like a puppet by the social media.

 

[tm3308]

I agree that the decision was absolutely a PR nightmare. The problem I have with it is that all of last season, his free agency was a media spectacle that couldn't be laid to rest. Every interview he seemed to have night in and night out a reporter had to ask a question about it. Then that same media went on to proclaim it as the biggest free agency event in sports history before his contract even expired. Then suddenly America is in shock that Lebron "took his talents to South Beach" on ESPN on prime time television, I guess my problem is the media created Lebron's PR nightmare and used his over-inflated ego to play it out exactly the way they wanted it to and then used it as an opportunity to punch their ticket the entire upcominng season and into the playoffs. No one can tell me that ESPN and other media outlets haven't done just as much to destroy Lebron's image as he has, and then used him as a glorified villian to boost ratings.

Do I think Lebron's a standup guy? Not at all. Do I think he's a hell of a player? Absolutely. I'll be the first to admit that I'm a huge fan of his on the court and think that the his sudden hatred has alot to do with him being manipulated like a puppet by the social media.

I'd agree with a lot of this. I'm sure he was easily manipulated because of his inflated ego. The media may have used him to boost ratings, but then again, he could have chosen to stay in Cleveland, which would have put all of the villain plans on hold. Either way, The Decision made it impossible to overlook the kind of person that LeBron is, which is ultimately what turned many fans against him. It may be the media's fault that he was in that position, but the dislike/hatred is (relatively) justified. He's a jerk, everyone now knows it, and he still tries to play the "nice guy" card. People don't care to have their intelligence insulted like that.