LeBron James has held the media world hostage for the past seven days. We will supposedly be released from his hold Thursday as he will have a one-hour special on ESPN to announce the team he is signing with. But will we really be out of his grasp then? Won’t the supplemental interviews be coming, the ones where they ask how he came to this decision, how long did it take him to decide, did he know two years ago? This hostage situation didn’t happen July 1st, but over a period of two years. LeBron told us to get ready, and we didn’t listen.
Ever since July 1st, the world has been on “LeBron watch.” In all actuality, LeBron has been watching us. We are his jesters. James decided that the poor minions that wanted him to play for their team must come to him, none of this traveling from town to town. So one after the other, they came to see “King James.” They came bearing gifts as if it were December 25th. LeBron watched as not just the sports media, but the media as a whole, stalked him. We knew what time he left his house, what he was wearing, who he met with, where he ate dinner. I think the paparazzi in England should be proud of us, I haven’t seen such media coverage since the days of Lady Di.
I started writing this because I thought LeBron James had really lost his mind with this ESPN announcement. All this media attention is just madness. But as I started writing, I realized he really hasn’t lost his mind. LeBron is a product of the world he sees. The world we live in today is filled with people that are famous for no reason. They are on reality shows where a camera follows them around everyday for no reason … and the world is captivated by them. They haven’t accomplished anything of significance except for managing to bathe and feed themselves, although some of them I think are helped with those tasks as well. So what we have is a byproduct of this in the sports world. If we are honest with ourselves, LeBron really hasn’t accomplished anything of significance, based on his talent. LeBron has won the scoring title a few times. Sure, the Cavs have made it to the playoffs the past four years, but wasn’t that a given? They’ve made it to the Finals … once, but isn’t that what we expected?
This type of attention shouldn’t be desired by anyone that doesn’t have a ring. Actually, we have a major free agent that DOES have a championship ring and he isn’t even commanding such attention. Maybe he’s mature enough to actually know it isn’t necessary or smart. What LeBron hasn’t realized is that he has backed himself into a corner of sorts. This much media hype and attention will all be for naught if he doesn’t produce a title. He will always been known as the talent that didn’t live up to the hype. Quite honestly, LeBron doesn’t respond well to pressure. We’ve seen him shrink when it matters most. For his sake, I hope he can overcome that and deliver, God help him if he doesn’t.
Erikka is the newest member of the BSO staff and resident female voice. You can follow her on Twitter here.