“LeBron, three games in a row for you fourth quarter — not much. That’s the moment superstars become superstars. Seems like you are almost shrinking from it. What’s going on?”
With that quote, CBS Sports Columnist Gregg Doyel went from reporting from the 2011 NBA Finals to being a part of the storyline. LeBron James seemingly put the him in his place, giving him a great answer that ended with “You’ll ask me a better question tomorrow.” (You can read our original story here)
But if you are going to dismiss someone by saying they should do their job better the next day, the onus is on you to make sure you do the same.
And as we know, LeBron didn’t do that.
Even though Heat haters rejoiced, Doyel was criticized for the way he asked the question. They lobbed accusations of “attention whore”, or even worse, Skip Bayless wannabe.
But can you see Bayless admitting he is wrong even after LeBron wins his 4th ring? Because Doyel admitted he could have handled the question better and called LeBron’s response “charming and classy”.
Skip just ate a kitten at the mere thought of changing his stance on LeBron, even slightly.
I had a chance to ask him about whether he was ultimately vindicated after LeBron’s disappearing act the rest of the finals, if LeBron will ever become a 4th quarter killer, his company’s role in the erroneous Joe Paterno death reports and how a national media member does his job without a smart phone.
You can follow Gregg on Twitter @greggdoyel and catch his column at CBSSports.com
