we all love superstars. They are arrogant, make millions and are kings of the universe.
This guy is really turning me off more and more.
Jordan to me set the benchmark of the self centered athlete but he did it with a sense of strength and to some degree privacy. Lebron is just taking the entitlement to a whole level of being an asshole. He is the king. Some kings are better than others.
Jordan amazed me and I hated to see what he did to the knicks but I shook my head and appreciated who he was and what he does.
This kid just amazes me to what an ass he is.
David Stern has issues. The look of disgust on his face does not match the mood of his customers. His ominous tone is largely ignored by a country obsessed with football and spellbound by the recent baseball playoffs. He is cancelling basketball games that few people will miss.That's a problem.
So are LeBron James and the new generation he represents.
Throughout this contentious, four-month lockout, there have been the unmistakable sounds of rebellion. A defiant Dwyane Wade reportedly told the NBA commissioner to stop pointing his finger at him, adding "I'm not your child."
Observers have been astounded by the quick-trigger anger of some players, a condition exacerbated by social-media platforms. James and Chris Paul reportedly vowed to miss the season rather than concede anything else to ownership. And along the way, HBO's Bryant Gumbel likened Stern's management style to that of a plantation owner.
Stern might be elitist and condescending, but the slave-owner reference was terribly unfair. Stern is one of the more-progressive, liberal commissioners to police a sport. His heavy-handed dress code wasn't born from racism, rather to guard the brand and appease corporate sponsors.
Still, the mood is real, and Gumbel's microburst of opinion did not materialize from thin air. Stern is fighting a powerful surge and mind-set among players, and so far, his classic bullying tactics aren't working. If anything, they are having the opposite effect.
There is a chance that rank-and-file NBA players will begin to cave in the coming weeks, when the first paychecks are missed. But there is a growing fear that these players are bold enough to reject the owners on pride and principle, especially if they're led by the audacity of James.
From the moment he became a national sensation as a high school phenomenon, James has played by his own rules. He will not be controlled by coaches, owners or team executives. He pursues his own happiness without apologies. His decision to flee Cleveland for South Beach regardless of image or consequence rocked the NBA to its core.
Many in the media chastised James for his actions. Many NBA legends criticized James for joining someone else's team, for breaking away from the superstar archetype. Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley were appalled, and Magic Johnson still is poking fun at the NBA's ring-less leader.
But inside the game, it's a different story. Among a new generation of players and fans alike, James is more than the best basketball player on the planet.
He represents power and freedom, an athlete unchained by the boundaries of conformity.
Behind the scenes, during the 2008 Olympics, James' status among fellow players was impossible to miss. While Kobe Bryant acted like a perfect student around head coach Mike Krzyzewski, James struck a different pose. He wore bulky headphones to most open media sessions, making it clear he was off limits until he chose otherwise.
Once, Jerry Colangelo imported the late Myles Brand to speak to the Olympians. When Brand identified himself as president of the NCAA, James interrupted the speech with a shout from the back of the room.
"Of who?" he said.
"The NCAA," Brand responded.
"I missed you, man," he said. "My bad."
The joke was inappropriate and yet hysterical. James was pointing out that he didn't know Brand because he didn't need college to get where he was going. You could almost hear his teammates bursting with laughter, yet they remained governed by a sense of restraint.
Later, I asked Wade about James' brand of leadership, and why fellow players seemed to gravitate to him.
"He'll say anything to anybody at anytime," Wade said with near reverence.
At times, James might be misguided and tone-deaf. In a recent negotiating session, it was explained to James that the 43 percent of basketball-related income received by owners was not profit, rather a number that came before operating expenses.
According to a source, James replied, "Well, I have expenses, too."
What James isn't lacking is strength of conviction. He believes he's the chosen one. It's tattooed on his back. He's the king, and he's not going to bow down to anyone.
Now that contract talks have broken down yet again, he's a reminder that NBA owners better be careful how hard they push. James is the leader of a new generation, and just the other day, he tweeted about a desire to play with Steve Nash in Miami, saying "we can help each other get our 1st ring!"
Let's hope he doesn't always get what he wants.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2011/10/29/20111029nba-lockout-players-stern-warning.html#ixzz1cHrGeBh49
