LeBron, The Villian

LeBron James seems to elicit many opinions and feelings, most of them negative. He is seen as an arrogant, selfish, egotistical athlete who does not share the affection for his public that previous athletes have with their adoring public. The fact he is good, very good, at his trade--- and, lets everyone know it also--- further alienates him from us. Therefore, when he plays, not only are you rooting for your team, but, you are also actively rooting for ruin for his team. And, the man himself..... It seems like we always have to have a villian. In any walk of life, be it your boss, co-worker, next-door-neighbor, etc. And, we love to target our hatred towards the rich and famous who have it all while we have shit. Politicians inspire the greatest ire. But, performers, be they in acting, music, or sports seem to hold a special spot in our hearts. We all have our favorites that we hold dear. The people who enrich our lives by their very acts or their physical appearance. We like to think that we know them. If we see them in an interview and they come across well, then we feel we can speak for them more. ''He seems like a nice guy'', or, ''I heard she is really a sweet person.'' But, we don't know that for sure. We like them, so, why can't we convince everyone else to like them too?.... There is the flip side to admiring a public person: hating them. The passions that we have run a thin line between positive and negative. For some reason, there is a release when you blast someone who grates on your nerves. I have my villians, like everyone else. Ted Kennedy [ may God not rest his soul ] was a prime example. Because of his behavior concerning Mary Jo Kopechne, along with his many destructive social programs, he is an anathema to me. When he did something sensible I would try to spin it in my mind where it was not a good thing. Other people I know feel that way about Bill Clinton, George Bush, and Barack Obama. We need to have a target of our rage directed towards someone. Part of it is envy. We may wish to be in that all-powerful position of influence and wealth. Part of it is also a sense of helplessness at our inability to correct the behavior of said person. Every once in a while you come across someone who flaunts so much in your face that it brings you to almost uncontrollable rage. LeBron James is the sports villian....... Here I differ with the public. I do not hate LeBron James because I do not know him as a person. I will not call myself a fan because my interest in basketball has slid considerably in the last decade. He is fun to watch. I root for good sports action, so, I wish him success on the court. Many, if not most of the public, wants him to fail. He is not personable, he is not friendly. He does not have the magic to capture the public's fancy like a Jordan. But, he does his job and he does it well. Need we ask more? He commands a handsome buck. You can have endless debates about whether any person deserves the millions of dollars that he pockets. He does deliver the money back to his franchise, so the Miami Heat have to be happy with the economic return on their investment. And, he has brought Miami a title, with another one very likely this year....... But, he is not playing in Chicago and that is what is at heart of why this town has him as a goat. We made the pitch for him a few years back when he was a free-agent. We wanted him desperately. The red carpet was rolled out and the town was his for a few days. Sports radio was blaring, ''We Want LeBron!'' through their every pore. For a short time, it looked good that we would get him. He was leaving Cleveland, where his team was suffering, and, he wanted to test the waters somewhere else. There, too, LeBron took the heat. He was accused of being a turncoat, someone not loyal to his team. Well, he was loyal to them and played hard. He never shanked in his job and always gave his best. It was just after years of losing --- and, the franchise headed for more losing--- that he did what every one of us would have done. He scouted around for another job and put his feelers out. Teams, including our team that resides on West Madison, opened the doors and made a pitch for him. Finally, he made his choice of Miami [ after, I grant you, an ill-conceived prime time show announcing his pick] . Suddenly, our future anointed one, the player to lead us to the promised land, became Public Enemy Number 1. How dare he not choose us!!! What a selfish prick he is to not choose us!!! Well, he wanted to win. Miami is a better team. Ask yourself this LeBron hater: in your job, if other companies wanted your services and were prepared to pay top dollar for those services, would you stay with your struggling company, or, would you go where you would have the most success, where your dreams would all come true? Need I answer for you?........ Now, LeBron may be a tool. Who knows? You will get stories on both sides of the aisle. But, lets say he is a bad person, a scumbag. We, in this town, are not without sin when embracing a controversial athlete. We have had them and looked the other way when it came to their personal behavior. We had Sammy Sosa, with his cheating on steroids and his breaking a rum bottle over his wife's head. We had Albert Belle, perhaps the most vile and unpleasant person to play baseball in this town. We had Dennis Rodman, a cheap-shot artist and someone who was reviled around the NBA league with his behavior and attitude. And, now, we have Patrick Kane, who if the stories are true about him, is not very nice to the ladies in the world when it comes to his way of treating them. All of the above athletes we embraced--- and Kane we still do--- because they serve the purpose of providing us with a winning team in town. If LeBron is to be burned at the steak, then there is room at the pit for our sports heroes. Chicago is many great things, but, it has selective memory at times about the people playing on our teams. If we like them--- and, they play here-- the excuses come rolling out....... As I have said many times, it is not necessary for us to like the people who entertain us. Peter Sellers, the great comic, was not a nice person in real life. However, his movies still entertain me. That is all I care about. The fact he had his demons--- and, pushed so much entertainment and humor out through those demons--- showed great courage on his part. The same with Gleason. LeBron James will always alienate people, which is a person's right to not like him. Free will. But, he is who we make of him, good or bad......