Though the results of ESPN's recent phone poll don't definitively state that LeBron James has gone from hero to pariah in the sports world, they do indicate what casual fans have noticed all year--there's really no substance behind the Miami Heat. There's no compelling drama in favor of this team, only an intense desire to see them fail. James hasn't helped his own cause very much, prompting Jason Whitlock to summarize the view of several prominent NBA personalities and sportswriters in his exclamation that LeBron "looks, feels, and sounds like a lost cause today."
Of course, this is precisely what David Stern and the NBA want. Following the decisive Game 5 of the Bulls/Heat series on Friday, Nielsen reported the Eastern Conference Finals match-up (aired on TNT) was the most watched playoff series in the history of cable television. In a display of mind-numbingly prolonged obliviousness, James indicated after the Game 5 win that he believes "the hate" will go away after the Heat win their championship and move on.
Moving on in sports requires contrition. Look at the major scandals that have occurred over the past several years in the sporting world. First, steroids in baseball. The contrite, honest Andy Pettite enjoyed a decent and dignified retirement during this past offseason. Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure the blustery and agitated Roger Clemens continues to get the cold shoulder in service at Denny's. Tiger Woods took a long time to come clean about his infidelity, and still hasn't completely owned up in words to the pain he put his wife and children through as a result of his philandering. Currently, he's enjoying a (to put it mildly) tenserelationship with the public and the media and struggling through the lowest point in his athletic career.
I am not suggesting that James' betrayal (and, let's face it, that's really what it was) last summer comes anywhere close to the rule-breaking or moral bankruptcy of these other athletes. But the American public, while it forgives, does not forgive unconditionally. A championship this year might help heal some of the ill-will toward James (and render Jason Segel's familiar joke in the trailer for the upcoming film "Bad Teacher" a little less effective), but it's not going away overnight. This attitude is just another example in a long list of immature behavior from the self-anointed "King."
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