Counterpoint: Lay Off Lebron

By: Tom Alexander

It may be getting to the point where we take sports a little too seriously in this country.

I realize that I’m part of the problem, not the solution - as a member of the sports media I help fuel the obsession that we have for sports. But even I think it’s ridiculous that an 18-year old makes the national news. Not just the national sports news, but the national news as a whole.

It’s hard to feel sorry for people who are literally weeks away from signing contracts for millions and millions of dollars. There are worse things in the world than being 18 years old, driving a Hummer, and waiting to be the number one pick in the NBA draft.

But money doesn’t necessarily equate to happiness, and there is a chance that LeBron James will not turn out to be the player that everyone thinks he’ll be. His high school career could be the point in time when he is destined to shine the most. In that regard, it is a sad turn of events that his high school career suffers from controversies surrounding his eligibility, the clothing he wears, the cars he drives, the actions of his family and the things he says.

I admired LeBron James for his decision to finish high school. He could have challenged the NBA in court, which likely would have resulted in his selection as one of the top three picks in the draft. He could have gone to Italy, where he was offered $9 million to play. Instead, he took the risk of a career-ending injury and played out his high school career, and I’m happy that his team was good and that he developed into more of an all-around player.

But I’m saddened by the fact that at the end of it all, LeBron James’ high school career will be looked at for what it was - scandal after scandal, controversy after controversy. Maybe I’m wrong about him. Maybe he’s immature and unequipped to deal with celebrity. But maybe he’s just being a kid and we are the ones who are unequipped. Maybe we care entirely too much about his life and we’re so desperate for the next sporting superstar that we can’t let him grow up.

I feel sorry for LeBron James, despite the fact that he will have his name on a shoe, and on clothing, and on the back of an NBA jersey. I feel sorry because he’s got a lot of pressure and expectation to live up to, and he’s going to be challenged like this at every point in his life. He may never be able to achieve the dizzying success that the hype machine has predicted for him, and that could mean failure in the eyes of many fans and commentators. At each step along the way there’s going to be a new group complaining about his behavior or his play or the type of car he drives.

That is, of course, until the next great young hope comes along and we turn our collective attention to them, making LeBron’s attire becomes yesterday’s news.

Tom Alexander founded the Chicago Sports Review in 2003, and currently serves the publication as its co-publisher. Alexander's media career has spanned a variety of interests, including newspaper reporting with the Times of Northwest Indiana, online reporting with ePrairie.com, and a two-plus year stint as a professor in Columbia College Chicago's journalism department. Outside of journalism, Alexander works to redevelop communities that have been struck by natural disasters. Alexander, a 2000 graduate of the University of Chicago, currently lives with his wife Tiffany and their black lab mix, Johnny Cash, in Arlington, Va.

Share This Article

No Comments

No comments yet.

Comment On This Article