Leave Lebron Alone

Oct 12, 2020 Hey yo, the lakers win number 17 and the world still hates lebron. They hate his intensity and success. They hate is pride and focus. They hate his self assuredness and his outspokenness. They hate his blackness. Now I can certainly attest to a who cares fuck you response when he took his talents to south beach via ‘the decision’, but the domino effect of that success in Miami is inarguable. They made champions of themselves and villains for television, they further built on a brand that was quality to begin with. They realized dreams and brought others along for the ride. A band of brothers, if you will. They brought in unpolished gems and proud veterans. They won . They won in Miami and lebron took his talents back to noertheast ohio. He brought champion swagger to punk rock Valhalla, basketball bravado to the mistake by the lake. He helped make champions of more men, and gave the nay sayers more cause to say nay. He realized the dreams of children , brought a little bit of joy and a little bit of heartache to the dying rustbelt region. For a year or three , he brought hope. He built a school with unprecedented value to the community, and the internet raged on. He came back , historically, from 3-1 down against a modern dynast and the warriors of the keyboard continued ill informed and misdirected diatribe. He moved his family to los angeles to further build his brand and watch his son play basketball .He appeared to be the ultimate dad , the self made man who had no dad. The world blathered on. He joined a young Laker team , and the Laker faithful dreamt of glory at the thought of lobs and screens and 2 way hoops for years to come with the young nucleus or ingram, ball, kuzma, and hart learning from lebron and rajon rondo. Lebron got hurt and the team was tired and uninspired. He let his body language do the talking and it didn’t say nice things- Walton gone, magic gone, young core gone to new Orleans for a talented but professionally unproven Anthony davis. I certainly had my misgivings, and the internet cried foul. Lefraud they cried. There was snafu in china with obvious corporate undertones, and the internet cried foul. They lost to the clippers on opening night, and the fairweather fans and keyboard klansmen lit up the chat rooms. They proceeded to go on a historic run with a team of misfits and cast offs . the return of Dwight howard on a nonguaranteed contract seemed a public relations albatross that paid dividends til October. They were animated and inspired, they were fun to watch and internet highlights were a dime a dozen on the daily. They played together and played the right way,a s the pundits say. They listened to their coach who listened to them and coached them with an even hand. On a dark Sunday in January, kobe Bryant, his daughter and 7 other people died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas on the way to a kids basketball game. The sporting world mourned . I found myself crying at various times throughout the day. My son actually called me upon hearing the news to ask me if I was ok. I don’t think I was, nor am I still , and it’s clearly not all to do with kobe. Watching all of these players young and old struggle publicly was heartbreaking. Role model, hero, villain, father, husband, icon. Lebron vowed to win it for Kobe. I will never forget allen Iverson approaching Dwayne wade at the all star game, and falling into wades arms crying. Our infallible heroes are fallible and human. Then in march, the whole world came to a halt. The season was suspended until further notice, and Lebron was one of the players to lament the potential of playing to empty arenas. We locked into our house for months until the Minneapolis police killed George Floyd on camera for a fake $20 bill for the whole world to witness. The players called for accountability and change, and the internet called for them to shut up and dribble. The whole world took to the streets, and the blow hard in chief raged on and Lebron and athletes across the globe stood up and spoke out. Lebron started a voters rights initiative and enlisted basketball arenas across the country as polling places and vowed to fighting voter suppression . White Americans claimed to be done with sports. Still calling for the NBA to shut up and dribble and dribble they did. 22 teams went to Orlando and sacrificed themselves and their private lives to play in conference rooms and ballrooms and goodness did they hoop it up. Summer camp for professional hoopsters. And as much as they dribbled and balled, they did not shut up. They spoke up, they stood up, they advocated , they took a knee and played some of the highest quality hoops in recent memory. No red eyes , hometeam hinkiness in visitor locker rooms or hotel shenanigans. They balled, and in the words of the great rasheed Wallace, ball don’t lie. Lebron and davis and vogel and co led the team onwards and upwards towards the finish line. Slowly towards number 17. Doin it for Kobe. Through a tough Portland team dealing with their own personal social justice issue back home. They tore through and overhyped Houston team that disappeared at crunch time, and into a young and determined Denver squad that were finally overmatched and out of gas after their previous heroics. And through it all , 35 year old Lebron james persisted. He persisted in making his teammates better by getting them the ball for an easy bucket or picking them up when they were down. He was the hero and the facilitator to others heroics. He was a triple double machine putting on a basketball clinic for the ages. To many, and me, he was the obvious MVP of the league, a no brainer that the best player on one of the best teams should be honored as such. Which was of course bestowed on the greek freak-the best player on the best team. On to the finals , and the debate of greatest hooper of all time(can we dispense with the term GOAT, that is a word I will forever associate with erratic pitchers in big moments, or a four legged creature of a a generally ornery disposition) rages on. Fueled in no part by televidiocracy of bayless, smith and Kellerman, 3 blowhards that should be wearing a sandwich board on 3 corners of an intersection opposite pat o’briens selling bullshit on bourbon street to bovine America. Give the dude his due. Most of these keyboard bashers and internet savants never saw MJ play in real time, they get the edited highlights, the candy coated scheisse and a glossed over history, glorious as it may be. So we get a very tenacious mIami heat team , that has been dominant , led by mother fucking jimmy butler. I have been a fan of jimmy butler for years. I am scared of jimmy butler picking the heat up and pushing them over the hump on sheer determination and will.jimmy butler sounds like a westie leg breaker who has gone off the reservation. As a fan , I am compelled by the multiple story lines for the series with all of the commonality with Lebron and Riley between the two franchises, and the two coaches with comparable styles and familiarity. And Miami are as tough as expected, Lebron and the Brow and company matching the heat blow for blow , the thrilla in manila as the double in the bubble. Historic individual performances and heroics are on display each night. It is television sports gold, so much as an empty arena could be. It is all back and forth until game 6 when the combination of stellar defense and veteran leadership overwhelm the pesky heat. Lebron, AD, and co have won it for Kobe. Lebron has delivered on his promise of march 2019 , and February 2020. He has won his 4th championship with his 3rd team and 4th finals mvp. I can’t wait to see this team at the white house with Joe biden and Kamala Harris. Hopefully Obama will be around that day. Leave Lebron alone.