I do not envy LeBron James' publicist right now, this past summer has not treated King James like you would expect an NBA MVP be treated. After Losing in the Eastern Conference finals LeBron as many people know refused to shake hands with the Orlando Magic and stormed off to the locker room with his head down. The second fiasco is when LeBron was dunked on by Xavier's Jordan Crawford, shortly after Nike executives came along and confiscated the video. If this video were released immediately, nobody would have even cared. If you've never been dunked on then you've never played against great competition. Also, I don't know if any of you have seen the video, but you can't even see what's happening. And finally it has surfaced that LeBron admits to using Marijuana during his High School years.
As far as leaving the court without shaking hands I give James a pass for that. It's important to keep in mind that his "Championship caliber team" was just bounced from the playoffs in five games. He was furious, and for good reason, I don't blame LeBron at all for walking off before he inevitably lost his temper and then what. Something terrible could have happened. This brings me to the subject of the mandatory shaking hands after games, which is prevalent at the High School and College levels. This rule is very dangerous, Basketball is an emotional game and after games I can guarantee you that at least one team is very aggravated. After these men have gone at each other for the last 32 or 40 minutes they should just walk back to their respective locker rooms and cool down. If they want to shake hands then fine but to force it upon them is dangerous, also take into account the environment around them. What happens when a fight breaks out in a bad neighborhood between two teams with bad blood between them? It would be a nightmare for everyone involved. By the time a kid reaches 15 he will know the sportsmanship rules and will either choose to abide by them or not, end of story.
LeBron James has probably dunked on over 500 people in his lifetime, and I'm sure if you asked any hall of fame basketball player if they were ever dunked on they would have to say yes. It's part of the game, and in the end it’s only worth two points. If you go down and hit a three while the other guy is celebrating then it will be you who gets the glory and the other guy will be heading to the bench and will most likely be making a long stay there. Out of LeBron's three major blunders this is by far the biggest, this will not touch his legacy. By the time September rolls around nobody will even remember it happened other than Crawford whose basketball career was headlined when he dunked over King James.
I will go out on a limb and say that 99% of the NBA has experimented with Marijuana at least once in their lifetime. So because of this I think that LeBron coming out on his use of weed is a top headline on a slow news day. Flat out nobody except mothers with 3rd grade children will care. You got to love the timing though, right now LeBron needs to do something to change his public perception. A big donation to the children with AIDS should do well, or of course he could go and win another MVP and maybe a title. Yup, in the society we live in today that will undoubtedly clear his name.
Here is the Link of the video of LeBron being "Posterized" :
http://ebaumnation.com/2009/07/22/jordan-crawford-dunks-on-lebron-james
