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I know that this post is not what I usually talk about here but I am a big sports fan. I am also a Miami Heat fan so I will try not to be biased here. I have also followed Lebron as far back as getting called crazy, when I told people that there was a High School kid so good, his games were on Pay Per View. Naturally I was excited to see Lebron James come to the Miami Heat. Once the Heat had Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, I was pretty excited and hoped to see James added. But I knew that this team would be darn good even with out him. Having all three of them is going to be an amazing thing to watch. But I feel like he is getting a bad rap here by a lot of the media.

I have seen over and over complaints about his one hour special on ESPN, his “lack of loyalty” to Cleveland and how he is copping out instead of competing against Dwayne Wade. So let’s look at the facts here and clear this up. Even if I was not a Heat fan I would hope to have the same opinions on this.

The Decision

Let’s deal with his one hour special on ESPN that everyone is making such a big deal about. Everything I have seen has been all about how egotistical this is. How big of a head Lebron must have for getting ESPN to do an entire one hour show, just for him to decide where he is going.

First, he obviously warrants it. The ESPN special drew almost 10 million viewers. The news of his decision was on front pages all over the country. Still think he wasn’t important enough to get an hour?

Then let’s look at what he turned the event into. All proceeds from the sponsorships of that hour, went to the Boys and Girls Club of America. Then the University of Phoenix kicked in another $500,000. It is estimated that he raised about $3 Million dollars.

So he turns the event into a $3 Million dollar charity event but he is still being ripped for it.

Loyalty

How about the loyalty argument? Many are saying that he has no loyalty because he left the team he was with for 7 years. The fans supported him sooo much. Really? What fans do you know of that are not, only as loyal as the amount of wins you have? You really think that if James had some injuries and was not able to play at the level he has, that they would sell so many tickets?

Fans only care about the wins. You lose and they boo. It happens in every sport. If you are not playing to their expectations then you do not get their support. Then the Cleveland fans showed their maturity by burning his jersey. Real classy!

There are also those who say that he should have notified the team sooner and not let them find out on TV. First, they found out just before the announcement not during. Second, how many times have players been traded without notice? There are players in just about every league that have found out they were traded on the news. Where is the loyalty there?

Then look at what the owner did. He releases a public letter accusing Lebron of being a coward and that he quit on the team last year. Those aren’t just things that you come up with. He had to be thinking those things before and that opens up the question of whether or not there were problems at home. Maybe there were issues untold of between Lebron and the management team of the Cavs. The owner certainly showed no class in his response to the decision.

UnSelfish

How many times have you heard someone complain that all athletes are just selfish and greedy? They are just in it for the money? It is all about them? Here Lebron proves all of that to be false about him and he is still taking Heat (pun intended).

He takes less money and shares the spot light with this deal. He is going to someone else’s team where they are the home favorite and is willing to work together. If it was about the money he would have stayed with Cleveland because that is where he would receive the most. If it was all about him he could have gone to NY or Chicago where he would still be the star with the sidekicks. But instead he goes where he will end up with less points per game and less glory.

He will now have to share the glory with 2 other players who have been their home team stars. He proved that he truly was about winning. Do you think any athlete when they were kids, said “Man, when I grow up, I just want to work really hard to make people I don’t even know happy to watch me.”? Really? Or did they grow up wanting to play their sport and win? This is a job don’t forget. How many of you would stay at a job that seemed like it was going nowhere out of loyalty? Even though a better opportunity was available?

Sure it hurts to see the hometown favorite leave but the criticism he is taking from all directions is not really fair. Forget that he spent 7 years trying to bring a championship to Cleveland. Forget all that he donated to the different organizations in the city.

Nope throw all of that away because he did what was best for him right? What was going to make him happy. Who is the one being selfish here? Maybe Lebron just wanted to be human and do what he loves to do with friends he loves and not worry about what everyone else thinks.

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