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The Decision to Accept Second Best

Written by on 07/19/2010 in Editorials - 3 Comments

Well… They were right.

“The Decision” would change the NBA.

But not in the way “they” expected. Both the mass media and fans alike expected the long awaited announcement from LeBron James to rock their world. A single free agent on the move could shift the power of an entire league to a city like New York or Chicago. It was a given, because as far as we knew the world’s greatest player was thinking about finding a new home.

July 08, 2010 - Greenwich, CONNECTICUT, United States - epa02241975 Handout photo from ESPN showing LaBron James (L), NBA's reigning two-time MVP, as he ends months of speculation and announces 08 July 2010 on ESPN 'The Decision' in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA, that he will go to the Miami Heat where he will play basketball next 2010-11 season. James said his decision was based on the fact that he wanted to play with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

What “they” didn’t expect (and what none of us expected for that matter), is this Decision would change the NBA for an entirely different reason. We learned something the past few weeks: The world’s most gifted athlete and talented basketball player was never the world’s greatest player.

He tricked us. He fooled us. He let us down.

Since that fateful telecast, everyone and their mother has argued (and rightfully so) that LeBron James turned his back on the city of Cleveland. But what they aren’t mentioning is that he also betrayed the rest of us. We believed that, in LeBron, we had the total package. A more selfless Kobe. A more powerful Wade. A physically dominating hybrid of Michael Jordan/Magic Johnson/Bo Jackson.

With one poor decision we learned that we were wrong.

Sure he can jump like MJ, run the court and dish it like Magic, and plow through people like Bo.

But he doesn’t have the GUTS to become the legends they are.

Next: How LeBron Fooled Us All…

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Comments

comments

  • Jake

    Yeah I agree!

  • i_am_joey

    lebron and bosh are both fakers.

  • kev

    I love the effort and overall direction of the article, but the little nuances throughout the article is what caused other readers to get turned off. 12% populartity? 1st half of the article clearly states Lebron is the best, greatest, etc…you can say the general public believes, or he was marketed by the NBA and so on as the best, etc, …but you left it plain, as if you, yourself, the writer is stating a fact and or your personal belief.
    Second half of your writing does the I, you and we point of view,” you thought, we enabled Lebron” or something to that effect, most Lakers and Kobe fans, and they are not necessarily the same people, will have and want nothing to do with Lebron, except unless he is either joining the Lakers, or suffering some excruciating amount of pain for his dare to challenge Kobe and his superiority….Thus it leaves one to wonder why you were hoping for a foil to Kobe?
    In short, love your effort and points, and the fact that you share your views, but did not like the presentation. thank you for your time.