In pro wrestling, the fans are king. On rare occasions, the fans can turn a heel (wrestling jargon for bad guy) into a face (good guy) by continually cheering for him, despite his heel characteristics.
Without realizing it, NBA fans may have done the opposite to LeBron James.
After The Decision (which was a disgusting marketing ploy by ESPN and James, in tandem) fans began to turn on James.
The images of James' Cavaliers jersey being burned were emblazoned across our television sets by just about every major sports outlet in the country. If Boston's Big Three - Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce - were the good guys, Miami's Big Three - James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh - immediately became the bad guys.
Miami was easy to root against. Twelve men became villains because of the actions of one. Before the season began, 29 teams circled "vs. Miami" on their schedules. The targets were tattooed onto the Heat before their season began Oct. 26 in Boston.
The Heat didn't lose their 10th game until Jan. 12. They were always at, or near, the top of the Eastern Conference. They slayed the two biggest dragons in the way to get to the Finals.
But in the midst of it all, the dichotomy of the Heat began to shift. All the criticism began to wear on No. 6. James never wanted to be a villain, but whether he realized it or not, he was morphing into one.
What made us turn on James? Was it the way he spurned Cleveland, and the long-suffering fans, with The Decision? Was it the constant comparisons to Michael Jordan, despite the fact he never came close to His Airness? Was it because James sold off his chance at giving Jordan a run as the greatest ever by teaming up with Wade and Bosh?
Everyone who turned on James has their reasons. And most of the fans who became anti-LeBron let James know just how upset they were for every one of the 2,880 seconds the Heat were competing on the hardwood.
We, as sports fans, dehumanize pro athletes all the time. Some forget that these men and women are people, too, and we don't give them the benefit of the doubt like we would for "normal" people.
James is human, and after a while, his thick skin was likely penetrated by the jeers, the criticism, and the general vitriol of his detractors. He cracked, and instead of resisting the villainous tag, he began to accept it.
It all came to a head earlier this week, immediately after Dallas' 105-95 win to clinch the NBA championship. James hid from the criticism his performance in these Finals rightly deserved, blaming just about everyone in sight ... other than himself.
The measure of greatness is an athlete's performance on the biggest stage. We saw a superstar take his place in history during this year's Finals, but it wasn't James. It was Dirk Nowitzki, now in the argument for best power forward ever.
James hid from the spotlight he ran to last summer while making his Decision. Dwayne Wade kicked into a sixth gear, while LeBron downshifted to third. It culminated in Game 3, when the nearly unflappable Wade screamed at James in front of God and everybody. Was that the nail in James' proverbial coffin this season? Was that the point LeBron said, "All right, I've had enough?"
We'll never really know. What we will know, however, is what kind of drive James really has. What will James do to reach the level Wade reached during these Finals? Will he work to improve his game, or will he remain complacent as The Greatest That Could Have Been?
Answers will start to come this fall. Until then, LeBron's heel turn will remain one of the league's hottest off-season topics.
0 comments:
Post a Comment