Hoge: LeBron Among Most Foolish Athletes Ever
CHICAGO (CBS) Every time LeBron James says or does something stupid, I shake my head and think that he can't possibly say or do anything to make the situation worse.
And then he does.
"The Decision" may have been the worst pre-meditated public relations move of all time. At least for one day.
That was soon topped 24 hours later by the Miami Heat's "Welcome Party", which essentially celebrated not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven NBA championships before James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh ever stepped on the court together.
To be honest, LeBron never had a chance to do right after that night. He was the villain no matter what—even if the Heat won it all.
And he had no one other than himself to blame.
LeBron may not have been the one to orchestrate "The Decision" on national television, but he was the one who uttered the infamous words: "I'll be taking my talents to South Beach."
LeBron may not have been the one who decided to throw the pep rally, but he was the one who promised multiple championships right away and did it in a way that alienated the rest of the league.
Now, fast forward to Sunday night when LeBron James had a chance to handle the ultimate failure of not winning an NBA championship this season in a classy, humbling way.
No chance. This was the message he had for his critics:
"All the people that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day, they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today. I'm going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that. They can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal. But they have to get back to the real world at some point."
Nearly a year later, LeBron has managed to top both "The Decision" and his infamous guarantee of championships at the pep rally as the dumbest things he has said or done. Now he has made it personal with fans, in an ignorant, classless and disappointing way.
It just goes to show that LeBron James only cares about one thing: himself.
Apparently he doesn't think it is possible to have a great life without money, fame and great athleticism. And I have news for him: people haven't been sitting around wasting their lives worrying about LeBron James failing. It sure has been nice to see, but people really don't care about him as much as he thinks they do.
This latest unfortunate quote from James officially supplants him among some of the most foolish athletes of all time.
Sure, nothing he has done is worse than what Michael Vick did. It's not as bad as what Plaxico Burress did. Those two broke laws and paid for them by serving time. There is a long list of athletes who have done worse things, but few have made as many successive poor decisions in such a short time. And no athlete has done less to fix his mistakes than LeBron. In fact, he keeps making them worse.
Much like Tiger Woods, LeBron James has not broken a law, but I would argue Woods has a much better chance of repairing his reputation than James. In fact, if Woods wasn't battling injuries, he probably already would have repaired his reputation. Go to a PGA Tour event and you'll see that most of the fans out there are still rooting for Woods.
That is certainly not the case for James, who is now starting lose fans in Miami as well. He has completely lost the rest of the country and is continuing to dig that hole deeper by saying stupid things like: "(My critics) have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today."
I am one of those critics and I'm happy I woke up today with the same life I had yesterday. I'm also glad I don't have your problems, LeBron.
Do you agree with Adam? Post your comments below.
Adam is the Sports Content Producer for CBSChicago.com and specializes in coverage of the White Sox, Blackhawks and college sports. He was born and raised in Lincoln Park and attended St. Ignatius College Prep before going off to the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he earned a Journalism degree. Follow him on Twitter @AdamHogeCBS and read more of his columns here.
