Sports Snorts — Lebron James laughs at you.
This is a frustrating article from the Huffington Post. The quotation it has from Lebron James cuts out before the most incendiary part of James’s answer. This is better, in terms of headline which refers to the fans having to get back to the “real world at some point”.
“At the end of the day, All the people that were rooting for me to fail… at the end of the day, tomorrow they have to wake up and have the same life that (they had) before they woke up today. They got the same personal problems they had today. And I’m going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things 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.”
My guess is that this arrogant and disdainful sentiment is commonly held by professional athletes at the top level when hearing fans’ criticism. They have worked hard to keep in top physical shape, and can beat everybody watching while sleep walking. Sports is stupid, and Lebron James just explained the reason. Your emotional attachment to this is — what exactly?
There is a code in the NFL Sega games that you put in, and will field a team made up of representations of the game programmers. The reality is that in the real world, if you put them on the field and have them play a game against the professional football players, they will all leave the field with broken bones.
Such is the case with the “haters” of Lebron James now taking glee over his failure to win a Championship, after deciding to assemble with two other players considered somewhere in the top ten on the planet. And at the end of the season, to quote The Onion, “Miami Heat Complete Worst Season In NBA History At 58-24“.
Your fan schaudenfruede comes out of the pre-season victory parade seen here — “Yes we did!” — What did they do, exactly? The management for the Miami Heat made the business decision to sign a couple of new multi-millionaire contracts, and market a trio of superstars. The spectators participate by watching and purchasing things with the words “Miami Heat” on them. The snag comes with James saying that the number of championships he will win is “not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven…” —
Some more of the effect is captured by Onion headlines“Miami Heat Spend First Two Weeks Of Training Camp Practicing Pregame Introductions”, and “Wade, Bosh, James Out For Season After Injuring Selves On First Layup Drill Of Training Camp“, and an Onion “American Voices” answer about a losing streak — I’m having trouble finding it, but an “answer” came in “Well, they only have three players on their roster!”
The problem with Lebron James’s statement is struck by the shouting in that pre-season “victory lap” with the usual screaming of “YOUR” Miami Heat. What I want to see is having made reference to fans experiencing schadenfreude for his defeat, for him to win the Title next year with — not the usual “This is for the Fans in Miami”, but with “At the end of the day, they might be experiencing some happiness now in the Heat’s victory, but they have to get back to the real world at some point.”
Of course, it’s good for the business of the National Basketball Association. A team designed to be “compelling” and watched by many, set up for failure or success — but at any rate, watched. The big sports story of the day is not that the Dallas Mavericks won, but that the Miami Heat lost. The only problem here is that this well-spring of marketing genius would dry up after a couple more championship-less seasons — at which point, perhaps the “Over-dog” might turn into the “Under-dog”, but more probably just become a dull team.