LeBron James is by all accounts probably the most hated athlete in America. The entire nation, save those in Miami and this blogger in Seattle, want to see him fail. People hate that he not only left his hometown of Cleveland but they hate the way that he did so. I don't need to describe it - you all know what happened. He let several teams wine and dine him even though all along he knew where he was signing. He joined forces with his main rival Dwyane Wade instead of bracing his inner Jordan and wanting to destroy Wade at every opportunity. He held The Decision. Then the Heat had their WWE style celebration before ever playing a game. Everything that occurred in the off-season just seemed to rub people the wrong way. He was instantly vilified.
The thing that I still can't get past is the fact that I honestly believe he is a good person who made some stupid mistakes along the way. I can fault him for The Decision. It was self-promoting and overall of poor taste. But I can't fault him for going to Miami. Everyone is ready to compare him to Jordan, but you know what? Maybe he isn't Jordan. Maybe no one will ever be like Jordan. Maybe LeBron is happy being second fiddle to Wade. Maybe he is happy simply playing with his friends. Maybe his basketball legacy isn't as huge a concern to him as it is to all of us. I honestly believe that one reason the nation got mad at him was because he instantly became something that we did not want him to be. We wanted him to become the best basketball player of all time. Instead, maybe he is what Simmons says he is - the modern version of Dr J. Freakishly athletic. Unstoppable. Too congenial to be an assassin.
The truth is that up to his signing with Miami, LeBron had never done anything to bring the ire of America on him. He was on the cover of SI at age 16 and he was from a single parent family. Yet somehow he stayed squeaky clean. Besides an incident with his mom getting a car when he was in HS, can you think of one thing that he has done wrong? Go ahead...I believe that sound you hear is crickets chirping. The fact remains that he has never done one thing off the court to question his personality. From what I have read in several places many reporteres that follow him on a dailybasis would be honored to have him as their son or as the boy dating their daughter. LeBron is a good guy and squeaky clean...hell, even church boy Dwayne Wade can't say that (look up his relationship with his ex wife and his kids...)
The discussion of LeBron as a villain brings me to a teenager named Bryce Harper. For those of you who don't know Harper, he too was on the cover of SI at age 16, touted as 'Baseball's Chosen One' (actually really ironic looking back now considering what has happened to LeBron) . Of Harper, Tom Verducci said "Bryce Harper is a scouting director's perfect prospect. He has size, speed, power, intelligence, a lefthanded bat, an appetite for work, a strong arm, the ability to catch and the athleticism to play almost any other position, plus a happy home life."
Harper was drafted #1 by the Washington Nationals in 2010 and is currently playing minor league ball for the Hagerstown Suns of the Single A South Atlantic League. Even though he crushed major league pitching in spring training and even though he has 14 homers and 42 RBI so far this season, the Nats are saying they won't rush him and that he will stay in the minors for the entire year. That is a good thing for Harper, for opposing pitchers and for America. Eventually he is going to be in the majors (I have no doubt that he will be a star) and that is when the nation will truly find out his secret...
When Stephen Strasburg emerged on the scene last year he provided the game with a jolt of excitement. People loved the arm. They loved the potential and they weren't turned off by his personality. He knew he was good, but he also handled himself well. He was was the game needed. Now, it would be too easy to get caught up in Harper the same way we got caught up with both LeBron and Strasburg - we want to witness greatness, especially greatness at an early age. The difference with Harper is that...well...he apparently is a prick. He knows how good he is and he has a chip on his shoulder. He is every bit the 18 year old prodigy who has been put on a pedestal. Teammates don't like him and soon, once the rest of America learns more about him, I bet we won't like him either.
You may have seen the video on this already, but if not, Harper made news Monday night for admiring his home run and then blowing the pitcher a kiss as he headed home. It was a total bush league move and one that definitely will get him thrown at the next time at bat. The problem is that I doubt that will bother him. The next time up he will display his uncanny power and show everyone why he is that good. Simply put, he is everything LeBron James was not. He is a cocky 18 year old who thinks he is better than the game. I can say with certainty that he is going to take over LeBron's role as most hated athlete in America. There is no doubt in my mind - we all know guys like him. They never learn. They never grow up. They always remain brash, cocky and terrible members of society.
I cannot wait to fill this blog with more venomous posts about Harper and his ego. It should be a lot of fun.
[UPDATE: Just listening to ESPN Radio and Buster Olney compared him to Barry Bonds. Well, that is not good from a likeability standpoint]
No comments:
Post a Comment