Now I understand that times have changed.  I grew up in the Michael Jordan era.  The time when he played in Chicago, not Washington D.C.  There wasn’t nearly as much media coverage as there is now for LeBron James.  I get that.  I also get that both of these guys play different styles and have two completely different personalities.  

Here’s what I don’t get.  Why were we lead to believe that LeBron was the same as Michael Jordan?  In what way was LeBron the same as Jordan when he was playing in high school?  Did LeBron even play college basketball?  Last I checked, the answer is no. Jordan didn’t even make his high school basketball team the first time around.  Was LeBron given the red carpet treatment when he arrived at his?

This is my problem with this whole fiasco.  The lack of common sense from everyone.  We want to think that there will be another great player to follow exactly what the other one did before him. Unfortunately there is only one and will be only one Michael Jordan.  In my opinion he is the only basketball player that I’ve seen that doesn’t just want to beat you.  He wants to take your soul in the process and shove it in your face.  That’s how he played and I personally love seeing that from an athlete.  

Those that have seen him play in his prime know what I’m talking about.  The competitiveness of Jordan isn’t seen now a days.  The only one that comes close to it is Kobe Bryant, but it’s in small doses.  Have we seen any of that from LeBron James?

Besides us and what we want to see, there’s LeBron himself.  I will say that I haven’t seen another athlete take the kind of beating day in and day out that he has.  Now some of it is he’s own doing. From ‘The Decision’ to the introductory rock concert in Miami to his ‘Karma’ tweet directed to the Cleveland Cavaliers, mainly owner Dan Gilbert.  He has completely changed his persona to something that everyone doesn’t relate to.

From the beginning he never seemed to get it.  I can’t remember the exact words I used, but I tweeted after LeBron’s ‘Karma’ tweet something to the effect that he should just focus on the court and stop worrying about stuff off the court.  Nothing to vilify him in any way.  I found that a certain Miami Heat fan was none too pleased with that and I was told to buzz off.  Don’t you just love intelligent people who can’t reasonably disagree.

He is an unique athlete.  No one that I’ve seen has the kind of athletic ability on a basketball court that he does.  He can do it all or so we thought.  What happened in this year’s Finals came as a total surprise to us all.  The question is why did he no show through most of it?  No one knows except him.  I’m not going to speculate on that so much, but I will say that LeBron is himself and can’t be expected to be the next Michael Jordan.

Truth is he never should have been in the first place.  He’s LeBron James first and foremost on and off the court.  If he doesn’t want to be the ‘man’ on the basketball court that’s fine.  

Don’t start this big marketing campaign to be a global icon and not expect some criticism to come your way when you no show on the biggest stage.  

Don’t put yourself on national television for one hour to say where you’re going to play without first telling the team you’re going to leave.  In fact, don’t do it on national television either.

Don’t act like you’re a rock star with Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade during the first press conference.  Then announce that you’ll win ‘not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5…’ championships and not expect a lot of criticism along the way.

Don’t tweet anything pertaining to sports for a while.  Or just don’t get a twitter account.  That’s probably a better idea.

It will be a long summer due to the looming labor issue.  LeBron went out with a bang saying that his haters should get on with their lives blast was misinterpreted.  Forget the fact that he doesn’t get it, how do you say that when you’re wearing a ‘Witness’ t-shirt?  It goes back to a previous post of mine entitled, “Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say.”  If it’s not what you meant, why did you say it?

He still has a lot of time to fix his flaws on the basketball court, but he is starting to run out of time to fix the flaws off the court.  The sooner you figure out that you need to develop a consistent jump shot, the better you will be on the court.  The sooner you figure out that you’re not who you think you are the better.