If you live in Cleveland you’re not obligated to cheer for Cleveland teams. Just as if you live in New York you aren’t required to cheer for New York teams. You understand.
Even if you’re a professional athlete in a city you’re not obligated.
However, if you’re a high profile athlete such as Lebron James is in Cleveland, what is the point at spitting in the face of the fans who cheer you?
You know how passionate fans are, so you know how they feel about you. If you don’t recognize the passion of fans then you are an idiot. Wear the hat, fine. But, stand and wave it?
Why do something like that? Maybe it’s because you’re like many in this “new sports culture,’’ that believes class is obsolete.
35 Comments
oh c’mon John, grow up, this is sports, games, people’s release from real life, not real life itself.
The old Steinbrenner would have signed him as he did John Elway, Deion Sanders and Drew Henson. I think you are too uptight about this, John. As John Riggins said to Sandra Day O’Connor “Loosen up Sandy baby, you’re too tight.”
I said that last night.
He sounds like a front-runner to me…
Yanks
Cowboys
Bulls
...c’mon now…
And how did Lebron’s team do last night?????
To Metsfan: You missed my point entirely. With your screen name, you should understand the sensitivities of fans.
To Pam: They got smoked.
To Dan: I don’t care who he pulls for. I made that clear at the start. He was just being ``in your face.’’ He was sitting with those that cheer him and pay his salary. He just snubbed his nose at them.-JD
JD:
For me, it’s about respect (or lack thereof) for someone besides yourself. Mr. James clearly has none. As you said, wear the hat but don’t wave it around like a jerk when you are at the ballpark in the city where you make a living being a “professional” athelete.
What does class have anything to do with it? We are talking about sports here. If he truly is a Yankee fan than I have more respect for him, he could have easily worn a Indian hat and be done with it.
“In your face”? The man is Lebron James; i think anything a 6-8 pro athlete that does anything could be described as “in your face”. I’d also like to know how he spat in the faces of Cleveland Cavalier fan becuase you are making two big assumptions; 1. That many Indian fans are Cavalier fans (perhaps) 2. They are so extremely offended that James roots for the Yanks that they feel cheated and betrayed (unlikely -after all, saying someone spat into the faces of fans insinuates a major wrongdoing and reciprocal reaction)
If I was somehow a football player for the Falcons and there was a Met, Braves series there is no way i would where a Brave cap. if that is classless then classless I am.
Delcos—Are you one of those who are still mad about Belichick benching Bernie?
Benny: The only thing Belichick ever did the bothered me was cheat and then not be stand up about it when he was caught. ... By the way, at that time Bernie was about finished.-JD
Tom: Class has everything to do with it. It’s about a way of carrying yourself. Imagine this, you invited to a dinner party where most everybody feels the certain way about an issue. So, the first thing you do is throw it in their face that you don’t care about what they think. You’re just being obnoxious. What’s worse, these are his supporters. It’s amazing to me you don’t see that point.-JD
John: James is stupid and his handelers and even dumber.
He should have worn a Nike hat.
John: James is stupid and his handelers and even dumber.
He should have worn a Nike hat.
computer glitch sorry
he is just laying the groundwork for when he becomes a FA in a few years, and the league works out the deal to get him to the Knicks.
Once you have a guaranteed contract, you don’t need no stinkin’ supporters.
Metsfan et.al. =
I see. So being a professional athlete and having a guaranteed contract means that none of the rules of society apply to you?
Ask Michael Vick.
I don’t know how one would equate not needing supporters with none of the rules of society apply.
I’m not contending that LeBron is free to torture harmless little puppy dogs because he has a guaranteed contract—I’m contending that he doesn’t have to worry whether people care about his baseball rooting interests because he has a guaranteed contract.
I believe those are two different things.
Last time I checked..this was America. Lebron can root for, and wave the hat of any team he wants.
I don’t think John D. was saying he wasn’t free to do it, just that it was somewhat tacky or insensitive to the large number of Cleveland fans that pay his salary.
While “class” seems to be on the decline overall in society, it seems that sports 9with some exceptions) is way ahead of the curve!
And of course there is no comparison to Vick or Pacman Jones.
Being a Yankee fan is much, much worse!
(OK that was a joke. sort of! Dog fighting is worse, don’t call PETA on me).
let’s just leave it that being a yankee fan is the worst non-illegal thing you can do, OK?
Wait, I just realized something.
LBJ practically “owns” Cleveland, and he makes like 25million a year. Why is he sitting out in normal seats instead of a luxury box?
Hey, maybe that is his bad karma from wearing the stankee hat!
Stick:
Right on all accounts…!
To Jim H.: Read my first couple of sentences, then get back to me. My point is he could cheer for whomever he wants, but should have a little sensitivity for where he was last night. He behaved like a jerk.
To Benny: ``I have my guaranteed contract so I don’t give a @##$%%^&&GH about what others think.’’ That belief is pretty much the foundation of what’s wrong with today’s athlete, or at least what I don’t like. You condone that attitude, then I’m sorry to hear that.-JD
comparing lebron james to michael vick is just stupid. james has always worn yankees hats. he’s rooting for his team. why should a contract change that. he goofed around and i’m sure the fans got into it. he wasn’t “spitting” in their faces, and their team won anyway. there was a fat slob in the upper deck wearing a mets t-shirt doing his best to mug for the camera and none of you are complaining about him.
Actually…I’m at work and had to leave my desk, so I posted without finishing my thought (meant to close my browser)...My next sentence was going to be: Having said that…What do you expect from a typical yankee fan? Obnoxious right to the end!!
To Jim H.: LOL … LOL … LOL … LOL.-JD
JD I agree with you. As a corporation in his own right regardless of who he roots for the polite thing to do is where the Indians hat ( or maybe both ) explaining that he is tipping his hat to the home team as an acknowledgment of their accomplishment.
As you say he can do what he wants, but society as a whole has no class. It is dominated by a classless me first attitude from politics to entertainment to sports ( the same thing as the previous category ) to everyday people.
If someone says thank you or excuse me it is an extraordinary act not the norm.
Dave
Let’s not confuse condoning that attitude with expecting it to occur. As Artie Bucco once noted, standards are falling everywhere. Would I prefer that LeBron and other pro athletes care about the community? Sure. But the reality is that the advent of the guaranteed contract has removed a lot of personal responsibility from today’s athlete. Besides, LeBron lives in Bath—and that makes him their most noteworthy citizen since Dahmner.
just like pooping in ur pants. u can poop in ur pants and maybe it would smell a little bit. But yankee fans are obnoxious, they’d poop their pants, rub it in ur face and wipe the poop all over you!
To Dave: Bingo.-JD
I don’t find it classless at all, maybe a bit silly. First of all, I can’t see why he’s a Yankees fan, growing up in Ohio as well as playing there, especially when the Indians beat the Yankees in 1997. I guess it’s those years that bookended ‘97 that made him a Yankees fan. Anyway, he was acting like any fan, pretty much, standing up and getting noticed when the camera was on him. Since he has been a Yankee fan, I would find it really fake if he was suddenly to not show his allegiance because his hometown team is facing the Yankees. Maybe it’s just a little classless to make yourself noticed by standing up and waving when you are clearly a superstar already.
I guess Queen Latifah knows more about “respect” for Cleveland than LeBron, at least according to her.
I can’t believe TBS thinks Caray is their best announcer – he makes these games even worse. Stockton and Darling should be doing the #1 games, but they look #3 right now, so I guess they won’t be close to doing NLCS this year.
Lebron James didn’t “spit” on anyone. And it looks like someone put James on camera or the ballpark screen and he was playing around by flaunting his Yankee hat. That doesn’t make him an idiot. There is no reason to call him one or say he spit on fans of the Indians. Now that’s kind of idiotic.
Considering that lebron was at a game the yankees lost by a lot of runs, maybe he waved his hat in the air because indians fans were hasselling him about his hat. I’ve gone to mets games away and the home crowd will always hassel someone wearing away colors (Especially in the playoffs). Maybe it was him refusing to apologize for the hat and not him being obnoxious, just a thought?
I don’t care about anything else other than I think his PR person is an idiot for allowing him to do that.
Yankee fan? Indians fan? Yomuiri Giants fan? WHo cares about that, but being in a Cleveland playoff game with a Yankee hat? Just not… smart, at all, regardless of how he feels.
Regardless they’ll be over it in a couple of weeks.
Take some Midol, Johnny. The guy has been hounded to death about it by the media and Cleveland fans. He was VERY classy about it when he was interviewed by that clown Craig Sager and seemed to be joking around about the situation with the fans around him. Someone get a professional in here to cover the Mets and write this blog, maybe Abe will make the switch next season?