Dirk defeats "Ghetto basketball". German press... racist?

Originally posted by WillistheWall:

Originally posted by TheGoldStandard:
If you're black you're out of prison, if you're right you're in a band, got it.

Not sure how being a rocker who plays music his dad didn't like is a compliment... besides he only said if they had long hair. If they had no hair he probably saw they were a skin head.

I honestly just don't know why you guys are making such a big deal out of this. It's a somewhat inflammatory comment made by 1 writer in 1 article out of a whole country's media. Not to mention that whether you guys think it's racist or not you'd have to be naive not to see that the USA basketball had an image problem with the rest of the world stemming from the early 2000s, when guys like Iverson and Marbury were playing street ball basically, and you had players showing up to the games and press conferences in oversized jeans and t shirts and a bunch of jewelry.

If the perception that a white person tatted up belongs to a band, while a tatted black man belongs to prison or a gang does not offend you, so be it. As a black man it offends me greatly, but to each his own.

"guys like Iverson and Marbury were playing street ball basically..."

And there's the difference of perception. In 200x Iverson was a hero to your average street kid. The NBA has an image problem because it has to sell black players to a white audience. It really is not a complex issue.

The NFL just sold a Super Bowl with a accused rapist as one of the starting Quarterbacks, but it's the NBA has the "ghetto" stigma. . There is nothing "ghetto" about Lebron James, at all. Going to prep school and achieving world-wide fame by age 16 is not what one would consider ghetto, but he's black and has tattoos and that is all that matters to some people.

Originally posted by TheGoldStandard:
If you're black you're out of prison, if you're right you're in a band, got it.

I am just passing on how some people think. Why are you assuming color has anything to do with anything I have said? When I said tattoos in prison yards, there are just as many tatted up skin heads as any other group. Other than a tattooing convention you aren't going to see most of a group with tattoos over 50% of their bodies, than a prison yard. As for my dad, he had the same comments about people of any race with a lot of tattoos, white, black, brown or green. Somehow, long hair and white guy could = musician. A white dude with short hair rented the house next to him. He saw him hoeing weeds with his shirt off one day. Being an ex-cop who was suspicious of everyone he actually had him checked up on, swearing he must have just got out of prison. I am just passing on how some people think, my dad was an a-hole, but he wasn't the only white middle aged man who thought like him.

Originally posted by BobS:

Originally posted by TheGoldStandard:
If you're black you're out of prison, if you're right you're in a band, got it.

I am just passing on how some people think. Why are you assuming color has anything to do with anything I have said? When I said tattoos in prison yards, there are just as many tatted up skin heads as any other group. Other than a tattooing convention you aren't going to see most of a group with tattoos over 50% of their bodies, than a prison yard. As for my dad, he had the same comments about people of any race with a lot of tattoos, white, black, brown or green. Somehow, long hair and white guy could = musician. A white dude with short hair rented the house next to him. He saw him hoeing weeds with his shirt off one day. Being an ex-cop who was suspicious of everyone he actually had him checked up on, swearing he must have just got out of prison. I am just passing on how some people think, my dad was an a-hole, but he wasn't the only white middle aged man who thought like him.

Originally posted by TheGoldStandard:

Originally posted by WillistheWall:

Originally posted by TheGoldStandard:
If you're black you're out of prison, if you're right you're in a band, got it.

Not sure how being a rocker who plays music his dad didn't like is a compliment... besides he only said if they had long hair. If they had no hair he probably saw they were a skin head.

I honestly just don't know why you guys are making such a big deal out of this. It's a somewhat inflammatory comment made by 1 writer in 1 article out of a whole country's media. Not to mention that whether you guys think it's racist or not you'd have to be naive not to see that the USA basketball had an image problem with the rest of the world stemming from the early 2000s, when guys like Iverson and Marbury were playing street ball basically, and you had players showing up to the games and press conferences in oversized jeans and t shirts and a bunch of jewelry.

If the perception that a white person tatted up belongs to a band, while a tatted black man belongs to prison or a gang does not offend you, so be it. As a black man it offends me greatly, but to each his own.

"guys like Iverson and Marbury were playing street ball basically..."

And there's the difference of perception. In 200x Iverson was a hero to your average street kid. The NBA has an image problem because it has to sell black players to a white audience. It really is not a complex issue.

The NFL just sold a Super Bowl with a accused rapist as one of the starting Quarterbacks, but it's the NBA has the "ghetto" stigma. . There is nothing "ghetto" about Lebron James, at all. Going to prep school and achieving world-wide fame by age 16 is not what one would consider ghetto, but he's black and has tattoos and that is all that matters to some people.

Bob even went on to say in his next post his dad had a white guy with short hair and tattoos checked out because he "must have gotten out of prison". Dont think he really meant anything racist, just that if its a white guy with long hair they fit a stereotype of a rocker.

IMO you can't really expect Europeans or South Americans to be able to differentiate between these guys real well because they dont see all the games we do or know the back stories of the players. So of course if these guys look similar to them they are not going be able to compare them fairly. These people didnt think MJ was ghetto, he was a world wide hero, but he also was a professional who always looked professional. MJ didnt have any tats and he dressed in a professional manner.

And just because AI was a hero to your average street kid doesnt mean that he didnt help start the perception of "ghetto basketball". I was somewhat of an AI fan but even I can realize that people could percieve him like that, or would percieve him like that, because he dressed in the "gangster fashion" and played 1 on 1 ball with fancy dribbling and not a great 3 point shot, and didnt play great defense and didnt share the ball very much. He definitely fit the perception of an And 1 type of player even though in his prime he was one of the 5 or 10 most skilled players in the world.

It might bother you that people are percieved like that but white players have the same perception problem when it comes to athleticism. Jimmer Fredette tested out as one of the most athletic guys at the NBA combine but people "have questions whether this guy is athletic enough to play in the NBA". Adam Morrison was supposed to be the next Larry Bird because he was a tall white guy who could shoot well enough to score a lot of points, despite the fact that he was nowhere near the passer or ball handler or rebounder or defender or overall scorer that Bird was. People said that Dirk and Pau were soft because they were European, even though those guys have played on the last 3 championship teams and play on pretty good defensive teams. People are always going to stereotype pretty much and you just have to get passed it and make your own assessments, not get overly offended every time someone does it. If you do that you will be pissed for most of your life.

As Willis was alluding to it seems it is always acceptable to stereo type or make general comments about white people, but when someone even thinks a minority is being stereo typed everyone is outraged. I would like to see a level playing field. I would prefer everyone to be less sensitive, and stop alluding to racism where none exists. Take Charles Barkley as an example, first I find him always entertaining, and I like his straight forwardness. He used to make a lot of comments that if we reversed the skin color on Charles to white and the players he was commenting on to black, he would have been banished to a deserted island the way Jimmy the Greek was. I don't know who it was or how long ago, but he ripped on a black player for losing a jump ball to a white player of similar height. He said "Did you see that? He let that white guy out jump him, that shouldn't happen." Another time he talked about a college team, (maybe Duke?) and said, "That has to be the best mostly white college basketball team in a long time." If Charles were white and made the jump ball comment he would probably be FIRED!

Originally posted by blizzuntz:

Originally posted by BobS:

Originally posted by DertyDonahue:

Originally posted by global_nomad:
I think its just a case of a German reporter being out of touch what's going on in America. I think he's pretty much assuming that if there was no dress code in the NBA players would still be wearing bagging jeans, jerseys, big baseball caps (basically what was in fashion between 2000-2005, and when street ball was probably getting its most publicity in the main stream ever.

I could be wrong, I feel weird trying to justify this, but my best bet it was just an out of touch reporter.

double post - but whatever.

i think out of touch is appropriate, but man... this is WAY out of touch.

Think about it? He is spot on, but it is considered racist or whatever to state the obvious. As a whole professional athletes of any color have more money than brains, since they used athletic ability to earn a million dollars plus a year. Same with rock stars and rappers, most don't have the intelligence of other people that earn the big bank. You don't see the average multi-millionaire running around with a gazillion tattoos and body piercings, no matter what color they are, I think that is what the writer could be alluding to.

I'm gonna bet that you are old, possibly over 60?

LOL speaking of out of touch

Originally posted by TheGoldStandard:

Originally posted by WillistheWall:

Originally posted by TheGoldStandard:
If you're black you're out of prison, if you're right you're in a band, got it.

Not sure how being a rocker who plays music his dad didn't like is a compliment... besides he only said if they had long hair. If they had no hair he probably saw they were a skin head.

I honestly just don't know why you guys are making such a big deal out of this. It's a somewhat inflammatory comment made by 1 writer in 1 article out of a whole country's media. Not to mention that whether you guys think it's racist or not you'd have to be naive not to see that the USA basketball had an image problem with the rest of the world stemming from the early 2000s, when guys like Iverson and Marbury were playing street ball basically, and you had players showing up to the games and press conferences in oversized jeans and t shirts and a bunch of jewelry.

If the perception that a white person tatted up belongs to a band, while a tatted black man belongs to prison or a gang does not offend you, so be it. As a black man it offends me greatly, but to each his own.

"guys like Iverson and Marbury were playing street ball basically..."

And there's the difference of perception. In 200x Iverson was a hero to your average street kid. The NBA has an image problem because it has to sell black players to a white audience. It really is not a complex issue.The NFL just sold a Super Bowl with a accused rapist as one of the starting Quarterbacks, but it's the NBA has the "ghetto" stigma. . There is nothing "ghetto" about Lebron James, at all. Going to prep school and achieving world-wide fame by age 16 is not what one would consider ghetto, but he's black and has tattoos and that is all that matters to some people.

Yeah because they had a very hard time selling Jordan and Magic to the American public.

The era after Jordan had a hard time connecting with the American public because alot of it was street ball. Iverson, Marbury, Francis. Little guys who shot way too much.

Lebron's image problem has nothing to do with tats. Lebron had one of the highest likeability ratings before he went to Miami. People's hatred towards James is no different than their hatred towards Favre. People just get sick of attention whores.

Originally posted by tjd808185:

Originally posted by TheGoldStandard:

Originally posted by WillistheWall:

Originally posted by TheGoldStandard:
If you're black you're out of prison, if you're right you're in a band, got it.

Not sure how being a rocker who plays music his dad didn't like is a compliment... besides he only said if they had long hair. If they had no hair he probably saw they were a skin head.

I honestly just don't know why you guys are making such a big deal out of this. It's a somewhat inflammatory comment made by 1 writer in 1 article out of a whole country's media. Not to mention that whether you guys think it's racist or not you'd have to be naive not to see that the USA basketball had an image problem with the rest of the world stemming from the early 2000s, when guys like Iverson and Marbury were playing street ball basically, and you had players showing up to the games and press conferences in oversized jeans and t shirts and a bunch of jewelry.

If the perception that a white person tatted up belongs to a band, while a tatted black man belongs to prison or a gang does not offend you, so be it. As a black man it offends me greatly, but to each his own.

"guys like Iverson and Marbury were playing street ball basically..."

And there's the difference of perception. In 200x Iverson was a hero to your average street kid. The NBA has an image problem because it has to sell black players to a white audience. It really is not a complex issue.The NFL just sold a Super Bowl with a accused rapist as one of the starting Quarterbacks, but it's the NBA has the "ghetto" stigma. . There is nothing "ghetto" about Lebron James, at all. Going to prep school and achieving world-wide fame by age 16 is not what one would consider ghetto, but he's black and has tattoos and that is all that matters to some people.

Yeah because they had a very hard time selling Jordan and Magic to the American public.

The era after Jordan had a hard time connecting with the American public because alot of it was street ball. Iverson, Marbury, Francis. Little guys who shot way too much.
Lebron's image problem has nothing to do with tats. Lebron had one of the highest likeability ratings before he went to Miami. People's hatred towards James is no different than their hatred towards Favre. People just get sick of attention whores.

Dont forget how Starbury was a team cancer and AI dressed gangster fashion and had the incident with his wife on his lawn or whatever, as well as some problems with alcoholism.

And Brett Hull defeated ghetto hockey.

Cool story bro.

Originally posted by tjd808185:

Originally posted by TheGoldStandard:

Originally posted by WillistheWall:

Originally posted by TheGoldStandard:
If you're black you're out of prison, if you're right you're in a band, got it.

Not sure how being a rocker who plays music his dad didn't like is a compliment... besides he only said if they had long hair. If they had no hair he probably saw they were a skin head.

I honestly just don't know why you guys are making such a big deal out of this. It's a somewhat inflammatory comment made by 1 writer in 1 article out of a whole country's media. Not to mention that whether you guys think it's racist or not you'd have to be naive not to see that the USA basketball had an image problem with the rest of the world stemming from the early 2000s, when guys like Iverson and Marbury were playing street ball basically, and you had players showing up to the games and press conferences in oversized jeans and t shirts and a bunch of jewelry.

If the perception that a white person tatted up belongs to a band, while a tatted black man belongs to prison or a gang does not offend you, so be it. As a black man it offends me greatly, but to each his own.

"guys like Iverson and Marbury were playing street ball basically..."

And there's the difference of perception. In 200x Iverson was a hero to your average street kid. The NBA has an image problem because it has to sell black players to a white audience. It really is not a complex issue.The NFL just sold a Super Bowl with a accused rapist as one of the starting Quarterbacks, but it's the NBA has the "ghetto" stigma. . There is nothing "ghetto" about Lebron James, at all. Going to prep school and achieving world-wide fame by age 16 is not what one would consider ghetto, but he's black and has tattoos and that is all that matters to some people.

Yeah because they had a very hard time selling Jordan and Magic to the American public.

The era after Jordan had a hard time connecting with the American public because alot of it was street ball. Iverson, Marbury, Francis. Little guys who shot way too much.

Lebron's image problem has nothing to do with tats. Lebron had one of the highest likeability ratings before he went to Miami. People's hatred towards James is no different than their hatred towards Favre. People just get sick of attention whores.

Magic played in an era with Bird, Mchale, Price, Walton, Stockton, and other White American's played on winning teams. Michael... I idolized MJ my entire life, but he's the same dude that couldn't be troubled to endorse a democrat against a racist republican because "republicans buy sneakers too." a north carolina farm boy is not exactly "hood" as it were.

And yeah people loved Lebron when he was smilin' and dancin' every five seconds. Attention whore my left asscheek, I'd be confused too, if they loved me at 17 on the cover of Sports Illustrated, but hated me at 25 for "The Decision". They build you up to tear you down.

And Bob, I don't think you or your father are racist or anything. But yes I do find his prejudice against others (of any color) to be offensive, but not to the point of anger or irrational hatred. I just am not a fan of ignorance in race-related issues for my own personal reasons. No disrespect intended, and I sincerely apologize, if I came off in any other light. I would never disrespect anyone's family let alone someone who served his community.

Originally posted by TheGoldStandard:

Originally posted by tjd808185:

Originally posted by TheGoldStandard:

Originally posted by WillistheWall:

Originally posted by TheGoldStandard:
If you're black you're out of prison, if you're right you're in a band, got it.

Not sure how being a rocker who plays music his dad didn't like is a compliment... besides he only said if they had long hair. If they had no hair he probably saw they were a skin head.

I honestly just don't know why you guys are making such a big deal out of this. It's a somewhat inflammatory comment made by 1 writer in 1 article out of a whole country's media. Not to mention that whether you guys think it's racist or not you'd have to be naive not to see that the USA basketball had an image problem with the rest of the world stemming from the early 2000s, when guys like Iverson and Marbury were playing street ball basically, and you had players showing up to the games and press conferences in oversized jeans and t shirts and a bunch of jewelry.

If the perception that a white person tatted up belongs to a band, while a tatted black man belongs to prison or a gang does not offend you, so be it. As a black man it offends me greatly, but to each his own.

"guys like Iverson and Marbury were playing street ball basically..."

And there's the difference of perception. In 200x Iverson was a hero to your average street kid. The NBA has an image problem because it has to sell black players to a white audience. It really is not a complex issue.The NFL just sold a Super Bowl with a accused rapist as one of the starting Quarterbacks, but it's the NBA has the "ghetto" stigma. . There is nothing "ghetto" about Lebron James, at all. Going to prep school and achieving world-wide fame by age 16 is not what one would consider ghetto, but he's black and has tattoos and that is all that matters to some people.

Yeah because they had a very hard time selling Jordan and Magic to the American public.

The era after Jordan had a hard time connecting with the American public because alot of it was street ball. Iverson, Marbury, Francis. Little guys who shot way too much.

Lebron's image problem has nothing to do with tats. Lebron had one of the highest likeability ratings before he went to Miami. People's hatred towards James is no different than their hatred towards Favre. People just get sick of attention whores.

Magic played in an era with Bird, Mchale, Price, Walton, Stockton, and other White American's played on winning teams. Michael... I idolized MJ my entire life, but he's the same dude that couldn't be troubled to endorse a democrat against a racist republican because "republicans buy sneakers too." a north carolina farm boy is not exactly "hood" as it were.

And yeah people loved Lebron when he was smilin' and dancin' every five seconds. Attention whore my left asscheek, I'd be confused too, if they loved me at 17 on the cover of Sports Illustrated, but hated me at 25 for "The Decision". They build you up to tear you down.
And Bob, I don't think you or your father are racist or anything. But yes I do find his prejudice against others (of any color) to be offensive, but not to the point of anger or irrational hatred. I just am not a fan of ignorance in race-related issues for my own personal reasons. No disrespect intended, and I sincerely apologize, if I came off in any other light. I would never disrespect anyone's family let alone someone who served his community.

Uhhh bro, is this some sort of a joke? We are all supposed to feel sorry for LeBron because the big bad companies of ESPN and ABC and Nike built him up to tear him down? Or the fans who made him rich in the first place are real mean to him?

Nobody built him up to tear him down. The problem is people liked him when he was a bright young kid with a great future, and then later on they got to know him better and found out the guy was a d******d to all his fans in Cleveland and he doesn't give a s**t about the little guy who makes him rich in the first place.

[ Edited by WillistheWall on Jun 20, 2011 at 23:27:19 ]

and I dont bet when in craps when I see someone who is a ghetto roller, because they always roll a 7 after the come out roll. b*****ds

Originally posted by WillistheWall:

Originally posted by TheGoldStandard:

Originally posted by tjd808185:

Originally posted by TheGoldStandard:

Originally posted by WillistheWall:

Originally posted by TheGoldStandard:
If you're black you're out of prison, if you're right you're in a band, got it.

Not sure how being a rocker who plays music his dad didn't like is a compliment... besides he only said if they had long hair. If they had no hair he probably saw they were a skin head.

I honestly just don't know why you guys are making such a big deal out of this. It's a somewhat inflammatory comment made by 1 writer in 1 article out of a whole country's media. Not to mention that whether you guys think it's racist or not you'd have to be naive not to see that the USA basketball had an image problem with the rest of the world stemming from the early 2000s, when guys like Iverson and Marbury were playing street ball basically, and you had players showing up to the games and press conferences in oversized jeans and t shirts and a bunch of jewelry.

If the perception that a white person tatted up belongs to a band, while a tatted black man belongs to prison or a gang does not offend you, so be it. As a black man it offends me greatly, but to each his own.

"guys like Iverson and Marbury were playing street ball basically..."

And there's the difference of perception. In 200x Iverson was a hero to your average street kid. The NBA has an image problem because it has to sell black players to a white audience. It really is not a complex issue.The NFL just sold a Super Bowl with a accused rapist as one of the starting Quarterbacks, but it's the NBA has the "ghetto" stigma. . There is nothing "ghetto" about Lebron James, at all. Going to prep school and achieving world-wide fame by age 16 is not what one would consider ghetto, but he's black and has tattoos and that is all that matters to some people.

Yeah because they had a very hard time selling Jordan and Magic to the American public.

The era after Jordan had a hard time connecting with the American public because alot of it was street ball. Iverson, Marbury, Francis. Little guys who shot way too much.

Lebron's image problem has nothing to do with tats. Lebron had one of the highest likeability ratings before he went to Miami. People's hatred towards James is no different than their hatred towards Favre. People just get sick of attention whores.

Magic played in an era with Bird, Mchale, Price, Walton, Stockton, and other White American's played on winning teams. Michael... I idolized MJ my entire life, but he's the same dude that couldn't be troubled to endorse a democrat against a racist republican because "republicans buy sneakers too." a north carolina farm boy is not exactly "hood" as it were.

And yeah people loved Lebron when he was smilin' and dancin' every five seconds. Attention whore my left asscheek, I'd be confused too, if they loved me at 17 on the cover of Sports Illustrated, but hated me at 25 for "The Decision". They build you up to tear you down.
And Bob, I don't think you or your father are racist or anything. But yes I do find his prejudice against others (of any color) to be offensive, but not to the point of anger or irrational hatred. I just am not a fan of ignorance in race-related issues for my own personal reasons. No disrespect intended, and I sincerely apologize, if I came off in any other light. I would never disrespect anyone's family let alone someone who served his community.

Uhhh bro, is this some sort of a joke? We are all supposed to feel sorry for LeBron because the big bad companies of ESPN and ABC and Nike built him up to tear him down? Or the fans who made him rich in the first place are real mean to him?

Nobody built him up to tear him down. The problem is people liked him when he was a bright young kid with a great future, and then later on they got to know him better and found out the guy was a d******d to all his fans in Cleveland and he doesn't give a s**t about the little guy who makes him rich in the first place.

The media does this all the time.

Kobe, MJ, Tiger Bonds, Roger Clemens etc

I am not saying anyone was set up. But the media will build you up and when they get ANY dirt on you they will sell that more than anything that was ever good in your life. For Lebron it happens to be something very WEAK as far as ethics. The guy left in FA and made a show, which actually donated A LOT of money to charity. And he under performed in a few games.

IMO black players have it worse with the media.

Originally posted by blizzuntz:

Originally posted by WillistheWall:

Originally posted by TheGoldStandard:

Originally posted by tjd808185:

Originally posted by TheGoldStandard:

Originally posted by WillistheWall:

Originally posted by TheGoldStandard:
If you're black you're out of prison, if you're right you're in a band, got it.

Not sure how being a rocker who plays music his dad didn't like is a compliment... besides he only said if they had long hair. If they had no hair he probably saw they were a skin head.

I honestly just don't know why you guys are making such a big deal out of this. It's a somewhat inflammatory comment made by 1 writer in 1 article out of a whole country's media. Not to mention that whether you guys think it's racist or not you'd have to be naive not to see that the USA basketball had an image problem with the rest of the world stemming from the early 2000s, when guys like Iverson and Marbury were playing street ball basically, and you had players showing up to the games and press conferences in oversized jeans and t shirts and a bunch of jewelry.

If the perception that a white person tatted up belongs to a band, while a tatted black man belongs to prison or a gang does not offend you, so be it. As a black man it offends me greatly, but to each his own.

"guys like Iverson and Marbury were playing street ball basically..."

And there's the difference of perception. In 200x Iverson was a hero to your average street kid. The NBA has an image problem because it has to sell black players to a white audience. It really is not a complex issue.The NFL just sold a Super Bowl with a accused rapist as one of the starting Quarterbacks, but it's the NBA has the "ghetto" stigma. . There is nothing "ghetto" about Lebron James, at all. Going to prep school and achieving world-wide fame by age 16 is not what one would consider ghetto, but he's black and has tattoos and that is all that matters to some people.

Yeah because they had a very hard time selling Jordan and Magic to the American public.

The era after Jordan had a hard time connecting with the American public because alot of it was street ball. Iverson, Marbury, Francis. Little guys who shot way too much.

Lebron's image problem has nothing to do with tats. Lebron had one of the highest likeability ratings before he went to Miami. People's hatred towards James is no different than their hatred towards Favre. People just get sick of attention whores.

Magic played in an era with Bird, Mchale, Price, Walton, Stockton, and other White American's played on winning teams. Michael... I idolized MJ my entire life, but he's the same dude that couldn't be troubled to endorse a democrat against a racist republican because "republicans buy sneakers too." a north carolina farm boy is not exactly "hood" as it were.

And yeah people loved Lebron when he was smilin' and dancin' every five seconds. Attention whore my left asscheek, I'd be confused too, if they loved me at 17 on the cover of Sports Illustrated, but hated me at 25 for "The Decision". They build you up to tear you down.
And Bob, I don't think you or your father are racist or anything. But yes I do find his prejudice against others (of any color) to be offensive, but not to the point of anger or irrational hatred. I just am not a fan of ignorance in race-related issues for my own personal reasons. No disrespect intended, and I sincerely apologize, if I came off in any other light. I would never disrespect anyone's family let alone someone who served his community.

Uhhh bro, is this some sort of a joke? We are all supposed to feel sorry for LeBron because the big bad companies of ESPN and ABC and Nike built him up to tear him down? Or the fans who made him rich in the first place are real mean to him?

Nobody built him up to tear him down. The problem is people liked him when he was a bright young kid with a great future, and then later on they got to know him better and found out the guy was a d******d to all his fans in Cleveland and he doesn't give a s**t about the little guy who makes him rich in the first place.

The media does this all the time.

Kobe, MJ, Tiger Bonds, Roger Clemens etc

I am not saying anyone was set up. But the media will build you up and when they get ANY dirt on you they will sell that more than anything that was ever good in your life. For Lebron it happens to be something very WEAK as far as ethics. The guy left in FA and made a show, which actually donated A LOT of money to charity. And he under performed in a few games.

IMO black players have it worse with the media.

It's not much different than Favre or A Rod. Their ethic violations are pretty weak too yet both of them have low favorability ratings. People don't like attention whores, and media hyped golden boys who crumble under the pressure. If Lebron had some rings on his fingers like Kobe he could escape anything. You rape a girl 2 rings later and absolutely no one gives a d*mn.

It's hilarious that we're saying that a person with a 100 million dollar endorsement contract before he set foot on a basketball court was set up to fail. He was set up to succeed and when he didn't and arrogantly formed a super team and took the easy road people turned on him.

If you're going be treated like one of the greats of the game expectations are expected.

''Schtiglitz.....''