GoodSportsGoodSports: The Humbled King
Today's dose of goodness comes from last night, when LeBron James and Dwyane Wade and the South Beach Heat beat the Boston Celtics to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. You could see more than just a 6-foot-9 freak of nature dominating the end of a basketball game. You could see a reflection of the human condition, a tangible measuring stick for growth. At the end of the game, James buried the 2010-2011 Celtics for good with 10 straight points. As has occurred in the past, James could have roared and made faces and acted as though all should bow before him. But he didn't. He was the one who bowed.
Adrian Wojnarowski over at Yahoo! Sports writes that James "dropped to his knees, bowed his head and turned his eyes away from the pulsating lights and party music. Finally, LeBron James had beaten them. All alone on the floor, he looked like a man soaked in some sort of salvation."
King James acknowledged that even a king needs help. He said after the game, according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst, "As much as I loved my teammates back in Cleveland, as much as I loved home, I knew I couldn't do it by myself against [Boston] ... The way it panned out with all the friends and family and fans back home, I apologize for the way it happened. This was the opportunity of a lifetime."
I'm wary as anyone of James. Displays like that whole "The Decision" debacle last summer are why the Greeks invented the word "hubris." It's not easy to forget that. But what man or woman alive wants to be defined by one thing they did, one action, regardless of how huge or how small a scale it was on, and especially when they are young as James is? Who among us in our early twenties did not, at some point, act with all arrogance like he ruled the world? James just did it when he was actually in front of the world.
What James said last night after such a huge win is a sign of change. And not only what he said after, but how he played during. I've been part of the party that gives James crap for "not being clutch." Until last night, I didn't think he was. I believed he could be, though—someone massive as he is, talented as he is, you'd be a fool not to believe he couldn't grow into himself.
Maybe I'm moved too easily. Maybe I'm just not cynical enough. Researching this little blog post, I've come across a disturbing amount of vitriol for James, none moreso than Esquire's Scott Raab's Twitter feed. Raab tweeted, "Someone tell [James] that a man is defined by how he acts when things DON'T go his way. Shove it up your [redacted], quitter."
Raab is right, but only half-right. If you're in the business of defining men—which Raab seems to be, at least when it comes to LeBron James—then you also need to define them by how they act when they get exactly what they want. Plenty of people believe that James's win over the Celtics this year was hollow, that they were too old, too hurt, too weak compared to the team that beat him last year. If you believe that, that's fine. But it seems like this was one of the most important things in James's professional life.
For all the villification he's taken this season—and not all of it unmerited—it would have been way too easy for him to just give the world and the Celtics the middle finger last night. But he didn't. He took a knee. He spoke with what seemed like grace and humility.
I'm not sure I understand the hate. I see the cause. James wasn't perfect. He didn't bring a championship to Cleveland. Etcetera, etcetera. I turn no blind eye toward his failures, as a ballplayer or as a celebrity. But why do people hate him? Why do they put so much of their energy, their passion, into that?
Imperfect as James is, his comments last night—something seemed genuine about them. Maybe I'm wrong. And maybe James will choke in the Eastern Conference Finals or, if he gets there, the NBA Finals. There's an excellent chance that in a month or so this post will make me look like a fool.
Last night, though, even if only for one night, it looked like he's finally gotten through some growing pains. And like we've all always been taught, progress happens one step, one night, at a time.
[ Photo: James, after the game. Via ESPN.com. ]
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