(Bangs head against desk repeatedly)
New mini-controversy. Looks like a bit of a jerk move to me. Here’s what I’m thinking right now:
-7% of me thinks he should’ve just handed him the clothes and given a nice smile. How hard would that have been?
-3% of me thinks this would be evidence of how dialed in he was and how much “killer instinct” he had going if he had a ring.
-4% of me thinks that players probably do this all the time without having it go viral.
-80% of me just wants to talk about basketball.
-6% of me wants to talk about Bango the deer. That’s why the Bucks won both their home games without Bogut. My favorite part about that skit is that the Bucks in-game PR team clearly had one Hawks jersey. Also, backflips. Bango does them.
I read somewhere that the cavs joke around and do stuff like this to ball boys back home to make them feel like part of the team. I don’t know how valid that is but either way I don’t make too much of the controversy.
The internet is for nothing but negative comments and to try and point out “Guy A you hate”‘s worst looking moments. It should be mandatory that for every time you post something negative regarding someone, you should have to post the counter to it.
For example, how about all the times I tune into the games and the ballboy is being brought into their celebrations at the bench? Although someone would just grab that and say how it’s being disrespectful to their opponents…
That being said, “FEAR THE DEER!”
The fact this would become an issue is ridiculous. IMO Lebron was just focused on the court, not the ball boy. It’s not like he threw the clothes at the kids face or something…
Forget the ballboy. FEAR THE DEER!! Wow.
Lebron’s not even looking at the ballboy. He’s about to walk onto the court, into a crucial game 4 thats basically tied at 30. During the NBA playoffs… uh…
If this is your biggest piece of evidence of how bad LeBron is…you really need to let it go.
the first time i saw an NBA player do that, I was like “wow what a dick.” But people do that all the time instead of handing it to the ballboy. I’m pretty sure even if lebron did that on purpose, it was more of a psychological “he’s one of the enemies” things. It only matters because it was a kid, but I’m sure that kid didn’t get his feelings hurt since players regularly throw their stuff on the ground when coming in the game.
It was a chicago ballboy right? if it was a cleveland ballboy then this is even less of an issue considering all the stories about the cavs messing with the ballboys [playfully (no homo)]
but in all seriousness, Lebron has shown many times with his 3-pt celebrations that he is part of a group that controls the world from the shadows, so how nice do you expect him to be?
made me laugh when i was watching the game. x
I would agree with you guys if the kid wasnt there standing with his hand out and trying hard to make sure LeBron saw him. LeBron is a butthole and I’m glad he keeps failing. If this had been Artest or Rasheed Wallace doing this the media would kill them. Even if Wade and Kobe did it the world would be up in arms but I guess Bron gets a pass
Can we get Moondog to punch people into the Cuyahoga? I want to see this happen.
Having been a ballboy in Portland, this one was not doing his job very well. Standing with his hand out for the clothes is contrary to any ease of exchange. It just makes it awkward, which is why its standard practice to pick them up off the floor. Plus, LBJ has consistently shown himself to be gracious and accessible off the floor (as much as can be expected).
…waiting for the Tim Povtak story about why LeBron isn’t the MVP because he tosses his clothes on the floor instead of folding them neatly into a pile and handing them to the guy standing next to him.
and also the story about how Dwight Howard is the best defensive player ever despite not even being present on the court for 50% of the opposing team’s possessions last series
*rolls eyes* After I saw the headline and read the article, I thought it was going to be a lot worse than it was.
“The fact this would become an issue is ridiculous. IMO Lebron was just focused on the court, not the ball boy. It’s not like he threw the clothes at the kids face or something…”
He was NOT just “focused” as you put it. He deliberately threw the 3rd piece of clothing out of the reach of the ball boy. He went out of his way to throw it to the ground…so he was obviously not “focused on the court” because by deliberately throwing it around the ball boy, he showed that he was thinking about what he was doing and NOT just “focused.”
@eli: hahahaha, exactly what i was thinking
“I would agree with you guys if the kid wasnt there standing with his hand out and trying hard to make sure LeBron saw him. LeBron is a butthole and I’m glad he keeps failing. If this had been Artest or Rasheed Wallace doing this the media would kill them. Even if Wade and Kobe did it the world would be up in arms but I guess Bron gets a pass”
Are you a ballboy? I doubt it.
The Pacers ballboy on Twitter said this is probably not done to be a dick. Rather, he was clearly messing with the kid. The Pacers guy also said players do that kind of stuff all the time, and its all in good fun.
Hell, I did that kind of stuff playing for the high school team. Didn’t mean I was being a dick to anyone.
Anyone who is upset by this has either:
A. Never been a ballboy
or
B. Never played basketball at the high school level or higher.
Are (some of) you guys serious?!? Dear Lord…. I’d hate to see what would happen if LeBron actually broke the law. The internet might shut down.
I really liked ‘bron in his first few seasons in the league, and i won’t take fromwhat he does on the court.
but just like MJ, KG etc he’s just a very unlikable character to me. I can totally understand why he’s like this, talking 3rd person about himself etc.
Some of the all-time greats are huge turds in the personality dept. I get it. I can understand why,
but this is why i will always root for them to fail. I love when KG loses it. I love when Lebron messes up.
a lot of the time odds will be against that, but when it happens, i will love it every time.
I can only root for nice guys like Durant, Howard, …
But that’s just me
First of all, I do not care how TALENTED a person is, a jerk is a jerk,…..and LeBron, Jay-Z, and Sheriff Buford T Justice (Oh!…..and Kobe’s wife) are ALL jerks. There have been MULTIPLE reports about how these individuals treat “ground-bound” humans……like peasants in Ancient Rome. He deliberately threw those clothes away from the kid. Now, I am pretty sure those kids are briefed to expect the unexpected…..and they should feel honored to be where they are. So, that means, just because you give a Haitian(after the earthquake) a t-shirt, you can throw mud in their face? Focused, or not, that is a child (young adult), and it does look bad. But, those are our beloved celebs, and it is blasphemy to speak ill of them. Whenever they come crashing to the ground, then, we are all shocked. Well, if you wouldn’t put them so high in the first place, they wouldn’t have far to fall. The only TWO beings that need to be place HIGH on a pedestal are God and Satan – because we all worship one or the other CONSTANTLY !!!!
“I can only root for nice guys like Durant, Howard,”
Dwight Howard!?!? The same “nice guy” who may also be the biggest hypocrite out there? The guy preaches his religion, then has a kid out of wedlock with one of the most, lets just say, promiscuous dancers in the NBA. How are you going to sit in an interview talking about you win because your team has more faith, then commit a sin like that? Now, I’m not a religious person, and the institute of marriage is overblown in my opinion, but we know Dwight’s religious, and that kind of thing’s a big deal.
Like I said, you would have thought LeBron had killed someone in that clip…
You know what? I’m not going to talk about this anymore. This is stupid. Just like the french fry thing.
I will say this: Only LeBron would get killed for something like this (and the french fry thing). If it were someone else (maybe not Kobe), they’d say, “haha, look how funny so and so is, what a jokester!”
That kid has one of the greatest jobs in the world.. im jealous.
You know LeBron’s biggest problem? He’s not Jesus. Not only would Jesus never have done this to be mean, but he also wasn’t much of a prankster (at least according to the most popular gospels).
Wow guys… Nice guys like Dwight Howard? Do you watch the same guy I see throwing elbows at people’s heads and always losing his temper? What a sterling example….
Speaking as a former athlete, I’ve even done exactly what Lebron did, and I consider myself a pretty nice guy. Lebron shouldn’t be ripped for this and he shouldn’t be set up as being perfect. He’s not perfect, but this is really reaching for a reason to be a hater.
Oh by the way, BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA at the proselytizing!!! The only thing I’ve seen today that was funnier than that was the Fear the Deer video, which was epically awesome. Made my day!
Colin Z: “Are (some of) you guys serious?!? Dear Lord…. I’d hate to see what would happen if LeBron actually broke the law. The internet might shut down.”
Frickin hilarious. LeBron takes off his sweats hundreds of times each year and 97% of those times the ballboys do NOT put their hand out to take them from the player. Why should LeBron expect the kid to do it this time? Just a habit, take em off and throw em down. It is ridiculous that people think this is an intentional act of elitism or whatever else you bozos are thinking.
Fact is, the only people who have a legit gripe about LeBron is Clevelanders because he hasnt brought us a championship yet and wears yankees and cowboys gear all over the place! ha! thats sarcasm people. the dude is a grown man living about as clean and open and honest a life as anyone could expect him, or anybody, for that matter, to live.
1) if this is a controversy people need to get a life. Who cares? It’s not like he was out drinking late and killed someone. or shot himself in his leg. or sexually assaulted a woman. or forgot he was carrying a gun at the airport. We tend to scrutinize his every move because its somewhat unbelievable that this guy hasn’t messed up yet.
2) Lebron may be a jerk. My dealings with him he has been very nice and laid back. I know for a fact he does a ton of community service in Akron and Cleveland and gets no recognition for it. For instance, he volunteers at a homeless shelter in the Cleve (my friend runs the place). He also volunteers at a youth center. One time he even rented out a limo for the kids mother’s and took them to get their hair and nails done etc. None of this was publicized. As a hilarious side note, Braylon Edwards also went to volunteer at the same homeless shelter. He brought along video cameras so he could publicize it. He was not allowed to do so and after some of the residents began making fun of his inability to catch a ball, he left.
Well I am a life-long Cleveland fan and will always love LeBron for what he has done for this city, but I’ve heard from numerous people that he is pretty rude in public when out and about around town. And he’s supposedly a very poor tipper (i.e., $4 tip on a $400 bill). This is all just hearsay and should be taken with a grain of salt, but my point is maybe this is just the way he is. And if he is who cares? As long as he keeps dominating on the court I won’t complain.
Dwight Howard!?!? The same “nice guy” who may also be the biggest hypocrite out there? The guy preaches his religion, then has a kid out of wedlock with one of the most, lets just say, promiscuous dancers in the NBA. How are you going to sit in an interview talking about you win because your team has more faith, then commit a sin like that? Now, I’m not a religious person, and the institute of marriage is overblown in my opinion, but we know Dwight’s religious, and that kind of thing’s a big deal.
this is bull**** you’re creating a straw man out of a false dichotomy.
I love how people believe what they are told about athletes. All of you hating on LeBron also probably worshipped Jordan when he was in the league because the advertisers wanted you to believe he was Jesus reborn. IN reality, Jordan isn’t a very good person at all but you didn’t know that. You guys realize Dwight HOward was at the very top of the league in technical fouls…right there with your hated Rasheed Wallace? Why do we hate Rasheed? When it boils down to it, the only reason we can come up with is because he runs his mouth to the refs way to much and gets way to many techincals. Dwight does THE EXACT SAME THING. How is that being a “nice” guy.
Colin is right. If LeBron actually got in trouble with the law in any way, shape, or form, the entire world might explode from it’s core. LeBron has been one of the better superstar’s off the court and we will kill him for anything he does. He doesn’t have a severe gambling problem like Jordan. As far as we know, he also doesn’t have another JOrdan problem (staying faithful). He doesn’t go out and drink (he does go out, but he doesn’t drink). He has yet to be in any kind of trouble at all with the law. THat is more than we can say for Melo or Kobe. So waht do we do? Find ways to kill him for doing things like not shaking hands (maybe the biggest joke ever. Only people who didn’t play competitive sports think this was a problem. Everyone who did knows that the hand shake is the biggest fake thing in history and that none of us wanted to do it. It didn’t change our minds on the game or what happened one bit). We kill him for not practicing with Hakeem Olajuwon in the offseason (how is that working out for Kobe btw, well it seems). We kill him for throwing his clothes on the floor….REALLY? If he handed them to the kids you wouldn’t have cared one bit as you would have said something like “well, the real players don’t do that, they put them on the floor. By doing that LeBron has singled that kid out and it isn’t fair.”
Get a life people, hate on something worth your hate. Hate on Ben Roethlisberger (I do, and I’m a steelers fan). Hate on Joakim Noah. Hate on Magic Johnson for being a terrible analyst.
@ Rich -isn’t the fact that so many people believed the hype about Jordan one of the more appropriate reasons to look closely at Lebron’s actions? You make a good statement about being skeptical of what we’re told about athletes and then the rest of your post is completely absent of any of that skepticism.