If you want to pass out blame, go ahead, there are plenty of choices.
The kid? The mom? The "dads?" The Ohio High School Athletic Association that has suddenly found religion? The ultra-aggressive newspaper reporter? The high school? ESPN? You? Me? Society?
Pick a villain any villain. Or just take all of them.
The most celebrated high school athletic career of all time, that of Akron (Ohio) St. Vincent-St. Mary basketball phenom LeBron James, is over. He was given a couple of free retro jerseys the other day worth $845 retail, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported it, and Friday, the OHSAA finally said enough was enough.
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| LeBron James' 'amateur' career ends Friday but it really ended a long time ago.(AP) |
But this isn't a disaster. This was the inevitable conclusion to a situation that couldn't work, never made sense and was only allowed to last because the OHSAA allowed itself to practice situational ethics until it had finally been made to look foolish.
Then, and only then, did it shut things down.
Not for the H2. Not for the rides on the corporate shoe company jets. Not for the favors from Michael Jordan.
For a couple of jerseys.
The OHSAA? Please. It has the authority but long ago became a joke. You can't allow a pay-per-view deal to operate and then crush a kid for a couple of overpriced retro jerseys. But if it feels better about itself today after ending LeBronmania, then so be it.
It's not like anyone should feel bad for LeBron. First off, he should have known better, should have been more mature and should have said thanks but no thanks to the jerseys. But then again, if he had only been charged with robbing a bank or something, he would still be playing. Due process and all.
But take two jerseys, get caught by the papers and humiliate the OHSAA again?
So he doesn't get to play anymore. He does, however, get to pass go and immediately collect tens of millions of dollars.
With no OHSAA rules to abide by, James can walk into any bank in Akron Saturday and open a line of credit for, say, $10 million. He can buy a fleet of H2s and use them to move his mother into a new house by afternoon.
Then he can start considering the deal that will trade his marketing rights for tens of millions of dollars. Or the shoe deal that sources at both Adidas and Nike say could approach $100 million. Seriously.
And that's before he ever signs a contract as the first pick in the NBA Draft, which will pay him a piddling $16 million over four years.
So a poor kid got rich Friday. Let's not shed any tears.
Don't call this a disaster. Call it the end of the charade, the inevitable last act of the wildest high school production ever.
LeBron James had outgrown high school about 15 months ago. He hasn't been an amateur athlete in years. Everyone knew it. No one wanted to admit it. According to the rules, he was unable to receive a gift for more than $100.
That's a joke, right? Every agent, corporation and money guy on two continents has been crawling around the kid for 2½ years. A hundred bucks?
When he was 16 years old, Michael Jordan put him up in Chicago so they could "practice" together. The idea was Jordan needed some good competition to see if he was ready to return to the NBA. That's a nice story. I've got two tickets to a St. Vincent-St. Mary game to sell you if you believe it.
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| Sources at Adidas and Nike says LeBron James' shoe deal could be worth close to $100 million. (AP) |
Jordan didn't need a 16-year-old to prepare for the NBA. He didn't need to be friends with a high school kid. He didn't need to let James see his private doctor when he broke his wrist last summer. This is Michael Jordan we are talking about. He doesn't need to kiss anyone's ass.
But Jordan Brand did need a tryout to see if LeBron was as good as the hype, did need to get a feel for the kid's personality and did need to find someone who LeBron won't say no to when the chips are on the table. Michael Jordan is Nike's ace in the hole.
That summer day in 2001 when LeBron went to Chicago as the guest of a shoe executive was the day he was no longer an amateur. I am almost positive the NCAA would have ruled it that way. The OHSAA never wanted to think about it. Didn't want to when a thousand other "extra benefits" were coming the kid's way either.
Not as long as Value City Arena was selling out.
Now they do. What can you say?
This was inevitable. This is what happens when a unique talent shatters the structure of a system. LeBron was too big, too good, too charismatic to be a high school basketball player. He should have been a pro two years ago.
But the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement prevents it. That's how it is with young team sport athletes in this country.
If James could hit a forehand instead of a free throw, he would have long ago been rich. But he wasn't. Instead, he had to stay an amateur until his high school class graduated. That's the system. Even if he was bigger than the system.
It made no more sense than if at age 16 Britney Spears was prohibited from signing a record deal and instead was told to spend the next two years singing in the Kentwood (La.) High School choir. For free. According to her label, Jive Records, Spears sold 19 million albums by the time she would have graduated from high school.
"It's just an odd situation," James told me during his junior year as he mulled that scenario over. "I never thought of it that way. Man, that's just odd."
Anytime James wanted, he could have quit his high school team and taken the money. The shoe companies were willing to sign him at any point. He could have just worked out with a trainer until the NBA was an option.
He banked on letting high school hoops and Adidas grassroots basketball, which sponsored his high school team, market him into an even bigger deal. It worked.
A poor kid got rich Friday. Even richer than he would have three months ago.
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| LeBron James was cleared in the H2 controversy, but two free jerseys end his high school career.(AP) |
He should have been patient. He should have said no to the free jerseys. He should have said he didn't need the H2 until March 23, the day after the state championship. He should have realized that when they let him skate on the truck, he might want to keep his nose clean. He should have thought like an adult and made a smart decision.
Instead he pushed and pushed and pushed the OHSAA until even it had to wake up. Now he has to deal with it.
But here is what he didn't do: Hurt anyone, steal anything, break any laws, act improperly.
Of all the outrageous, horrible things that athletes do each and every day in this country, LeBron James taking a gift shouldn't create a ripple. No women were abused. No charges were filed. No one got hurt. A candy machine wasn't even involved.
As much as he will be raked over the coals for this, the reality is a kid took a couple of free jerseys. He's LeBron James, not Jesse James.
Some will argue that his teammates are the ones who are cheated here because their state championship hopes just went up in smoke. Please. There was no state championship without James.
Their famous teammate gave those kids the ride of a lifetime. There were trips around the country, national television exposure and rock star treatment. They didn't get cheated. The magic carpet ride just ended seven weeks early. The lead singer just got too big for the band.
Friday was inevitable. LeBronmania almost made it, but in the end the volatile mix of too much and too many finally overwhelmed a system that is designed for quaint things like regulating girl's volleyball.
You want to pick a villain, go ahead. You want to say Friday was terrible, feel free.
I say it was nature running its course. This got ugly a long, long time ago.
