Sports, and Moral Distortion

I didn’t want to spend another post examining the LeBron phenomenon (the LeBronomenon?). But the public shaming of basketball’s most compelling figure has been absolutely fascinating. As Drew Magary (of KSK and Deadspin fame) astutely tweeted last night:

WE DID IT! WE KILLED LEBRON! HE’S DEAD! THE PRESIDENT’S ANNOUNCING IT AT MIDNIGHT! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

And no joke, one could easily be confused by switching Osama for LeBron and Obama for Dirk across social media sites last night. Never in my lifetime (and likely before) has any athlete been so eviscerated by everyone. The schadenfreude was widespread, and the nation reveled in the downfall of the self-proclaimed Chosen One. How did we get to this point? Just four years ago, LeBron truly was the golden boy, knocking off the established Pistons by himself, leaving us wondering what the future held for him. Who could have predicted four years later he’d be arguably the most hated athlete in history?

It’s interesting how different events shape our perceptions as sports fans. We’re truly irrational when it comes to judging famous sportspeople by their behavior. We celebrate the downfall of LeBron, whose worst crime is two spectacles of himself over the summer a year ago, and an immature joke at Dirk Nowitzki’s. We’re happy for Jason Kidd, who’s previously pleaded guilty for the domestic abuse of his ex-wife. We’re happy LeBron got punked by DeShawn Stevenson, a man with questionable ethics. The masses gleefully compared LeBron unfavorably to Michael and Kobe, two known adulterers and guys who have thrown teammates under the bus. We hated LeBron’s arrogance for staging the Decision, angry that he thought himself important enough to have his own one-hour special. Then we tuned in by the millions, ignoring the fact we legitimized the production.

He’s even turned Dan Gilbert into a perceived victim. Gilbert tweeted last night:

Congrats to Mark C.&entire Mavs org. Mavs NEVER stopped & now entire franchise gets rings. Old Lesson for all:There are NO SHORTCUTS. NONE.

This tweet, and his post-Decision letter, while both criticized by some, were also widely appreciated by the LeBron haters. Dan Gilbert, buyer of the team with LeBron James on it already, yet hater of shortcuts. “Subprime Dan,” as he’s known, offering 0%, no money down mortgages over the internet, yet the hater of shortcuts. Hypocrisy ignored, at LeBron’s expense.

As Bill Simmons said in his column earlier today, there may be a day when we root for LeBron James again. In the meantime, we’ll exaggerate his PR missteps, bask in his on-court failures, and ignore the character flaws of everyone else. And as much as I’m calling out everyone, I’ll keep being guilty of it as well. Sports have a confusing way of playing with our moral relativity, and it’s part of what makes them such a cultural phenomenon.