LeBron Move Benefits Tea Party? (Wait? What?)
;)
This doesn't happen often, but Joshua Green's post for The Atlantic called "How LeBron's Move Helps the Tea Party" is the first article I've read in a long time where my brain fought with me as I tried to read it.
"Nope! NOPE!" went the brain. "I ain't making room for this!"
From The Atlantic:
Back to Ohio. The unemployment rate is well above the national average, nearly 11 percent. The state's manufacturing base has been decimated, and those jobs aren't coming back. And now, suddenly, the biggest star in the state -- an economic engine in his own right, and a guy who probably single-handedly made Cleveland a recognizable sports mecca all over the world -- has forsaken its residents. And not just forsaken them, but utterly humiliated them by forsaking them on a globally televised ESPN Special!
Would you be angry? I sure would be. And I'd be that much more amenable to the Tea Party message that everything is going to hell.
What this is, I don't even know.
Joshua Green, LeBron James, Politics, media, sports, tea baggers, tea party, the atlantic, wtf 
Reader Comments (12)
they reaching
Brett Farve didn't go quietly into retirement. Instead he stayed paid. He peeped out how the Vikings had everything but a QB and he signed up. But for a bad pass late against the Saints, we could be talking about how Farve took an average team and went all the way. But, that's football. Plus, Farve took rings to Green Bay. The NBA is different.
In basketball the team has 11-12 guys and no face masks. The fans are up close and personal. Lebron in particular plays basketball A.J. (after Jordan). The Jordan Rule states, "Thou shalt not leave your team if you are THE only Franchise Player." Not Kobe, nor Duncan, nor D-Wade, nor MJ himself left their teams in troubled times. Shaq has moved around, but he was never the biggest star on the court. Orlando (penny), LA (kobe), Phx (Amare), Cle(Lebron). Superstars tough it out. Superstars complete and expect for the winning attitude to raise the team together. That's the price of being a superstar in the NBA. You can't up and leave and expect the same respect. Going to Miami was not the noble thing to do to Cleveland, nor the smartest basketball move Lebron could have made.
^^^
*MJ left the Bulls to play in DC. But, he was attempting to gain an ownership interest in the team. Plus, he was already the best ever and going back to Chi would have been a bad look.
So it's Lebron's JOB to single-handley save Cleveland?!! What a joke this guy is either trying to be funny or he is just THAT stupid.
The definition of superstar is to save the team.
Silliness ... and I don't just mean the article.
Truly, professional sports are the opiate of the people.
wenzel shaq was the biggest star not only on his team but in the entire league for a while. jordan was passing the torch to diesel even while jordan was still winning championships. it was a big deal when shaq left orlando for L.A. but we didn't have twitter and all that other dumb $h!t back then.
I'll give you Orlando. Shaq was hot back in the 90s. I can't say Shaq could hold MJ's torch. The big man position depends on having good outside options. Kobe and Shaq earned their titles 50/50.
I guess there might be something to the biggest stars-the legends-staying in one place. Like Jordan, Magic, Bird, and Dr. J did not move.
When you think about it, communities are psychologically invested in sports teams. Sometimes it's the only that unites people across race, sex, and class. Athletes come to represent something bigger than themselves.
Some understand and appreciate that.
I went on the website and read the article and it turns out he WAS being funny it was meant to be tongue-in-cheek.
Wow. That was an incredible parody fail. Poor fella.
I like Joshua Green and his reporting. He's very good.
But this is a miss by him on my part. Oh well.