If you missed it, Jordan Crawford, a Xavier sophomore (and legit NBA prospect) dunked on LeBron in an after-hours pickup game at a Nike summer-camp, a freelance photographer named Ryan Miller caught it on film, Nike representatives confiscated the tape after, at least according to the freelance photographer, "LeBron called the [Nike rep] over and told him something."
He told him something!
Well, if the heretofore unknown freelance photographer says so, it must be true, thus, LeBron must be:
A baby. [Chris Littman and LSU Freek at The Sporting News]
"[S]urpassingly lame." [Craggs at Deadspin]
"Pathetic . . . you may have erased the video of the dunk, LeBron James, but you haven't erased the video of your soul." [Dwyer at BDL]
"[A] pr*ck." [Craggs again, in a later post on the topic]
"Channeling media tactics straight out of North Korea." [This from Pete Thamel of the New York Times, of all sources -- what could the NYT possibly have against North Korea?]
Why, "we already knew LeBron was a fairly bad sport . . . , but did you know he also has no sense of humor about himself?" [Shanoff at TSN]
"Michael Jordan never would have let this happen . . . This whole mess provides another reason why LeBron will never be Michael." [Chris Chase at Yahoo Sports]
Michael Jordan never would have let this happen? Or is it that we would have never let Michael Jordan happen, had he come up in this day of YouTube and push-button publishing?
The latter seems far more likely given the remarkably uniform credulity expressed by the sporting press toward the obviously self-interest laced speculation of a freelance photographer, who had to know he'd get himself at least a little bit of attention by going public with his "story." [He's already hitting the talk-radio circuit. Wonder if he's hired a publicist yet? Maybe he already had one.]
Witness the following characteristic response from The Sporting News' Chris Littman to Nike's statement in reaction to the firestorm, which explained that they maintain a 'no videotaping' policy at camps like this, and that this was 'the first time in four years that this policy was violated' [Note, nobody seems to be asking anyone to come forward with any other "freelance" videotape shot at this camp in the last four years, and we highly doubt that one will surface]:
Littman: "This would seem to fly smack in the face of what was written and said on CBS earlier in the day on Wednesday."
Why, it certainly would, Mr. Holmes. And who dareth come forth with a statement in contradiction of the gospel of our freelance photographer?
Which brings us to another theme that underlies most if not all of these "reports": That, for whatever reason, the public has a "right" to see this video. "Unfortunately, a disagreement over how or why this all went down doesn't change the fact that we'll never see the video."
To Mr. Dwyer's credit, he at least points out that "Nike was well within its rights to confiscate what did make it to hard disk." And of course, Nike and the athletes who endorse its brand pay millions of dollars to agents, publicists, and other "image-experts" to protect just the property that Nike sought to protect by confiscating these tapes here. In many ways, this alleged crime seems far more excusable than Kobe's apparent breach of a contract with Spike Lee by commandeering editorial control of Lee's recent film about him.
But Spike Lee is no freelance photographer. And the real issue here isn't with the rule, it's with the way it was enforced, and none of the above linked pieces attempts to cast a sliver of doubt on the notion that, "you can bet a month's pay that the only reason Nike wanted anything to do with those cameras is because James called a Nike rep over to point out the cameramen, [after the] dunk." Doesn't matter that nobody knows what James said to the Nike rep, if he said anything at all. Doesn't matter that Nike might not have known about the tape until the alleged conversation, and probably has plenty of good reasons to keep its superstar summer camps from turning press conferences.
You can bet a month's pay that LeBron is the pr*ck here, a big one, and the only one, all because the freelance photographer said so. And the world continues to flatten as it gets easier and easier to throw rocks at the throne.
LeBron will never be Michael Jordan. There will never, ever, ever be another Michael Jordan.
UPDATE: Commenter A.J. raises an important point that we left out of the post; In defense of the above-linked posts, another theme underlying at least most of them:
"Given the context in which the alleged dunk happened (summer camps), I would have loved to see a videotape of the dunk itself followed by an appropriate reaction by LeBron--namely, giving kudos and a fist-bump to the kid who got the better of him on that play, and accepting the accompanying ribbing with a good-natured smile or laugh. Talk about blowing a made-for-media chance to show what a good sport you are and how in control you are."
That's what the real story is here; a potentially blown opportunity. An understandably blown-opportunity given the circumstances, as far as we're concerned, because we wonder if any of the very few in the world who competes (or have competed) at as high a level as LeBron at anything (including, and especially Jordan himself), would have reacted any differently under such circumstances. But nevertheless; What. A. Pr*ck.




