This is a sticky subject, so let's just get right in to it — LeBron James(notes) is convinced that race is a factor in the criticism surrounding his signing with the Miami Heat and his television special, "The Decision." Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports there is some data that seems to support LeBron's claim:

A recent release of Q Scores, a polling system that measures popularity, appeared to support the notion.

Among non-blacks, James' negative Q rating went from 24 percent to 44 after his free-agency announcement. However, among blacks, his negative Q Score slipped just from 14 percent to 15 percent. [...]

Also interviewed by CNN during the segment that aired Wednesday night was James advisor Maverick Carter, the CEO of James' marketing wing, who agreed about the impact of the race factor.

"It definitely played a role in some of the stuff coming out of the media, things that were written for sure," Carter said.

Now, as one of the pastiest fellows to ever walk the Earth, I'm not really in position to say whether or not race was a factor in why people didn't like the way LeBron James left the Cleveland Cavaliers. From a personal standpoint, I can assure you that I would have thought it was very poorly handled and ridiculous no matter what color LeBron was. Arrogance comes in many shades.

[Photos: LeBron James with his new team]

However, what I do know is that LeBron saying that he thinks race is a factor will make his actions seem even worse to people who do think it was a factor. That is stupid on so, so many levels, but sadly, it's true. People who consider race when deciding how they feel about someone are more than happy to use these sort of statements against a person. Because they are stupid.

Anyway, maybe race was a factor. The Q Scores certainly seem to support that theory. Then again, his negative rating did slip among black respondents — just not as much — and he was criticized by people such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley, all of whom are black. Clearly, his moves weren't a big hit no matter the person's race.

[Video: LeBron at Heat media day]

Again, as a white guy, there's no way I can know how LeBron is feeling, but I just have a hard time believing people would have been OK with what LeBron did this summer if he weren't black. And really, that's how it should be. People should hate "The Decision" because it was stupid, not because of LeBron James' race.

In the 1983 NFL Draft, Elway was selected as the first overall pick by the Baltimore Colts. Elway had, by then, played two summers of minor league baseball for the New York Yankees organization. Additionally, Elway had publicly stated that he refused to join the Colts organization, feeling the team could not allow him to be successful. If they did not trade him he said he was going to play baseball. Eventually, Colts owner Robert Irsay gave in. The Colts traded him to the Denver Broncos for QB Mark Herrmann, rights to OL Chris Hinton and a first-round pick (OG Ron Solt) in the 1984 NFL Draft on May 2, 1983. John Elway is one of three quarterbacks in the history of the NFL Draft (started in 1936) to be drafted #1 and go on to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The other two are Terry Bradshaw and Troy Aikman.[4]

Some things that are different:

Elway was not born in Maryland (he was born in Washington State)
Elway had at that point never played for any professional football team
Elway did not switch from one team to another
Elway was threatening to play another sport entirely, vs. Lebron staying in the same sport but leaving for a different team

But the biggest factor to me is the hometown factor. I think Lebron will always be pinned as someone who left his hometown team for the easy way out. While Elway didn't sign with the team that drafted him for similar reasons (he thought the Colts sucked) he didn't owe the Colts any special allegiance.

I don't think race is the issue. Plenty of sports players have gotten backlash - ARod and the Red Sox, Eli Manning forcing not to be drafted by the Chargers etc.

Lebron is one of the highest profile athletes and people thought differently of him. He totally mishandled the move to Miami - even his word choice "taking my talents to South Beach" not "I have decided to play for the Miami heat next season" - it just came off as arrogant, insensitive, and immature.

I could go on but you get the point. It's not about his race and he brought this on himself.

UM is one of the most widely supported college football teams among the black community. Expect parallels among fans with the Heat The "necklace" incident's impact is also not reflected and didn't help.

Me personally I don't hate the man. the 'Decision' was a poor choice. I mean the broadcasting of the event. The NBA and ESPN seemed to borrow a page from the WWF on that one. I get he wants to play for rings. With 3 of the best in the game on one roster there is no underdog to root for there and most of white America will not root for this team for this alone. We have here 2 of the top 3 black superstars are playing together those who rooted for them before are likely ecstatic now.

A lot of people will dismiss race playing a part, but a lot of the time it does subconciously have an impact in peoples attitudes in a lot of cases, even in the most ridiculous ways. However in this case- it was the way he announced it, and then the media stoked the fire (where as up until now they'd always defended him or wrote pieces worshipping him).

Ira wrote:There was no Kevin Garnett backlash when he got out of Minnesota.

Kevin Garnett's black? damn, what a traitor!

*Bleep* Lebron. I don't think the same of Bosh and Wade. One was trying to add to his team by recruiting stars...which is exactly what he should have done. The other is clearly looking for the easier route to a chip.

Lebron? Shoulda done the legacy thing, but he chumped out and now has to make excuses.

O'BRIEN: "Do you think there's a role that race plays in this?"

JAMES: "I think so, at times. It's always, you know, a race factor."

Thats all Lebron said. Once agian, people are making a bigger deal out what Lebron does/says. This backlash he's getting is nonsense and it does make you wonder. Where is the crime he committed? He didn't rape anyone, kill anyone, get arrested, etc. Yet, he is hated to the level where you think he did. Enough is enough already!

izybx wrote:LeBron James is really helping his image with moronic statements like this.

What was moronic about his exact statement?