0212070197
DETROIT FREE PRESS
021208
Sunday, December 08, 2002
METRO FINAL
1E
MITCH ALBOM FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
Copyright (c) 2002, Detroit Free Press
NO EXCUSES FOR HYPING THIS AMERICAN IDOL
When it comes to a teenaged basketball player named LeBron James, everybody
has an excuse.
His Ohio high school, St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, which is showcasing James
around the country this season, flying him everywhere from L.A. to
Philadelphia, has its excuse: "We're giving him a chance to face top-flight
competition," it says.
And the school's athletic director, who sanctions a large appearance fee for
James and the team to play in your gym -- reportedly between $10,000 and
$15,000 a game -- has his excuse: "We're helping raise money for our school."
The Ohio cable company that is offering James on a pay-per-view basis, up to
$7 to watch a single game on your TV set, has its excuse: "We're giving the
people what they want."
And the cable TV network, ESPN2, that will show James' Dec. 12 game across the
entire country -- the first time the network has televised a high school game
in 13 years -- has its excuse: "There is a tremendous amount of interest in
this kid."
The announcers who will work that game, men who have, at other times, urged
high school players to go to college, will trumpet James' shots and rebounds,
even though he is 17.
"It's our assignment," they shrug. "We go where our network tells us."
He's The Chosen One
The shoe companies that chase James shamelessly, flying him to summer camps,
paying for hotels, pampering him and praising him and whispering sweet
promises in his ear, all in pursuit of his signature on a contract that will
pay him $25 million to start -- these companies have their excuse: "LeBron is
one of a kind. We're making an investment."
And the NBA, which will open its arms to James in next summer's draft, making
him a multimillionaire professional by age 18, has its excuse: "We prefer our
players to be older. But legally, if they want to come, we can't stop them."
Sports Illustrated, which put James on the cover when he was just a junior --
under the headline "The Chosen One" -- has its excuse: "He is newsworthy. It
was warranted."
And colleges who would love to have LeBron play for them but are not even
bothering to recruit him? They, too, have their excuse: "Why waste our money?
He's not interested in college. He wants the NBA."
The schools, the coaches, the TV, the agents, the media, the shoe companies,
the league.
Everybody has an excuse.
But nobody has a good one.
He's King James
Nobody explains why a talented high schooler MUST be showcased around the
country. Nobody explains why charging an appearance fee for your high school
team is anything more than exploitation.
Nobody explains the message that is being sent to other students -- that
brains don't get you as much attention as brawn, that a teenager is a golden
goose, that it's OK for a school to make money off a kid but not OK for a kid
to make money off himself.
Nobody explains how this disproportionate attention cannot help but mess the
kid up, flip-flop his values, make him feel that pampering is normal and
worship is expected. Already, LeBron wears a "King James 23" T-shirt, has
shoes made with his initials, and talks more like a businessman than a
teenager. Once, when asked about buying a house for his mother, and he said,
"Ain't no good houses in Akron anyways. All the houses in Akron are too
little."
We all know what's happening. We all watch it happen. We all do nothing.
So if LeBron James turns into an arrogant millionaire, if his friends turn
into mooches, if his classmates roil with jealousy, if his teachers roll their
eyes, if another kid in years to come hears his parents tell him he should put
down the ball and do his homework, and that kid says, "Why should I? If I keep
playing, I can be on TV and have people wearing my name and make $25 million
by the time I finish high school -- just like LeBron James did."
If that happens, we'll know why.
And we'll have no excuse.
Contact MITCH ALBOM at 313-223-4581 or albom@freepress.com. "The Mitch Albom
Show" is 3-6 weekdays on WJR-AM (760).
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