And I don't know how I feel about that.
Let me back up- I know how I feel about that. I don't like it- at all. I am sick and tired of LeBron. Honestly, I've never not been sick and tired of LeBron. I've rooted for his failure pretty much since he came into the league. I watched with a particular glee last summer as the Dallas Mavericks added to his history of Finals failures. I think I read every single news piece about LeBron's 4th quarter failures like some sort of bizarro proud papa. I cheer Skip Bayless (Skip Bayless!) every time he says "Prince" James in that condescendingly sarcastic tone of voice. Now, as he stands on the brink of vanquishing his playoff demons and engraving his name onto the pages of history- I find myself wrestling with how I'm processing this particular event.
Because the thought of LeBron having a championship is affecting me way, WAY more than it should. Not enough to make me want to jump off of a building or cause property destruction or anything like that- but I am realizing that there is part of me, however small (I do not know), that has derived some sense of identity from LeBron James' failures, a conscience fueled by schadenfreude. The closer LeBron James gets to his first title, the stronger those little, subtle punches to the gut become.
And I know how I feel about that- it's sort of sickening. Because really, nothing changes for me in a post-LeBron championship world other than I now have to view LeBron through a different lens. But he'll still be a world-famous, multi-millionaire athlete- and I'll still be Jason Parks, playing Angry Birds and writing blogs that no one reads.
So why do I care so much? Is it because I'm a fan? Maybe, but I'm not so sure. In this instance, I'm not really rooting for a specific team, I'm just rooting for teams that play LeBron. So I guess you could say I'm an anti-fan (LeBron fans might refer to me as a 'hater'). Instead of rooting for a specific team to win, I'm cheering for a specific player to lose.
Messed up, I know. I take solace in the fact that I'm not alone. Many people around the world dislike LeBron with as little reason (or less, if that can be believed) as I have. Of course, many people just as mindlessly like LeBron. Or at least, LeBron the name brand. How funny that we can attach such strong emotions (on both sides) to people with such little interaction with them.
Truthfully it isn't just LeBron though. I've always been this way when it comes to high profile athletes. Michael Jordan was my first anti-fan association. Brett Favre is on the list too, as well as Tom Brady (although after leading my Fantasy Football team to it's best showing ever, he's probably off this list), Emmitt Smith, Eric Lindros and Sidney Crosby. On a more mezzo-level, you can throw in the Yankees, Duke and North Carolina (hoops), Ohio State (all sports)- and that's pretty much it. I think.
I'd like to say that my disdain for these individuals/teams is because somehow I'm this extraordinary free-thinking spirit who despises being told who is good/who to like and carves out my own path. But nope- because anytime a player (or team) comes along that is heads above his peers, my anti-fandom comes poking his head out like those creepy tongue-thingies out of the Sarlacc pit.
Besides, I do recognize that there's at least a bit of homerism that factors in. Obviously Ohio State is U-M's biggest rivals- that's why they get scorn. Duke and North Carolina each waged war with the Wolverines in the NCAA finals during my early formative years as a hoops fan (which explains why their fellow blue bloods Kentucky and UCLA get a pass). Brett Favre played against the Lions twice a year, was voted MVP during Barry Sanders' 2,000 yard season (a travesty), and had some really obnoxious fans at Bullock Creek High School. Emmitt was Sanders' RB position rival, and I still haven't fully accepted him as the all-time NFL rushing champ. Tom Brady beat the St. Louis Rams in the Super Bowl when I was all over their bandwagon like ugly on Steven Tyler.
 |
| Who is undoubtedly the ugliest woman I have ever seen |
I think multi-faceted, the answer is.
 |
| Coming did not you that one see |
Same thing with Wade. Yes, he was top-five NBA pick. However, he seemed (at least to me) to come out of nowhere after leading Marquette University (a non-traditional power) to the Final Four. Wade is quite possibly just as big of a prima-donna as James is, but because he didn't get on the cover of ESPN the magazine as a high school junior (and he's much more of a quiet personality than James), he has gotten a pass (for the most part).
So obviously part of it is how these guys are packaged to me through the eyes of the media and my perceptions of those packages. I don't think that explains it fully though, hence thought number deux...
2) Alpha-dog status. Over the past year or so, I've been processing the human experience through more of a biological/animal perspective- which frankly has been fascinating. I don't want to dredge up any evolution/creation debates- but it is interesting to think of our behavior as if we were just animals (instead of being some elevated form of life).
With this point of reference in mind, my seemingly irrational disdain for certain individuals/teams would actually be a manifestation of some biological function. For instance, think about territorial animals. It's pretty natural for them to be threatened by (and respond accordingly) to a bigger, stronger alpha-male that comes into their territory. They won't spend too much time thinking about how glorious everyone else says those gleaming, sharp teeth are. They don't really care about the other-worldly strength possessed by those powerful arms. They just know that now some other dude wants in on that harem action, and by "wants in on", I mean "will probably kill me and take over". Hard to be a fan in that instance.
So yeah, maybe I look at guys like LeBron and I'm threatened by their excellence, their self-confidence, their natural gifts and the abundance of their resources. If life was a savage jungle, obviously LeBron James would be better prepared for 'survival' than I am, which is such a sad proposition that I cannot think about him in terms of his positive traits because I hate him for the food he is indirectly taking out of my stomach.
Or something.
The reality is that these 'off-the-cuff' thoughts don't help me to come to grips with the fact that very soon, my identity as a sports fan is about to be shaken very severely and I have no idea what the landscape will look like when it's all said and done. The only thing I know for sure is that there is still hope for the Thunder, and my obligation as a fan is to root them on to victory- even if that victory is currently sitting in the big, toothy, powerful jaws of defeat.
 |
| OH GOD I CAN'T STAND IT!!!! |
Yoda- http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/e/e0/Yoda_SWSB.jpg
LeBron- http://rickischultz.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/lebronjames.jpg
No comments:
Post a Comment