As the NBA regular season came to a close last week, and playoff seeds were finalized, a few stories began to surface regarding Dwyane Wade's message to both LeBron James and Chris Bosh this past summer, which lead to both stars deciding to join Wade in Miami for the next 6 years. No one truly knows exactly what Wade said to his free agent-to-be friends, but Brian Windhorst, who is very close with James, and covers the team, summed it up in one sentence. Wade's message was loud and clear- being the man was "overrated". I have a problem with this message.
Athletes do this kind of stuff all the time. It's almost comical to watch the events unfold. It's like you're driving down a highway, and up ahead you see a 10 car pile up. You know you should slow down and use caution, but you just don't. Before you know it, you're in the pile up wondering why you didn't heed the warning signs in the first place. They use words like "sacrifice" and "maturity", "teamwork" and "commitment". These are all the buzz words that fans love to hear their super stars say to them. Rarely do the actions of the super star athlete reflect what they spent so much time trying to convince us of.
Being from Cleveland, I did not follow the college and pro careers of both Wade and Bosh, but in the case of James, we all know how the script has been written. Did James believe that being the man was overrated when at the age of 17, his face was plastered all over the cover of Sports Illustrated, touching off a national media frenzy that eventually lead to his high school games being televised (which at the time was unheard of) on ESPN? Perhaps he felt this way when he received throw back jerseys for free from a Shaker Heights sporting goods store, leading to an investigation from the OSHAA, and a subsequent penalty for James. Surely it had to be when his mother received a loan for James' brand new Hummer (while he was still in high school), a loan that Mrs. James could in no way pay back with her current income situation.
When Nike came calling, giving James a shoe deal worth $90 million, all before he played a single professional game, surely that had to be the foundation for Wade's pitch. As LeBron filmed commercial after commercial, unveiling all his unique personalities such as "Business" LeBron and "Wise" LeBron, do you think he was telling himself "this really sucks, I wish these guys at Nike would just leave me alone"? Endorsement deals with Vitamin Water, State Farm, and McDonald's had to bolster Wade's position, right? And what about all the self-appointed nicknames like "King James" and "Chosen 1" (hell, he even got a tattoo across his back for that one)? Wearing #23? It seems like someone was right at home with being "the man".
I could go on for a long time about the wild parties, website launches, cartoon spin-offs, LRMR, appearances on "Entourage", clothing lines, celebrity event hostings/appearances, and soccer club ownership- all of which came with being and wanting to be "the man" for James. Wade and Bosh also used these platforms to maximize their own brand, and seemingly become multi-millionaires overnight. In the case of Wade, Bosh, and James (especially James), it seems that falling back on Wade's words are convenient only when failure accompanies these men on the basketball court when the stakes are the highest. Game-Winning shot attempts? Championships Won? No thank you, I'm not cut out for being the man after all. Maybe James never wanted to be "the man", but then again, he shouldn't have spent the first 25 years of his life trying to convince us all that he was.
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