LeBronMania

Is LeBron James a Free Agent?????

That question was clearly sarcastic. The abnormal amount of hype that has stemmed from his current free agency has been building for almost two years now. Two years before he was free, media couldn't stop asking "LeBron, where do you think you will be in two years? Can you predict the future and tell us now?"

There's a new rumor every 16 seconds. The only thing I'm still waiting to hear is that LeBron going to play for the Dallas Cowboys. It's seriously all speculation.

We're coming down the the finale of this hysteria (I think) with LeBron having a one-hour special on ESPN where he will announce his decision. What in the HELL is he going to talk about for one-hour? Here let's count how long this SHOULD take:

(me imitating LBJ) - "After some long and thoughtful talks with my family, friends, and God, I have decided to (fill in the variable - stay in Cleveland, go to the Bulls, go to Miami, go back to outer space, quit, etc)"

I counted out how long that took - I'm estimating 10 seconds. Maybe 20. So that's 20 seconds of a 44 minute program, and the other 16 going towards commercials. How do they fill the other 43 2/3 minutes of television programming?

It's going to be so obnoxious that everyone should HATE LeBron. Especially if it turns into a "this is how great I've been since High School when I was featured on SI and my games were shown nationwide on ESPN, and since I've won 2 MVPs, a gold medal, and ZERO NBA Championships" type deal. 44 minutes of that and I think I'll break my television set.

This really speaks to how big WE have made LeBron. It's our fault. I remember talking about him when I was 14. Now I'm 22, and still talking about him. And I'll probably watch all 60 minutes of that ridiculous program. And then I'll probably write a post about it. And then we'll talk about it until well into his first season with team X.

I think LeBron is a great player. I was lucky enough to see him live (Game 3 of the 2010 Eastern Semis), and he is a physical specimen that I don't think we've seen ever. He scored more points in the first quarter than the entire Celtics team. He may go down as one of the greatest of all time. Not the greatest, because I really don't believe we'll ever see another Michael Jordan. Partly because he revolutionized something that can never really be changed again - the marketing of sports athletes. Jordan was the first athlete to be EVERYWHERE. Now it's no big deal. You see more of Peyton Manning in the off-season than any other NFL player. It's how the marketing of sports works, and I believe Jordan's the prime reason that it happened.

LeBron's going to go play somewhere, and this chapter of LeBronMania will end, only to follow with "What Ifs" and "Will He Regret Not Choosing X". Like it or not, LeBron isn't going anywhere, until we have a new LeBron to hype - which I'm hoping is Kevin Durant, who I really think should be better than LeBron in a few years. Long Live the Durantula!