Michael Vick, LeBron James, and Sports & Society - Part I
It's been a while since we've tried to tackle a multi-part series here at RSS, but two stories from this week have really captivated me and motivated me to take one of those big picture looks at sports in America. Two of the biggest stars in the American sports world right now are LeBron James and Michael Vick. Both have seen their popularity take huge hits in the past 5 years, but at the moment one has emerged as a figure of redemption. Ironically, it's the one that served time in prison for dogfighting. So, how have we arrived at a point in time where Mike Vick might be as popular as LeBron James and what do their current situations say about sports and society.
I thought about this idea when reading Bill Simmons' latest column this morning touching on Vick's comeback, and the news the last couple days regarding LeBron James' comments on race playing a role in his popularity crash. With Vick, it seems that most of the public has gotten behind his career resurrection as Philly quarterback. With James, his comments about race seem to have only heightened the pressure that faces him and made fans that were angry with him angrier for invoking race.
We'll address James' comments first in Part I. Let's not kid ourselves that there aren't people out there that dislike LeBron James because he's black. Let's not pretend that racism doesn't exist in 2010 America. It does. I've seen and heard stories myself. I was traveling out of the country with a group of grad students last month and when we returned home the one person to be "randomly" pulled aside for an extensive search was a black man with an Arab sounding name. Racism exists. Check out the entire piece here if you'd like.
The problem that many have with what LeBron James said is that he appears to make himself come off as a victim. He and agent Maverick Carter inferred that some people didn't like THE DECISION because of the race factor. Not so fast. LeBron James' popularity went into a nosedive because THE DECISION was a maniacal, egotistical, self-centered, stupid TV nightmare. People that loved LeBron James now abhor him because he betrayed his hometown on national TV and arrogantly said, "I'm taking my talents to South Beach." I don't think millions of people woke up the day after THE DECISION and figured out they didn't like James because of his race. When asked about the backlash against THE DECISION, Carter merely stated that it could have been executed better. Umm... yea. Interestingly, James was never asked personally about the actual debacle of THE DECISION.
But, to grasp this situation we have to look outside James. Look at Kevin Durant and how he went about his contract decision. Look at Chris Bosh. Look at Amare Stoudemire. Granted, LeBron had a lot further to fall from his height of popularity, but none of those players have experienced a backlash this offseason the magnitude of James because of THE DECISION due to their free agent moves. Does Chicago hate Dwyane Wade for not coming home? No. If LeBron had simply held a press conference to announce his intent and done things professionally and with an inkling of a grasp of reality for the idiocy of THE DECISION, he wouldn't find himself as a basketball pariah.
Despite his current lack of popularity, LeBron James should talk about race and important issues. Sure, I might not look at him as favorably as I once did, but I'll listen to him and value his opinion on serious issues like race and sports. He and many other global stars in his position need to address racism that does exist here and all over the world. If you don't think it's a problem, then you need to take a look at this picture from Russia. Nigerian Peter Odemwingie transferred to West Brom in England from his club Spartak Moscow in Russia. This banner said goodbye to Odemwingie...
That's despicable, of course. Look to Spain and Italy where monkey chants have been heard at games not just once or twice, but consistently. You won't find opendisplays of racism like that in America at sporting events, but you do hear stories like Nick Collins of the Packers reportedly called a racial slur by a fan in Chicago. Give LeBron credit for not backing down from the tough question and addressing issues like his predecessors didn't (MJ and pre-2010 Tiger come to mind). But, referring to himself in the third person in the same CNN interview isn't going to endear fans to his plight either. His donation to the Boys & Girls Club that CNN hyped during the largely sympathetic piece seems about as sincere as Mark Zuckerberg's 100 million dollar donation to Newark schools just before the movie about his life appeared in theaters.
LeBron's answer in and of itself was probably spot on. The error here is in the question by Soledad O'Brien, the lack of clarification and context, and the lack of any sort of follow-up. For the vast majority of folks, race is not a factor in their changedfeelings of LeBron James. Here lies a major problem with the racial discussion in sports and society in general. We are quick to label things "racist" that really aren't and quick to brush aside or be unwilling to talk about issues that actually do involve racism. It's much easier to dissect a King James soundbyte or blanket Tea Partiers as angry racists than have a real grown-up discussion about the issue.
It is critical here to distinguish the sections of society that actually exhibit racism and not project racism onto the scores of people that now have an unfavorable view of King James because of THE DECISION.
The problem with James and Carter is that it is always about them. Instead of recognizing the impact of James' comments and opening up the discussion further, James and Carter will sweep it under the rug because that benefits King James. The truth of this whole episode is that THE DECISION brought to light all of the negative aspects of LeBron James that we swept aside for so long because of his million dollar smile playing for his hometown team. Now that we have a view of James' uber-ego, we notice how he quit in Game 5 against the Celtics, we remember him not shaking the hands of the Magic, we are alerted to his protection by ESPN from the birthdaypalooza story, and we read reports of USA basketball praying he didn't play this summer.
So, we're left with this muddied mess. Instead of actually having the real discussion about American sports and race, we're left with people being entrenched further on their pro/anti LeBron sides and a missed opportunity to take a real look at a key issue in sports and society.
Coming up in Part II Monday, we'll look at the career resurrection of Michael Vick. How has the majority of sports fans forgiven Vick and accepted his return as a starting QB in the NFL? Then, in Part III we'll compare the rise and fall and rise again of Michael Vick with the rise and fall of LeBron James and try to answer the question of whether or not Michael Vick is actually more popular than LeBron James when 2 years ago Vick was in a jail cell and James was on top of the sports world.
