|
LeBron James must rise above all else to win We, as a sports culture, have to decide what we expect out of an athlete. With LeBron’s putrid performance in Game 4 rumors have been swirling as to why James was non-existent in a game where his team needed his brilliance on the floor more than any other. I’ll save you all the sensationalistic garbage that the Internet has been spewing, and instead focus your attention on the words of a credible source. Stephen A. Smith was on ESPN’s Mike and Mike in the Morning and mentioned that LeBron may be dealing with some very “profound” personal problems that may have affected his play on the court. If you recall, Smith was the same reporter last year who broke the news that LeBron was taking his talents to South Beach, so there may be truth to that rumor. However, whether it’s true or not, he can’t allow his personal problems to affect his ability and decision making on the court. I have long fought for athletes to allow their personal problems to affect their performance. It affects regular folk like you and I every day. A fight with a loved one often leads to a less than stellar disposition at work. It’s hard to concentrate when someone we care about is serious ill. We all understand that while we’d like to shut our personal lives out, we can’t do that as easy as we’d like to. 50 Greatest Teams in Sports History That Never Won it All However we, as a sports culture, have determined that these sorts of flimsy excuses cannot be tolerated with a professional athlete. This means LeBron too. He has traveled too far, risked too much, and have too many people counting on him to fold when life gets difficult. Certainly there are problems that are more severe than others, but no matter what LeBron must put that aside and focus on the task at hand. His job, while no better than anyone elses, does have a lot more riding on it than most. If I falter at my job it won’t be appreciated, but it won’t cost me my reputation(in my cases) my good name or the reputations and legacies of my co-workers. LeBron has all that riding on his performance, tonight more than ever. LeBron came to Miami to be great. He came to win. He came to lighten the load for Dwyane Wade, and have Wade do the same for him. LeBron wants to be bigger than anything the sport has seen and in order to do that he must dig deep into places he might not normally go and find the drive and determination to be singularly focused on giving it his all. That’s the only thing we can ask for. Winning and losing may ultimately define LeBron James, but he can’t help that. The effort he brings to each and every game is up to him. That’s within his control. He can’t bring his problems to the court. It’s the price he pays for being great.
source: |
