God Save the King

So I realize I'm about a month late on the whole LeBron thing but better late than never. Here goes!

When we were over in Ireland, Kate and I would always end up watching the World Match Play Darts Championships. It was on in every pub as well as our various hotel rooms and we completely enjoyed watching it. We were just reminiscing about dart watching, specifically about a player named Phil Taylor. Although he is the fifteen time world champion, we somehow never saw him play. When I told this to Kate I wanted to make a sports analogy to show how huge this guy apparently is in the world of competitive darts (maybe the worst two word phrase I've ever typed).

My first instinct was to call him the "Michael Jordan" of darts but I figured that comparison might be a little dated. I wanted someone from the modern day who was equally as feared and dominant in their sport as Phil "The Power" Taylor is in darts. I eventually settled on "He's the Kobe Bryant of darts." What does this have to do with anything? This statement not only lets you know how dominant Phil Taylor is, but it also says alot about the legacy of LeBron James. When I tried to come up with a non-Jordan athlete, the name that popped into my head was LeBron. After all, since 2003 (and before if you want to count his high school days) we've been told how "King" James was the heir apparent to Michael Jordan; the man who was going to do things that nobody had done since #23 left Chicago for the second time (we're going to erase the Wizards MJ from our collective memory). Hell, he even took the same number as Jordan and proceeded to win Rookie of the Year, a scoring title and now two consecutive league MVP's. Although he had yet to win a title, the future was bright for King James, especially with his upcoming free agency

While all this was happening, Kobe Bryant was winning championships. Sure, his first three rings were won when he had Shaq in his prime but he's now won back-to-back on his own--not with any other superstars (like say Dwayne Wade) but with a three time All Star in Pau Gasol and a cast of complimentary pieces. Kobe is a winner. With their backs to the wall, athletes will show their true colors. Down 1 with 25 seconds left? Kobe will clench his teeth, break out the "Kobe Face" (which hilariously enough has its own Facebook page) and bury an impossible fade away three that closes a game. By signing with the Heat, LeBron has proven that he doesn't want to do that. Come next June, if the Heat are down 1 with 25 seconds to go, LeBron won't be burying that shot. It's not his team, it's Dwayne Wade's team. LeBron gave up that shot when he told Jim Gray that he would be "heading to South Beach" There will be no "LeBron face" and the only teeth being clenched will be the ones of abandoned Cavs fans as they burn their #23 jerseys and curse their televisions. LeBron might win his ring (no guarantees there at all) but he won't have done it on his team.

I think we all should have been on notice about what LeBron's summer plans might be back in November. It was at this time that he submitted the paperwork to change his number from 23 to 6. Maybe the weight of that immortal number was starting to get too heavy for him to carry around for 40 minutes a night. Maybe he realized that he wasn't the player that he was built up to be or maybe he just didn't want to be "the man" anymore. You can't blame LeBron for wanting to win a championship but you can question the way he's going to try to do it, especially since we've been force fed his "greatness" for the past 7 years.

God save the "King".