LeBron-a-thon!

Today is finally the day. We all get to sit around the TV and find out where LeBron (LeBrand) is going. No, there will not be a race by ESPN, or Sports Illustrated, CNN, Fox News, Yahoo! Sports, or CBS Sports to report the news. No, we won't need to frantically check our Twitters or Facebooks. We will find out his decision on a nationally televised hour long press conference solely on ESPN.

And that should tell you everything.

The timeline does not lie. First we were told the day he'd know, and we were okay with that news. Second we were told it would be a press conference. Okay, fine, that is usually how some of these things go. Lastly we found out that it's an hour long and on one network. Gee, do you think there is $omething driving that decision??

Precisely. This whole thing is about money.

Then we were told that the proceeds were going to charity (the Boy's and Girl's club). Yeah, okay. Why would ESPN want sole rights to this? To drive up advertising dollars based on potential ratings. You really think they did that for a charity? They make billions being the world wide leader in sports. They rake in ratings and advertiser dollars nearly every night dominating an entire genre of television. But they did it for "charity". Yeah, okay...

And there's LeBron. The humble kid from small town Akron, Ohio who always used to tell his grade school teacher he was literally going to put Akron on the map (because it was not visible on a physical map of Ohio in the class room). The same kid that stayed away from drugs and violence as outlined in his book co-written by Buzz Bissinger titled Shooting Stars. We were all lead to believe that this wasn't a guy that would irritate the people in a dire financial situation this country, and planet, is enduring. That this was a new type of person, one who is willing to potentially sacrifice athletic dominance to stay with his current beloved Cleveland Cavaliers, or sacrifice some of his salary to play with his two Olympic teammates down in Miami. Instead we are left with a 25 year old kid who's acting like he's fixing to pick a hat and decide which college he's going to, which is the perfect comparison considering the dirty recruiting that goes on with college athletics. We are left with a guy who is trying to save face by saying his egotistical "press conference" was using its profits to go to charity. The phrase itself is true and the charity will likely receive quite a nice amount, but really? LeBron James needs to hold a press conference (nearly like a tele-thon) in order to donate a significant amount to charity? I am not educated on his previous potential donations, but the last time I looked this kid was 18 years old and guaranteed over $100 million dollars to his name (90 from nike, 13.5 from his rookie contract) before he stepped foot on an NBA basketball court. The player who's very press conference is to announce which team is going to back a dump truck full of money in a long term contract (which will also include incentives based on marketing sales with his new jersey / number) into his pocket.

Fitting.

How noble is it? Had he never held a press conference, or even stated that he intended on matching the amount generated by said press conference, he would have saved face. If he wanted to donate to charity, then donate to charity. He doesn't need ESPN to help drive up the amount, he's got no chance of going broke like Scottie Pippen.

We are all interested in where he goes, and that is fair for us sports fans, but for the sake of his ego, don't watch. And don't be fooled that this is some sort of "charity event".

It's a chance for him to go through the attention seeking recruiting process he could have gotten out of his system when he was in high school.

I won't be watching, but my guess is this will be just as calculated, and even less authentic, than Wayne Gretzky's fake tears as he left his sweet little home town Edmonton for the glitz and glamor of Los Angeles.