Lebron's World - The Rest Of Us Are Just Living In It

In the copycat society we live in, I can't say I'm shocked at what I've witnessed in the NBA in recent years. But I am disappointed.

This past weekend's All-Star festivities were just another reminder of why I don't watch basketball anymore. The so called 'savior' of the game, LeBron James, is the sole reason I won't watch the NBA no matter what the circumstances are. Now, if I happen to be at a bar that has it on I might cast an interested eye toward it, or if I'm watching SportsCenter I won't change the channel just because he's on, but it's getting closer to that.

On Saturday night, during what was a rather entertaining Slam Dunk competition that featured polar opposites in Dwight Howard and Nate Robinson, LeBron decides to get the cameras on him by mentioning he 'might' consider competing in next year's dunk contest.

Taking it further, he called for the Western Conference to stand down in the final ten seconds of the All-Star game while he performed a ridiculous jam by lobbing the ball off the backboard to himself before slamming it through the cylinder. Exhibition game or not, you don't ask for a free lane to the basket in order to look good, do it in competition and we'll talk. As an aside I must thank LeBron because I took the Over at 264 and his dunk made the total combined score 265 but I digress.

Why does he feel the need to make everything about him?

There are superstars everywhere in this league, yet LeBron constantly shines the spotlight on himself. Earlier in the year, he began commenting on his impending free agency, which I might remind you doesn't occur until after the 2009-10 season. He said he doesn't know if he'll re-sign with the Cavs and that it has been a dream of his to play in New York. He further evidenced this by slapping hands with partial New Jersey Nets owner and rap mogul Jay-Z who regularly sits court side at Nets and Knicks games. Jay-Z has made no secret of his intentions to move the Nets to Brooklyn and sign James as their superstar.

Even before games he tries to make a spectacle of himself. He pours an extravagant amount of talcum powder into his hands before sending it skyward in a cloud of dust. Where could he possibly get this idea from? Could it be Kevin Garnett, one of the original high school defectors who paved the way for LeBron and so many others. KG has been doing the talcum cloud since his early days in Minnesota.

LeBron needs to come up with his own gimmick and start establishing himself as someone who is unique. Did Michael Jordan ever make things about himself? The answer, as we all know is no. MJ left during the pinnacle of his career to explore other endeavors. He didn't need to prove anything to anyone, regardless of how much he disappointed fans. Jordan won six NBA titles in his career largely because he made everyone around him better. How did LeBron fare in his only trip to the Finals so far? Swept at the hands of another selfless and team oriented MVP, Tim Duncan.

If you've ever watched a Cavs game, you will see LeBron cry that he was fouled every time he drives to the hoop. He does get hacked fairly hard but that doesn't mean you need to lobby for the call every time. Superstars generally get all the calls, but LeBron's crybaby rants are getting old and deterring officials from listening when he has a legitimate gripe. James is still young and can restructure his image but it's got to start by letting go of the limelight. Until then, he will never achieve the legendary status he thinks he has.

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

On August 7, 2007 Barry Lamar Bonds broke the most hallowed record in sports. He hit his 756th career home run deep into the San Francisco night. The Giants' fans erupted as their hometown hero trotted around the bases. The rest of the baseball world had a different reaction. Many of them were disgusted that a record of this magnitude was broken by a man who used performance enhancing drugs. Shirts adorned with "756*" across the chest clearly show how some people feel. The general consensus around baseball was that this atrocity would only have to be tolerated until Alex Rodriguez broke Bonds' record. At 33 years old, Rodriguez has amassed 553 career home runs. With nine years remaining on a 10 yr/$275 million contract, he would only need to average just over 23 dingers per season to surpass Bonds.

The prospect of ten years of Bonds on top was tough to swallow, but the wait would all be worth it when a natural, non-steroid using athlete broke the record. That was until today, when Sports Illustrated reported that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two steroids during the 2003 season; the very season in which he won the home run title and his first MVP award. While it is assumed that Rodriguez is clean now with the inception of MLB's drug testing procedure, his marks are forever tainted.

Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmiero and Roger Clemens have all fallen out of favor with the public following steroid allegations against them. McGwire has failed to gain admission into the Hall of Fame since he became eligible in 2007. The eighth most prolific home run hitter of all-time with 583 bombs received less than a quarter of the vote to gain election.

With Bonds inability to gain employment since his record breaking 2007 campaign, baseball seemed to be distancing itself from the steroid scandal of the last two decades. The reports of an alleged positive test from A-Rod is devastating to the image upgrade baseball has so desperately been working for. Rodriguez' name is undoubtedly the most significant to date connected to a positive sample. It is unclear whether the names of the remaining 100 players who tested positive along with Rodriguez will be leaked.

The most ironic aspect of all the steroid controversy is that Jose Canseco seems to be the most reputable and accurate source to date. Everyone he fingered in his book "Juiced" vehemently denied his allegations, most of whom have had other outlets corroborate Canseco's claims. Even Joe Torre's depiction of A-Rod as "A-Fraud" in his new book seems more accurate than abusive.

The Mitchell Report was supposed to be the final chapter of the devastating steroid era. Now, however, we have reason to doubt any and every player who hit an opposite field home run off the fists, who played in all 162 games and who had the courage to sign multi-million dollar contracts that they never statistically fulfilled. With close to 100 players still without jobs as we sit a mere week before pitchers and catchers report, this is a prime example of how greatly steroids still affects baseball. The out-of-this-world numbers that were produced during the late '90s and early '00s caused player salaries to skyrocket. Now, the wage scale is so inflated that quality ball players cannot find jobs without accepting contracts at a third of what their counterparts make.

The game of baseball needs to rid itself of this black eye. Unfortunately, as long as A-Rod and other past offenders are still on active rosters, the eyebrows of the media and fans will remain raised with skepticism.