The People vs. LeBron James

If there's one thing that everyone in this country has in common, it is this: nobody knows what they want. This rings true in Who-like loudness when it comes to sports. We want Tiger Woods to be more human, but cry foul when he makes human mistakes. We bash Michael Jordan for his obsessive competitiveness off the court, but laud him for it with the ball in his hand. We never know what we want out of our athletes.

Really, we've asked for them to be perfect. To be funny but not cartoonish, confident but not arrogant, not a thug but also not smug, etc. Well, the NBA has this superstar. You might have heard of him. His name is LeBron James.

LeBron is as perfect as any athlete you will ever see. On the court, he scores, he dishes the ball, he hustles on defense. He simply makes his entire team better. Take Kobe Bryant off the Lakers, and they are still a very good team. Take LeBron off the Cavs, and you go from #1 team in the league to picking in the lottery every year.

But off the court is where he excels even more dramatically. There have been no rumors of drugs, alcohol abuse, treating people like crap or anything that could destroy his character. In an age where we are obsessed with the sex lives of celebrities, have you ever heard of one story about James with multiple groupies like Wilt or hitting up bars for skanks like Roethlisberger? None.

While I'm sure LeBron has employed an entire staff devoted from keeping his name strictly on the sports page, let's be honest here - you can't hide anything from the internet. If he truly was a ladies' man or a party animal, we would know. The truth is, James is a basketball phenom who is not only charismatic and likeable, but a stand up guy who knows his responsibilities.

And America hates this. Why else would we eat up scandals like Woods and Sandra Bullocks'? We love it when people that have more than us fall from grace. Though we pine for celebrities with just a smidgen of respectability, when someone like that actually comes around, we punish them for it.

First, there was Lebron James getting dunked on by a college kid, and the ensuing "controversy" of Nike stealing all documented footage. Either you have never heard of this event or you completely forgot about it. That's because it is, and was, a non-story. But at the time, it fueled the agendas of people like Skip Bayless, who put all their eggs in the "LeBron will never be the greatest basketball player" basket before he even entered the league.

Then there was the scandal of James not shaking hands with the Orlando Magic after being ousted in last year's Eastern Conference Finals. I wrote at the time and then reiterated my point a few months later how this was Jordan Part II. It's just being a competitive guy. Now we think of LeBron as a great guy and an ambassador of the league. Try again, haters.

Try, they did. Leading into this year's playoffs, James was railed for sitting out games. One writer even went as far as saying he owes his fans a refund and refused to vote for him as MVP. Now with LeBron banged up and the entire city of Cleveland holding their breaths for the series against Boston, let me ask the question: do you think he should have played all of those meaningless games?

Anything short of a 40/15/15 throughout the playoffs will leave the door open for people to call him out. The facts are there. He is the best player on the court and a truly respectable human being off it. This is what we all wanted. What more can LeBron James possibly do? And don't say win a championship, because if it's not against the Lakers with a healthy Kobe on the floor, the excuses will keep coming.

He is the NBA evolved. Get over it.