NFL
By: Zachary Draves
In America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, you are told that you can be anything you want to be as long as you work hard and play by the rules. That it doesn’t matter what you look like, where you come from, or how much money you have, all that matters is that you show that you are good enough.
If anyone has lived up to that patriotic ideal better than most, it is LeBron James.
The trajectory of a young black boy growing up in utter poverty to a single mother in Akron, Ohio to becoming one of the most phenomenal and influential athletes of our time is as American as one can get.
(Courtesy: Getty Images)
He is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, has 4 MVPs, is a 19 time All-Star (the most of any player in history), and is a two time Olympic Gold Medalist (2008, 2012) representing the red, white, and blue on the world stage. The latter of which he will pursue for a third time at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
At 38 years old, he continues to defy adages about the aging athlete by continuing to play at the highest caliber. So much so that he helped carry the Lakers to the first ever NBA In Season Tournament Title last Saturday. Over the course of the seven game tournament, he averaged 26.4 points, 8.0 rebounds, 7.6 assists and 1.6 steals, while shooting 56.8% from the field and 60.6% from the three point line.
(Courtesy: Candice Ward/USA Today Sports)
If that wasn’t enough, he is exceptionally charitable, a media mogul, a social activist, and a great family man.
Nothing more American than that.
Well, not according to right-wing media who thought it was necessary to chastise James for not standing during the playing of the national anthem before the beginning of the USC game on Tuesday.
James was in attendance with his mother Gloria, son Bryce, and daughter Zhuri, to watch his older son Bronny make his official debut with the Trojans. This after he suffered from cardiac arrest during a USC training camp in July. The Trojans ended up losing to Long Beach State 84-79.
A video of James and his family captured him walking to their courtside seats just as the anthem was playing and subsequently sitting down. Nobody seemed to be upset or even noticed, but it didn’t take too long for the haters to hate.
Conservative media outlets such as Fox News and Brietbart as well as social media users pounced on it and called James out for a perceived disrespect toward the anthem, the military, and the country.
It is worth noting that the reporter who shot the video, Luca Evans of the Orange County Register, offered some clarification on X/formerly Twitter.
“As the reporter who took this video, this is gross and completely mischaracterizes the situation. LeBron has done this for YEARS in Bronny’s time at Sierra Canyon. It’s objectively the best time to walk in so he doesn’t cause a massive stir. Stop it.”
One could imagine the difficulty of getting a megastar and their families to their seats in a crowded arena.
(Courtesy: Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)
This is nothing new because James has been a popular target for right-wing media for a long time due to his stances on racial and social justice. The most notable of which was when Fox News host Laura Ingraham told James in 2018 to “shut up and dribble”.
That really isn’t the issue here as much as some of these people claiming that they are the arbiters of patriotism simply because they like to wrap themselves in the flag, put their hand over their heart during the playing of the anthem, or vote Republican.
But in truth, none of that jive is based on recent memory.
James may not have stood during a song, but at least he didn’t promulgate the “big lie” about the 2020 election being fraudulent that Fox News did, which forced them to cough up $787.5 million in a settlement with the company Dominion Voting Systems. Nor did he try to find ways to rationalize the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 over a disproven fraudulent election in the way that these outlets did at times.
Calling into question the validity of elections with zero evidence and subsequently attempting to thwart democracy is not exactly what you would call patriotic.
With that in mind, it is probably best for those going after LeBron James to reconsider their loyalty to the country.
