For those who hadn’t already viewed it on YouTube, last night LeBron James’ first Nike commercial since “The Decision” aired. Very much haunted by the ghost of that widely derided ESPN special, the intense hodgepodge of James’ recent and not-so-recent basketball history plays out very quickly but the intent is not missed: James is taking it to his critics. “What should I do?” is the refrain throughout. The only problem is LeBron James has already decided what to do and, almost six months later, a lot of people still don’t like it.
Never one to mince words, TNT basketball analyst and NBA great Charles Barkley declared the Nike spot “a waste of money.” Barkley, who hasn’t held back his disgust with how James handled his move to Miami, also deemed that “LeBron’s trying too hard. Nike is trying too hard.”
WATCH LeBRON’S NEW NIKE AD:
[youtubevid http://youtube.com/watch?v=cdtejCR413c?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0]
By recreating elements of Barkley’s infamous “I’m not a role model” Nike commercial from nearly 20 years ago, as well as throwing in a “Hi Chuck” after biting into a donut in case anybody missed the reference, James is very clear that he’s heard Barkley’s previous criticism and doesn’t like it. James even stages a Hall of Fame speech in an empty room, no doubt a dig at Barkley’s good buddy Michael Jordan’s reportedly classless Hall of Fame acceptance speech that had few endorsers. Jordan, who is busy with his NBA team, the Charlotte Bobcats, isn’t likely to dwell on the spot. But providing commentary on the NBA is Barkley’s job and he cut to the heart of the matter last night.
“Nobody’s mad at LeBron,” he said. Instead, he insisted that the bone of contention still rests with how James handled “The Decision.” Echoing the sentiments of many others, Barkley said, “It was just silly to sit there and torture us for an hour [with] something he could have said in one minute.” In addition, Barkley, again in line with the thoughts of many others, made it clear that James “should not have disrespected the Cavaliers. He should have told them in advance.”
In that regard, James is definitely failing in resurrecting his once walk-on-water image as Cleveland’s most valuable Cavalier of all time. His “but you have to get over it” comment on October 21 when discussing the city’s feelings of betrayal didn’t go over well at all. So it was doubtful that his jersey-burning former fans would take warmly to the latest response from James in commercial form.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Bud Shaw acknowledged that “LeBron James’ latest Nike commercial is “smart and funny” in his October 26 blog post before answering the “Should I be who you want me to be?” question James beleaguers in the spot. “Be respectful enough of Cleveland not to revel in a one-hour special dedicated to his leaving,” reads Shaw’s response. “Be the kind of guy who calls and thanks ownership, team officials and fans for seven great years.”
Shaw insists in the blog post that “That’s what people wanted you to be” before adding some words of advice about how not to manage the fall out. “Especially don’t play the victim in a commercial created to sell more shoes,” he ends.
And, for James, who has been as great of an endorser as he’s been a NBA player, this, as Shaw mentions, is foreign territory. As the saying goes, “Everybody loves an underdog,” and Americans are just suckers for a Cinderella story. In Miami, James has greatly switched the script. No longer is he the hometown boy, taking the team first approach that matches the work ethic the Midwest is known for. While the Miami Heat may indeed be “a dynasty in the making,” as Kenny Smith, Barkley’s TNT cohort, stated last night, winning a championship there won’t plug at the average fan’s heartstrings the way it would have if James had got the job done in Cleveland.
As the inclusion of Don Johnson during the commercial’s Miami Vice moment where James is Tubbs, Crockett’s partner, alludes: Miami already has a lot of things going for it. For starters, it’s both sexy and warm. On top of that, they already have a championship. But what is most special regarding that 2006 championship win has nothing to do with locale. Fans were overjoyed to see veterans like Alonzo Mourning and Gary Payton, who turned in stellar play on good and bad teams, finally receive their just reward. That narrative is also what made the Boston Celtics championship win in 2008 especially gratifying; Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen truly deserved their championship rings. Some might even say that about Ron Artest and his win with the Lakers this year.
For any lover of African-American literature and Maya Angelou fan, it’s fantastic to hear James recite the words of her classic poem “Still I Rise” in the commercial. And, yes, the “you may shoot me with your words/you may cut me with your eyes/but still, like air, I rise” mantra is probably very apropos for James on both a personal and historical level. And, it is more than interesting that he left out the “you may kill me with your hatefulness” line.
Ultimately, however, “rising” in Miami will be great for James and his All-Star caliber teammates Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade personally but American myths aren’t built around the sure shot. If, as James says in the commercial, he was truly worried about his legacy, he would have found a way to bring Bosh and Wade to Cleveland to get that city and her diehard fans, who toil in the bitter cold year in and year out while loyally rooting for their Cavs in more bad times than good, the championship they deserve. That’s what LeBron James should have done, if sports immortality is really his hoop dream, that is.