Well, when did Cleveland draft LeBron? June 2003. From that point forward, the following things were created: MySpace (2003); Facebook (2004); Gmail (2004); sports blogs (2004); YouTube (2005); podcasts (2005); Twitter (2006); iPhones (2007). By 2009, all of those mediums and devices had rounded into form with the exception of MySpace — which only survives in To Catch a Predator reruns — and all of LeBron’s triumphs, foibles, highlights and failures could be dissected AND watched immediately. The most famous American athletes from the last decade were probably LeBron, Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, Peyton Manning, Michael Jordan (even after he retired), Shaquille O’Neal, Tom Brady, Brett Favre, Alex Rodriguez, Lance Armstrong and Derek Jeter in some order. But only LeBron showed up right as the “information age” was taking off and blossomed along with it, so Battier’s first point is correct … right?
From Bill Simmons and Malcolm Gladwell’s amazing Sports-Culture discourse. Read in full here. Anyhow, reasons to watch Heat-Celtics tonight. LeBron, love him or hate him, holds up a cultural mirror that we really don’t want to look in.
