Lebron's Redemption

As the buzzer sounded, there was no celebration, just an embrace between two friends chasing the same dream. Lebron James found Dwayne Wade at half court and took each other in for a brief second, then let go. Something they are going to have to do after game one’s victory because the NBA finals don’t play favorites, ask the 2005 Dallas Mavericks.

The world was Lebron’s oyster last offseason, from Los Angeles to New York, the nation wide concert tour LeChella eventually settled on the beautiful beaches of South Beach, monopolizing the NBA by joining forces with another franchise player in Wade and adding a yearly All Star in Chris Bosh. Lebron’s reputation was tarnished the most. Dwayne never left his team, and Chris Bosh didn’t hold on hour long special to leave the only city he’s ever known. Seconds after his “Decesion”, Lebron babies began their destruction for the ex-Hall of Famer by burning his jersey to ash.

Lebron has since been embarrassed, been ridiculed, been the villain, but Lebron is now three victories away from erasing any memory that he ever wore a Cleveland Jersey.

Much more serious scandals in sports have tarnished a Hall of Famer’s name, only to have it became an ominous afterthought after winning the ultimate prize. Kobe Bryant isn’t heckled anymore about the rape trial after his latest two titles, steroid using baseball players have fans look the other way when records are shattered, but Tiger Woods has yet to win a serious golf tournament and we ALL know what he did.

Scottie Pippen has already come out to say Lebron is the greatest basketball player of all time. When it’s all said and done, when the dust settles on his multiple championship rings and we look back on his nightly triple-double near statistics, the conversation will definitely take place in many bars throughout the world. But to get there, Lebron needs to do what he knew he needed help to do, win that ultimate prize. Sure he already has two regular season MVP’s under his belt, but Jordan has five and Kobe has one, yet the two are still put on the same pedestal. That is because the number everyone compares are the amount of rings each player could put on their fingers.

In that regard, Jordan’s at six, Kobe’s at five, and Lebron is still at the beginning of the race with zero. But before the season started, Lebron had already talked about not wining five, not six, not even seven titles. Ironically, in the video, the information box lists Lebron’s claim as a bit “too overconfident”, and although Lebron and Bosh only signed a 6 year contract, after being three wins away from winning there first title together in their first year, the claim doesn’t seem so ludicrous anymore.

Lebron has seen and witnessed it all, all except winning on the final stage. Through all the criticism, through all the scrutiny and through all the hate, winning may not be everything for most of us, but for Lebron, right now in his career and in his life, it’s the only thing.