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LeBron James talks like a racist

Thermal said:
The same could be said for a Hollywood actor. Being at the top of one's proffesion is hardly slavish.
I'm having a hard time thinking of something less slavish. What is the involuntary and uncompensated servitude angle again?
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I disagree. There are many, many choices for an actor, even in Hollywood and even if solely restricted to movies. Multiple studios, multiple producers, multiple production companies, multiple sources of funding, etc. Actors move between these all the time. Beyond that there are many non-Hollywood venues one can act and many levels of acting: television, playhouses, etc. that further increase the choices available to them. Acting is not restricted in any way comparable to that seen in the NBA or in many other professional sports.
 
Thermal said:
The same could be said for a Hollywood actor. Being at the top of one's proffesion is hardly slavish.

I'm having a hard time thinking of something less slavish. What is the involuntary and uncompensated servitude angle again?
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The bosses are white. That's enough to cry racism, the rest - such as their employees being literally the most privileged group of people to walk the earth - doesn't matter.
 
Giordano said:
I disagree. There are many, many choices for an actor, even in Hollywood and even if solely restricted to movies. Multiple studios, multiple producers, multiple production companies, multiple sources of funding, etc. Actors move between these all the time. Beyond that there are many non-Hollywood venues one can act and many levels of acting: television, playhouses, etc. that further increase the choices available to them. Acting is not restricted in any way comparable to that seen in the NBA or in many other professional sports.
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Well, that's true, but a retired athlete has options in coaching, sportscasting, and the other related fields. Not to mention a rather sizeable kitty for any other entrepreneurial jaunt.
 
abaddon said:
Somebody tell me who Lebron James is and why I should give a rats about him?
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American dude living in for what most would consider unreachable luxury and opulence who evidently finds it inhumanly cruel to do for a living what most do for fun.

#slavewages
 
Thermal said:
Well, that's true, but a retired athlete has options in coaching, sportscasting, and the other related fields. Not to mention a rather sizeable kitty for any other entrepreneurial jaunt.
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True, but those are not playing basketball, which, from my limited interactions with athletes, is what many athletes live and die for.

Also professional coaching falls fully under the control of the NBA, and even sportscasting at the professional level is undoubtably strongly influenced by the NBA organization. I doubt an individual on the outs with the NBA is going to find it easy to be hired as a sportscaster for NBA games on a major TV network.
 
Thermal said:
American dude living in for what most would consider unreachable luxury and opulence who evidently finds it inhumanly cruel to do for a living what most do for fun.

#slavewages
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And rich CEOs complain about the thread count in the sheets in their $10,000 a night luxury hotel rooms. That is just how people are. At least I can see LeBron James complaints as relating to, and potentially helping other, less well off players.

I also doubt that playing professional basketball is as unrelenting "fun" as you appear to be suggesting. It is brutal mentally and physically with the real prospect of a career-ending injury during any game or even any practice. And with near constant physical conditioning, intense practice sessions, and the over-reaching "are you scoring enough to keep on the team" question overhanging much of their day to day life (at least during the sports season and to some extent beyond).

Pure "fun" is a pick up game on Saturday with your buddies when your very job is not on the line, you can quit any time you wish, you are not being judged by a million people including your boss, and you can get a beer later. I am certain that professional basketball players have fun at their work (as do I). But it is a much more complex and unalloyed form of fun than just enjoying a game, just as my fun at my work is offset by the inevitable unpleasant obligations, worries, concerns, and exhausting efforts.

Again,I am not crying for James: multiple millions of dollar salaries must help a lot. But as I posted, many do not achieve his level of success and I can see the complexities. I do not demean him or his right to put forward the problems as he sees them. He is paid to play basketball, not hush money.
 
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Giordano said:
... snip ...

...it is hard to feel sorry for the $25 million a year successes.


... snip ...


NBA players are certainly not slaves and the comparison is outrageous.
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Well said ;)

Is Lebron a racist? Don't know, don't care. What he said sure doesn't help racial tensions, but that's not his responsibility. He just comes across as another very stupid whining self-important celebrity.
 
I think people are being a bit harsh to down play LeBron's concerns here.

A quick Google tells me he is only on 36.5 million dollars a year.

Most of us if we think about it probably wouldn't even get out of bed for that

The irony is he will probably retire and buy shares in a basketball team
 
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Giordano said:
And rich CEOs complain about the thread count in the sheets in their $10,000 a night luxury hotel rooms. That is just how people are. At least I can see LeBron James complaints as relating to, and potentially helping other, less well off players.

I also doubt that playing professional basketball is as unrelenting "fun" as you appear to be suggesting. It is brutal mentally and physically with the real prospect of a career-ending injury during any game or even any practice. And with near constant physical conditioning, intense practice sessions, and the over-reaching "are you scoring enough to keep on the team" question overhanging much of their day to day life (at least during the sports season and to some extent beyond).

Pure "fun" is a pick up game on Saturday with your buddies when your very job is not on the line, you can quit any time you wish, you are not being judged by a million people including your boss, and you can get a beer later. I am certain that professional basketball players have fun at their work (as do I). But it is a much more complex and unalloyed form of fun than just enjoying a game, just as my fun at my work is offset by the inevitable unpleasant obligations, worries, concerns, and exhausting efforts.

Again,I am not crying for James: multiple millions of dollar salaries must help a lot. But as I posted, many do not achieve his level of success and I can see the complexities. I do not demean him or his right to put forward the problems as he sees them. He is paid to play basketball, not hush money.
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Whilst it's true that most basketball players won't make it, the rewards of those who do are pretty much unparalleled. Money beyond imagining and all the fame you could want (assuming you're into that sort of thing, which of course they all are). Very few other vocations offer that, and none outside sports and acting. I changed career from technology to the arts some ten years back, making a hobby into a profession, and I'm now fortunate enough to be working for the top companies in the world doing a job most people only dream of. Competition is stronger than for any NBA position but here's the difference - if I bust my balls working into my 70s I can expect to earn in total what some of these NBA players collect in a month. I get told what to do and when to do it and I'm happy with that. If I started whining about being a slave people would think I'd lost my mind, and they would be right.
 
Giordano said:
I feel the need to point out that professional sports in the USA are hardly an example of a free market economy. If after years of training, effort, and screening one has reached the rarified levels required to play professional basketball in the USA, there is only one "game in town;" the NBA. One then has no other choice but to be hired by, and live by the rules defined by the owners of the NBA. It is not the same as being a software developer who, if unhappy with Microsoft, can look for a job with Google. If you want to play professional basketball in the USA it is the NBA or nothing. The "other choice" is a totally different career, a job completely different from the one you trained for and aspired to since you were a child.

Sure, superficially it is hard to feel sorry for the $25 million a year successes. But there are an enormous number of players seeking this career who are discarded for every one of these successes. Players who stall out in high school, college, or in the NBA itself and are left at loose ends and without significant financial resources. What is the ratio? A hundred to one? A thousand to one? And even the very few multi-million dollar successes often have their careers ended instantly with a single injury, or end up with severe chronic pain thats haunts them for decades after their retirements.

NBA players are certainly not slaves and the comparison is outrageous. But nor is being a professional basketball player as free or as secure as being a software developer. The NBA is a monopoly and not just another job.
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First off, you're kind of wrong. There are a few other pro basketball leagues in the world that US players can and have gone to. As for the NFL, well there the CFL (a slightly different game, but same skill sets), and that's really it. That said, the NFL has special dispensation to act as a cartel in the USA in exchange for not scheduling games on Friday or Saturday before December. Its not as bad as it was before free agency though when a players team owner had total control of his football career. Also, as I understand it, NBA contracts are paid out 100% unless a player quits unlike the NFL, its guaranteed money
 
Giordano said:
Separate from what I view as hyperbole in his remarks, I do not see this as racism at all. If one is arguing that they are the victim of racism it is impossible to not mention the race of the people you view as victimizing you for that reason.

The conservative meme is that only minorities and liberals are racist because they are the ones who talk about race... Amusing concept!
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You are wrong and I can prove so with a simple hypothetical.

You, myself and our black friend are hanging out. Let's call him Jeff. He has a story to tell about a mutual Co worker who we will call bill.

Jeff says to us.

"Bill called me a ****** , then said that me, my entire family, and anyone who looks like me should be rounded up and shot. He then proceeded to say that after that we should nuke Africa just to be sure no more people like me could sneak in. "

1. Is it obvious that racist remarks were made to Jeff (assuming his story is true)?

If your answer is no, then we need to discuss a definition of racist remark.

If it is yes.

2. Tell me bill's race. We know he is racist, so by your definition real life you and I should know his race by the statements made about him or it would be impossible for Jeff to relay this information workout saying his race.
 
LeBron’s statement was stupid hyperbole. *shrugs*

He also didn’t compare being a professional athlete to slavery, so it looks like the stupid is contagious and spread to this thread.
 
lobosrul5 said:
First off, you're kind of wrong. There are a few other pro basketball leagues in the world that US players can and have gone to. As for the NFL, well there the CFL (a slightly different game, but same skill sets), and that's really it. That said, the NFL has special dispensation to act as a cartel in the USA in exchange for not scheduling games on Friday or Saturday before December. Its not as bad as it was before free agency though when a players team owner had total control of his football career. Also, as I understand it, NBA contracts are paid out 100% unless a player quits unlike the NFL, its guaranteed money
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You might notice that I was very careful to indicate the USA specifically in my posts. I don't see abandoning one's country just to have a job as a trivial option to the NBA. But aren't we discussing the NFL now? And citing the CFL as an option vs the NFL is just silly. They are truly completely different leagues.
 
Yeah change sports and NBA for Hollywood and players for actors and you have exactly the same sob story.

There are plenty of careers that someone could really really want and work and study hard towards, and then not get through no fault of their own due to, timing, bias, nepotisim, disability, bad luck or other unfortunate circumstances etc. Additionally Most jobs many people aspire to have no where near the levels of pay and societal status even if enthused aspirants do achieve them. Comparing his situation to slavery is not just hyperbole it is ignorant and should not compared it to atrocities such as slavery as it diminishes and trivialises the experience of those who have been through more comparable situations, as well as the perception of those on the sidelines. It is comparable to stolen valour in a sense. Does he also consider Anglo-European sports people as slaves as well?
 
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Giordano said:
I feel the need to point out that professional sports in the USA are hardly an example of a free market economy. If after years of training, effort, and screening one has reached the rarified levels required to play professional basketball in the USA, there is only one "game in town;" the NBA. One then has no other choice but to be hired by, and live by the rules defined by the owners of the NBA. It is not the same as being a software developer who, if unhappy with Microsoft, can look for a job with Google. If you want to play professional basketball in the USA it is the NBA or nothing. The "other choice" is a totally different career, a job completely different from the one you trained for and aspired to since you were a child.

Sure, superficially it is hard to feel sorry for the $25 million a year successes. But there are an enormous number of players seeking this career who are discarded for every one of these successes. Players who stall out in high school, college, or in the NBA itself and are left at loose ends and without significant financial resources. What is the ratio? A hundred to one? A thousand to one? And even the very few multi-million dollar successes often have their careers ended instantly with a single injury, or end up with severe chronic pain thats haunts them for decades after their retirements.

NBA players are certainly not slaves and the comparison is outrageous. But nor is being a professional basketball player as free or as secure as being a software developer. The NBA is a monopoly and not just another job.
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Giordano said:
I disagree. There are many, many choices for an actor, even in Hollywood and even if solely restricted to movies. Multiple studios, multiple producers, multiple production companies, multiple sources of funding, etc. Actors move between these all the time. Beyond that there are many non-Hollywood venues one can act and many levels of acting: television, playhouses, etc. that further increase the choices available to them. Acting is not restricted in any way comparable to that seen in the NBA or in many other professional sports.
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As in sports, Multiple teams, many different countries, local, state and country level, various international competitions, a multitude of other non playing roles, other similar sports. Hell start a campaign, lobby recruit and fundraise and get your own league started. Everyone has dreams, not everyone achieves them. Move on like everyone else has to. At least the op has millions of dollars to cry into.
 
Cain said:
It's getting out of hand. We can't have the inmates running the prison.
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The NBA is probably the sport that can be most enjoyed without extra baggage. And that has a lot to do with the player driven nature of the league.
 
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