Tom the Dancing Bug: LeBron James in "Winning Team"

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zyodei

Why is this on BoingBoing, anyway? If it’s about sports and it doesn’t involve some sort of biomechanical prosthetic batting arm on a baseball player, I don’t wanna see it!

And anyway, maybe he just moved because Ohio sucks?
- MrsBug
  
  Because the moderators thought it was funny (as did I) and we all love Tom the Dancing Bug?
  
  Also, Ohio doesn’t suck. I’m from Michigan and even I think they’re pretty okay. Now, the Buckeyes, yeah, they suck. Ohio in general is very nice.
- Anonymous
  
  Maybe Boing Boing should’ve had LeBron in a steampunk gas mask with a unicorn, some handmade crap, a little retro kitch tossed in, and a wacky video. Now THAT’S Boing Boing ready!
- MrJM
  
  This Tom the Dancing Bug cartoon is on Boing-Boing for the following reasons:
  
  1. LeBron is wearing a hand-tooled steam punk belt buckle/USB thumb-drive. And the thumb-drive is shaped like a Hello Kitty skull and contains a cc-licensed ePub copy of “For the Win”.
  
  2. The CSI autopsy was immediately followed by a unicorn chaser.
  
  3. The CSI woman’s car pays tolls via an RFID chip that surreptitiously broadcasts her Facebook relationship status (“It’s Complicated”).
  
  4. The couple in the final scene is listening to a CD of popular songs played on cigar-box guitars.
  
  Duh.
Anonymous

Sports? Ugh, mainstream trash.

Now if you excuse me, I need to go congratulate a man for tattooing a dot on his thumb.
bassplayinben

SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!
SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!SPORTS!

SPORTS!
optuser

Yeah Ruben, don’t clutter up BoingBoing with SPORTS. I come here to forget about how much the place I live (Ohio) sucks. Where are the sex bots? Or, where are they more likely to emerge: Las Vegas, San Fransisco, or Tokyo?
- Brainspore
  
  Know who probably owns a bunch of sex bots? LeBron James.
pidg

I don’t even know who the guy is or live in the US, and I found it pretty funny.

SPORTS!
ImprovidentLackWit

I’m suprised the NY Yankees didn’t sign him.
jvwalt

This is on Boing Boing because TOM THE DANCING BUG IS A WEEKLY FEATURE no matter what he writes about, and we are grateful for that. If you don’t like a particular post, feel free to skip it.

And if you’re really unhappy, feel free to apply to Cory for a full refund.

Oh, wait… you didn’t pay anything. Never mind.
Anonymous

This is highly revealing of what motivates a true champion. Perhaps Sarah Palin could write a tasteful note suggesting Boing Boing repudiate their stance on such characterizations.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Perhaps Sarah Palin could write a tasteful note suggesting Boing Boing repudiate their stance on such characterizations.
  
  That’s refudiate. You ignant.
millionpoems

Re zyodei:

Anti-Ohio turns out to be pretty good troll litmus.
mkultra

I think it’s amazing how much flack LJ is getting for his decision. If this were any other job, who would blame him for moving to somewhere he felt he would be more successful? Why is a sports team different?

I mean, look at it from the other point of view. He is, arguably, the best basketball player today. He spent the first 6 (7?) years of his career with Cleveland, which is–without him–at best a second rate team. He has MAYBE 3 more years of being at the peak of his game, before the long, inexorable slide downhill. He doesn’t have all the time in the world, and the man wants to win a championship. Imagine if Jordan had played for the Clippers, would you blame him for moving?

Players aren’t chattel. They aren’t members of a family. They are contracted employees, and when their contract is up employees have a right to quit and seek work elsewhere. Not to mention that, judging from the post made by his former coach, he worked for an abusive, manipulative jerk.

Did he turn it into a media circus? Yep, with the collaboration of ESPN and millions of sports fans, he sure did. So? Sports is entertainment, and this is just the logical extension of the meta-game.
- Anonymous
  
  But James held the Cleveland Cavaliers hostage by not letting them know his decision until virtually all of the free agent talent had been signed, putting the proverbial screws to his former team.
  - mkultra
    
    @ #18: He didn’t “hold the team hostage”: They could have said “make a decision NOW or we’ll make it for you” at any point in the process. They knew he was shopping around, it’s not like he hid it. But no, they wanted him so bad they were willing to screw themselves (and their fans) over for a 1/3 (at best) chance that he would stay there. They gambled, and lost. Boo-fricking-hoo.
    
    @ #21: Most of the complaints about the media circus surrounding LJ sound almost exactly like the complaints that swirled around Muhammad Ali. When LJ starts rhyming in every public statement, he will become my favorite basketball player ever. This is spectacle, and the American Public LOVES spectacle almost as much as it loves complaining about spectacle.
- dw_funk
  
  But none of that media stuff would’ve happened without LeBron’s consent. Obviously, no matter what he did, this would’ve been a story, but he’s the only one who could turn it into an event. And then every message from his dumb mouth was about himself, no humility, no respect for the team, etc. I don’t blame Cleveland for being a little upset.
  
  Of course, I also heard the NBA is totally rigged, and LeBron has intelligently moved to a major market team in order to get through to the finals, where the league might let him win one. On the other hand, I heard most of that evidence on Coast to Coast AM, so most of that information was provided between mouth breathing callers wanting to know more about contrails.
Teller

Hey, this is great! I think LeBron gave Cleveland 7 years and can do what he wants. Jesse Jackson is an ass for his comments. JaMarcus Russell is definitely a bigger bust than Ryan Leaf. And what about Marlon Byrd nailing Big Papi last night? Plus I just saw a great ukulele video on ESPN.com
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  LeBron gave Cleveland 7 years and can do what he wants.
  
  The invisible hand of the market gave him a reacharound.
  - Teller
    
    Yup. The reward for reaching free agency in the NBA.
Anonymous

I’m with zyodei….dont pick on Bron Bron…he’s the greatest of all time and never has to prove it…so there
fnc

I’d find “professional sports” more entertaining if it were named for what it really is, “mercenary athletics”. Any perceived notion that these guys belong to or care about a team is mere illusion.
- Anonymous
  
  @fnc: Please edit your comment to read:
  I’d find “professional sports” more entertaining if it were named for what it really is, “exploitative ownership”. Any perceived notion that these teams support or care about these guys is mere illusion.
senorglory

I like watching sports in part because it is an easy way to relate to other sports fans, contemporary and ancient. It can be dramatic entertainment, and isn’t any more of a waste of time than any of the other things I enjoy– like the internet, my xbox, books, chronic masturbation, drinking until I pass out.
- Teller
  
  “I like watching sports in part because it is an easy way to relate to other sports fans, contemporary and ancient.”
  
  I sit in awe of your surreality. My compliments.
Master Pokes

Master Pokes the non-troll here, live from Ohio, to verify that Ohio does indeed suck. Out loud. At incredible volume. I think you’re all so used to the sound you’ve gone into auditory paralysis and don’t notice it anymore. I donâ€™t blame the guy for his choice, just for being pompous @$$.
- dculberson
  
  My experience with people that hate the place they live yet stay there leads me to believe that it’s the person and not the place.
  - Anonymous
    
    i’m guessing you havent lived in ohio then.
ill lich

I used to be one of those “anti-sports” guys, but sports are OK in moderation. Sports in and of themselves are no more silly than, say, steampunk. I think Woody Allen once said he loved baseball because it was like ballet, and I think a good baseball game is a beautiful thing to watch unfold.

That said, the hype over Lebron was/is ridiculous; they interrupted regular news broadcasts (in a city that never even had a chance to get Lebron on their team) to have specials about Lebron going to Miami, like they would for a storm warning, or a world leader dying. Insane. It strikes me as less about sports and more about American Celebrity Culture. Soon we will see Lebron on the cover of US Weekly or the The National Enquirer with his adopted Cambodian co-joined-twin orphans, with stories about how his Vicodin addiction helped him lose weight, and how he is romantically linked to Miley Cyrus.

Good times. Or as a friend of mine likes to say: USA USA USA!!!!
jo3lr0ck5

Thanks Boing Boing…I just got in trouble @ work!!
- The Mudshark
  
  Thanks Boing Boing…I just got in trouble @ work!!
  
  Keeping my thumb on alt and the cursor hovering over my desktop works best for me.
- Rob Beschizza
  
  It gives us no pleasure.

Tom the Dancing Bug: LeBron James in "Winning Team"

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