There is a lot of hate aimed towards LeBron James. I personally never get it. Sometimes I wonder if this is just due to social media today, and if players like Jordan would be getting the same kind of treatment. Nobody is a perfect human being. I am going to speak on why I can’t understand the hatred towards LeBron, and why the same thing doesn’t go for Kobe and Michael.

Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest players I’ve seen on the basketball court. Kobe has an arrogance about him that you see in many a superstar that is on the pedestal he is. So he can get a pass for thinking he’s above his teammates. Bryant was accused of raping a girl in Denver in 2003. As we know, he definitely did have sexual relations with that woman, to partially quote Bill Clinton, but we can’t honestly say that he raped her. What we can say though is that he cheated on his wife. Again nobody is perfect. Earlier this year, as the Lakers were struggling to piece it together, Kobe called the fans (and media) “dumb” and said they just needed to “shut up already.” The fans have no problem with this, but I do. Since when do you put an athlete that fans made into an icon, just as much as he himself has, so high on a pedestal that the athlete can demean you and you have no problem with it. That just baffles me. I don’t care how many rings he has or how many records he breaks, no player is above the sport, the fans, or common courtesy. The comment Bryant made shouldn’t be dismissed. Kobe’s following thinks LeBron is the one who is arrogant though, and chalks the Kobe stuff up to “Mamba Mentality.”

Michael Jordan is hands down the best Basketball player I’ve ever watched. When it comes to being clutch or scoring at will, there has been no other player I have seen do it as well as Mike! Jordan was also a gambler, fornicator, drinker, and smoker, with a lot of arrogance. Again, if you’re one of the best, media is going to mold that level of arrogance into you, no matter how hard you try to fight it. So we’ll give him a pass. His Hall of Fame speech was a little questionable. He didn’t show any type of humbleness and belittled numerous individuals throughout the speech. I guess that’s okay because he’s “MJ” right?? We’ve all heard the stories of Mike not signing autographs for kids at times. I can understand not wanting to be hounded 24-7/365 and sign for countless people, but we’re talking about THE KIDS. Speaking of kids, I never really saw Mike have his around like other players do. That could be for many reasons so I really won’t knock him for seeming like he never hung with them. I do remember him at one point telling his children, “You guys have a heavy burden. I wouldn’t want to be you guys if I had to.” Great fatherly advice! There was speculation a few years ago that Jordan’s first retirement was really a secret suspension for his gambling problems, as a well known drug dealer had a signed $57,000 check from him. Jordan said it was for a business adventure but under oath admitted it was to make up for a gambling debt. Again, nobody is perfect, but everyone wants to “Be Like Mike.”

LeBron isn’t an angel. We all know “The Decision” was a bad idea, but I think that was more pushed on him public relations wise. That doesn’t give him a pass but it did raise over $3,000,000 for charity. He has “Chosen One” tattooed on him. That was something he did in his teenage years, and we all know kids get dumb tattoos. So from me, he gets a pass for that. He calls himself King James. I’m almost 100% sure that other people gave him that name and it wasn’t self-proclaimed. He shouldn’t really refer to himself as King though, even if he has 25 rings. What isn’t justified about LeBron is to say that he’s an arrogant person. Unlike Kobe and MJ, you have never seen LeBron drinking, gambling, in the club, smoking cigars, or cheating on his wife. When you do see LeBron, he’s with his kids, with other kids giving back, working on his game or playing in one. I don’t see how that’s arrogant. That to me is a better role model than the other 2 individuals I touched on. What other 21-year-old kid do you know, that is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and acts like he does. Usually kids act how you would typically expect them to, but I’ve never seen such things from LeBron. Earlier this season, a fan hit a $75,000 shot from half-court and James was so excited for him that he ran up and tackled the guy! Would MJ or Kobe every do that, I don’t think so. So for those who say he’s a great player but a horrible person, I don’t get it. For those who say he’s a good person but not a great player, I don’t understand your logic either. Sure he’s had his moments on numerous clutch occasions, but since 03/04 not one player has more game tying or go-ahead scores in the playoffs than LeBron James with less than 24 seconds left on the clock. He’s 7-16 in those situations and Kobe is 5-17. Kobe is clutch though and LeBron isn’t? LeBron is 61-143 with the 3rd highest percentage in clutch situations at .427 between 2006-2012. But he’s not clutch? LeBron never said he was MJ, that’s something the media and fans have put on him, so how is he accountable for all the “Not Better than MJ” talk?

The moral of this article is hate isn’t a good look. If you’re going to hate on a person because he’s all you hear about on TV, that’s not justified. It’s amazing to me that society loves people that act as they shouldn’t, and love to hate on the people who try set a good example for others. If you want to not like LeBron’s game for whatever reason, you’re entitled to that. If you want to not like LeBron as an individual, I question that. At least know the man and acknowledge the things he does off the court before you rake him over the coals. If I had kids, I’d want them to model themselves after James, more than I would want them to be like Mike or have that Mamba Mentality.