LeBron James has finally admitted the obvious: announcing his decision to play for the Miami Heat on an over-hyped ESPN special was a public relations nightmare. Obviously, for Heat fans the show was a monumental feel-good moment, but it only served to fuel the hatred and intense scrutiny on the Heat (and lets be honest, all those "taking my talents to South Beach" jokes got old real fast). Now, James says "I probably would change that."
James sat down with ESPN, you know, that same channel that aired "The Decision," to express his remorse about the special.
"If I could look back on it I would probably change a lot of it," said James. "The fact of having a whole TV special, and people getting the opportunity to watch me make a decision on where I wanted to play, I probably would change that. Because I can now look and see if the shoe was on the other foot and I was a fan, and I was very passionate about one player, and he decided to leave, I would be upset too about the way he handled it."
James also says that he no longer wants to embrace his role as the NBA's biggest villain.
"During my first seven years in the NBA I was always the liked one. To be on the other side, they call it the dark side, or the villain, whatever they call it," he said. Adding, "When you start to hear 'the villain,' now you have to be the villain. And I started to buy into it. I started to play the game of basketball at a level or in a mind state that I had never played at before. I mean angry. That's mentally, and that's not the way I play the game of basketball."
Well, obviously. Everyone knows the villain puts up a strong fight but ultimately fails in the final showdown.
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