Acceptance Speech

Even in the Holy Bible it says we must give credit where credit is due, so with that being said I knew I had to carve out some space for LeBron James after receiving his third NBA MVP in four years this past weekend. Though the credit I want to throw his way with this post isn't the actual fact that he's the eighth player in league history to win his third MVP trophy joining the likes of guys such as Jordan, Russell, Kareem, and Magic, or that he averaged 27 points, 6 assists, and 8 rebounds per game this season for the Miami Heat. I hope (at least) by now we're all at the acceptance stage with LeBron concerning how special he is as a player and where his talent stack up with the all-time greats. Instead what I feel like I need to touch on is the way he's handled his latest accolade. There's been so much made in the last two years about LeBron as a person following 'The Decision'. I've ripped LBJ and his seemingly self serving and self centered attitude because it was hard for me to ignore. I'd found myself saying things like "Sure the guy is a great player, but anyone who gets 'Chosen 1' inked on their back is an attention whore." The examples of his needy self seemed endless, and then I watched this past weekend's 12-minute long MVP acceptance speech from King James. Not only did his candid words while accepting the trophy make me temporarily forget about any of his past transgressions, when I did recall them they seemed less significant. During those 12 minutes LeBron completely humanized himself. From the very moment he stepped on stage and said he didn't need the 'cheat sheet' his PR guy Adam gave him beforehand, to the point where he called every one of his Heat teammates on stage and turned around to thank them, the speech was a smash hit. I've posted the video below in case you missed it so you can see for yourself. The appreciation and the gratitude were real not only making him seem human as I said, but a likable one at that! (Could you imagine?!) Not that the noticeably humble King's words absolve him from any and every thing he's done that's rubbed me the wrong way, but I figured if I've banged on him for his missteps, he deserves to be credited with being a class act as he did this past weekend. Enjoy the video.