LeBron James had the right message, but for the wrong sport.
What I have always admired about LeBron, beyond his immense talent and durability as a superstar basketball player, has been a willingness to speak out about subjects that could bring him controversial responses.
It may be the era in which James was raised, but I wish Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods would have stepped up in such a way when their influence could have swayed a lot of people about politics and human rights and other stuff.
But when James got all over beleaguered Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred about the sign-stealing scandal that won’t go away, he was talking about elements of another sport so different from his.
Yes, Manfred came down probably too hard on the Houston Astros, who fired their manager and general manager for their part in the American League power using video equipment and trash-can banging to tip batters off about pitches that were coming.
Yes, Manfred might have let the Astros and other teams accused of sign-stealing off too easily in recent years. As a deterrent, he might have promised specific penalties if they did it again. How close to crossing the line with such a tradition?
So, we can debate whether the Astros players should have also been punished and, to the extreme, if the team should be stripped of it 2017 World Series trophy — which a flustered Manfred carelessly called a “piece of metal” the other day.
But what in basketball is even close to sign-stealing in baseball? There is nothing in the sport that has been a part of the game’s fabric forever that maybe went too far with the advent of technology. If a college team put hidden cameras in their gym to watch an upcoming opponent practice before their game? Spygate, Deflategate and Bounty-gate in football, yes, but hoops doesn’t have even a close comparison.
To ask Manfred to clean up the mess for the sake of all sports is hyperbole by The King, who stepped into another arena and should stick to a subject with which he is more familiar.
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