More Than an Athlete
Lebron James is a super star basketball player who has been ruling over the National Basketball Association (NBA) for about a decade now by going to the last eight out of ten NBA Finals. James has been some thing of a basketball profet being called “the chosen one” since high school as he tore apart high school with a type of domance that the world has not seen before except for maybe Kobe Bryant’s days at the high school level. As a result of James’s high successes and public image he skip the collegiate level and went straight into being a professional basketball player. He never looked back and did well in his career from the start and on top of that never looked back to get his college degree. This might lead people to think that Lebron James might just be an uneducated air head that dribbles and dunks, but on the other hand, James has become a inspiring public figure to not only his fans, but to people outside of the basketball community. James as a 15 year vet in the NBA and a 33 year man has really grown into his own and has become comfortable enough to utilize his platform nad voice his opinon. In doing so, James has spoken his mind out about Donald Trump and recieved a response that demonstrates a stereotype that he not only has labled on him, but the rest of the athlete community. The stereotype is that “athletes are just athletes.”
In an interview done with James, Kevin Durant, and Cari Champion on UNINTERRUPTED, James said that Trump “”really don’t give a (expletive) about the people.” (Schwartz, 2018)He then went on and said:
“The number-one job in America, the appointed person is someone who doesn’t understand the people. And really don’t give a (expletive) about the people. When I was growing up, there was like three jobs that you looked for inspiration … It was the president of the United States, it was whoever was best in sports and it was the greatest musician at the time. You never thought you could be them, but you can grab inspiration from them.” (Schwartz, 2018)
Fox News host Laura Ingraham responded to James’ comments on air in an insult-laden rant Thursday, saying “it’s always unwise to seek political advice from someone who gets paid $100 million a year to bounce a ball.” (Schwartz, 2018)
This lead James to create the slogan “More Than an Athlete,” which symbolizes that athlete is not the only label that he carries, but he is also, a person who has the ability to think just like any other person and voice their opinion on the issues. This slogan connects with all athletes that battles with the struggle of being sterotyped as “athletes are just athletes.” “More Than an Athlete” is a combative solgan that athletes can identify with an break out of this sterotype and demonstrate their other skills that athletes have and show that we are smart individual outside of our sport.
James capitilized on this slogan by opening up a public school in Akron, Ohio taking the first step in this demonstration that athletes are capable of change outside of their sport.
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