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The Final Score: Thank LeBron for Lesson in Über-Stardom


How do you transform one man's decision into a multi-week, multi-media frenzy? Let LeBron James show you how.

I waited for the circus to unfold. I switched from CNN's Larry King Live to BTV to ESPN to Star Sports, the remote control equivalent of texting, hoping someone would show LeBron's actual announcement. No such luck. So I stuck with CNN. Larry King Live had remote points in New York, Miami and Cleveland displayed simultaneously on the screen. The decision was in. I saw the crowd in Miami celebrate the way Spanish fans went berserk after Puyol's goal. New Yorkers showed disappointment; if you root for the Knicks, you should be numb by now. But in Cleveland, a sports town ready to own heartbreak like no other, they slapped their foreheads, they buckled-down in anguish and one guy flashed two dirty fingers (try to guess which NBA franchise player they were for) in front of a live high-definition camera, for the world to observe. I didn't need to hear it from James. I saw all I needed to see. One man's decision becomes the basketball world's concern. In the last couple of weeks, while fans and pundits alike speculated over where James would and should go, on Twitter, on Facebook, on the gazillion of basketball blogs worldwide, the distinction between fact and fiction, news and gossip, information and entertainment expectedly blurred for the benefit of LeBron's stature. Can we still separate LeBron the media brand from LeBron the basketball player? Can we sift through mountains of virtual gunk mentioning LeBron James and still gather perspective? Did we, as an audience, just validate the invalid? LeBron's "Decision" was so polished, so planned to pinpoint accuracy, perfectly built-up to an unbearable crescendo through a gamut of media channels, it leaves us breathless. Or, just maybe, simply annoyed. It's not like a game winning jumper that actually amounts to something. His decision doesn't even count as one win in the team standings. But eventually his one decision will stir the landscape in business, sports and entertainment. Jerseys will fly off shelves. Sneakers will be sold. Ratings will soar. Millions will be made. Well played Mr. James. You have enhanced, expanded and transformed your superstar existence with one media-enlarged decision. Media scholar D.N. Rodowick writes, "The thinking of history becomes a synthesis of time where every passing present introduces chance as a line of variation – a nomadic becoming – that liberates us from the tyranny of a fixed memory of the past and an already determined future." With one masterstroke, enabled by a willing media hailstorm, James departs from failure to promise, from persecution to endless possibility. He is reborn, ready to engage the world with multiple personalities yet again – brand ambassador, global icon and gallant teammate - raring to use every media outlet technology can offer to reinforce each persona. It's a new day LBJ. While Cleveland fans line up for the LeBron James witness protection program, your new set of worldwide witnesses has arrived. - GMANews.TV
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