A King After His Own Ego

There’s nothing that will turn someone like me and some people off quick than a person with an inflated ego. No, not confidence but straight up ego. There’s a big difference between one exuding confidence and one ego tripping and it’s just not sexy! As I watched LeBron and heard his comments post the Dallas Championship, I thought he was overtly arrogant and rude in his responses. As I listened to him over and over state that people can now go back to their seemingly menial lives and that he’s going to basically do what he’s been doing, living his larger than large life, a huge part of me was disappointed and disgruntled at the arrogance oozing out of him through my TV. It wasn’t what he said, it was HOW he said it that bothered me. It took me to another player, whose arrogance and demeanor literally makes me nauseous now, Kobe Bryant. Don’t get me wrong, both are incredibly talented on the court and great athletes but is the inflated ego necessary? Some have argued that Michael Jordan had an ego that was out of this world but the kicker is I never felt his ego. Maybe I was too young to pay that much attention but MJ never made me stop and question his demeanor.

I know that some women don’t care for Kobe because of the Colorado incident. I’m not that chick. I can’t for the life of me understand why a woman would go to a man’s hotel room that she has no rapport or relationship with--what exactly are you looking for to happen? I was on Mike Tyson’s side and I was on Kobe’s side there as well. I honestly get offended when women scream rape due to bs. Yes, no means no, but maybe the woman should have said no, “NO, I don’t know you to be coming to your room”, how about that? And before you ladies get your Vickie’s in a bunch let me say that I take the rape issue quite seriously, so don’t go screaming it if it didn’t really happen in the form of a rape and diminish and make a mockery of the seriousness of an issue happening to girls and women everywhere. But the thing that just irks me about Kobe is the arrogance that he exudes through the TV in such a high, sickening dose. When I say I get nauseous, I literally get nauseous at the sight of him. It’s such a turn-off. Though I’ve never liked Kobe due to his arrogance and the fact I don’t particularly care for West Coast teams anyway only added to my dislike, I started feeling the nausea thing after a 2008 playoff game where he said to a reporter and I quote, “I can turn it on anytime I want” with such cockiness that made me want to puke. Kobe actually couldn’t “turn it on” for the remainder of the series and Boston won the 2008 Finals. Ego gets you nowhere.

I reiterate, hands down I think Kobe and LeBron are great athletes and I won’t take that from them but can we tone down the ego guys? Though I haven’t been a Kobe fan, I have been a fan of LeBron’s since the first time I saw him play. However, when a friend tagged me on a YouTube video of LeBron disrespecting a Chicago Bulls ball boy (www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjXQCT47EAc), I was pissed but eventually I let it go due to his immaturity. When he made a spectacle of “The Decision”, again, I let it go to immaturity and this time, I gave him a pass and said he’s building the hype, but when his latest comments translated so cold and superior on TV, they just broke this camelette’s back.

Maybe that’s what these guys want? Maybe they’ve been so coddled and told they were the best thing since slice bread for so long that they really think they ARE kings and ARE superior.
As long as I live, I will never forget the t-shirt that Dwayne Wade wore after LeBron made The Decision to go to Miami; I will NEVER, EVER forget that shirt! It was a bold statement that read “D-WADE County”- referring to Miami’s Dade County. Clearly Dwayne was sending a message to everyone coming into his territory, like a dog marking his area. That image will forever be embedded in my and many heads probably forever. What was he subliminally saying, "Yo, this is my world and you're just a squirrel trying to get a ring? He was ego tripping on himself and then to go and say that he, LeBron and Bosh are the 3 best players to have EVER played the game… come on son, seriously? How do you fix your top lip to meet with your bottom lip to even utter crap like that?? Do you live on Earth or are you and your buddies that far detached? These guys are so beyond themselves that they can’t even begin to comprehend the stuff they say or do on and off the court…filter anyone?

So at what point do we stop making excuses for such deficiencies in character? Clearly, Miami as a whole, LeBron, nor the coach were ready for a win at this time. Dallas was the better team that outplayed and outsmarted them. Is it fair to take your frustrations out on the fans that support you or have supported you because you may be emotional or upset at the outcome or maybe upset with the attacks of those who were hurt by you? Again, it’s not what you do but how you go about doing it that sets the tone. This is what you signed up for you know, it all comes with the territory LJ and DW. Maybe like one of my friends pointed out, LeBron not going to college to develop his game is catching up to him and he was a dear in headlights, frustrated, angry that he came so close and couldn’t close the deal. Maybe these guys feel so scrutinized for every little thing by the media and by the fans that stuff just flies out of their mouth without proper thought? Whatever it may be, I feel that the ego is running the show.

To my Dallas peeps, I’m an East Coast fan but I do congratulate you for a well played series and a well deserved win. As for my Miami peeps, it just wasn’t in the cards this year…maybe next year…


Side note: When I think of ego or someone “ego-tripping”, I think you must be greater than great, larger than life, a higher being, to be damn near untouchable, flat out supernatural; which brings me to think of a poem by one of my favorite authors: “Ego-Tripping” by Nikki Giovanni…if you can’t move mountains or part a sea, you shouldn’t be a man or king after your own ego…enjoy peeps!

Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)

I was born in the congo
I walked to the fertile crescent and built
the sphinx
I designed a pyramid so tough that a star
that only glows every one hundred years falls
into the center giving divine perfect light
I am bad

I sat on the throne
drinking nectar with allah
I got hot and sent an ice age to europe
to cool my thirst
My oldest daughter is nefertiti
the tears from my birth pains
created the nile
I am a beautiful woman

I gazed on the forest and burned
out the sahara desert
with a packet of goat's meat
and a change of clothes
I crossed it in two hours
I am a gazelle so swift
so swift you can't catch me

For a birthday present when he was three
I gave my son hannibal an elephant
He gave me rome for mother's day
My strength flows ever on

My son noah built new/ark and
I stood proudly at the helm
as we sailed on a soft summer day
I turned myself into myself and was
jesus
men intone my loving name
All praises All praises
I am the one who would save

I sowed diamonds in my back yard
My bowels deliver uranium
the filings from my fingernails are
semi-precious jewels
On a trip north
I caught a cold and blew
My nose giving oil to the arab world
I am so hip even my errors are correct
I sailed west to reach east and had to round off
the earth as I went
The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid
across three continents

I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal
I cannot be comprehended except by my permission

I mean...I...can fly
like a bird in the sky...


And only now can you Ego-Trip…
~A2