LeBron lived up to the hype as a player and has done amazing things off the court. He's the blueprint. Worst thing he ever did was get convinced to do "The Decision."
Agreed -- which is pretty remarkable for an athlete that has been under the microscope like him.
I lived in NE Ohio when he was in HS. His mom and her then-partner were nuts -- I think he went to prison for some type of financial scam. A local car dealership gifted him a Hummer when he was in high school. There was no way I expected him to be as squeaky clean as he's turned out to be, given that background.
And yet, there's very little [if anything] off the court to criticize. As you point out, "The Decision" was probably the worst thing, and in the big scheme of things -- not really a big deal.
Edit -- a couple of years ago, he was a special guest star on one of those house flipping shows, when the focus was on fixing up several neighborhood houses in a run-down area of Akron, LeBron's home town. LeBron had a financial stake in the project. So LeBron shows up at project kickoff, cuts the ribbon, and poses for some photos. The woman who is the house flipping focus of the show talked about how nice it was to meet a big sports celebrity like him, and how she was appreciative for his financial backing.
The next day, the project kicks off in earnest. And much to her surprise, LeBron shows BACK up on-site with his kids at like 7am in the morning. She apparently didn't expect him to be involved beyond the initial photo op -- let alone to work. Instead, he's out there with safety googles, swinging sledgehammers, loading construction waste into dumpsters, etc. He also put his kids to work, and got on them throughout the day if they slacked off. Then he showed up on day 2, again with his kids, for another full day of work. And again on day 3. And was there for the full week, working full time, for the duration of the project.
Says a lot about him, IMO. Billionaire, but not afraid to get his hands dirty when it came to community work benefitting his home town.
