Lebron vs. Fox News vs. Common Sense

In case you missed it, Lebron James and Kevin Durant did an interview together where they bashed President Trump. Then Fox News told Lebron James to "shut up and dribble." It got a lot of media attention. Let's start at the end and work out way back, not just listening to the spin, but to what both sides actually said.

This is Lebron yesterday, after there was so much media buzz. Go to about the one minute mark, and you'll hear him say, "I mean too much to society. I mean too much to the youth."

Lebron has a lot of really valid, intelligent arguments here. But let's come back to that statement about how Lebron means too much to society and to the youth in just a minute.

Here is the actual video of what Laura Ingrahm of Fox News said:

First of all, she starts the segment with, "This is a Jumd Dock Alert" (a play on words for, "This is a Dumb Jock Alert.") Right there, she's wrong. Before she says anything else, she's wrong. You can't call Lebron James a dumb jock. The guy is not only a phenomenal player, but he's an incredible businessman.

Then she calls Lebron "Barely intelligible" and "not to mention, ungrammatical." Whoa, whoa, whoa... again, you can't say Lebron is not intelligent. He's a smart guy. And who cares if his grammar was wrong? You can't have an opinion unless you have perfect grammar?? What is this lady talking about?

She rightfully calls out Lebron for dropping the "F Bomb," and then she also calls out Lebron for calling Trump a racist (to be fair, it's host Cari Champion who mentions Trump's 'racist comments' while Lebron and KD agree with her).

She wraps it up by saying Lebron tried to leave high school a year early, and says "Shut up and dribble." The real loser here is Laura Ingrahm. She came off sounding like a stuck up, "talking down her nose at you," out of touch with reality snob.

What Fox News did was take a snippet of a conversation and twist it. This is the entire interview between Cari Champion, Lebron James, and Kevin Durant.

So if anybody is still reading, what does all of this mean?

I think what Lebron and KD were trying to say, is that they have a voice and a platform where some kids and adults listen to what they say. I agree with that. Is it to the point that "I'm too important to society?" I think that's an exaggeration, but I understand what Lebron meant.

So if that is the case, and you're important to kids, stop dropping F Bombs in your interviews. And how about, I don't know, speaking about specific issues in a way that makes it sound like you're educated on those issues?

And to Fox News, shame on you. Because while Lebron might not be a polished politician (Did you really expect him to be? That's not his job!), he has a right to an opinion. To poke fun at grammar and try to make these guys sound like they shouldn't even have an opinion... just shame on you. "Shut up and dribble?" That comment is ridiculous.

Listen to this one minute video of Jaylen Brown, who is only 20 years old, but is widely reported to be one of the most thoughtful, intelligent players in the league.

I love what Brown said at the 37 second mark: "If you're educated in the topic and you believe something, I feel like it should be okay to say it."

That's a mic drop by Jaylen Brown.

Should he shut up and dribble, too? I don't think so. I think he did a better job explaining it than anybody involved, including the lady who gets paid to be a real journalist.

Maybe she should shut up and just go somewhere else.

Nothing is going to change or get better if we can't talk to each other and have a dialogue. Like Jaylen Brown said, what we all need to be doing is educating ourselves on the topic so that the dialogue is actually meaningful.

Thanks for reading. #JWT