LeBron and Le Beatles
The 2009-10 NBA season is now officially in the books. In a few days Ron Artest will call an end to the party and in a little over a week (July 1) professional basketball’s free agent circus can begin. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Toronto’s Chris Bosh and others are ready to hit the market but really, LeBron James is the one we’ll mostly hear about.
Haven’t we already?
Unable to wait until the official start date for the free agent offers the city of Akron honored “The King” with a fan appreciation parade, Erie has offered James a maximum contract to play minor league baseball and New York has offered him their strippers. (Hey Dallas, did the Vince Young incident scare you away?)
This week Chris Rock upped the ante in the LeBron James sweepstakes while he was promoting his new film, “Grown Ups”. The comedian offered the 25-year old star $10 to play for the New York Knicks. Not $10-million, but $10.
Hmmm… has the weakened world economy now affected our current state of comedy? Rock’s crack made rounds on Twitter but if recorded video/audio reaches YouTube then you’ll see just how sorry his offer (and his originality) really was.
When I was a teenager, unlike LeBron James, no major college universities or NBA teams were looking at me. And no one from my junior high school had heard of James just yet. In the 1980s, basketball cities weren’t divided by their attempted bribes of a basketball star but the entire world was still hoping for a Beatles reunion.
[Note: I’ll never forget the kid who sat opposite me – who will protectively remain nameless – in the lunchroom cafeteria who used to ask, “What will it take to reunite The Beatles?” His answer was “Three more bullets!” It wasn’t funny then, and no longer applies now that George Harrison is also dead, but we laughed every time and I bet you might too]
Like the courtship of LeBron James, money was the presumed motivational factor for any proposed reunion of the Fab Four. Even Lorne Michaels, the executive producer for Saturday Night Live, put together a proposal to John, Paul, George and Ringo as early as 1976.
Even split four ways, $3,000.00 in the 1970s was a better deal than $10.00 is worth in 2010. And it was more original comedy then too.
