While I believe Rose is as talented as those players, some people don't. In this post, I am just going to focus on Rose vs. James. On the court, he doesn't argue calls like James, but at the same time, he isn't as polarizing of a player as James. To me, and many NBA fans, part of Rose's allure is who he is off the court. He is so much of what we as Americans want in our athletes: Strong, talented, captivating, while still maintaining a humble and quiet profile off the court.
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| The picture that briefly took over the media, but never really threatened Derrick Rose's image. |
We all know James' "scandal." He ripped the hearts out of the Cleveland faithful when he televised his decision to join Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. He comes across as cocky and arrogant. He said the following comments after losing to the Mavericks in last years NBA finals:
“All the people that were rooting for me to fail… at the end of the day, tomorrow they have to wake up and have the same life that (they had) before they woke up today. They got the same personal problems they had today."
You really aren't helping yourself, LeBron. We get it, you make A LOT of money, but you don't have to remind people that regardless of losing, your life is still better then theirs. Derrick would never say anything like that (and if he did, it would somehow be okay). Are we (yeah, you hate James too) right in criticizing James for everything he does? Why do we hold James to a higher standard than Rose and any other player in the league?
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As a huge time Rose fan and LeBron hater myself, I don't think it's right to hold LeBron to a much higher standard and look at everything he does critically. People are just simply looking for ways to hate him and trying to find ways to love Rose for being the anti-Lebron. I don't think it's just at all because the reason, I believe, for the hatred toward LeBron is because they know he is the best player in the NBA and he's not playing for their favorite team, so they look at everything he does under a microscope to find ways they can hate on him.
ReplyDeleteI am with both of you in my extreme dislike of LeBron and my liking of Rose, and I think you bring up some very interesting points Leah. I have to agree with Ross in that I think that many Americans probably do hate LeBron for being the best and not playing for their home team. I don't know many people here who would hate LeBron as much as they do had he decided to play for the Bulls instead of the Heat. That said, I think that in the end, Derrick Rose is easier to like, especially for people from Chicago, because he is closer to that image that Americans like of the young, extremely talented yet humble player. LeBron seems to come off, at least to me, as someone who is a little more obnoxious during the games and as someone who is more of a showoff and acts as if he is the king (even though he may well be the best player in the league).
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