Several weeks ago, Lebron James asserted that he thinks race plays a role in some of the criticism he faces. Of course, there was a lot of controversy over his decision to go to the Miami Heat and more significantly the 1 hour special that was held on ESPN, called "The Decision." He has suffered a huge backlash for his decision and has raised some eyebrows with his assertion of the role that race plays in sports. In an interview earlier this year, CNN's Soledad O'Brien asked James whether race played in the backlash over "The Decision," an hour long July special on ESPN in which he announced he would leave the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat.
"I think so, at times," James responded. "[There's] always a race factor."
An interesting quote from CNN. com is "As long as the NBA features predominantly black athletes playing for predominantly white owners who are selling their sport to predominantly white ticket buyers, there will be a race factor. It's an ongoing quandary, usually left unsaid," Adande wrote.
I was a bit surprised about how badly scrutinized he was from mostly people around the league and fans. Unfortunately, racism does exists in the NBA even though many of these athletes are rich and widely popular. At the end of the day, it was his decision and people do not have the right to tell this man how to live his life. I never thought about the race factor in the NBA but it possibly can be an unknown fact. At the same time, the manner in which he gave his decision was distasteful and left a sour taste in many people mouths. The backlash he received does leave much to be interpreted.
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