Wow, Lebron James sure doesn't get it

Mini-Kobe Bryant controversy going on. Ad in SI apparently this week featuring the two players where Kobe says he doesn't leave anything on the court, "nothing in the chamber" or something along those lines.

http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/news/story?id=4869984

Kobe apologizes and says the ad is inappropriate, in hindsight, and a mistake. Lebron, on the other hand, well, read:

James defended Bryant, saying the words were taken out of context.

"That has nothing, zero, to do with guns," James said, raising his voice at reporters. "At all. At all. Zero. That's very simple. For somebody to even say that -- that's a basketball term. To try to highlight Kobe and say that he was referencing guns is totally ridiculous."

James said such slang is common among his peers.

"We say a lot of things as basketball players that make a reference to guns and violence, but it's really not guns and violence," he said.

 

Eh, he'll just get lynched in the playoffs again.

 

Or maybe he'll shoot the lights out.

 

I think LeBron has a legit point. Just for once, it would be nice if the controversy de jour didn't get exploited by stupid people for stupid reasons.

 

Dallas has a hell of a shotgun with a QB that has a cannon for an arm.

Why am I thinking of George Carlin right now?

 

It's not LeBron's fault that a couple of knuckleheads brought guns into the locker room. Are sports writers supposed to stop using Pistol Pete's nickname or use the terms three-point sharpshooter or a half court bomb?

 

edited for the hard truth

 

It's mainly a case of terrible timing of the ad. Otherwise, no one would have said anything. Unless, someone had just killed 30 people somewhere and was quoted with "I left nothing in the chamber" afterward.

Even so, Nike should sit on it for a while. Stern probably choked on his caviar when he heard.

 

Big deal. Lebron's way past the maturity level I had at his age.

 

I'm sorry, but this is a dumbass thing to say:

"We say a lot of things as basketball players that make a reference to guns and violence."

Not just post-Arenas, but any time.

 

It's part of sports. The metaphors between athletics and violence are pretty obvious, and there was nothing wrong with what was said.

 

At the very least, it was awkwardly phrased by a smart guy.