Stop "hating" on Lebron

The other day, at the end of the school day, a few of my students had engaged in a conversation about basketball while preparing for dismissal.  The conversation quickly turned to the Miami Heat and Lebron James.  Several of the students began to praise Lebron James, “he’s the best player in league,” “he’s unstoppable,” etc.  The normal banter one would expect to hear from middle school aged children.  One student, while agreeing with the others, made the following statement about Lebron, “man, for as big as Lebron is, I wish he would post up more.”  I thought this statement was an accurate observation for an 11 year old to make.  However, this statement was quickly shot down by his peers and the student was called a “Lebron James hater”.  Was this student’s comment one based in hate?…Or just an observation he made about one of his favorite players’ ability, or lack thereof, to post up another player.  Yet he was quickly labeled as a “hater” by his peers.  These types of conversations happen on a daily basis in barbershops, in classrooms, in sports bars, and on social networking websites, just to name a few.  Hence, people making logical observations and expressing their opinion of an athlete’s ability on the court, field, etc that go against the “norm” are quickly labeled as “haters” in an attempt to dismiss the validity of his or her comment/statement.

The term “hater” is commonly used by individuals in an attempt to discredit anyone who criticizes him or her or displays displeasure in his or her actions or abilities.  Using this term appears to be the “trendy” thing to do in our society these days to discredit someone’s opinion, by saying he or she is “hater” or that they are “hating.”  Using this term seems to quickly dismiss the persons comments as jealousy, however, calling he or she a “hater” is not a very strong argument and holds about as much weight, in my opinion, as someone saying, “I know what you are but what am I”.  I refer to the use of the word “hater” as a form of “superstar athlete protectionism”.

In sports, if you notice, certain athletes appear to be above criticism, like Lebron James, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Sidney Crosby, Alex Rodriquez, Kobe Bryant, etc, rather it is the way the media portrays these athletes as players “above the game” in their respective sports.  It also appears that the casual fan perceives them to also be these “bigger than life” figures that are above criticism.  Even to the extent that they ignore certain players’ shortcomings on the field, court, etc and if someone else brings up these short comings.  For example, if I say “man Ryan Howard struggles with hitting a curve ball”, the casual fan will just respond, “what, your just a Ryan Howard hater”.  However, the same protection is not allotted to a lower status athlete such as Andre Iguodala.  For example, if you say “man Iggy plays soft or has no jump shot”, no one will respond with “you’re an Iggy hater”, yet if you say the same thing about a Lebron James, legitimate criticism, you are automatically labeled a James hater.

The really sad part is that some knowledgeable sports fans are guilty of the same behavior, discrediting other sports fans’ arguments when he or she believes the debate is not going his or her way, by labeling the other person as a hater.  In summary, I often refer to the words of one of my all-time favorite rappers, Common, who said “just because I don’t like it, that don’t mean that I’m hating”.  Using the terms “hater” and “hating” is a poor and easy defense against anyone in a sports debate who makes an observation or gives his or her opinion about an athlete’s shortcomings or poor performance, and the minute you resort to using these terms, your sports IQ drops 50 points in my opinion.

Nairann Merceir, Philly/Fantasy Sports Contributor to The War Room, and guest blogger for War Room Sports