A story about a night out in Vegas with LeBron James and Maverick Carter was pulled off the Los Angeles ESPN website. The author, Arash Markazi, posted the story that lasted all of a couple of hours prior to disappearing.
Here is the statement of ESPN about the situation: "The story should have never been published. The draft was inadvertently put on the server before going through the usual editorial process. We are in the midst of looking into the matter.”
Markazi is no neophyte or mere blogger. He is a seasoned and respected writer whose previous place of employment was Sports Illustrated.
The story is nothing more than a tale of a twenty-something rich guy who hosted a sit-down dinner for friends and family and finished off the night at some of Vegas' best and hottest night clubs. Link posted below
There are mentions of scantily clad women scattered all over the place, women told to see The King upstairs when he's done with dinner, and lots of Patron shots. In other words it's a typical night in Vegas for a "global icon."
When you read the piece you wonder what it was that tripped the wire at Bristol. It is not even close to a hit piece or as unflattering to LeBron as the many ESPN reports on his behavior after the Cavs' loss to Orlando in the 2009 playoffs.
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Perhaps they are unable to offend James any longer after he allowed them to host his one-hour special, "The Decision." They played along with the charade that he might stay in Cleveland or go somewhere other than Miami.
Then again, remember the Nike basketball camp video of a college kid dunking on LeBron, back in 2009? That was kept off the Internet and away from media for days until the uproar made James look like a wuss.
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Could Nike have something to do with this or might ESPN be ready to admit they are powerless to be independent and edgy when it comes to someone they believe is a meal ticket? Either is a good guess, in my opinion.
You can read the full text of the Markazi article here at Sports Climax.
Comments
LeBron's ego is apparently protected under his ESPN insurance policy. It used to be covered by GEICO but their premiums did not include bogus coverage of an hour long "Decision" special.
Yeah and he hasn't yet found Progressive with its price gun
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