Miami Heat superstar LeBron James is trying very hard to show that he genuinely cares about Liverpool FC.
Makes sense seeing as how, you know, he's a minority owner of the club and everything.
LeBron's latest Liverpool-inspired stunt involves a new pair of sneakers. The "LeBron 9 Low Liverpool Edition" sneakers feature the team's colors, naturally, and they include other shoutouts to Liverpool FC as well. On the heel of the shoe is a motif of a Liver bird, and on the soles are 18 Premier League trophies meant to celebrate the club's 18 league championships.
There are a couple problems, which I'll thank Mirror Football for pointing out. First, the Liver bird on the heel of the shoe looks nothing like the Liver bird on the club's crest. Second, the 18 Premier League trophies on the bottom aren't quite accurate, as Liverpool won all 18 of their league titles before the Premier League was formed in 1992.
So yeah. Oops.
Let's clear one thing up right away. The problems with the shoe are not LeBron's fault. He'll be blamed for them anyway, of course, but it's not like he retreated to his own secret sneaker workshop late at night to design these shoes. They were designed and are being produced by Nike, so all LeBron is guilty of is having his name on them.
But that's just the thing. Whether directly or indirectly, LeBron is endorsing these shoes. And because they essentially make a mockery of Liverpool and the club's proud tradition, it looks like LeBron is making a mockery of Liverpool and the club's proud tradition.
What we're dealing with here is yet another PR disaster for the King.
I'm not one to revel in LeBron bashing, but at some point you just have to throw your hands up in the air and ask, "When the heck is this guy going to learn?!" For a guy who has done so many things to rub so many people the wrong way, you'd think that at some point he would have figured out when it's better to be safe than sorry.
Well now he's gone and done it. LeBron is already a villain in the states, and judging from the way the Liverpool sneakers are already being received (see the Mirror Football article), I highly doubt he's going to receive a warm welcome the next time he bothers to show up at Anfield.
At this point, the only true safe haven for LeBron is Miami. Pretty remarkable when you consider the fact that he was one of the most beloved athletes in the world a couple years ago.
The bright side is that there's still loads of time for LeBron to re-endear himself to everyone he's rubbed the wrong way in recent years, Liverpool fans included. But before he can get to work on that process, he just needs to stop doing those things in the first place. He should have gone into damage control mode months ago, but he's still finding ways to generate negative buzz.
Is there a lot of negative buzz because people are just plain unfair to LeBron? Undoubtedly. People have been on the lookout for reasons to bash him ever since he took his talents to South Beach, and critics have focused in on the littlest, most insignificant things (i.e. LeBron's steak habits).
Fair or unfair, it's on LeBron to stop obliging the haters. That's something he hasn't quite figured out yet.
Cincinnati Reds Colorado Rockies Florida Marlins Houston Astros Los Angeles Dodgers Milwaukee Brewers
0 件のコメント:
コメントを投稿