Byline: STEVE WILSTEIN COLUMNIST
LEBRON JAMES is (choose one):
a) a victim of hypocrisy;
b) a player who broke the rules and should take responsibility;
c) a good kid who made a little mistake;
d) the epitome of all that is wrong with sports.
At 18, this high school baskeball sensation with the spin drives, board-shaking dunks and sweet-touch jumpers already attracts more attention, carries more baggage and evokes more debate than most players who devote a lifetime to getting in and out of trouble.
Banned last week, he could be back on the court Saturday night when his St. Vincent-St. Mary team from Akron, Ohio, travels to the Isles Prime Time Shootout in Trenton, N.J., for a game that will be televised on cable to 20 million households.
The guess here is that James will play, that his lawyers will persuade a judge to block a seemingly hasty ruling by the Ohio High School Athletic Association barring him from the court for accepting a couple of overpriced jerseys.
And here's another wild guess: James probably wouldn't be the only player at the three-day tournament whose closets are filled with free stuff. With 11 of the nation's top 25 teams in the charity event, chances are that more than a few players have been given sundry gear, if not cold cash, by merchants trying to curry favor.
James surely could have been a little less obvious. After making the cover of Sports Illustrated, after starring in his school's exploitive pay-TV road show, after being investigated for the birthday gift of a $50,000 Hummer from his unemployed mother, James might have shown a tiny bit of discretion about accepting anything for free, even a couple of overpriced 'throwback' jerseys.
But discretion is hardly the strong suit of any teenager, much less one swaddled in celebrity, feted by Nike, courted by Michael Jordan, promised the world by Adidas, and assured millions as the NBA's top draft choice in a few months.
James wasn't shy about showing off his diamond necklace or juggling his two cell phones and pager like a businessman on the go. He moves in the company of his own security men - though who pays for them is a mystery - and has his own lawyers. Shaquille O'Neal has a smaller entourage.
James flashed his fame and impending fortune in everyone's face so blatantly that he was bound to be caught breaking some rules. When it turned out he got busted by the OHSAA for something so apparently trivial as two jerseys, the violation seemed almost laughable - like a driver speeding 100 mph every day only to get stopped finally for going 30 mph in a 25 mph zone.
James knew everyone was watching him, and he didn't seem to care. The sense of entitlement that he, like so many other young stars, had developed outweighed his judgment.
When asked why he accepted the jerseys, he refused to talk to anybody but Deion Sanders, as if only another celebrity could understand.
'If I had known I was violating anything, I would've never done it,' James told Sanders in an interview for CBS News' 'The Early Show' that will be aired today. 'I would've never jeopardized my eligibility. I would've never jeopardized my team.'
James, saying he has a 3.5 grade-point average, thought the store was rewarding him for his schoolwork.
As smart as James may be in the classroom or on the court, he comes across as shockingly naive about the rules, fair or not, that govern all players.
The OHSAA found that the Cleveland store gave James the Gale Sayers and Wes Unseld jerseys, which retail for $845, in exchange for James posing for pictures to be displayed on the walls.
'There's a tremendous amount of hypocrisy in school sports,' said Peter Page, spokesman for Isles, Inc., the nonprofit group sponsoring this weekend's sold-out tournament in New Jersey to support community development. 'A lot of players feel that everybody's making money except them.'
Isles president Martin Johnson has mixed views about James.
On the one hand, Johnson said, 'the details matter,' and James is 'responsible for his own actions.' On the other hand, Johnson played basketball and football for St. Vincent-St. Mary in the 1970s before attending Princeton and wants to see James and his old school get out of this mess.
'I spoke to the athletic director this morning, and they're clearly going to bring this to a judge,' Johnson said. 'I'm optimistic about the chances of LeBron playing this weekend. It does seem to be a Draconian penalty for a team that has worked very hard.
'It was tough to explain to my sons why the school lost the No. 1 ranking and can't play over two jerseys. It's hard to imagine that the best athletes on the top teams in towns all across the country are not being given jerseys or sneakers or jobs. It's hard to moralize about LeBron James when so many others are doing the same thing.'
