My late father, a very knowledgeable baseball purist, often prefaced sentences with the expression, "back in the day." I'm clearly growing more like him. Once upon a time, athletes were drafted, and then signed, by a pro team and seemed delighted, even honored, to represent their respective sport. Physically gifted beyond belief and showered with adoration by fans, the player would then spend the bulk of his career working hard at his chosen craft, enjoying the game itself, earning accolades along the way and perhaps reaching the pinnacle of his profession (i.e. the Hall). In an age of astronomical contracts and blatant media manipulation, the LeBron James spectacle is only the beginning of the tail now wagging the dog. Whose "show" is going to be next in the surreal reality lineup? ESPN, willingly complicit in this over-hyped extravaganza, got huge ratings, Commissioner David Stern had his product front and center (overshadowing even the World Cup) for a solid month, LaBron et al, grabbed even more spotlight. The droning debate over the merits of the move will rage on, each Heat game endlessly dissected, every Erik Spoelstra coaching move questioned and second-guessed. Maybe this puts more pressure on the players to perform. Maybe it doesn't really matter. Welcome to the new world of sports, where individual players, albeit ridiculously talented ones, are now beginning to control and dictate how the game "behind the game" is played, managing not only the public relations machine, but also their merchandising, promotion, image and personal brand, for better or worse. As Dad, and Bob Dylan, would have observed, times they are indeed a'changing, perhaps irrevocably, but it's not a pretty picture.
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