Calm Down, Cleveland
LeBron James joins Hitler in the Time pantheon
- LeBron James
- Hitler (playing "his hymn of hate"), Jan. 2, 1939
- Mahatma Gandhi, Jan. 5, 1931
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jan. 2, 1933 (one of three times)
- Martin Luther King Jr., Jan. 3, 1964
- The American Soldier, Dec. 29, 2003
Detractors are royally P.O.'ed that Miami Heat star LeBron James is one of 25 people nominated for this year's Time Person of the Year award.
The award, formerly called Time Man of the Year, have been given out since 1927 and goes to the person who has "most influenced" the events of the year. LeBron and his detractors both seem to have missed the point; LeBron says he's humbled by what he apparently perceives to be an honor, and critics also appear to be under the impression that Time is praising the man who walked out on Cleveland in a national TV spectacle.
But Person of the Year doesn't necessarily celebrate positive influence. Let's not forget that last year Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke, who was dogged by plenty of controversy over the Merrill Lynch merger with Bank of America and the AIG bailout, was Time's Person of the Year.
LeBron's fellow nominees might include Barack Obama and the 32 Chilean miners who survived after months underground, but a win would also place him with the likes of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.
We just wonder what @LeBronJamesEgo has to say about this.
What do you think? Is LeBron James the Person of the Year?