LeBrocalypto

I feel bad for Annie Leibowitz and her crippling personal debt, but it bears saying that most Americans losing their homes have not taken photos anywhere near this stupid and symbolically questionable.

So, the LeBron thing. You know, LeBron James the basketball player? It's a big deal in the way that sports things can be a big deal, and also in the sense that it is currently totally dominating the sportsy discourse, to the point that no one is even talking about Daniel Orton's amazing showing in the NBA Summer League. But The LeBrocalypse is most significant, I think, in the way that it is blazing barfy new trails in effectively unsourced sports journalism and, through Thursday night's one-hour (!) LeBron Selection Special on ESPN, pioneering a new and odious method of brand synergy. Oh, and it's also making most of the sports media freak the fuck out in what are generally some kind of embarrassing ways. The fact that LeBron could remake the NBA for the notably suckier if he actually does go to Miami -- which is what those squishily sourced "reports" are reporting -- is of some interest to me, too, but I'm more fascinated by the meta- and epiphenomena surrounding this goofily grandiose spectacle than I am by what it might do to, say, the Eastern Conference. Because frankly: whatever to the Eastern Conference.

Because it is my job and because I am habitually reckless with my carpal tunnels, I've been writing a ton about LeBron and what swirls around him of late. I rarely link to my Daily Fixes -- they really are only good for a few hours -- but I'll flatter myself to say that pretty much everything you should read about L'Affaire L'Bron is in this morning's Daily Fix. And I wrote about the click-chasing demi-bullshit scoops that have defined free agent coverage at Can't Stop the Bleeding yesterday, and I have a piece about the aforementioned media epiphenomena at CSTB today. If you'd rather read something not written by me on this topic, which is totally a good idea, the two best pieces I've read on it are this one from the blog Straight Bangin', and this one by Dave D'Alessandro, who is the best guy writing about the NBA for a newspaper, and does so for a newspaper in New Jersey.

Oh, and there will hopefully be a cleaned-up version of the Shawne Williams/Summer League post -- that is, one that might make sense/be enjoyable to those I'm not already dear friends with -- running in The Awl sometime over the next few days. You know, once everyone goes back to talking about the NBA Summer League and forgets about this silly hubbub about the greatest player of his generation changing teams and possibly cruelly breaking up with his hometown on live TV so he can move someplace warmer that offers lower taxes and better strip clubs. For a guy who is so palpably/unpleasantly concerned with his personal brand, you'd think that particular dick move would jump out as a dick move, but... well, anyway, you'd think that. You would, but you don't think like the best player of your generation, and that's because you are not the best basketball player of your generation. Daniel Orton is.