“Co-hosting detracts from my essential specialness in the marketplace”.
Larry Sanders mantra to himself as coached by his agent Stevie Grant
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How many of you saw this? How many of you believe this? How many of you know people who saw this and believe this?
Like I have said many times before there is nothing a pinoy values more than pansin. I have also said that the possibility of international pansin makes pinoys forgo any semblance of common sense or due diligence. They truly convinced themselves that LeBron James moments after achieving the Top of the Mountain for his profession, that he is drawing attention to Philippine tourism. Just as deprivation of oxygen does weird things to the brain, deprivation of attention to the pinoy does weird things.
In case you are wondering. Here is the original pic :
I am not faulting the person who doctored the picture. I am faulting people who spread this assuming it’s true. It is their fervent desire that the Philippines get attention for whatever good it will do. Pinoys would rather seek attention than do 10 seconds worth of research. In this era of digital image manipulation (Photoshop for some) why people take any picture at face value is beyond me. Oh, yeah they want the pansin.
To give you an idea how ludicrous the idea that LeBron James would do that you would have to understand the inner workings of LeBron’s psyche. It is very documented that LeBron’s burning desire is to be a global icon. He wants to be the first billionaire athlete. He has taken the council of Warren Buffet. He was blessed with amazing physical skills as well as what is known as basketball IQ. Nobody is perfect and LeBron’s vanity lead him down a path that made his Miami Heat the most reviled team in North American sports the last two years. For some popularity and notoriety are two different things. I would argue until Game 5 of the NBA Finals, LeBron was the latter not the former.
Guys are mostly conditioned for sports. Women are mostly conditioned for celebrities. There will be times when the two worlds intersect. When athletes become celebs and are recognized by both genders and broader age groups it just enhances their earning potential to even greater income than the sport itself. Let’s take two other celeb athletes than anyone will know. Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan.
Michael Jordan
MJ won his last championship the same year Bill Clinton almost got impeached. Coincidence?
Don’t come to Michael Jordan for an endorsement on anything unless you are willing to fork out a lot of money. There is word for people who do things for a lot of money. I am not denying the talent nor will I do a psychoanalysis here. What I did do is dig up an article on him being soulless , a useless role model and his shocking to the outside world hall of fame speech .
Tiger Woods
Forget his marital indiscretions and his on the course profanity laced tantrums. Tiger Woods is another Nike robot. To be fair if you offered me that much money to tow the company line maybe I would. When it comes to opinion or original thought or a cause that does not have his name on it you will get a better answer from a mime than Tiger Woods. A good dissection of Tiger Woods Middle of the Road approach to things is best explained by Yahoo Sport’s Dan Wetzel.
Tiger Woods is an active athlete. His earnings break down:
June 2011- June 2012 (time period )
4.4 million (US Dollars) playing golf
55 million (product endorsements)
Source: CelebrityNetWorth.com.
Keep in mind that was despite losing $22 million worth of sponsors in 2010 You can see the case I am making that excellence in sports is what gives these people credibility with Madison Avenue but once they have their brand in front of people, they have to behave a certain way (bland) so as not to lose commercial appeal. Heaven forbid you go out on a limb and give a controversial opinion. Tiger might detract from his “essential specialness in the marketplace. ”
Which takes us to LeBron James . His earnings from the same period as Tiger Woods:
June 2011- June 2012 (time period )
13 million playing basketball
40 million (product endorsements)
http://www.therichest.org/sports/forbes-highest-paid-athletes/
This might be an over simplification but with that much money comes great restriction on one’s opinion and one’s public image. There are only certain things you can do if you will be selling products to middle America. Don’t believe me? Ask Michael Phelps. . For an extremely funny yet authentic treatment of what is at stake when it comes to image and endorsements I highly recommend viewing this episode of the Larry Sanders show.
I hope by now I made the connection between being an endorsement machine and having your behavior extremely muzzled. LeBron can’t ” detract from his essential specialness in the marketplace.” The guy can’t even sign a human rights petition and you guys expect him to promote your country for free after finally reaching his life long dream of being an NBA Champion. Really? Is the pinoy need for attention that great? It does not matter if the picture is true or false, real or fake. It seeks attention and that will have to do for most of the people who spread it. Pinoys instead of looking for vicarious attention in some fabricated sign held up by an NBA player should instead find some other way to excel in life that doesn’t involve viral attention seeking media. It’s definitely more fun in the Philippines. It’s more fun because Filipinos will call attention to their land whether it deserves it or not.
Putting a very sharp needle into the balloon known as Pinoy Pride since 2012.
The first picture is more like a photoshopped version. I dunno why many Pinoys would make a big deal about it.
I find the ” original” weird too. I would think LeBron would be getting mobbed not ignored.
you’re right there, bro.
Thank you tonybac . Appreciate you reading.
I saw this on Facebook. And damn how some Filipinos can be so stupid to say that we should be still proud of this. HA?! Are you kiddin’ me?! What’s to be proud of something you know isn’t true and FAKE?! I really hope LBJ sue whoever made this and make them pay millions in USD for damages.
For the pinoy, authenticity is not a priority. Just getting attention and stuffing the ballot box. That is national past time.
Too “KSP”, whoever made that.
Nothing wrong with having fun with a picture. I take issue with people who are proud of this and spreading something not true. Even if it was true . LeBron never been here so is it an informed recommendation in so many levels .
I totally forgot to mention that assuming the sign was true and people went nuts. Why put so much stock in the opinion of a guy who to my knowledge has never been here.
Yeah! Coach Spo may say that since he has been here before. 😀
I’ve been a fan of LeBron James since 2003 where he was drafted by Cleveland, by the time he spent 7 years with the Cavs as a solo act until he went to the Miami Heat and became a champion, proving his critics and haters wrong. And I’m very happy for reaching his dream.
But THIS!? LeBron wouldn’t be bothered by this. Is this because of Erik Spoelstra or something? King James would never be bothered on this travesty.
Yes at least two of the Facebook sharers implied this was his loyalty to Coach Spo. No no no. As I defined there , when you are paid 20 million plus in endorsements you are that word that rhymes with “bore” . And on international TV there are only certain things you will tote in front of the cameras. KSP people are naive because its better that way. Better way to be disilussioned.
Ed,
It’s always been a bit of a head-scratcher that Pinoys need validation from foreigners that our country is great. Is that a lack of self-esteem or what?
Many people fall into the mistake of thinking that a celebrity is “a great person” even if they don’t know him/her personally. That person is simply great in his/her chosen field; his/her personality is distinct from the skill.
Why they do that I will never understand.
FA , anybody, not just pinoys should keep one phrase in mind when evaluating any opinion “consider the source” . Negative, positive , lukewarm etc. agendas are being served all the time, Or like you are saying, they can not have a foundation for their opinion.
totally agree with your comment on filipinos being too KSP. being a little too patriotic at the same time, but still we don’t need to cross this barrier just to declare how much we love our country.
on the other hand, kevin durant actually saw a picture of filipino kids playing basketball in floods and declared that that was the true meaning of BASKETBALL NEVER STOPS. it’s in facebook with other 4,000 shares.
this is a bit late but i would love to ****slap you. don’t generalize. there are just more gaga pinoys online than other countries. all countries are KSP when it comes down to it. and also, the photo’s obviously fake at first glance.. for one thing, LBJ’s full of himself. He’d rather choke on his ring than make his championship not all about him.
Typical LeBron troll and hater. Fact is that I will be the one who will b*tchslap you. Seriously. And enough of the LeChoke jokes. 😛 Anyways, he’s capable of CHOKING other teams with his improved all-around play.
Can you elaborate on why he was full on himself? Heck, he even matured and he made his teammates better so he deserved it.
Typical haterfag. 😛
In addition, typical spineless Pinoy.
Thank you sharing