LeBron James, Red Sox co-owner, says he hates Celtics fans

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/le-bron-james-red-sox-co-owner-says-he-hates-celtics-fans-because-they-racist-as-f-005513844.html



LeBron James, Red Sox co-owner, says he hates Celtics fans because 'they racist as f***'


Jack Baer

Fri, July 15, 2022 at 5:55 PM



In one year, LeBron James is scheduled to hit NBA free agency. There will be many teams interested in the talents of the Los Angeles Lakers star, but we can probably cross the Boston Celtics off the list.

James did not have very nice things to say about the Celtics, particularly their fanbase, during an episode of his talk show "The Shop" released Friday. Specifically, he identified TD Garden has his least favorite place to play after soccer player Marcus Rashford discussed Premier League venues.


Also part of the conversation were James' business partner Maverick Carter and show co-creator Paul Rivera.

The full exchange:

Carter: "In basketball, there are fans that can literally take the game from you. You can feel like the fans is not going to let us win this one tonight. What place?"

James: "I mean, Boston."

Rivera: "Why do you hate Boston?"

James: "Because they racist as f***, that's why. They will say anything, and it's fine. I mean, f***, it's my wife, she's been dealing with them her whole life. I don't mind it. I hear it, if I hear someone close by, I check them real quick. I move onto the game, whatever the f***. They going to say whatever the f*** they want to say. They might throw something, I got a beer thrown on me leaving a game."

Carter: "It's the only place in the NBA where you and they have shirts and they say like 'F*** LeBron.'"

James: "Yeah, it's like a 'F*** LBJ' T-shirt. I believe they probably sold it at the f***ing team shop."

It's not a surprise an NBA star would identify Boston as a particularly hostile place to visit, but it's not every day you see a person who owns part of the Boston Red Sox going after a Boston fanbase.

James and Carter are both investors in the Fenway Sports Group, a company principally owned by John Henry with majority ownership of the Red Sox, Liverpool FC, the Pittsburgh Penguins and RFK Racing. It works out to a very small percentage of each team for James, who hasn't exactly converted his baseball fandom to Boston.

The behavior of Celtics fans also made the news earlier this summer when the Golden State Warriors complained about their coarse language during the NBA Finals.


LeBron James doesn't love going to Boston. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)


For what it's worth, James holds an 11-14 record against the Celtics on the road in his career. In the playoffs, he lost his first two series against Boston in his career, but has since won five straight, the most recent coming with a seven-game win for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2018.


Bob
MY NOTE:  Apparently it hasn't occurred to LeShit-for-Brains that there are a lot of Celtic fans who are also Red Sox fans.


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If the above is the full exchange and that's LeBron's definition of Boston fans are racist as F#$^$%, and the only example he has is an "Eff LeBron" shirt, then LeBron needs a dictionary and some examples of racism.

It's spouting off in left field like that will continue to feed racism and it will never die. That's what he wants, though, by that particular discourse.

db

Good points, guys.  I'd forgotten about the spray paint. (Did they ever find out  and arrest whoever did that?)  It's like Boston has to explain itself over and over again.  Perception goes a long way, positive and negative with negative always far out distancing positive.

We, and I'm speaking for myself here until further confirmation, just don't like LeBron for one because he wasn't on our team to start with and two, because he's on the other team and he's really good and he usually beats us!  (BTW, nobody "hates" LeBron.  That's stupid and just as ignorant but certainly not racist) Celtic fans are usually not used to having one player dominate us year in and year out.  He's one of the few.  But I believe if you sat down with any Boston fan or anyone with deep knowledge of the NBA, you will see we all respect him and his game and deep down if asked, we'd have taken Cleveland's pick or done whatever was necessary to get it if we know what we know now.  He probably would have thrived even more in Boston and not had to jump around like he has, but in the end, he's brought 3 different franchises NBA Titles.  That's pretty amazing.  Boston would kill for 4 championship over the last 35 years instead of just one for 2008 and two near misses in 2010 and 2022.

There's not a one of us on this site that hasn't imagined what would Boston look like with Lebron in his prime, after the 7-8 years of screwing around in Cleveland dealing with unwilling management.  But that's all part of the NBA star maturation process unless your name was Bird or Magic.  They didn't have to wait years to win.  They came right in and took over.  

LeBron had to learn the typical NBA hard way.  He also came into the league right out of high school.  It takes a while to find you a$$ with both hands being that young.  No one gets a free lunch or free pass in the NBA.  Bird and Magic were special in that the league desperately needed what they had and delivered beyond anything imaginable, lest we wouldn't be having this discussion today because their would be no league.

The real question is on this is why won't racism go away.  And both sides to the answer have presented themselves in this interview as to why.  Ignorance on both sides.  Systemic racism on one side and race baiting on the other.  As long as Boston fans or any fans, as both dboss and Ktron point out, yell and spew racist garbage (in public mind you), those few individuals paint the whole "Boston" picture whether they mean to our not.  But like Ktron so astutely points out, if you buy into a certain narrative, especially when it's espoused by a heavily profiled player, and make a sweeping, generic statement, that adds just as much fuel to the fire.  Just as ignorant.  

And so you have the two cancers.  Systemic racism and race baiting.  You clear those two elements out and the walls and the sides will come down.  Then color won't matter, just like teammates in the NBA see each other.  Bill Russell said it best.  "Can he play basketball?"  

Be clear when I say elements, I mean the thought/action process, not the individual(s). Certainly no easy task as this discussion and fight have been going on for hundreds of years after the sole event responsible for starting it all have long since passed.

db

Board, as per my usual pre-emptive strike, I'm probably up to the fence and dangling my toe over both sides.  I tried to keep it on the level and objective.

Unfortunately, one of the flaws of a democracy/democratic society that has been around as long as ours has is any kind of sustained national social change comes about at a painfully/painstakingly slow pace as can be seen on just this issue alone. Like running through quicksand.

True, Ktron, you can't have race baiting without racism. But advancing an end to racism will never move forward calling someone a racist anymore than someone being called a racial slur of any kind. No one wants to be called either. From the above article and implied, both tactics are designed/perceived/received/delivered to throw up the walls and shut down conversation and will never move things forward in and of themselves. Just don't expect to educate/change/alter/move forward anyone's attitude/thought process by calling them a racist or expect to change anyone's attitude/thought process calling someone a racial slur.

In fairness, if one is going to be careful labeling someone as a race baiter, then let's be just as careful to label someone as a racist. We'll probably find those two circles and the number of people included in it gets smaller and smaller. If one's lead-in as a race baiter is to call one a racist, the battle for removing racism is lost and the conversation is closed.

Ktron you said it best. The majority of people who bring light to the issue (from all sides) and truly want racism to die do so in a spirit of sincerity and want what is best for everyone. Yet a few bad apples spoil the bunch and further muddy the message and intent.

As for CRT, I haven't studied enough about it to have an opinion either way. I do know its origins have been around longer than Professor Peggy McIntosh's White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack article (circa 1989 I believe). While the Ivy League Jewish college kid's response who decided to do as the article asked and actually checked his white privilege (can't remember his name) quite diminished the intended impact of the original article, the white privilege tag still has legs today and but unfortunately now has the same effect(s) described above as being called a racist.

As far as LeBron goes, all on this site have seen my view change 180 degrees on him over the years. Early on, he wasn't much to see on a losing CLE team for 7-8 years. Then Boston dominated him a couple of seasons when it mattered. Then he started dominating Boston with regularity when it mattered. I went from "hate" to finally respecting him, which he deserves. He's had our number, though, like it or not. He's in a fraternity by himself with that unless anyone can come up with other who has not only individually dominated us but as part of the team as well. Wilt didn't. Statistically, yes. But as a team certainly no.

I caught onto Wilt as he was aging out. I do remember the prime time Network special they did on him in the early 70's about his house in LA circa 1973-74. For some reason I remember them showing the Butcher Block he had in his kitchen. That's all I remember about his huge house on the hill! I'll have to give you Laimbeer. He was and probably still is literally hated outside of Detroit. He was a total douche.

Nothing will change the fact that LeBron still has 4 titles over the same time span the Celtics have 1. Still would have liked to have had that pick. Maybe Lebron would have a different view of Boston that would have done anything to surround him with talent. We'll never know. Lebron just did it his way, not the way most of us on this site would like.

db