0 Checkmate?

On Monday at Lebron James' Skills Academy, a summer camp for high school basketball players (located in Akron, Ohio), Lebron was reportedly dunked on by camp counselor, Jordan Crawford. A sophomore at Xavier college during a pick up game.

But wait...

This is where story gets a little more interesting!



According to Ryan Miller, a photographer for CBSSports.com:

"LeBron called [Nike Basketball Senior Director Lynn Merritt] over and told him something, That's how I knew his name was Lynn. LeBron said, 'Hey, Lynn. Come here."

A few minutes pass and the Nike director Lynn Merritt went to two cameramen and said,

"We have to take your tape."

So then Nike representatives confiscated all of the videos cameras, which may or may not have footage of the Lebron getting dunk on.

Just like chess, Nike will to do anything to protect its king. But this instance, it seems like Lebron was the one to make a quick move to get himself out of public relations mess. I don't know if Nike and, or Lebron has the right to confiscate video cameras from members of the media. If Nike or Lebron did not make these media members sign a privacy paper before entering the camp (or something like that), I would not have let them take my camera! Unless they gave me some free pairs of exclusive Nike sneakers. Every person has their price $$$$$$$

The only way this incident becomes an urban legend is if Jordan Crawford becomes An All American or an all conference player. If he becomes one of the best NCAA players, then his claim to fame is, he is the guy to dunk on Lebron. I know every NBA player gets dunk on eventually, but to get dunk on by a player in a lower level of basketball is embarrassing. To this day people still mention that when Kobe was a high school senior and abused Jerry Stackhouse in a one on one game. The only reason people still talked about that incident is because Kobe became an all time great basketball player. If Crawford ever becomes a star and has NCAA highlight, I can hear Dicky Vitale's voice now, "Did you just see what he did? He's dunking on everyone. First Lebron ,now this. This kid is amazing baby!"



I think Lebron and Nike did the right thing for damage control, which was DESTROYING THE TAPE. Unlikely previous celebrities like Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, R. Kelly, Lebron quickly put an end to a possible embarrassing moment in his career. Did everyone forget Spy Gate, and how the NFL destroyed the evidence of Bill Belichick cheating? Destroy the evidence.

Right now only 100 people saw Lebron getting dunked on. If that tape was on the internet, a minimum of three million people would have seen it. If the tape was not destroyed people would be able to replay it over and over again. Ten years from now that video would be played on a Sports Center highlight. Now that the tapes are destroyed the people that witness this will share many different accounts of what happened. The details of how Lebron got dunk on will be slowly distorted. One kid is going to say Jordan Crawford did a windmill dunk on Lebron. Another may say Crawford did a 180 degree dunk. And so on and so on. Without visual evidence people will brush off this incident as irrelevant many people would have not even heard of this story.

How will we all become witnesses , if you destroyed the tape?

Its it just me or does Lebron has an egotistical problem with the media when he performs bad?

First, he shuns the media for a press game conference, when was eliminated from the playoffs.
Second, he steals all the video footage when he gets dunked on.
What is he going to do next when he losses or gets cross? Stop the internet?

\/!\/∆\ LA ßurñΩ ™

Do you think that Lebron destroying the video tape was justified or was it possibly him being overly concerned with his self image?

Do you think Lebron properly handled this situation?

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Update July 21, 2009

The video of Lebron getting dunked on is leaked on the internet!



His previous move to confiscate the tapes look stupid, now. You have to confiscate everyone's tapes, not just the media.