Unseemly ...

I don't follow basketball. I follow football (European) and baseball (Mets, I'll root for the Yanks if they're in the Series) and I keep an eye on the Jets and the Giants of the New York Football (American) variety. The most I do with basketball is see the highlowlights on the morning news of whatever way the Knicks or the Nets discovered to embarrass themselves the night before.

That said, I know far too much about Lebron James.

As an outsider, the countdown to Lebron's free agency, and then watching the lineup of millionaires and their minions come and go, kissing his ass personally for him to come and play in their city, is ridiculous and unseemly. Mayor Bloomberg humiliated himself, though he didn't go all the way (amazingly) and proclaim he was just the right height to fellate Lebron without kneeling down and also had a flat head where Lebron could park his drink during the festivities.

We have a nation that's falling apart, pollution poisoning the Gulf, our money being wasted on endless wars, and the big story is how much money a pro sports team can throw at Lebron. Maybe, if times were good, it wouldn't irk me so badly, but at a time when the vultures in Washington are denying people unemployment benefits in the worst recession since the Great Depression, when peoples' livelihoods are being destroyed by the thousands, when our Treasury is constantly being looted by millionaires and billionaires, it pisses me off.

Corporations can own and sponsor sports teams and lavish their stars with huge salaries and bonuses, but heaven forbid they pay their workers a living wage or give them benefits. Heaven forbid they treat the people who keep them in business like human beings.