“The Decision”, a one-hour special on ESPN is the first network program to receive our Bitch-Slap-of-the-Week and it shares the honor with the show’s star NBA free agent, LeBron James who will be making his decision regarding where he will land and attempt to become, in his words, the world’s first billion-dollar athlete.

During the FIFA World Cup game between Spain and Germany, ESPN’s ticker tape “Breaking News” announced the show that in many people’s minds is nothing more than a network handing an egotistical, arrogant overpaid athlete their own one-hour special to announce to our recession-infested country, where he will be making his 100’s of millions of dollars.

That’s great, King James, now your audience can go climb up on a hot roof and nail some shingles for $800 a week or flip burgers at their second job so they can have electricity to pay for air conditioning this summer. Hope you enjoyed rubbing it in their faces and reminding them the reality of how overpaid pro athletes like you really are.

Kevin Blackistone of AOL Fanhouse wrote this about James in his article entitled, “Free Agent Circus Stains LeBron’s Image”.

“. . . all of a sudden [James] appears to be as egotistical and megalomaniacal as any of the most self-absorbed athletes we’ve come to know over the years. What a shame. Over the past few weeks, James has made himself as easy to dislike as he’d made himself over several years easy to like.”

In another article entitled, “ESPN Defends LeBron Special”, the network is quoted as they explain the purpose of the show. “We believe this is a unique program,” Norby Williamson, ESPN’s executive vice president of production said.

Yeah, it sure is. No network has ever wasted an hour of air time for an announcement of a free agent on where he will land.

The great champion NBA players like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Shaq, players who have all WON championships, something LeBron has not come close to accomplishing, have discreetly made decisions and taken their $100 million contracts as quietly as possible.

Getting beat by Orlando two years ago and again losing to the underdog, aging Boston Celtics this year, I guess LeBron can accept this special as a consolation prize as opposed to the back-to-back victory parades that Kobe and his Lakers team had, the confetti Shaq was driven through in Miami and L.A. and the half dozen Michael celebrated in the Windy City.

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