Lebron and Jason

Sometimes only a first name is necessary, and everybody knows who you're talking about. Lebron qualifies, as does Barack, Oprah, Khloe, and the late Osama. Nevermind that nobody's ever heard of anybody else with these first names -- no surname need be added. We get it.

On the other hand, the name Jason doesn't exactly bring a singular individual to mind. There's been a lot of Jasons. There was the Greek mythological hero that led the Argonauts in their quest for the golden fleece. Also the dude in the horror movies. Jason Robards once did a great acting job as Al Capone, Jason Kidd could play some serious hoops, and I think there's even a modern day actor named Jason Preacherly, Pastorly, or something like that.

But in this case, we're referring to Jason Whitlock. He's a sports reporter/talking head. This Jason's been around. He worked for the Kansas City Star for several years, even winning an award for his journalism. It was said Whitlock had the "ability to seamlessly integrate sports commentary with social commentary and to challenge widely held assumptions along the racial divide".

In other words, as a black man, he played the race card. Things didn't work out between him and the paper, so they parted company. Then he went into TV. While at ESPN, he disparaged a couple of his colleagues and, oops, they don't care for that much in Bristol. He was fired.

On to another TV gig at Fox. In 2012, after then NY Knick guard Jeremy Lin put up 38 points against the LA Lakers, Whitlock tweeted that some lucky lady in NYC would feel a couple of inches of pain tonight -- evidently a stereotypical reference to Asian men having small "equipment" in their netheregions. Even Fox -- FOX! -- objected to one minority slighting another in this fashion. Whitlock doesn't work there anymore either.

Now it appears that Jason's bouncing around for whatever gigs he can get, and pops up on the second-tier sports channels once in a while to offer a commentary.

And just hours ago, in the opinion of yours truly, he said something stupid again. When asked about the impact Lebron's return to Cleveland would have -- Whitlock seemed to have elevated James to god-like status. Not only would he help the Cavaliers, duh, but he could also show Johnny Manzeil, recent first round draftee of the Browns, how to be successful.

First of all, Lebron knows about as much about being a star collegiate and potential NFL starting quarterback as Johnny Football knows about achieving triple-doubles in NBA games. Easy to watch and appreciate for both, but neither could do what the other does. Yet Whitlock seems to think James can step in, wave his magic wand, and turn Johnny into a "man".

Second, football is bigger than basketball, just about everywhere -- including Cleveland. While it would be a great story if Lebron were able to lead the Cavaliers to their first NBA title -- it would dwarf in comparison to Johnny leading the Browns to a Super Bowl victory somewhere down the road. Who's kidding who?

And what's next on Whitlock's King James' hero to-do list? Will he show the Cleveland Indians how to win the World Series for the first time since 1948? Single-handedly get rid of all those pesky zebra mussels in Lake Erie? Turn Cleveland -- CLEVELAND! -- into a mecca that A-listers the world over will be drawn to for fun and excitement? Not likely.

Lebron James is a basketball player. A very good one -- perhaps the best of all time -- but let's not get carried away here. Let's look at reality.

Sure, he's been given a hero's welcome back to Cleveland. The same fans that burned his jersey when he ditched them 4 years ago have done an about face in a big way. Fans of the Heat in Miami likely feel a bit differently, to say the least.

Around the country, this has become a feel good story. The prodigal son returned to his roots. But did he sacrifice fame and fortune? Hardly. He's more famous now than he was as an NBA champion -- and he'll make a whopping $20 million a year to play the game he "loves". If he loved the game and his home town so much, he'd play for a fraction of that, freeing up serious salary cap money for the Cavs to sign a couple other top-flight players in their quest for a title. Without that help, it will be like his first go-round with the Cavs. They'll be a lot better, but not win a championship. And it's not like Lebron needs the dough. The dude's making over $40 million a year in endorsements alone.

And here's the kicker. Most other NBA players and teams have said they're happy for Lebron. He looked within himself and made the right decison. Of course they're happy. Minus James, the Miami Heat just got deleted from the championship equation and the NBA eastern conference is a lot more wide open than it was a year ago.

A smiling Chris Paul of the LA Clippers recently stepped in front of the cameras and said he thought Lebron did the right thing as well. That's great, in between making his own dopey commercials (cha-ching) with his twin brother. But had James signed on with, say, the Lakers, Warriors, or Blazers, much less the Okla City Thunder out in the west, methinks Paul wouldn't be the least bit amused.

And while all the super-hype of the free agent market has been going on -- guess who you haven't heard one peep out of? The San Antonio Spurs, BTW the current NBA champs. And they just quitely signed likely the best head coach of all time Gregg Popovich to a contract extension. They don't talk -- they just do -- from within. That's class.

Lebron is well on his way to displaying such an attribute. Time will tell when the going gets tough, as it likely will in Cleveland.

As for Jason? With apologies to the great Robert Frost, Whitlock's woods might be lovely, dark, and deep, be he has miles to go before a lot of us can sleep after he's had another go-round with a microphone and/or TV camera.

Sometimes the things he says are just dumb......