LeBron… pic.twitter.com/YYwQ4BEs9f
— Katie Marzullo (@KatieABC7) May 31, 2016
That’s LeBron James grabbing his bags off the team bus in the Bay ahead of Thursday night’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena. Those are Warriors fans in the background on the sidewalk, watching him gather his luggage and wheel it to the hotel’s entrance. Those sounds you hear — wait, did you turn on the volume? Good, now you can hear sounds — are likely Warriors fans booing LeBron James.
Before we talk about the booing, let’s take a moment to reflect on the site gag of a 6-foot-8, 250-plus pound man wheeling one of those economy-sized pieces of luggage — his body man wheeled the big bag. That’s just funny, the same way Chris Farley in a too-small coat is funny.
Back to the booing. This might seem odd if you’re some hippy or millennial fan who relishes the post-game hugs and intra-team fraternization. But we’re rough and tough NBA fans here at DIME; we talk about Charles Oakley with a sort of hushed reverence, and we hated that the Bad Boy Pistons traded Rick Mahorn after that title in ’89 (we throw Bill Laimbeer elbows to get a spot on the 6-train during rush hour in NYC).
So we’re reflexively aghast at any sort of colluding with the enemy, or [insert some other overwrought war metaphor that actual soldiers detest].
There’s really not anything more to say about this. The fans in northern California booed LeBron. News at 11.
