ESPN Pulls Down A Negative Lebron James Article Because Lebron James Runs ESPN….Big Baby Gets A Shout Out Though
NBC – If you were reading a rather provocative ESPN story about LeBron James partying at a Las Vegas night club, and now you’re not, there’s a reason for that. ESPN yanked the story off the Internets after only a few minutes of life. The piece by Arash Markazi, which actually appeared on ESPN’s Los Angeles affiliate site, tells of a Roman banquet-style blowout following James’ announcement of his move to Miami. As tell-all stories about a night with an NBA superstar go, this one was pretty tremendous.
Excerpts: (CLICK FOR FULL ARTICLE)
A security guard comes over and puts plastic wristbands on our wrists and escorts us through the back of the restaurant, up a flight of stairs in the bowels of the hotel and through a back entrance into the club. About a dozen security guards, moving their flash lights, direct us to a roped off section on the dance floor of Tao next to a couple of apparently nude women in a bathtub full of water and rose petals.
Bottle after bottle of “Ace of Spades” champagne is delivered to the table by a waiter flying down from above the dance floor like some overgrown Peter Pan on a wire. One time he’s dressed like a King, another time as Indiana Jones and another in a replica of James’ No. 6 Miami Heat jersey.
James, who can hardly see the flying figure through his tinted glasses, almost gets kicked in the head on the waiter’s last trip down. He looks at the girls around him and says, “I wish they’d have one of these girls with no panties do that instead of the guy.”
Toward the end of the night, Boston Celtics forward Glen Davis walks past James’ party and looks at the scene up and down several times like a painting in a museum, soaking in the images of the go-go dancers, the “King” sign and the costumed man delivering bottles of champagne. Davis shakes his head and walks on.Five security guards are stationed around him, one at each corner of the table he’s about to sit at and another roving around with him, watching his every move. Anyone who takes two steps toward James is stopped and must have James’ approval to come closer. The waiter bringing him his cup of green tea with a spoonful of honey and a dash of lemon juice makes the cut, as does the scantily clad brunette with a tattoo of a heart on her right shoulder. She wants to take a picture with him. “I can’t right now,” says James. “Maybe later, upstairs, I’ll remember you’re the one with the tattoo.”
Carter, LeBron’s childhood friend and manager, begins dancing around James like Puff Daddy in a Notorious B.I.G video. A giant red crown-shaped cake is brought over to James while go-go dancers dressed in skimpy red and black outfits raise four lettered placards that spell out, “KING.” Carter grabs a bottle of Grey Goose and pours a quarter of it on the floor and raises it up before passing it off.
Even though ESPN immediately moved to spike the story, the HTML version soon came out. Here it is (click to enlarge), thanks to the efforts of such people as Matthew LaWell and Chris Littman, two of several who posted links on their Twitter accounts. As the blog Waiting For Next Year points out, “The Internet always wins.”
ESPN heavily invested in James with The Decision show, all the while insisting that there had been no blurring of the line between producing the TV spectacle and reporting the story. But now it appears that there may be a conflict of interest at play; Markazi’s eyewitness account doesn’t exactly show LeBron in the best light. He’s a somewhat-married father of two, after all. Literally wading in Grey Goose? Waiters floating on wires? Naked chicks in bathtubs? Caligula is wondering if his invitation got lost in the mail. Did the LeBron camp send orders to ESPN to yank the story? I’ve contacted ESPN for a response, and have heard only that they’re “looking into it.”
UPDATE: ESPN responds. In an email to Out of Bounds, an ESPN spokesman wrote:
“The story should have never been published. The draft was inadvertently put on the server before going through the usual editorial process. We are in the midst of looking into the matter.”
I don’t have much to say about this that hasn’t already been said in the article. Lebron James is the master manipulator. ESPN is a joke. Tell me something I don’t know. I mean if we haven’t figured that out that ESPN has an agenda and treats certain athletes differently than others than we never will. Like can you imagine if this was Randy Moss? It would be front page news for the next week. But guys like Lebron and Brett Favre and Peyton Manning are on the goody goody list at ESPN so they can do no wrong. Meanwhile teams like the Patriots get crucified no matter what they do because Belichick doesn’t play ball with them. At least Big Baby got a shout out though so we have that going for him.
PS – I ain’t mad at Lebron for partying like this. If I could have naked bitches swimming around me in Grey Goose I would to. The only difference is I wouldn’t try to hide it . That’s what makes Lebron so insufferable besides the fact that he has never won anything in his life. He tries to play both sides of the fence. He loves all the media attention as long as it’s good But the second it’s bad he cries like a little girl. It’s like when he got dunked on and made them take down the video. Or when he refused to shake hands or talk to the media after the Cavs got bounces from the playoffs. He’s the classic baby. He tries to fool people into believing he cares about anybody but himself and nobody is buying it.
Double PS – Make no mistake about it. Lebron’s people called ESPN and told them to take this down and ESPN politely said yes sir may I have another. Because anybody who believes the ESPN spokesman who said it was a mistake that it got published in the first place is the dumbest motherfucker on the planet. ESPN loves this shit. Loves it! It’s right up their alley. But they do what Lebron and Brett Favre and Peyton Manning tell them to do. End of story. And that’s why they have no credibility as a network. It’s just like reading the Stool but at least we admit we’re biased.
elpresidente | Random Thoughts | 07/28/10, 4:35 pm |
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46 People have left comments on this post
espn sucks dick anyways
If you want to read the whole thing, here is the page. Just click on the image.
http://img821.imageshack.us/f/bloglebronespn.jpg/
Ridiculousness.
cherry on top of my I hate ESPN and Lebron James sundae. I hope he never wins a chamionship, why is he called King again?
ESPN was already dead in my books, no surprise there. You are right, if that was Randy Moss the world would have stopped rotating
i can’t wait till the HEAT fails this upcoming year. it will be so sweat.
I want to party with Lebron real badddd
Caption Contest: “My vagina is THIS big”
The original version better not leave out the part where LeBron gets gay (no homo)…it’s journalistic integrity, plain and simple
I bet Tiger is so pissed he can’t do that anymore.
Non Story by NBC. If I were a 25 yr old baller with $100 million coming to me I’d throw a party that would make people bleed out the eyes. Orgies over here, endangered species kabobs over there, bitches giving me constant head in shifts, handjobs for the paparazzi given by chicks older than 18 but no older than 18 years 3 months… Lebron didn’t do it right..and for that he should be criticized
You are still on this dudes dick?
EP hates on Lebron, what else is new? I bet if he played for the Celtics, EP would suck the green out of his dick
the story isn’t that lebron partied you morons. It’s that he made ESPN take down the story and they did.
Lebron is a bitch. At least he elbow is ok.
He makes AROD seem likeable. I can’t stand the guy, but you really think the HEAT won’t win it all? Just wait till he really believes he is King.
ESPN sucks kangaroo balls. I hate those fuckers more than all the New Yorkers who go to BU.
Lebron James should have the nickname big baby
the real story will come out a couple weeks from now when Lebron’s friend gets a 23K bill for spilling vodka all over the place
If you read the story, it’s a yawn and shows no signs of being edited. It reads like a reporter’s notes. So, it’s not totally naive to think the story was published in error
If it was pulled, maybe it was because it makes LeBron look like a dork.
The story is actually how much of a fucken child this guy is. Yeah ESPN took the story down who cares that was the worst/most boring part of it. I mean this writer really made his sound like a fucking douche just shooting jump shots and dribbling around the casino floor and battling lamar in a dougy competition. What a fucken pos. Best part was when LO raised his glass to the couple who pointed to their ring finger. Atta boy.
I feel like Stephen Glass wrote this story…
Yeah they really treat Brady like crap on espn…come on….to your point espn does make me sick and so does lebron.
Double PS – Make no mistake about it. Lebron’s people called ESPN and told them to take this down and ESPN politely said yes sir may I have another.
But:
ESPN yanked the story off the Internets after only a few minutes of life.
Let’s review: Someone in LeBron’s camp saw the article within minutes of publication and speed dialed an ESPN exec/contact. The ESPN exec/contact then immediately ordered a code red to have the article removed… and it was removed after only a few minutes of life.
Pretty fucking fast and efficient for all parties involved. A more likely scenario: someone @ ESPN saw it right away and knew the inevitable call from LeBron was coming, so it was removed before that could happen.
Yeah that story is an absolute bore. I can’t believe he’d actually make a fuss to have that taken down. He’s so self-centered and concerned about his image and public perception it’s a joke. It’s funny though, because he can’t stand that people hate him. It’s going to eat at him for years.
ESPN is actually the best outlet for sports that is offered. Constant scores, best breaking news, etc. Who cares if they suck this guys dick and this guys dick, go there for the scores and the big stories, ESPN has them all.
I can’t believe I’m writing this but I’d actually be happy to see Kobe win if it came down to Lakers/Heat.
If you’ve ever been to TAO, you know the women in the bathtubs are a standard part of the entrance, not something special/scandalous for LeBron. This whole story was not scandalous at all, there’s not a real reason LeBron’s people would have wanted it down. Stop overreacting, it’s a mild story.
pres,
are you really serious relating this back to “if this was randy or the patriots” boo hoooooo…shut the fuck up you’re always fuckin bitching about people hating on the patriots….people hate on the patriots because boston fans are a bunch of fuckin assholes and cant even speak the english language correctly….
Your blog doesnt talk about the BoSox anymore because they are fuckin suckin and shitty fans like you only like teams when they are winning championships…and big baby was shakin his head because he wishes he had naked bitches hangin from him…dude can’t even afford a flat screen tv hahaha
chutley u managed to blast the blog for not talking about the sox on the same day they posted a blog about the sox.
way to suck.
High socks and sandals Lebron? Milton’s?
yea right after the blog about how the ratings for NESN or whatever stupid shit you Massholes watch has lost an insane amount of viewers…
way to suck boston
Hey chutley, I’m not a boston fan nor from NE but please compare big baby’s salary to yours. $3,000,004 to whatever the fuck you make. Dude can afford 50,000 flat screens.
check out his teach me how to dougie video…..dudes rockin a projection television
yo chutley go jerk off to your jeter posters or something. like why are you commenting?
pres, exactly right on this shit. peyton manning has probably 10 busty asian sex slaves and snorts massive cocaine in the offseason yet all we hear is boomer and TJ sucking his microscopic penis all season long. ESPN seriously gives certain athletes passes on anything
Lebron is a cocksucking loser. Plain and simple. Hopenthis mutt blows his knee out on the 1st posession of this upcoming season. Cocksucker.
my name is chutley…meaning chase utley….you boston fans are even dumber than I thought
Holy shit, Chase Utley’s a stoolie?!?
point white dude!
lebron is such a dbag
Is LeBron black..ohh that’s right.
El Pres, where does NBC say that Lebron’s goons made ESPN take down this article? It doesn’t. It’s your own assumption and I don’t think it’s correct.
If I was ESPN I’d take this down, too. This is some of the shittiest writing I’ve ever read. I mean you are given the opportunity to document Lebron in Las Vegas and you spit out this garbage? The article has zero flow to it and the towelhead author tries to make his timeline worthwhile by talking about bron fucking bouncing a basketball. so therefore he’s a child? are you fucking kidding me? go back to kneeling in your sand. ESPN needs to have better oversight for their satellite sites. this wasnt bron’s goons at all. why would they let a reporter into their entourage in the first place if they were going to take down his work
I thought it was a really good article. Maybe not the best writing throughout, but the idea/angle he took on the article was really entertaining.
In my opinion, adding a little color to journalism, though often frowned upon, never hurts. That is, as long as the facts remain the facts.
That being said, the timeline does get a little sloppy .
dude its espn not the new york times
No I agree with you. The substance of the article was great. The article was easy to read, but I felt it was because of the information, not necessarily the writing.
zard make up your fucking mind first you say it was some of the shitiest writing you’ve ever read and then you say it was the information. Isn’t the substance the information? What the fuck dude you’re an idiot.
espn and their higher-ups have made a lot of money by completely selling out their last bit of dignity. this network resembles nothing emboied by “the big show” w/ patrick and olbermann we all grew up and loved.
but as long as we still watch, they still win.
espn just whores itself to whoever the day’s darling is. the c’s-lakers final was just a seven-game, self promotion for the espn-abc-disney brand. THEY’RE DEAD TO ME!
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