While team owners betray loyal fans by relocating franchises to maximize profits, and players routinely sell their services to the highest bidder, the nation’s sports fans have instead concluded that Lebron James’ move from Cleveland to Miami makes him the worst person in the world. The unrelenting attacks on James over the past year reached a crescendo during the NBA finals, with criticism of almost everything about him reaching unprecedented levels. No white sports star has ever been subjected to such abuse. And Ohio’s right-wing Republican Governor John Kasich would never issue a proclamation seeking to embarrass a white star as he did for James. As former baseball star and National League President Bill White put it in the title of his recent book, James is seen as “uppity” for how he left Cleveland, and the overwhelmingly white world of sportswriters and talk show hosts and callers never tire of putting the African-American star in what they see as his place.

Lebron James’ dismal performance in the NBA finals diminished perceptions of his game, raised questions about his mental makeup, and eroded his legacy. But let’s not forget that what put James under siege and reversed his once sky-high popularity was the manner in which he left for Miami, not his finals performance. (And little mentioned amidst the James-bashing is that Dallas beat the defending champion and 2011 title favorite Lakers in four straight, and that even if Lebron played as well in the Finals as he did in prior rounds the Heat could not win giving up 110 points a game).

The fusillade targeted at James the past week was an “I told you he was a jerk and a loser” message that began not in the 2011 playoffs, but when he left a Cleveland team that had no chance for a title in the near future for a Miami team that did.

Did Lebron make a fool of himself with his Decision show on ESPN? Absolutely. But this does not explain why his “sin” aroused such an almost violent reaction compared to the lack of response to far worse actions by white owners and players.

Ignoring Owner Greed

Clay Bennett bought the Seattle Supersonics with the sole intent to move the team to Oklahoma City. Seattle fans loyally supported the team for decades, but this loyalty meant nothing to Bennett’s personal agenda and greed.

The sports fans and media relentlessly castigating James and rooting against the Heat did not suggest during the recent playoffs that fans should root against the Oklahoma City Thunder because of Bennett’s killing pro basketball in Seattle. In fact, the NBA so reveres Bennett for teaching the taxpayers of Seattle what happens when they won’t sacrifice vital public services to further subsidize billionaire team owners that David Stern made him head of the NBA’s Relocation Committee.

How about the New Jersey Nets, whose billionaire Russian owner has not been criticized for moving a team out of struggling Newark as part of a massive gentrification scheme centered in the Atlantic Yards section of Brooklyn. This too is all about greed, but the predominant white sports community could not care less about primarily African-American Newark losing its only pro sports franchise (and the jobs it brings).

The Maloof brothers in Sacramento have the nation’s most loyal fans, but they want to move the team to Anaheim in search of greater profits. I don’t hear the Maloof’s castigated on sports talk shows or among sportswriters, who defend the move---as they never do for Lebron James---as a business decision.

Ignoring Player Moves

The list of star players who have moved teams for more money is pages long, and such moves---other than that of Lebron James---rarely if ever bring criticism. Some prominent examples:

Johnny Damon moved from the Red Sox to their hated rival the Yankees, and remained a popular player with fans.

John Elway refused to play with the Baltimore Colts after they made him the first pick in the 1983 NFL draft, forcing them to trade his rights to the Denver Broncos. He remains incredibly popular throughout his career, and today is the team’s executive vice president of football operations.

Can you imagine if an African-American announced they would not play for the team that drafted them number one? And Elway’s scenario was later repeated in slightly altered form by Eli Manning, who refused to play with San Diego and was traded to the New York Giants.

The Lakers’ Pau Gasol disappeared in the Mavericks series, allegedly because he lost his longtime woman friend after Kobe Bryant’s wife told her that her beau was enjoying other women. Gasol was criticized a bit, but not all that much, and his weak performance led to the Lakers' early exit.

While James still gets attacked for pouting during the Cavs 2010 series with Boston, Gasol’s more extreme immaturity that cost the Lakers a threepeat never became a big sports talk topic. It was then forgotten entirely when the next playoff round began.

Lebron James is an insecure 26-year old who lacks social skills and let down a lot of fans with his performance in the NBA Finals. But the venom that millions have thrown in his direction over the past year vastly exceeds his wrongs, which strongly indicates a racial double standard at work.