Thursday, July 09, 2009

Who dunks on Bron-Bron? Nobody dunks on Bron-Bron.

Galley Brother B.J. sends us this awesome story of image control from The Chosen One (Basketball Division). Here's the story from CBS:

You want to see video of Xavier's Jordan Crawford dunking on LeBron James?

If so, too bad.

Because you're not going to see it.

Thanks to Nike.

Turns out, there were at least two cameras rolling Monday night when Crawford dunked on James during a pick-up game here at the LeBron James Skills Academy. It was a two-handed jam, the kind that would've circulated quickly on YouTube. But Nike officials eliminated that possibility shortly after the dunk happened by allegedly confiscating tapes from various cameramen.

Freelance photographer Ryan Miller was one of the cameramen shooting the game.

He told CBSSports.com that Nike Basketball Senior Director Lynn Merritt took his tape.

"He just said, 'We have to take your tape,'" Miller said. "They took it from other guys, too."

Worth noting is that there is no policy against filming at the LeBron James Skills Academy, and Miller said he had been filming all day without incident. Nobody ever told him to stop. Nobody ever said there was a problem ... until after Crawford dunked on James.

"LeBron called Lynn over and told him something," Miller said. "That's how I knew his name was Lynn. LeBron said, 'Hey, Lynn. Come here.'"

Minutes later, Miller said Merritt demanded his tape.


Maybe it was the Puppet LeBron who got posterized?

2 comments:

Maverick Carter said...

We need you to remove this post.
Thanks.

astorian said...

How hard would it have been for LeBron to laugh, give the kid a high five, and say, "See you in the NBA in a few years"?

That's ALL he had to do, and this whole story would have vanished in 24 hours.

Instead, by treating this as a shameful incident that had to be hushed up, he and Nike made thsi a MUCH bigger story than it ever would have been otherwise.