Individual Competitiveness - The Curious Case of LeBron James

At the back of my mind, I can tell you the most competitive person in NBA history: the guy who lost 2 NBA Finals called LeBron Raymone James.



I knew he is competitive, even without even Tweeting to him or reading his book, because he appears to do the 'right' things that keeps him in position in winning the rest of his world.

I saw a picture of James wearing a Yankee hat. James is born and raised in Ohio, so I thought, out of local pride, he should support a Ohio-based baseball team, like the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds. No - he supports the New York Yankees with their 27 world titles, and their huge success in the late 1990's, when he first encountered sports. He only desires victories, nothing else. It's also noted in Wikipedia that he supports the Chicago Bulls and Dallas Cowboys - the most successful teams in the same period.

James appeared on Vogue, hosted a Saturday Night Live show, owns part of Liverpool F.C. and most importantly, earned the most money for under-25 year olds (as ranked in a Forbes survey on December 2007) - because money speaks the loudest. Besides, he did confiscate a video of him being dunked on by a college basketball player, Jordan Crawford. He only wants to be the best in almost everything he is in, and he refuses to make himself look bad.

No surprise, given Cleveland's shrinking market base (due to the wider Rust Belt phenomenon, seen in northern Ohio) and the lack of winning, that James would eventually leave the Cleveland Cavaliers, the first NBA team that drafted him. He ended up joining two esteemed NBA stars, Chris Paul and Dwayne Wade, in Miami Heat. And James even reduced his scoring roles to help his team win the title. Alas, James' really so competitive to win that title - that he can do anything just to win - or, in the case of a few Conference Finals against Boston Celtics (2008 and 2010), simply losing when he gets the feeling that his team can't win.



This really makes Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant look bad. They win with their first and only teams, and they do their best to win as much as they can - without any thought that they'll not win convincingly as they liked to. They do not care how much they'd lost - in Jordan's case, he never swept a NBA Finals series but he still won 6 NBA titles. Bryant had fought and nailed his 4th NBA title, by winning a Game 7 against Boston Celtics.



Is LeBron James what we want for our world - people who do their best to control their situations as much as they could, while focusing on the 'big win'?

I admit I used to be a little like James. I think I should learn more like Jordan or Bryant, putting in their best focus on just doing what's best for myself, no questions asked, no ifs, no buts.

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