What the Sports Media Learned From LeBron James

And so The Decision Part Deux ends to reveal the following: LeBron James learned from his mistakes in The Decision; the sports media learned nothing.

With his move back to Cleveland, LeBron not only rolls back the decision to leave, he erases much of The Decision, that tone-deaf extravaganza in which he rubbed Ohio's face in his departure and became Public Enemy Number One.

Given another chance, he conducted his search in private, informed Heat brass and teammates in advance and made the announcement in print. It was a complete repudiation of the game plan four years prior.

How about the sports media, did they alter their approach? Well, ESPN didn't run an hour-long special, but that was probably not their choice.

Beyond that, it was the same endless jabbering bereft of a single fact. People described as "insider extraordinaire," people who had speculated wrongly for weeks the first time around, were back drawing conclusions without data, non-stop, 24-hours-a-day for as long as LeBron was deciding. I heard one "insider extraordinaire" dismiss claims of a Cleveland return because LeBron and Cavs management hadn't met. They had, of course; the "insider" was too busy opining on the radio to find out.

LeBron James demonstrated why he is not only a transcendent basketball player and an insightful businessman, but also a great leader. Sports media demonstrated why it shares none of his qualities, drew no lessons from its shameful 2010 performance and improved absolutely nothing since then. 

Thank goodness for baseball broadcasts.