LeBron James ineligible for excepting gifts

  • Wanna Join? New users you can now register lightning fast using your Facebook or Twitter accounts.
N

Nitro GH

Sicc OG
#1
Apr 25, 2002
1,445
0
0
43
#1
Friday, January 31

James ruled ineligible, plans to appeal decision

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ESPN.com news services


CLEVELAND -- High school basketball star LeBron James was ruled ineligible to play for the rest of the season because he accepted free clothes.

The decision Friday by the Ohio High School Athletic Association comes four days after James, a senior at St. Vincent-St. Mary, was cleared for accepting a $50,000 sport utility vehicle as a gift from his mother.

A source close to James told ESPN.com that James would appeal the decision, though it is not clear yet upon what basis the appeal will be made.

Last Saturday, James was given two retro sports jerseys from a clothing store. The jerseys, honoring former Chicago Bears running back Gale Sayers and former Washington Bullets center Wes Unseld, cost a combined $845.

James' school must forfeit Sunday's game, the association said in a news release.

The 6-foot-8 James is considered the best high school player in the country and is expected to be the top player selected in June's NBA draft.

Ohio High School Athletic Association bylaws state that an athlete forfeits his or her amateur status by "capitalizing on athletic fame by receiving money or gifts of monetary value."

More specifically, the OHSAA 2002-03 Athletic Eligibility Information Bulletin states in part that, "You may receive an award or merchandise as a result of your participation in school or non-school competition from any source, provided the value does not exceed $100 per award."

As for what lies ahead beyond high school, nothing really has changed for James. Under NBA rules, he cannot become a free agent and start his pro career early. In order to become a free agent, an athlete must have been eligible for one NBA draft. James has not been eligible for an NBA draft and does not become eligible for the upcoming June 25 draft until his high school senior class graduates in early June.

While James was not planning on playing college basketball, an NCAA official said Friday that James was not eligible even before the jersey infraction.

Citing extra benefits the NCAA says James received regarding lodging and transportation at Nike's summer camp as well as other infractions, an NCAA official said, "LeBron James would not have been certified at any institution in the NCAA. He would have been initially ineligible."

James refused to comment about the jerseys Thursday night at the Greater Cleveland Sports Awards; he was honored as the area's top high school athlete for the second straight year. He did allude to "all the controversy that's going on with me'' during his acceptance speech.

"I'd like to thank my teammates for helping me through all this,'' he said. "It will be in the paper, but remember, I'm on the honor roll with a 3.5 grade-point average.''

Earlier this month, James drew attention in Akron by driving around a new custom-made Hummer H2, which he received as a present for his 18th birthday. His mother, Gloria James, provided loan information to prove she had purchased the vehicle.

On Monday, OHSAA commissioner Clair Muscaro ruled that James would not lose his eligibility for accepting the vehicle.

Muscaro said he asked school administrators at St. Vincent-St. Mary on Friday for a chance to speak with James.

"But LeBron did not want to speak with me,'' Muscaro said, adding that James is the first athlete he has declared ineligible in his 14 years as commissioner.

"I think this sends a message that we are all about fairness,'' Muscaro said. "LeBron is being treated like any one of the thousands of student-athletes in Ohio.''

Muscaro said his ruling addressed only the issue of James receiving the two jerseys.

"Naturally, LeBron is talented and he's noted nationally and internationally, but as far as this association is concerned, we will treat him the same as all our other athletes.''

The Sayers jersey costs $395; the Unseld jersey, $450.

Store manager Derrick Craig said the store's owner gave the jerseys to James for free.

"We get celebrities in here all the time," said Craig, who would not identify the owner. "They spend a lot of money and sometimes you just got to give them some love."

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
 
N

Nitro GH

Sicc OG
#2
Apr 25, 2002
1,445
0
0
43
#2
Personally, I think its completely stupid to accept gifts and put your future at jeapordy. If your playing college ball and you have no professional future, fine do what you want, but when you got sure NBA draftee's its down right stupid! I cant say thats the case for LeBron however. Basically he went to some store, accepted 2 free Jersey's, in return he promised them a picture of himself to hang on their walls. They said the items valued at $845; that seems a bit steep for a couple jersey's. I doubt he realized he was doing something wrong, or maybe he did..
 
K

KINGCZAR

Sicc OG
#4
May 19, 2002
4,861
0
0
www.cdbaby.com
#4
Yea it was bullshit! Now I can understand if the gifts were given to him from an agent or someone that has to do with college or basketball period, but to go to a store and agree to trade his picture for a couple of jerseys that had nuthin to do with an agent, I think thats weak, but fuckit....James aint trippin he will be a millionaire real soon!! And yes cutt those are authentic real jerseys worn by players and they cost a grip!! GOT EM!!
 
4fifteenRolla

4fifteenRolla

Sicc OG
#6
May 5, 2002
2,661
1,090
113
#6
lol i mean all that does is ensure he's gonna get other contracts now and they pretty much fucked over his team.. i mean damn 847 worth fo clothes prolly just a few jackets n a hat or somethin... they r doin 2 much to fuck him over,.. its fkn HS sports !!!!

they put his ass on ESPN and he's in HS and they wonder why he'd accept gifts.. i mean shit if i was on ESPN for a high school basketball game I'd get things mixed up myself... they r doin 2 much to keep him down.. sendin mixed ass signals

Its ok for the school district to make money off of his games, its coo for ESPN to make money off of his games, and he cant get 847 dollars worth of clothes? HAHAHHAHAHAHAH makes no sense to me..
 
Villain

Villain

Sicc OG
#8
Apr 25, 2002
754
6
18
45
#8
I think it's good he got suspended...he should know better...being a national celebrity as a highschooler, he knows he gonna be closely looked at constantly...

And I don't care, what anybody says...

HIS MOM DID NOT BUY THAT HUMMER!!!!!!
 
gimpypimp

gimpypimp

Sicc OG
#10
May 2, 2002
3,895
163
0
#10
What a dumbfuck.....He fucked his team.....
Click to expand...
I think that's being kinda harsh on the kid...

Here's a good article on the subject. I don't agree with all of it, but I do agree with a lot of it.....


Blame can be spread all over for LeBron's transgression
Saturday, February 1, 2003
Bob Hunter
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

LeBron James was wrong. He knows it and we know it.

He knew it was against the rules to accept $845 worth of free athletic apparel and he deserves to have his high-school eligibility taken away, just as he would if he were some anonymous kid on the cross country team.

But before we start pointing fingers, let's be brutally honest here: In our own way, we're all responsible for what happened to the Akron St. Vincent- St. Mary basketball star, all to blame for the sad, sudden end to a truly remarkable high-school career.

I'm responsible for writing about him. You're responsible for reading about him. Your neighbors are responsible for jamming Value City Arena to see him play.

Grandma is responsible for watching him play on national TV. His coach is responsible for treating him like a king. The four or five Cavs fans still in existence are responsible for salivating like starving dogs every time someone mentions his name. He's a great player, but we made him what he is by losing all perspective. He was wrong, but so are we.

Oh, sure, it starts in his household, where his mother probably hasn't exercised the best judgment -- hey, I'm trying to be kind here -- by giving him a $50,000 Hummer we know she can't afford during his senior year of high school. If that doesn't give a kid the idea that he is above the rules, if that doesn't send the wrong message, what does? Unfortunately, this goes way beyond that. By taking their basketball show all over creation for fun and profit, the "educators'' at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School have taught him that there's nothing wrong with a timely money grab, regardless of how exploitative it looks to a lot of teachers and parents. So should we really expect an 18-year-old kid to say "no'' when somebody wants to give him something because of who he is.

He is LeBron James, isn't he? Didn't Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal come to see him play? Didn't ESPN televise some of his games? Aren't entrepreneurs selling T-shirts with his name on them? Isn't he making hundreds of thousands of dollars for his high school? Shouldn't those state championship trophies belong to him?

This isn't just the LeBron James story, it is the story of sports in America. It is the story about the idolization of our athletics stars, the story of identifying them, or at least thinking we can identify them, at a younger and younger age.

Some recruiting Web sites are already ranking sixth-graders, and people are clicking those links like crazy, desperate to find out whether that flashy kid at Polk Elementary really has enough heart to become the next Jordan, or better still, the next LeBron. We thirst for the names of these "superstars'' sooner and sooner, give them special privileges sooner and sooner, teach them they're above the rules sooner and sooner, all because we don't want that flashy little stud to quit our team and play for somebody else. Have you seen little Billy play? My God, he's a boy among toddlers. He doesn't really have to learn something as annoying as the alphabet, does he? Give him a break.

Somewhere along the line, kids have to learn that rules are rules, and that none of us is above the law. Yet a lot of the best athletes never learn it because somebody is always there to let them in the door no one else can enter, to get the free shirt that everyone else has to pay for, to be told that this time we're not going to arrest you, but try to be a little more careful next time.

At 18, James was already knee-deep in that; you could see that last spring at the state basketball tournament when he was dancing with the cheerleaders before the state finals and his coach looked the other way. You mean they lost? My, what a surprise.

After the storm of protest over his Hummer, after the OHSAA investigated that gift to make sure that he hadn't done something illegal, he had to know that taking two overpriced sports jerseys could cost him his high-school eligibility if he got caught.

But we've shown him repeatedly, with our attention and with our adulation, with our greed and with our wallets, that's he's different from the rest of us. And when you're different, the rules aren't always the rules.

Sure, James is guilty, but it's not our place to criticize. We taught him everything he knows.
 
N

Nitro GH

Sicc OG
#11
Apr 25, 2002
1,445
0
0
43
#11
James is now saying he had no idea whatsoever that he was doing anything wrong by accepeting those gifts. Deion Sanders did an interview with him for the first time since the incident. It can be seen Tuesday morning on CBS's "The Morning Show"

"You know, if I had known I was violating anything, I would've never done it. I would've never jeopardized my eligibility. I would've never jeopardized my team," James told Sanders. "When I went in [the clothing store], you know, I was just going in there as being, you know, another player and they was trying to reward me for my good grades." -Lebron James

Full Sotry: http://espn.go.com/nba/news/2003/0203/1503500.html
 
Deep Thought

Deep Thought

Sicc OOG
#12
May 21, 2002
3,955
128
0
51
Sacramento, CA
#12
"...for my good grades."

That dude's dumber than I thought he was if he thinks

1. Sporting goods stores give $900 worth of clothing to everybody for getting good grades

or

2. Anybody in the world would buy that load of crap he fed Deion Sanders on CBS this morning

Don't even get me started on how someone who says "they was trying to reward me for my good grades" thinks he's really earned those grades. I have no problem with him skipping college and going to the NBA. Hell, if most people were good enough in their chosen field coming out of HS, who wouldn't do it? I have a problem with him acting all innocent about what he's doing and thinking that he's getting over on his own. Everybody involved in the process is to blame. I wish him no ill will, but if something does happen and he never steps foot on an NBA court, I will laugh my ass off at all the people who wasted so much money and time on LaBron hoping he would take them with him.

And yes, his mama is lying her fat ASSSSSS off about the Hummer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom