I totally agree. LeBron is one of the most unfairly maligned sportspeople in history. Even down to the people who will dismiss him as being good because he MIGHT not be as good as Jordan: like it’s a black mark that he’s only the second best player in planet earth’s basketball history.
You are spot on about afl players too. People construct a narrative that’s usually started by a fear of that player. Martin suffers from it too: how could a loose unit covered in Tatts with a s**t haircut be taken seriously. Oh look he’s playing for a historically bad team in recent decades and he’s slightly above average so he must be overrated. cue the threat of him helping Richmond be a powerful side
Danger was the same. At Adelaide he wasn’t really a threat to anyone because Adelaide were mediocre. He goes to a perpetually strong Geelong side - and people forget we finished 10th before he arrived and went straight back to Second after he got there - and suddenly he was a threat, so this narrative about him loving himself and being a dickhead was created: yeah he’s got a strut but if you look objectively he talks remarkably humbly and even when he takes the piss out of himself and the ‘he fakes injuries narrative’ he got criticised for turning up to a presser bandaged and on crutches.
Cousins gets ignored because he was a drug addict.
Ablett terrorised every side in the comp for 4 years leading an absolute juggernaut at Geelong. So the narrative when he takes a pay rise that every man alive would take, is that he’s a money hungry grub who had no loyalty. ‘He wasted his career playing for a joke.’ If you look, he basically with no help from anyone, had a brand new team poised for finals in their fourth year and then got injured.
In it’s own way that’s just as remarkable as danger getting us back into the top four or Martin getting Richmond from the middle of the table to the top but the narrative doesn’t suit people so they ignore it.
