Why LeBron James’s Championship Is a Win for All Athletes in the Digital Age

A terrifically joyous tweet from NBA superstar LeBron James is currently going viral on Twitter. "OMFG I think it just hit me, I'm a CHAMPION!! I AM a CHAMPION!!" it says.

James posted the message early Friday, hours after winning his first NBA title. As of this writing, it had been retweeted more than 75,000 times, showing yet again Twitter's ability to connect sports stars and the fans that idolize them in ways never before possible.

But before Friday, James hadn't tweeted since way back on April 27 — not coincidentally, the day before the NBA Playoffs began. He didn't announce a break of any sort but his absence was conspicuous and the message was clear: It's time for business. Time to shut up a frothing horde of venomous critics.

James had — indeed, probably still has — more critics and haters than anyone. To be fair, he invited some of the vitriol, joining the Miami Heat by famously spurning his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers in a nationally televised public relations fiasco in July of 2010. He soon followed that up with a pseudo-guarantee of bringing eight championships to Miami.

Much of the hate also comes from James' greatness being foisted upon fans for more than a decade, since he was a poor teenager in Akron, Ohio. No sports figure before or since has come of age under the scrutiny of such an intense microscope.

James graduated high school in 2003, and in some ways his career grew up with the Internet. He became a prodigy as web journalism helped sharpen the focus on the previously niche world of high school basketball. His professional career matured as social media exploded, amplified the fan conversation, overhauled the delivery of news and even changed the definition of what news is and who can report it.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated just before the Heat's championship run began, teammate Shane Battier summed up James' historical significance as well as anyone possibly could with this explanation:

He is a global icon, a basketball monolith, the most prevalent and recognizable athlete of our generation. And he's one of a kind, because he's the first to rise to prominence in the Information Age, which is why he's such a fascinating sociological observation. He's accountable every single day for every single thing, from how he plays to what he tweets to what he says in the pre- and the postgame interviews. He has a camera and a microphone on him wherever he goes, and then when he [goes out to] dinner, there's a camera phone on him. This is what he signed up for. There is a price to pay. He understands that. But I don't think a lot of guys could handle it.

But it's not just James. While he may have been the first to "rise to prominence in the Information Age," versions of his path are now being traced by athletes everywhere.

Gifted teenagers, too, struggle to navigate a sports world flattened by social media. It's not uncommon to hear of a talented high school basketball prospect and NBA hopeful choosing where to go to college only to be bombarded with vile messages from fans of spurned schools. Pros get death threats after crucial mistakes.

That's why James' first championship doesn't just remove an 800-pound gorilla from his own back — it's a win for hyper-criticized, over-scrutinized and unfairly hated young athletes everywhere in this social media age.

So it's only right that James' loyal fans (and there have always been plenty of those to counter the haters) took to Twitter to spread an idea that would include a nice dose of poetic justice for his critics: Perhaps James should have his championship ring fitted for his middle finger instead.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments.

Thumbnail image courtesy Flickr, rezsox