4) The Decision
While #5 on our list was out of LeBron’s hands and certainly not his fault… well, he has to take the blame for this entry into the countdown. LeBron James turned his free agency into a made-for-TV special, announcing his decision on who he would sign with in the summer of 2010. At the time, it seemed like James was breaking new ground in emphasizing the entertainment of sport and his celebrity status.
Instead of doing that, it turned James into the biggest villain in sports almost overnight.
In the ESPN special James sat down with Jim Gray, who decided to spend several minutes delaying the inevitable (including an infamous question about LeBron biting his nails) before finally asking about his decision, you know, the whole point of him being there. James replied that he was “taking his talents to South Beach” and immediately became reviled by not just Cavaliers fans, but by fans across the country who saw the evening as one of self-indulgent excess.
It’s no coincidence that an athlete hasn’t replicated the made-for-TV free agency announcement since. Even James himself later admitted that The Decision was a mistake. Thankfully, when James announced his return to Cleveland in the summer of 2014, he did so in a much more humble and low-profile way, penning an open letter in Sports Illustrated.