You know in your heart that Magic is right.

Read all about it.

You may have heard. The NBA Owners have locked out the players. The 2011-2012 season is in real jeopardy.

Players have acknowledged this very real labor battle by seeking employment in other professional leagues in other countries. Even All-Star players, like Deron Williams. Kobe Bryant has indicated he is interested in playing in Turkey.

But not our man King James. No, no. Likely from the part of his brain that OK’d The Decision, and the part of his brain that predicted he would win seven world championships with the Miami Heat, LeBron James is preparing for a status quo NBA season. He is perhaps the only human on the planet doing this.

The King and reality have always had a complex relationship.

LeBron. Is the national venom directed at him his own fault? Or is it ours? Robert weighs in with today’s Opening Segment.

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LeBron James, quote machine, says his remarks after losing the NBA Finals earlier this week were not intended to imply James is superior to anyone else.

Good thing we cleared that up.

Buzz Bissinger is a wildly successful and renown writer. Buzz once wrote a book with and about LeBron James. Buzz joined Robert in Hour 3 to discuss LeBron’s Silver Medal in this year’s NBA Finals.

Robert opened the week with a diabolically logical assessment of the NBA Finals, and the world’s most famous un-champion. Podcast below. 

Listen. If you are in Cleveland, and you are a Cleveland Cavaliers fan, and you are actually deeply and profoundly happy about LeBron not winning a ring, you are a small and vindictive person.

LeBron left through free agency. Free agency is a system that managed to not provoke moral outrage until LeBron used his right to leave a poor team and sign up with a good team.

Root against LeBron all you like. Be happy the Heat failed. Be happy LeBron’s plans have gone awry. But don’t act like it’s your own championship, Cleveland.

This is the kind of thing that LeBron doesn’t get. Although his answer is honest and not terribly incendiary, it is HARDLY the response a public relations professional would have prepped LeBron to give. Until LeBron decides he wants professional people handling his media presence, he will continue to sound like the villiage idiot every time he speaks in front of a microphone.

It doesn’t have to be like this, LeBron.

It is a simultaneously glorious and ghastly time for basketball enthusiasts. While this 2011 Finals appears destined to be remembered among the all-time great championship series, we are also witnessing pre-ordained Next Great One LeBron James very really shrinking in the moment and wilting in the spotlight.

Yes he had a triple double in the Game 5 loss to Dallas. Guess what? Last night was not the time for ancillary stats. It was LeBron’s time to dominate. With Dwyane Wade injured, with the lead in the series on the line, with his basketball legacy hanging in the balance, LeBron did not do what Magic, Bird, Kobe, or Michael would have done. Instead, LeBron turned in a performance worthy of Lamar Odom.

Now, Lamar is a fine professional, and a 2-time champion. This is no slight on Mr. Odom. But still.