re: Lebron: The odds have been stacked against me...

Lebron was way ahead of his peers physically, while in high school. He's a genetic freak. There are not 100 clones of him that simply didn't make the NBA. I went to highschool with several people that ended up in the NBA, NFL, MLB. Not a single one of them was on par with Lebron physically. You won't find more than 5 people on the globe right now with the same raw genetic gifts as Lebron, that are not in the highest level of their sport.

With regard to basketball, everything on the planet has been handed to him since he was in 10th grade. If you look on youtube for his highschool highlights you'll see there was no comparison between him and his peers. And you don't get that from hard work at that age. There isn't enough time, there isn't the coaching, there aren't enough games, etc. That's just reality.

Take Chipper Jones in high school, for example. That guy did nothing his entire life but play baseball. And he came from enough money to allow him to play all year, with access to the best coaching, best leagues, and so forth. But if you compare Jones to A-Rod, it's easy to see A-Rod was better in highschool. He shot right up to MLB. He was just more polished and a total freak for all the skillsets in baseball, and he did not grow up with the same tools and access as Jones. At that age, some people are like that. People act as though admitting this is a mark against Lebron. It's not. It is what it is.

I'm not saying he was a slacker. And since getting in the NBA it seems he's been a hard worker.

But during his rookie season he got tons of hype and at pressers people would tell him, "Everyone is here to see you, this is all for you". Go look that up and compare the way he acted then to the way he acts now.

Since before he could drive people have been pumping up his ego. Since a late teen he's been a millionaire. For almost 20 years people have been fawning all over him. It's not healthy for a person's development. That's why he has mental illness now. Paranoid narcissism is guaranteed for someone in such an environment.

You can scoff at that if you want, but his life consists of playing a game, insulated in the sports world, surrounded by people telling him that he's the best that's ever lived, or people that troll him. This mental illness is inevtible. He needs something away from basketball to bring him down to reality and get his mind right. Otherwise, one day, after he retires, life is going to be hell for him.