'Bron 'Bron Dunked On

This week at the LeBron James Skills Academy there was a bit of role reversal, Mr. James was a witness of himself getting posterized.

Xavier University's Jordan Crawford knocked the crown off LeBron's arrogant unsportsmanlike dome, en-route to a two-handed slam that is destined to become a YouTube sensation, right?

Wrong.

Rumors are that James made Nike confiscate tapes from the lucky cameramen that captured LeBron's embarrassment in their lenses.

 CBSSports.com's Gary Parrish has the story:

Turns out, there were at least two cameras rolling Monday night when Crawford dunked on James during a pick-up game here at the LeBron James Skills Academy. It was a two-handed jam, the kind that would've circulated quickly on YouTube. But Nike officials eliminated that possibility shortly after the dunk happened by allegedly confiscating tapes from various cameramen.

Freelance photographer Ryan Miller was one of the cameramen shooting the game.

He told CBSSports.com that Nike Basketball Senior Director Lynn Merritt took his tape.

"He just said, 'We have to take your tape,'" Miller said. "They took it from other guys, too."

Worth noting is that there is no policy against filming at the LeBron James Skills Academy, and Miller said he had been filming all day without incident. Nobody ever told him to stop. Nobody ever said there was a problem ... until after Crawford dunked on James.

"LeBron called Lynn over and told him something," Miller said. "That's how I knew his name was Lynn. LeBron said, 'Hey, Lynn. Come here.'"

Minutes later, Miller said Merritt demanded his tape.

"There's nothing I can think of besides LeBron just not wanting it online," Miller said. "It's a good story to tell people, I guess. But then again, I'm kind of pissed. I lost my tape."

This is another perfect example of the hype/marketing machine that is LeBron James. It was another selfish and dumb act to add to the young king's portfolio. James is a grown man; he needs to learn when to show some humility and let a kid like Crawford have his moment.

Which reminds me of this quote after the Eastern Conference Finals: 

"If somebody beats you up, you're not going to congratulate them. That doesn't make sense to me. I'm a competitor. That's what I do. It doesn't make sense for me to go over and shake somebody's hand."

The greats look foolish sometimes, it shows that they are human, and that is what fans relate to, not Muppet characters and weird Sprite commercials.

I'm still waiting for LeBron to turn the corner, but for now he's still a kid who's never paid his dues while rockin' a free Wes Unseld jersey.