Clothing proves costly for LeBron James

[John Corn]

CLEVELAND (AP) — High school basketball star LeBron James has been ruled ineligible to play for the rest of the season because he accepted free clothes.

The decision Friday by the Ohio High School Athletic Association comes four days after James, a senior at St. Vincent-St. Mary, was cleared for accepting a $50,000 (all funds U.S.) sport utility vehicle as a gift from his mother.

Last Saturday, James was given two retro sports jerseys from a clothing store. The jerseys, honouring former Chicago Bears running back Gale Sayers and former Washington Bullets centre Wes Unseld, cost a combined $845.

James' school must forfeit Sunday's game, the association said in a news release.

The six-foot-eight James is considered the best high school player in the U.S. and is expected to be the top player selected in June's NBA draft.

http://waymoresports.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=waymoresports/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035777332629&call_page=WM_Home&call_pageid=979619472127&call_pagepath=Home/Home

[Dgenx321]

The OHSAA is a complete joke. They make millions off of high school kids and pocket it.

I'm thinking Lebron was set up, the guy gave him the jerseys then calls into a sport radio call in show and brags about it. If that's not a set up I don't know what is..

[DCSholtis]

He has announced that he will be appealing this....I guess he has until the 13th to file a written appeal......

[John Corn]

He can't take $845 worth of clothes but they can put his games on pay per view, move games to an arena and raise ticket prices and get a uniform deal from Adidas. Sounds fair to me...

I don't think this changes much. Lebron will still be able to enter the draft when he graduates and will still be the number 1 pick.

Only downside is that he can't break anymore high school records but he has probably broken every one there is anyway.

Who is this ruling punishing exactly, James or ESPN? :scratch:

[marko]

Originally posted by Dgenx321
The OHSAA is a complete joke. They make millions off of high school kids and pocket it.

I'm thinking Lebron was set up, the guy gave him the jerseys then calls into a sport radio call in show and brags about it. If that's not a set up I don't know what is..


Hum, who loses by broadcasting the games on espn and by moving them to large venues? More people get to see Lebron play, Lebron gets more exposure, his teamates get more exposure. his school (and wherever he plays) gets more money, espn gets more money. And Lebron still will make his millions when he gets drafted. Not really sure what the problem is.

The big mistake in all of this was Lebron's mom actually purchasing the Hummer H2. That probably forced the OHSAA to look further into things. At this point they probably should of let it go, but a rule is a rule. Who would of thought the jersey would be worth that much though?

[Dgenx321]

From his point of view though, he could go right up to Cleveland today and have a cool 15 million in cash from a shoe deal, he can hire an agent. He can do whatever he wants to get ready for the NBA.

[George_F]

Perfect way to put it. James gains everything except maybe a state title. Big Deal. Now there's almost no chance of him getting injured, he gets to sign his big shoe deal, he can accept all the gifts he wants, and Akron and ESPN lose money from his games. there won't be 20,000 people at Akron games anymore, say bye bye to James' charitable donations in the future to the school. idiots. If i were Lebron, I'd be happy. he won't have to wait until the draft to become a milionaire.

So I wonder who else the Ohio State Athletic Association (or whatever it is called) is investigating? Your telling me that no one else in the state has accepted a gift greater then $50.

The problem is that the commission wanted to get attention themselves. And when they made themselves as complete morons for making unproven allegations against Lebron in the hummer incident, they then took a personal vendetta against Lebron to reduce the humiliation.

Good job guys. Who else are you investigating, you hypocritical fools.