Names: Allison Dood, Mary Doms, Tony Chamberlain

A Heated Exchange

In 2010 LeBrom James played professional basketball for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and at

just 25 years old “led the Cavaliers to the Eastern Conference Semifinals for the fifth straight

year” (Dougherty). In the same year he famously said, "I'm going to take my talents to South

Beach and join the Miami Heat '' on an ESPN special called 'The Decision.' James’ choice to

leave his hometown team of seven years ruffled the feathers of many NBA fans, including author

Anthony Rizzuti. LeBron James’ self-proclaimed nickname, “The King,” (Rizzuti Par 3) and

failure to bring home a win against the Boston Celtics in the 2010 NBA finals, accelerated

Rizzuti’s hatred towards the famed basketball star. Rizzuti’s work had been featured on Bleacher

Report and Pro Football Spot (“Anthony Rizzuti”) so he decided to utilize his talents in an

article expressing his extreme negative feelings toward LeBron James. However, rather than

basing his claims on facts and evidence, Rizzuti’s article was filled with fallacious techniques

and propaganda such as name-calling, sarcasm and exaggeration to convince his audience that

LeBron James is an atrocious basketball player and person.

Throughout Rizzuti’s article, “Down with the King…,” LeBron James’ personal

character is attacked through mean, negative name-calling which accomplishes the author's goal

of painting James in a villainous light. According to Ann McClintok, name-calling is a

“propaganda tactic in which negatively charged words are hurled against the opposing side or

competitor… to arouse feelings of mistrust, fear, and hate in their audiences'' (McClintok 305).
For example, after stating James is unoriginal in copying his pre-game routine from Kevin

Garnett, Rizzuti proclaims, “he makes himself look like a five-year-old child playing with his

mother’s Johnson and Johnson powder” (Rizzuti Sec 9, Par 1). Rizzuti is referring to a tradition

James started at the beginning of Cavelier games where he takes a handful of chalk and tosses it

into the air. James comments, “I started to do it and felt the fans started to embrace it”

(“LeBron’s Chalk Toss” 1:34-7). The simple act of throwing powder into the air was picked up

by Cleveland fans to get them excited and energized for a game, but was overlooked by Rizzuti

who went straight to comparing LeBron to a five-year-old child. Another example of name-

calling occurs when Rizzuti calls James “about as useful as a poopy-flavored lollipop in crunch

time” in reference to “shut[ing] down” (Rizzuti Sec 2, Par 4) during the fourth quarter of

basketball games and not trying as hard when his team is losing. LeBron James’ former

teammate, Eddie House addressed this concern about the 2011 NBA finals in 2018 and said, “he

wasn’t engaged, and you could almost see it in his eyes during time-outs; he was somewhere

else” (“In the Zone…” 18:39-18:43). There was admittedly something fogging James’ mind

during the game that could’ve cost his team the win, however, Rizzuti didn’t have to attribute

this behavior to James being useless like a “poopy-flavored lollipop” (Rizzuti Sec 2, Par 4). The

final example of name-calling occurs when Rizzuti calls James not “man enough to have the

world see him in such an embarrassing and vulnerable moment” (Rizzuti Sec 2, Par 3) for not

releasing a video of him getting dunked on by Jordan Crawford in a 2009 “Skills Camp”

(Shekhar Par 2) game. Nike has endorsed [James] since he turned pro in 2003” (Birnbaum Par

6) so they were quick to try and keep a 1 minute clip of their “signature player getting

posterized” (Shekhar Par 5), even though they eventually proved unsuccessful. Rizzuti failed to

realize this was more Nike’s fault than James’ and proceeded to blame the whole incident on
James’ manhood (or lack thereof). Overall, Anthony Rizzuti made use of the name-calling

propaganda technique in multiple places of the article to insult LeBron James’ character and

actions on the court. However, this name-calling became out of hand and prevented his audience

from looking at the facts and background of the situation, therefore clouding any positive

opinion on LeBron James.

Similar to name-calling, sarcasm aims to poke fun at LeBron James’ actions in an

ironic way by using more indirect diction. Anthony Rizzuti uses much sarcasm regarding

how much he despised LeBron James. He wants the audience to know how much he

abominates him. Rizzuti throws shade because LeBron James has a short attention span,

The author uses sarcasm as he says his remark about LeBron. "So, he is either telling us

his attention span is so tiny that a five-second routine of throwing powder will throw off his

game, or he is saying the powder gig is just for show. I think I'll go with the latter."

(Rizzuti Sec 9, Par 4) Rizzuti continues to say how he thinks that is old now that James

keeps doing that. Not everyone has a long attention span. They can be worked on. Rizzuti

continues to use sarcasm negatively as he makes a remark saying, "Can you remember a

moment where LeBron carried his team to a meaningful victory?" (Rizzuti Sec 7, Par 5).

Rizzuti continues to say how LeBron James cannot even make a win for his team. As more

bad things are said about him, as you know, LeBron James did a coverage with ESPN, and

there were remarks made like, “Isn't anyone else sick of it? ESPN should rename itself

JAMESON. Get it? A hybrid of James and ESPN.” (Rizzuti Sec 8, Par 4) LeBron James

has come back with many sarcastic things to his haters like Rizzuti. Like, “All the people

that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day, they have to wake up tomorrow and

have the same life that they had before they woke up today" (Rizzuti Sec 6, Par 3). He
knows how to take all of the haters, and he puts them in place. LeBron also said a good one

when he talks about the haters going back to the real world, "They can get a few days or a

few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the

Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal, but they have to get back to the real world at

some point" (Rizzuti Sec 6, Par 4). Many people say so many mean things and use it as

sarcasm, like when it came to his so-called disrespect for the games he plays in. For

example, it was said by the author of this article, "He is dancing on the baseline as the

game is going on! Not even in the timeout, as the game is in progress.” (Rizzuti Sec 4, Par 2)

“Then he has the gall to approach Joakim Noah like he is doing something wrong? Are you

kidding me?" (Rizzuti Sec 4, Par 3) It has been said that he loves to walk out on his

teammates in the middle of a game like "when the team played the Lakers. The Phoenix

Suns dominated the Lakers." "The Phoenix Suns have reigning champions falling to a 115-

85 defeat in Arizona to fall 3-2 behind in their first-round playoff series." "Halfway

through the fourth quarter, LeBron James had seen enough and even walked off the

court." (“Unbefitting of a Legend…”) It has been said that this is not the first time he has

done this, so called said by all of his haters! LeBorn has won many games in the

championship in his career. He has won four championships over his career. I would say

that is good. Of course his haters would say differently. Championships are very hard to

win. You have to put a lot of effort into training for it.

Rizzuti’s article is littered with exaggeration trying to paint Lebron in a terrible light to

his readers. He uses statements such as “But I’m sure that Lebron James is hated by 90 percent

of NBA fans. (the other 10 percent being Heat fans. And I use that term loosely for all those

bandwagon jumpers.)” (Rizzuti Sec Intro, Par 2) which is a clear example of exaggeration as he
is just throwing out some ridiculous number which isn’t backed by any sources, nor is it realistic

in order to try to prove his point to the viewers. He then goes on to use exaggeration to try to

paint Lebron as a god in Cleveland before he left to make his departure seem even worse than it

actually was to the reader. This can be seen in (Rizzuti Sec 1, Par 2) “They loved him, they

rooted him on, and they treated him like the second coming of Jesus.” This is yet another clear

example of Rizzuti using exaggeration to help garner his readers support in his hatred towards

Lebron basically saying people treated him as a god before he left making Lebron look like the

villain during his departure. Rizzuti continues this theme of using exaggeration to prove his point

to the viewers, even going as far as saying “He concocted this entire circus show for one reason

only…to feed his constantly growing ego.” (Rizzuti Sec 1, Par 4) . Once again we see Rizzuti

using laughable examples of exaggeration, this time saying that Lebron’s whole announcement

ceremony was just some big circus to feed his ego. One quick google search will pull up dozens

of articles showing the truth behind the situation, which is Lebrons “circus” actually raised “2.5

million dollars” (Rovel Par 5) in charity for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. While some of

Rizzuti’s claims are true, many are exaggerated in order to better prove his points and sway his

readers' views to those of his own.

Through the use of name-calling, sarcasm, and exaggeration, Anthony Rizzuti

overwhelms his audience with his negative opinion of LeBron James. Rizzuti failed to look at

any of James’ positive actions, which destroys his own credibility and strays readers away from

the point he originally set out to make: “you should hate LeBron James.” In section 3, Rizzuti

hates on LeBron for not being able to follow through on his promise: "I got a goal, and it's a huge

goal, and that's to bring an NBA championship here to Cleveland, and I won't stop until I get it"

(Rizzuti Sec 3, Par 1). However, LeBron did end up achieving his goal after the 2016 NBA
finals when the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Golden State Warriors 93-89 (Harper). This

example along with many others proves that Rizzuti’s article was riddled with one-sided

opinions. Fallacious articles like Rizzuti’s fuel negative opinions in not only the sports

world, but in politics, and entertainment.

“Anthony Rizzuti.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network,

https://pantherswire.usatoday.com/author/arizzuti11/.

Birnbaum, Justin. “LeBron James Scores On $725 Million SpringHill Deal With Nike, RedBird

And Fenway Sports Group.” Forbes, 14 Oct 2021,

https://www.forbes.com/sites/justinbirnbaum/2021/10/14/lebron-james-scores-on-725-

million-springhill-deal-with-nike-redbird-and-fenway-sports-group/?sh=2827795e702d

Dougherty, Jack. “Lebron James Had the Worst Playoff Series of His Career after a Teammate

Allegedly Slept with His Mother.” Sportscasting, 27 July 2020,

https://www.sportscasting.com/lebron-james-had-the-worst-playoff-series-of-his-career-

after-a-teammate-allegedly-slept-with-his-mother/.

Harper, Zach. “LeBron James after winning the 2016 NBA finals: ‘Cleveland, this is for you!’”

CBS Sports, 19 June 2016, https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-star-power-index-

lebron-james-still-gives-lakers-hope-james-harden-joel-embiid-begin-free-throw-parade/

“‘In the Zone’ with Chris Broussard Podcast: Eddie House - Episode 45, FS1.” YouTube,

uploaded by Fox Sports, 28 Feb 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9ud16IRYaI

“LeBron’s Chalk Toss.” YouTube, uploaded by NBA, 18 May 2009,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY2dUuMj8q8
McClintok, Ann. “Propaganda Techniques in Today’s Advertising.” The Longman Reader. Ed.

Judith Nadell. New York: Longman, 2003. 304-311. Print.

Rizzuti, Anthony. “Down with the King: Top 10 Reasons Why We Hate Lebron James.”

Bleacher Report, 15 June 2011, https://bleacherreport.com/articles/714904-down-with-

the-king-top-10-reasons-why-we-hate-lebron

Rovell, Darren. “LeBron: ‘The Decision’ Will Generate $2.5 Million For Boys & Girls Club.”

CNBC, 8 July 2010, https://www.cnbc.com/id/38154289

Shekhar, Amulya. “‘LeBron James Got Baptized by Jordan Crawford’: When Nike Confiscated

All Footage of the Lakers Star Getting Dunked on by Future Wizards Player.” The Sports

Rush, 5 Oct 2021, thesportsrush.com/nba-news-lebron-james-got-baptized-by-jordan-

crawford-when-nike-confiscated-all-footage-of-the-lakers-star-getting-dunked-on-by-the-

high-school-kid.

“Unbefitting of a Legend: LeBron James Walks off with Five Minutes to go.” MARCA, 6 Feb

2021,

https://www.marca.com/en/more-sports/2021/06/02/60b752afe2704e42888b45ae.html