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Media, Shmedia...LeBron James
Hits Local, National TV--(Nov. 16, 2002)

Dinos Trigonis sent us an e-mail yesterday afternoon, alerting us to a story which ran as a part of Bob Keisser's column yesterday in the Long Beach Press Telegram. Keisser is the sports-media guy for the LBPT, and it's his job to write about what the TV, Radio other "new" media are covering when it comes to sports. His columns are always fun, entertaining, and thought-provoking. And yesterday's column was no different. This one was largely about the phenomenon that is LeBron James, who is (for those living in a cave) possibly the best high school basketball player to come down the pike in more than a few generations. Better than Kobe as a high schooler? That's what some think. Better than Tracy McGrady? You bet. Better than Kareem Abdul Jabbar (who was known as Lew Alcindor in those days)? Well......The column addressed the issue of media coverage for younger kids not yet even out of high school, whether it's a growing phenomenon, or worse, "the latest sign of the sports apocalypse."

We happen to agree with most that televising this young man's games isn't going to lead to the end of the world, and it's not likely to start any trend, because James' talent is just so unusual, so unreal and incomparable for others at the high school level that there's little danger of an unhealthy trend starting....Besides, as Keisser's column notes, no one really makes a lot of money producing high school basketball games for local television, at least not for your typical run-of-the-mill high school contest. Which is no doubt one reason Fox Sports West no longer features the high school game of the week in basketball any longer. Hard to pay for all those trucks, cameras, and technicians when you've got an audience that is limited to the fans at the school and some hardcore high school basketball fanatics, who will probably be in the stands anyway.

Keisser's column notes that all of the home games which James' high school team, St. Vincent-St. Mary's in Akron, Ohio, will play this season will be on pay-per-view in Akron. Here's a small excerpt from Keisser's article:

LeBron TV won't have a sequel
By Bob Keisser
Sports columnist

At a time when many young athletes are suffering from swollen and indulged egos comes this story from the heartland. The fine people at Time Warner Cable in Northeast Ohio will televise the home basketball games of St. Vincent-St. Mary (St. V-M) High School and its star player, LeBron James, widely considered to be the best high school player ever.

On pay-per-view.

At a projected cost of $6.95 a game, greater Akron can bring LeBron into its homes and get a glimpse of the NBA's probable No.1 draft pick in 2003.

For some, this is the latest sign of the sports apocalypse. It's bad enough we James have NFL players yanking Sharpies out of their socks during games and playing bump-and-run with traffic cops. Now a high school kid is getting star treatment like no other.

James is a 6-7 swingman who has been favorably compared to everyone from the Lakers' Kobe Bryant, the best prep-to-pro product to date, to Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. He has great individual skills and an Old School mentality on the court, so much so that some pro scouts say he could have jumped to the NBA after his junior season.

St. V-M switched its home games last season from its small, 1,500-seat campus gym to the University of Akron's 5,000- seat arena to handle the demand for tickets. Faced with two conflicts at Akron and increasing ticket demands, school officials asked Time Warner for help televising home games to the campus auditorium. The cable outfit came back with the pay- per-view idea.

"We told the school we could bypass that and avoid any expense by delivering the games to homes,' said Bill Jasso, vice- president of public affairs at Time Warner. "Pay-per-view is nothing new to cable TV operators. It's a conventional technology, and it's only getting talked about here because it's something that hasn't been done before.

"Producing sports programming is not cheap. All operators run into the headache of putting things on basic cable and then having to charge all subscribers. The trend right now is to offer programming like this only to those who want it. It's like video on demand.'

Of course, Dinos sent us a copy of the entire article for a reason, one which isn't hard to imagine since he's the principal organizer of the Dream Classic, which this year will also feature none other than LeBron James and his St. Vincent-St. Mary team playing against Mater Dei, which is currently ranked by some pundits as the No. 1 high school basketball team in America....Never mind that there are more than 50,000 high schools in the U.S. that play basketball, the media machine is in full swing on this one and whether it's really true or not that Mater Dei is at the top of that massive heap of boys high school basketball teams, this is going to be one really outstanding matchup. And of course, there are other matchups too which will be no less exciting if you are a true basketball junkie.

Here's some more of what Mr. Keisser had to say, (including what Dinos had to say when Kiesser interviewed him):

James is definitely getting the full-court press. ESPN2 will televise a game between St. V-M and renowned prep power Oak Hill Academy on Dec.12, and Fox Sports Net is negotiating with operators of the Jan.4 Dream Classic at UCLA to televise St. V-M's game against Mater Dei.

"He's legit, and worth the hype,' said Dream Classic operator Dinos Trigonis. "I've been watching high school basketball for 20 years and he's the most complete package I've ever seen. He's much more of a complete player than Kobe was as a senior. He understands the pass and de fense and is remarkably unselfish.'

But he doesn't think James and the pay-per-view notion will spark a trend. "I think this is an exception to the rule,' he said. "You just have a high school kid doing things no high school kid has ever done before.'

Maybe, maybe not. It's interesting to note that all four games of the Dream Classic have what you would call star power.

James and his team will be facing Mater Dei, the preseason CIF- Southern Section No.1 team that features three future Division I-A players in Wesley Washington, D.J. Strawberry (the son of ex- Dodger Darryl) and Harrison Schaen, who is Princeton-bound.

Mayfair and one of the top prep guards in the area, Justin Hawkins, will play Loyola with Kansas-bound Omar Wilkes, son of former UCLA and Laker star Jamaal Wilkes.

[Compton] Centennial, which stars junior forward Arron Afflalo and perhaps the Southland's best freshman in Jervaughn Johnson, meets L.A. City power Carson and Maryland-bound 6-9 Ekene Ibekwe, a consensus national Top 50 player and probably the top senior in the area.

And Brooklyn-Lincoln, which stars Sebastian Telfair, will meet Oakland-Vallejo, which stars DeMarcus Nelson, an 11th grader who has already committed to Duke.

Media hype or just some of the best basketball at the high school level? Heck, we don't know, but it's going to be a fun event. And like everyone else who follows and writes about high school basketball to a greater or lesser event, we can shill with the best media hacks. So, here comes the unabashed sales pitch: If you want tickets for the 2003 Dream Classic [which is now sponsored by Pangos...whatever that is (when asked, Trigonis just smiles and says, "You'll see....")], you can get them at the Pauley Pavilion box office (not the UCLA ticket office, but the Pauley Pavilion one, right outside the Pauley entrance on the south side of the building) or at Ticketmaster outlets.

See you there.