LeBron James proved once again why athletes so often disappoint when it comes to being a role model.  A couple nights ago, after losing the Eastern Conference final to the Orlando Magic, James eschewed customary post game pleasantries and opted to pout in the solitude of the team bus.  A day later, supposedly after having had the opportunity to regain his composure, collect his thoughts, and benefit from counsel, he further compounded the effrontery by inserting his size 18 Nike's squarely in mouth—uttering the following gems:

• "It's hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them.  I mean, I'm a winner.  That's not being a poor sport or anything like that."
• Somebody beat you up; you're not going to congratulate them for beating you up."
• "I'm a competitor.  That's what I do.  It don't make sense to me to go up and shake somebody's hand."

Most disheartening is that James has, by all accounts, worn his super stardom well.  He's been accessible, good natured, and a positive ambassador for the NBA.  Of course, it's somewhat sad that we consider civil behavior from athletes to be so praiseworthy, particularly when it comes with tens of millions of dollars and worldwide adulation.  Nevertheless, James demonstrates that sports doesn't necessarily build character—it reveals it.  It's pretty easy to be the cooperative good guy when you're collecting MVP's, being featured on 60 Minutes, and the face of countless products; but what happens when a little adversity gets mixed in?  We may have just gotten a glimpse.  Hopefully it was an aberration.

To James' credit, he is only 24, and has had to grow up in the public spotlight since his teens.  Prior to Saturday night's gaffe, most of us would not have handled fame and fortune any better.

What has been most attractive about James, until recently, is that he's been a breath of fresh air for a league long dominated by thugs and thuggery.  He's shown that anti-social behavior does not have to be the norm...that vigorous competitor and decent person are not mutually exclusive terms.

I've always found the ultra-competitive persona—one that extends beyond the field of play—very annoying.  Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods cultivated such an image, and it is arguably their least appealing trait.  Hopefully, LeBron won't go down the same path.  It's always been curious why the media paints as virtuous behavior that disallows acceptance of defeat of any kind.  We heard it all the time about Jordan, and we hear it today about Tiger.  They can't deal with losing at cards, scrabble, ping pong, etc.  You name it, and they have a near psychotic aversion to losing at it.  Somehow, the media tells us that's a good thing.  It's emblematic of a fighting spirit—a certain uber competitiveness.  No it isn't.  It's illustrative of an enormous character flaw.  One can try hard and enjoy the spirit of competition without taking it to the personality disorder stage.

So LeBron, give it all you've got, but walk away in the end respecting the game and the competitors.  If hockey players can beat the heck out of one another for seven games and still shake hands at center ice when it's all over, you can certainly muster some sportsmanship.  We don't need another self-centered athlete to set a bad example for all his young, impressionable acolytes.

Come to your senses and realize that like one of the classiest men ever to compete in the sports arena, you're "the luckiest man on the face of the earth."